Marathon Day 4

Here's the snip for day 4.

Snip

1024 new words, yai!

Marathon Day 3

Alas, no snip for today.


A little Wisdom of the Day:

It's not the weigth that counts, it's the ratio.

Marathon Day 2

Here's part of the snip for day 2

Snip

Cost of Freedom

The digital version of Cost of Freedom has finally been released.

You can purchase you copy here.


Congratulations again, Carol!!

Win a digital copy of Cost of Freedom II

The winner of the first contest is Rachel. Congrats Rachel!

If you haven't won, don't worry, you always have the chance to buy the book now. :) Go here.

And Jen has yet another contest on it. Check it out.

What are you waiting for? Buy the book and enter the contest!

Marathon Day 1

Here's the snip for day 1:

Snip

A book I found

If anyone of you speaks German and is interested in The Historical Grammar of the English Language, I'd recommend this book from 1863:

Historische Grammatik der englischen Sprache

Lost Generation

Win a digital copy of Cost of Freedom

Woho, the release date for Carol's Cost of Freedom is drawing near and Jen is hosting a contest. Go check out her blog.

And don't forget to spread the word!


Cost of Freedom
Release Date: Digital May 30, print November 28
The Wild Rose Press

Marathon

The date for the marathon: Starting Tuesday, May 27th and running through Saturday, May 31st

And I herewith state my goals for that 5 days:

- make "book scenes" out of the "script scenes" (see my previous post)
- post them
- read the other entries and comment


And since this week is my free week and (besides some minor things I have to do) I want to use it for writing, my goals for this week:

- write more "script scenes"
- note down the already known happenings and bring them to a kind-of timeframe (my, could this be like an *gasp* outline? We all know how well that works for me *g*)
- participate in Precie's May Book Contest
- spend a wonderful Friday with my best friend (plans so far include breakfast, gym, a DVD)

On the wagon again

Jen suggested another 5-day marathon, for all of us who have been off the writing wagon for some time. As I have been.

So when we have decided on a date I'll try my best to participate and get going again.


Preliminary writing some notes down I noticed something.
Lately I've been seeing scenes rather clearly in my head. But every time I tried to write it down, it didn't sound right. So I didn't. And consequently didn't write at all.

What I did today, was the following: I wrote the scenes down in script-style. Like I was writing the script of a movie. Notes of the general setting, how the people involved in that scene are set/what they are feeling and so on, the second before the scene starts. Then the dialogue without tags. And notes in between.

And you know what? It sudenly worked. Now I can go from there and get it into book-style :)

An example? Here you are.


From "Before and After" - WIP [a new Sci-Fi story I just started]

Background: you see their spacecraft. Crewmen are working on it, exchange parts, clean them.
One of them has taken off the upper part of the overall.
Anna has one component in her hand, turning it over and over in her hands. She is standing with her back to the others, her hair open, to hide her face.
Her colleagues are wisecracking (not making fun of her), they obtain a relaxed atmosphere.
Anna puts the component down, takes a deep breath and turns around.

"I want to be part of it."
Colleague A, that has been in the middle of a joke, pauses and looks at her, nonchalantly leaning against a crate.
Colleague B, that she gets a long with rather well, takes a few steps towards her.
All gazes are on her by now.
"Anna..."
"Why not? Grady is on Alpha Omega. I'm the best engeneer round here."
"And so very humble." Colleague A deadpans and walks over to the spacecraft.
Anna looks at Colleague B.
"This discovery is a sensation and I want to be there when they take the thing apart. Perhaps we'll make history."
Her eyes sparkle ambitiously.
"You have to prove yourself. Present something to them, so they cannot deny you."
"I will." She sounds very confident.

Tagged

Here is another meme (been tagged by Carol):

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

A Meme about Various Things

What were you doing ten years ago?
Well, ten years ago I was only almost 15 and went to school. As far as I remember nothing particular happened back then.


What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
(since today is almost over for me, I'll post tomorow's list)
Write
Childrens service
Read
Run errands
Gym

What are some snacks you enjoy?
Chips
Mentos mint
Vegetables with dips

What would you do if you were a billionaire?
Travel
Make writing my job
Donate to charity (and maybe play an active part)
Give some of the money to my family
Buy a house
Get all my bills paid
Get a driver's licence and a car

What are three of your bad habits?
Speaking too quickly
Being a slob sometimes
Being more well-behaved than I feel inside occasionally

What are five places where you have lived?
Essen, Germany
Mülheim, Germany

What are five jobs you have had?
I only ever had the one: Businesswoman (export trades)
First as a trainee
Then at our Import Dept.
Now at the Clearing Dept.

What were the last five books you read?
Der Erlöser (Frelseren)
Eine Tüte grüner Wind
Der Illuminator (The Illuminator)
Mein fast perfektes Leben (How to Talk to a Widower)
The Hobbit

What are five web sites you visit daily (in no particular order)?
Facebook
Google Reader
My blog
Compuserve Writers' Forum
Google.de
Yahoo.de/Youtube.com/Hotmail.com

So, whom to tag... Sarah and Deniz

Revelation

I don't know if I can explain what happened, but here's a try:

A few nights ago, just on the brink of being asleep, I suddenly had a flash behind my eyes and I saw a scene - as clear as if I was watching a movie - and I saw one of the characters of my "new" story.

I was jerked wide awake and lay there for some time, focusing on that picture so it wouldn't get lost.
I had those flashes in the past, but always I had already overstepped the border to sleep. But thankfully not this time.

So, what did I see? A female, shoulder-lenght black curly hair, dressed in some kind of overall, fumbling with a tool (you could see her colleagues and some kind of space-ship behind her). Then she obviously made up her mind because she took a deep breath, laid the tool back down and turned around "I want to be part of it." she said and then the flash was over.

Rather scary but exciting :)

Here are some pics. Just picture the hair to be black.



And I fiddled with Meez a bit:


And this is what the overall looked like (this is Trip Tucker from the Enterprise series [the new old one, dated before Kirk and Co.])

Happy Mothers' Day!

A very long time ago there was this episode of Home Improvement on TV where Al sings a song and the other guys hold up letters made of tools.

My sister and me recorded that and the next Mother's Day played it for our mom and sang along.

Here are the lyrics (I'm not sure who originally wrote it):

"M" is for the million things she gave me,
"O" means only that she's growing old,
"T" is for the tears she shed to save me,
"H" is for her heart of purest gold;
"E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
"R" means right, and right she'll always be,
Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER,"
A word that means the world to me.


I sang my father' praises on Father's Day, but there's just too much to say about my mother to write it down here. But she knows all of it, and really, for us Mother's Day is 365 days a year.

Garden

Over at the Forum people are sharing pics of their gardens.

I don't have a garden myself (not even a balcony *sigh*) but my parents do.

Herb Garden:

Lemon:

Tangerine Tree:

Front garden:

Front garden:

My Dad and me took a lot more pictures, but I think these give a fairly good idea how my parents' garden looks like.

Happy Fathers' Day

to all the fathers out there!

And especially to mine, who taught me a lot of what I know and shares some interests as well (kind of like a mindmate *g*)
And thanks for waking the love for books in me, when I was barely able to read.

Although you occasionally get on my nerves or drive me crazy, although we sometimes fight, I'm still Daddy's girl and wouldn't know what to do without you.



What is A Dad?

A dad is someone who
wants to catch you before you fall
but instead picks you up,
brushes you off,
and lets you try again.

A dad is someone who
wants to keep you from making mistakes
but instead lets you find your own way,
even though his heart breaks in silence
when you get hurt.

A dad is someone who
holds you when you cry,
scolds you when you break the rules,
shines with pride when you succeed,
and has faith in you even when you fail...

~By Susan Ceylise.~

Rivendell and River Run

Sometimes I'm a bit stupid... :)

Here's what happened: I started rereading "The Hobbit" (in English for the first time) and came across the passage where Gandalf, Bilbo and the dwarves come to the Last Homely House. The name "Rivendell" that is used in The Lord of the Rings is only mentioned once, but somewhere the mentiones "River Run".

Here I was, wondering where I knew that name from. Even asked my colleague, who I have a lot of book talk with, and who - through me - knows a lot of the English names in books as well. But she hasn't read the Outlander series (yet *g*).
Barely seconds after leaving her table I remembered. Cross Creek, Jocasta Cameron. Of course! *duh*

Sometimes I'm a bit stupid... :)