New cats

I'm a cat mama again :) While I don't paticularly like that expression (I'm not their mama), they are babies still, both 3 months old.

They are from a litter of cats that all look almost the same and my sister (who took the other two sisters) and me had a bit of a hard time to sort out who was who when I finally took mine home yesterday. :)
We know how to tell them apart, but if you don't see all four at the same time... :)

Both give me a "hard time" because I don't have enough hands and arms to cuddle both at the same time as much as they want to. :D

Laoghaire:

Meara:

Born of Hope

Only 11 days to go!! The new trailer looks awesome!

NaNoWriMo, Day 5

I would have needed to write 5000 words today (oh, yesterday, it's past midnight *gah*) to make up for the non-writing of the last two days.

Only, I mentioned I wouldn't have much time today either and right now I'm way too tired and uninspired to go on. At least I got 1725 words today, that leaves me with 4942 words tomorrow (instead of 6667).
That's the only positive thing right now (writing related)...

NaNoWriMo, Day 3

No words today. I thought I could get them in between two appointments but I didn't. But I have been thinking about what I could write, so that counts for something, doesn't it? :)

At least I have a bit of a scene in my head, so I know what will happen next.

Thing is, I don't think I'll write tomorrow either, I'm out and about all day. But - seeing as my godfather has a meeting in the evening - I might skip going to the cinema alone and write then. We'll see.
And depending on how awake I am tomorrow morning, I might write on the train :)

If not, 5000 words on Thursday when I don't have time either. Great :D

Book giveaway

Susan is celebrating her 500+ Twitter followers. Celebrate with her and have a chance to win a book!
(Who doesn't want to win a book??)

Contest can be found here.

NaNoWriMo, Day 2

1789 words today

Churned them out within about 1 hour, and I feel kinda mentally exhausted now, but good nonetheless. :)

NaNoWriMo, Day 1

1696 words today. Yahoo! :)

I must be crazy for doing this - and with a new project no less! - but I feel good about that one.
I don't have a working title yet (only again a main character that named herself :) ) and maybe I'll write a synopsys later.

I looked through my notes yesterday (it's really only a mail folder where I put all those e-mails with ideas I used to send myself from work) and found notes to a story that I still very much like. Only not the circumstances I originally thought this to happen in (after WW 2). So I thought a bit, and a bit more and came to the decision that since I love fantasy/science fiction and always wanted to write a book in one of those genres (I started one book for each way back, but nevergot around to much with) I could place the story in a fantasy/AU universe. So there. I'm quite happy with this at the moment. And I really hope and pray that I will see this through this time :) I have quite a few ideas already, and I'm sure I'll be able to pull off the 50,000 words. Probably very crappy 50,000 words, but words no less. I have all the time to edit later and even to decide to not do anything with it. But maybe I'll like it well enough at the end of the month that I will give the story a chance.


Total word count: 1696

New blog

No, not mine.

But four writers friends of mine joined together. So GO CHECK IT OUT! :) All the World's Our Page

And they are even giving books away already!

Cologne - done

What fun times!

Meeting Christina and seeing McFly for the first time. Incredible! :D

See some vids here and tons of others when you search Youtube :)

Back again and going ;)

After my midlife crisis at the age of 26... No it wasn't really that bad :) but I was really upset that after half a year of being unemployed, and making searching for a new job my job, my efforts showed no results.
I knew the day would come soon (yesterday) when I was officially unemployed and that was something I had tried to avoid.
So after coming back from Poland (my stay there being the trigger in some ways) I sat down and thought a bit about my life. How I want to approach people and what I'm willing to take from people from now on. What I expect from a new job and where I'm willing to compromise or not. What other areas of employment could make me happy (like not only the commercial one). What I could do for myself to feel better, what is important to me.
So after thinking about all that and more I came to some conclusions.

This is a writer's blog and what has all of the above do do with writing? I think that the changes and progress I'm about to make in my life will affect my writing as well. No, I don't think so, I know. Everything in your life affects your writing.
First I thought I'd start with something completely new, get rid of old "weight". But that's stupid. I love my WIPs and my characters. Some of them have been with me for some years. I think I "just" need to find a new way for them and me to guide them through their story.
I won't commit myself like saying "today I'll write this and that and tomorrow that much" but I promised myself I'd go back to work :)

So, wish me luck and patience and good ideas :)

Poland - done

I'm baaaaack. And I had such a great, inspiring and lovely time! I thoroughly enjoyed myself :)

If you want to see some pictures (if you haven't already seen them on Facebook) go here.
Questions are welcome :)

I'll be away

I don't know if anyone is interested in this (probably not *lol*), but if you ever need to know, these are the dates when I'm on holiday, as planned so far (and this is for me as well, to keep track *g*)

1 to 15 August: 3rd CCN Youth Conference, Krzyżowa, Poland

probably calendar week 37: Dorian Gray premiere, London, UK

14 to 16 September: Cologne, Germany (McFly concert on the 15th)

27 to 30 November: London, UK (New Moon and sight-seeing)

Jen hosts a contest

I won't enter, because there's no Barnes & Noble anywhere near here, but this should be fun (for any of you) anyhow :)

http://jenniferhendren.blogspot.com/2009/07/contest.html

ETA: Now I DID enter :)

Writing Marathon, Day 2

For today I have planned the following:

- translating and typing what I wrote yesterday CHECK
- writing at least three hours, 2000-4000 words
- reading in the sun for about 2 hours in the afternoon CHECK

The rest that was originally scheduled for today can wait :)


ETA: 927 new words today. I can do much better. *grumble* On the plus side, I received very nice praise for what I wrote yesterday :)

Writing Marathon, Day 1

Another marathon on BaWC.

I won't be able to be as fiercly dedicated as Jen suggests, as I do have a life outside of writing (No! Really? Would you have thought that? *g* ) that just this week demands my attention as well.

So I plan to write an hour, do the stuff that needs to be done for an hour, write an hour... Rinse and repeat.

I'll be working on that love story. Ideally I'll get about 4 hours of writing, 2000-4000 words, 2 hours of reading in the sunshine and some new ideas today.


ETA: Got 2 hours 20 minutes writing time and 1863 words.
Snip here

Progress

523 new words.

Not bad considering I wrote them between midnight and 1am this night because I could't sleep :)

Flowers

I think the most rewarding thing to take photos of are flowers, as they are always beautiful.

I did quite a few shots lately, so here's a link instead of posting the pics. Enjoy! :)

Two snippets

of the silly love story ;)

„Cassie, ich glaube der Besuch ist für dich.“
Und ich glaubte mich trifft der Schlag. Ich konnte fühlen wie mir die Kinnlade runter klappte; was mir noch nie passiert war.
Mein Besucher kam mit ausgestreckter Hand auf mich zu.
„Hey, mein Name ist Joel.“
Joel-ich-bin-der-heißeste-Kerl-auf-diesem-Planeten-Whittacker. Hier im Büro!
Ich schaffte es endlich meinen Mund zu zuklappen und von meinem Stuhl aufzustehen.


"Cassie, I think this visitor is for you."
And I think I just got the shock of my life. I could feel my jaw drop; something that had never happened to me before.
My visitor approached with his hand outstretched.
"Hey, my name is Joel."
Joel-I-am-the-hottest-guy-on-earth-Whittacker. Here in this office!
I finally managed to shut my mouth and stand up from my chair.

-----

Ich hatte fast die ganze Nacht kein Auge zu machen können, hatte dann verschlafen und weder Zeit gehabt, mir zu Hause einen Tee zu kochen, noch, mir unterwegs einen zu besorgen. Und jetzt war auch noch dieser dämliche Wasserkocher kaputt!
Ich war ohne meine morgendliche Dosis Tee genauso unausstehlich, wie Miller ohne seinen Kaffee. Und Miller war wirklich ein Stinkstiefel.
Frustriert ließ ich mich auf meinen Stuhl fallen als vor mir plötzlich ein Becher materialisierte.
"Guten Morgen."
Ich ließ mich weder davon ablenken, dass Joel zu früh dran war, noch, dass seine Haare ziemlich sexy verwuschelt waren, sondern griff mir den Becher und atmete tief ein. Earl Grey!
"Mein Held!"
Ich tauchte lange genug aus meinem Tee-High auf um zu bemerken was ich gesagt hatte und zu wem und rot zu werden, bevor ich einen großen Schluck nahm um diese Peinlichkeit zu überspielen. Um mir dann prompt die Zunge zu verbrennen.
Davis rettete mich, in dem sie an meinem Schreibtisch vorbeistolperte und "Oh mein Gott, bist du nicht Joel Whittacker?" hervorstieß.


I had gotten close to no sleep the whole night, had then overslept and neither had had time to make myself some tea at home nor to stop for one on my way to work. And now this stupid kettle was broken!
Without my morning dose of tea I was as insufferable as Miler without his coffee. And Miller really was a grumbler.
Frustrated I let myself fall onto my chair, when suddenly a cup materialised in front of me.
"Good morning."
I didn't let myself be distracted by the fact that Joel was too early, nor that his hair was tousled sexily, but grabbed for the cup and inhaled deeply. Earl Grey!
"My hero!"
I surfaced long enough from my tea-high to notice what I said and to whom and to blush before I took a big mouthful of tea to cover my embarrassment. Only to promptly burn my tongue.
Davis saved me by stumbling past my desk and stuttering "Oh my gosh, aren't you Joel Whittacker?".

My characters usually come with full names, and Joel was Joel from the start. But I had to think of a surname for him. Those who know me and share my Ben Barnes obsession, will recognise the name. I have watched Easy Virtue one too many times in the last few weeks ;)

Progress

Did I write? DID I write? No! *hangs head in shame*

Procrastination ist just too much fun. I'll need to go back to pen and paper or I'll never get anything done in the near future...

I have no words

Read this post on Cake Wrecks:

This past week I read a story on how rapper Kanye West is a "proud non-reader" and, despite the fact that he recently wrote a 52-page book of "Kanye-isms" that he would like you to buy and read yourself, he has "no respect" for books. Or to put it in his own words,

"Sometimes people write novels and they just be so wordy and so self-absorbed. I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book's autograph."

That's good, Kanye, since it's a right pain to get a book to even hold a pen, much less autograph itself.

I'm banging my head and weep alongside Jen.

This is unbelievable!

Progress

It actually looks like this "silly love story" is taking shape more and more. Well see...

Progress

I wrote 14 pages in longhand today. It's just something I wrote for myself, so it didn't do anything for the progress on Ella or Before and After.

But, I did write. And I actually liked what I wrote. I proved to myself that I still CAN. :) That should be the motivation to get going again.

And if all else fails, I chuck out Fantasy and SciFi and finish this silly little love story ;)

Star Trek XI

Saw the movie last night! WOW!

It's even better that I expected from seeing the trailer. It completely blew me away. My sister and me cried during the first 5 minutes already :) and then were like Whoa! and then Whee! and Wow! and... You notice I'm a complete ST enthusiast? :)

STAR TREK

Ella II

I could salvage a bit more, am now at 10,741 words.

That sounds a bit better...

Ella

I have decided to completely rework Ella.

What I did first was throw away all scenes and tidbits I feel I cannot work with anymore.
And I'm down to 4502 words. Previous word count: 54,770

Fun.

Born of Hope

For all the Lord of the Rings fans: do you know about this?

I didn't and I'm rather excited now :)

Spring

New Harry Potter trailer

I'm too excited for words

Happy Easter!

London

Weehoo! I'll be in London from 27 Nov to 30 Nov with my sister! I'm sooo excited!!

We were there July 2007 last, and for one and a half days only.

And this time I'm planning to see a few things: Buckingham Palace (the hotel is right around the corner), the Twining's shop&museum, Christmas market (if it's already open), The Tower maybe. And a lot of other stuff, if we can manage. Gods, I don't think I'll sleep much. But it will be soooo worth it!

And we'll defenitely be going to the cinema: New Moon and (depending on release date; some sites say 18 Sept, some say November) Dorian Gray with Collin Firth and Ben Barnes.


ETA: Just booked the flight and hotel. Sheesh, I'm completely hyper now.

DABWAHA and TSL Contest

First of all, you have to vote for Jo's The Spymaster's Lady at DABWAHA!!!
Jo will post the link as soon as voting is open.

Second: Jo has posted a contest on her blog with a very nice prize. If that won't get you to vote, I don't know what will...

Props for Writers

Got this from Susan

And I had a really hard time only choosing three each :)

1. Name 3 "classic" (however you choose to define that term) authors you love to read.

J.R.R. Tolkien
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Jane Austen

2. Name 3 current authors you love to read.

Diana Gabaldon
Ken Follett
Wolfgang Hohlbein

3. Name 3 authors you admire for their skill.

Claire Gregory
J.R.R. Tolkien
Jonathan Safran Foer

4. Name 3 authors you admire for their persistence in this crazy, potentially soul-sucking gig.

Anyone in this crazy business should get an award

5. Name 3 authors who deserve props for their support of other writers.

Diana Gabaldon
Joanna Bourne
Jen Hendren

6. Name 3 people who really "get" your work--whose love of your stuff carries you through.

My colleague
The M:A Ladies
People on Books&Writers
(I haven't shown my stuff to anyone else)

7. And for a switch, name the 3 things you love most about writing.

The escape
The creation of things
The satisfaction when someone likes something you've written

It's *really* official now

Diana's new book, An Echo in the Bone will be out on 22 September 2009.

Go here to see the statement on her homepage, where you can also have a look at the cover*.

Yai, can't wait! :)



*I'm wondering what the colour for the German edition will be. The last one was black already and Diana originally wanted a very dark purple for this one. Well, wait and see as Diana is wont to say :)

Weather

A hail storm is currently unloading itself over my city. Fun...

It's spring, d@amn it!!

Pet Peeve

This is totally random, please bear with me (just need to get it off my chest, or I'll burst *g*).


Every time I have watched the Chronicles of Narnia-Prince Caspian movie so far, I always started at a certain point of the final good-bye scene in the German version.
Then I watched the English version a few times. And finally, finally it clicked.

The Pevensie kids are talking about not coming back (Peter and Susan at least) bla bla. Then Peter tells Lucy that he thinks Edmund and her will come back.
He says "I think he [Aslan] means you to."

And what did they do with the dubbing? "Irgendwie glaube ich, er meint euch." which translates to "I think he means you two."

Well, there is a difference between to and two! And don't tell me they didn't know this expression. They should be professionals for heavens sake!
Waaaah! :)
This is so out of context, no wonder I was always like "What is he talking about?"

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In the End

My Life in iTunes

RULES:

1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.

4. Tag 5 friends

5. Everyone tagged has to do the same thing.

6. Have Fun!

The song selection on my Media Player is not that good at the moment. But here goes:

IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY?

Fascination by Alphabeat

Well, they do sing "fascination, it's just the way we feel".


HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?

In Scandinavia by Runrig

Well, I don't how this fits.


WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

I'd wait for life by Take That

For the right one? Maybe. But I'd rather they don't take so long. :)


HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

The way you look tonight by Frank Sinatra

The way I look tonight is happy I guess. And I've been happy today. :)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?

Strawberry Swing by Coldplay

Let me start with saying that I LOVE strawberries.

And I really like this line: People moving all the time / Inside a perfect straight line / Don't you wanna just curve away?


WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?

Concerning Hobbits – Fellowship of the Ring OS

Um... no lyrics here. But this is a very happy, uplifting song showing all the vitality and easiness the hobbits have, and yeah... I kinda like people better when they are happy :)


WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?

Viva la Vida by Coldplay


WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

Everybody's someone by Brian McFadden and Delta Goodrem

Well.. yes... A good someone I hope.


WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

Ghetto Gospel by 2Pac and Elton John


WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

Wire to Wire by Razorlight

How do you interpret this?


WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

Go all the way by Perry Farrell

Yeah, all or nothing. (Although the lyrics imply something entirely else – but I will ignore that for this question *g*)


WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

Hearts of Olden Glory by Runrig

Did I mention that this song always reminds me of Murtagh?


WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

The ride of the Rohirrim – The Return of the King OS

The last charge to conquer the enemy and prevail hope. Yes, I like this. (and I love the Edoras/Rohirrim theme anyhow)


WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

I wish I was a punkrocker by Sandi Thom

Hell, yeah!


WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?

Broken Strings by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado

Hm...


WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?

Sie sieht mich nicht by Xavier Naidoo

Translation: She does not see me. About a guy that admires a woman from afar, thinking she is perfect (at least) and he is and has nothing to compare.

What does this say about me, if we take this seriously? :) I have complexes ;)


WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?

Why does it always rain on me by Travis

I take this to mean: I want this damn all-week drizzle to stop already!


WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

Clash of the Ash by Runrig

Listening to the song, makes me think of PAAARTAY!!!

And the gane itself looks like a fun sport.


WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

In the End by Linkin Park

Yes, this is the end.
And I think pretty much everyone has been tagged now. If you are not, go for it.

Werewolf

One thing is constantly tearing at my mind at the moment. The question 'What enemy do werewolves have?'

Vampire comes to mind immediately (yes, I read Twilight too ;) ) but that is a bit cliché. Is there nothing else? Some kind of demon or something?
I’m not so well versed in demon lore ;) so I don’t know which one would make a good werewolf opponent..
Of course, one can always invent an enemy/demon…

So, any suggestions anyone?

I'm not dead

Just very occupied.

I hope the M:A ladies especially forgive me for not getting in touch in the last couple of weeks.

Next month will be better, I swear.


I am Very busy. Big job to do:

M:A Progress

Mon
Aim: 300
Result: 0

Tue
Aim: 400
Result 564

M:A Progress

Sun
Aim: 2500
Result: 2047


Week
Aim: 2500
Result: 2047

M:A Progress

Wed
Aim: 300
Result: 0

Thu
Aim: 400
Result: 0

Fri
Aim: 400
Result: 0

Sat
Aim: 300 and putting all scenes into one file
Result: 0, but did the file


Oh my, that leaves me with 2500 words to write tomorrow, if I don't want another M:A punishment :) I think I'll go to bed now, get up early and get to work (we go sledging tomorrow, so I really need to pull this off in the morning)

M:A Progress

Mon
Aim: 400
Result: 0

Tue
Aim: 400
Result: 0

Love snow

The sun has come out now and it's lovely outside.

More pictues here: Flickr

The only downside is, we have a little bit of snow and there's chaos on the street. We just don't get snow often anymore and are not prepared. I think the last time it snowed "this much" was in 2004.

Winter Wondeland

My photos are not nearly as spectacular as Pam's, but here's what I woke up to this morning:




20cm of new snow (with ice underneath) and the snow clearing services are not out yet. Public transportation is non existent round here at the moment, and I cannot go to work.

Maybe I'll go out later (when there's more light) and take a few more pictures.

M:A Progress

Sun
Aim: 250
Result: 297

Week
Aim: 2500
Result: 3035


I'm proud of me :)

Salkin?

If he played Salkin,

(Michael Weatherly)

I sooo want to be Anna. *yum* ;)

M:A Progress

Wed
Aim: 500
Result: 0

Thu
Aim: 250
Result: 0

Fri
Aim: 250
Result: 187

Sat
Aim: 250
Result: 1102

Resolutions for 2009

I have been thinking if there was anything I really do want to do in 2009

And only one thing came up:

Finish the SFD of Before and After (preferably by week 26; that would mean 2500 new words every week. Doable, right?)

Happy New Year!

Books I've read in 2008

Just for the records:

Original titles in brackets

- Spymaster's Lady
- Tintenherz
- Tintenblut
- Tintentod
- Die Tore der Welt (World Without End)
- The Silmarillion
- Der Erlöser (Frelseren)
- Eine Tüte grüner Wind
- Der Illuminator (The Illuminator)
- Mein fast perfektes Leben (How to Talk to a Widower)
- The Hobbit
- The Smoke Thief
- Rache und Rosen (Pirate's Price)
- The Dream Thief
- Die Glasbücher der Traumfresser (The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters)
- Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows
- Everything is Illuminated
- My Lord and Spymaster
- Ein Mann wie Mr. Darcy (Jane Austen’s Guide to Dating)
- Vermiss mein nicht (A place called here)
- Unfinished Tales
- Tod auf dem Jakobsweg
- Tales from the Perilous Realm
- Bis(s) zum Morgengrauen (Twilight)
- The Eyes of A King
- Midnight Sun - Official Partial Draft
- Roverandom
- Bis(s) zur Mittagsstunde (New Moon)
- Die Bücherdiebin (The Book Thief)
- Die Wunschliste (The Next Thing On My List)
- Bis(s) zum Abendrot (Eclipse)
- Unendlichkeit (Revelation Space)
- Cost of Freedom
- Breaking Dawn
- Im Aufruhr der Gefühle (Smuggler's Bride)
- Beedle the Bard
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- Tree and Leaf