writing vs taking pictures

again, nothing written ;(
ok, I walked through the botanical garden and the colors of the trees are so amazing at the moment so I took many pictures instead of sitting at home. And through walking I moved my body to burn some calories;)
so hard to motivate myself to stay inside and write. The last 2 years November was so cold, rainy and windy. It was easy to decide to stay at home.
This year the writing month is so beautiful and warm, no real November weather, and the leaves on the trees are so beautiful and because of no freeze most of the trees have their colored leaves... so as a photographer I have to go out - as writer I should stay at home.
My excuse for not writing--I´m no real writer;)just a drafter..
so keep writing out there, I´ll take the pictures for you;)
Here one is

Happy? Sad?

NaNo, day 6-
words written today about 200;(
calories eaten today...uncountable
result: I think I´m participating on NaCaCoMo (National Calories Collecting Month;)
Yesterday, lunch and dinner with friends , driving distance 112 km
today, lunch and dinner, driving distance 50 km
tomorrow, next lunch with friend, driving distance 20 km
the day after tomorrow.......
I don´t find enough time for writing at the moment-although my plot is an interesting one-
but after all these colories and hours in the car I am too tired to even think of writing.
Next weekend, the next b-day party...no writing again.
On the one hand I am a bit frustrated because of my word count and all these calories-
but on the other hand I am happy because of all these great meetings and the delicious food.
So, am I happy, am I sad? Hmm...an hour ago I got a great apple strudel - Yummy!I´m happy;)))



Food corner:
Apple strudel recipe

2. day

Wow, it´s getting tougher. Second day of NaNo and I have to write 1700 words- but till now I managed 1416 words only.
Had to take a break because my Mcs have started a conversation about food.
Result- now i am hungry! And a bit annoyed because of their boring conversation... so, what is next?
a good dinner...ok, a bread with ham is good enough for a NaNo dinner;)
especially after a perfect lunch with roast boar;))
maybe I´ll get another idea how to interrupt my MCs talk...

Keep writing, NaNo-ers!

NaNoWriMo 2011

the novel writing month!
OK, it´s the first day of this month and I nearly forgot it:)
I know the main characters of my story but I´m not sure how to start the whole plot...
Today I have to cook for guests, talk to them so when will there be time to write 1700 words?
Ok, now I´ll stop blogging and start writing my draft.
To all the other NaNoWriMo-ers out there- keep writing!
See you;)

Research

First time I do research for my novel, first time I create charts, mindmaps and draw.
All preparations for NaNoWriMo in November-the novel-writing-month.

I´ve started to use pencil and paper and now I realize, the more ideas I have,
the more my paper size, my DIN norm changes.
Started with DIN A8 (a little block) now I use DIN A4.

At the moment I really enjoy researching, maybe a bit too much.
Because doing it online can lead to much distraction;)
So I have to listen to music on Youtube--all for my future novel.
Lost in the virtual world for some time--today with a good excuse.
Research!
But someone cannot enjoy too much, or?
No.

Now it´s your time to enjoy some music and a great video;)
Music-corner: Celine Dion, Rivers deep, mountains high






 Enjoy your day/night!

Cool blogs and percussion

News-corner:

I found a great top-blog for writers--check it out!
http://writerunboxed.com/

and finally cool page with writer-comics,
http://inkygirl.com/wwfc/ and http://inkygirl.com/

Music-corner: Cool ideas!

I miss a lot

Art is an essential part of my life- and it has turned out that writing means more to me than I have ever thought of.

Because of many reasons I couldn´t post here. I just can use another laptop sometimes and I am not able to post my photos and revise my drafts or be creative for my art-blog-where I received my first award.(Surprise and many thanks to Teca;)

I have so many great pics to share but no possibility at the moment to post them;(
The laptop I use now has no software for "editing" my art;(
I have no access to many email-adresses and all my other data--horrible as well!I haven´t saved my second draft and so many other important things...

I am frustated because I´m not able to work, write and blog as before...
Hope my laptop will be repaired soon!

After a great week in my fav city (thanks B.!) I Just came home from another trip (Balaton-Hungary)and now between writing these lines and preparing for the job I have to get ready for visiting my parents in the evening...
I don´t spend a lot of time at home at the moment but that´s ok.

There´d be so much to tell but no time right now. No time for music links,.....but I take some time for advertising a book although I haven´t read the whole (I just got it)
I have never recommended a book in this stage of reading-- but the beginning is so interesting and the style of writing so great and different- that I break my own rule
get Chris Cleave´s "Little Bee" and be ready for the unexpected,...

Have a great week, my friends!

Happy Mother´s Day;)

Poem-Corner:

A Mother...

 When you're a child she walks before you,

To set an example.

When you're a teenager she walks behind you

To be there should you need her.

When you're an adult she walks beside you

So that as two friends you can enjoy life together..

(Source)

 

Music-corner:

Happy weekend!    

Life- a never ending learning journey

Ok, I try to keep calm.....(deep breath,  another deeper breath)

I just learnt something new.
Great, another new experience! you might think.
Here is today´s great new insight I want to share with you for free:

Never ever try to save written work in an e-mail attached file.
Why?
Your work won´t be saved.
The result of my 2 hours writing session?
A document without comments;((((((((( Don´t ask me how this could have happed.
And I wrote so much--and nothing was saved --although I pressed the save-button.
(Again a deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep breath to get over the disappointement)

I should have saved the whole file in one of my word-document-orders first.

So, see?
I´ve learnt something new. The hard way....

Time to get some distraction again.
It´s not my week for writing...

Music-corner:





But isn´t life great? Full of so many learning opportunities! I´d rather be happy now;/

Fighting Censorship?!

Today was my last holiday;( Knowing about this weeks daily must-to-do work I decided to go on with my revisions of my second draft. I  revised the whole afternoon- from 2 to 6- with 2 short breaks in between.
Pheww!!

The funny thing was that I forgot many scenes- they were so new to me! Really interesting to start revisions after 3 months again. (But difficult to remember as well! I have no idea what I wanted to say with some unfinished sentences! Help!)

Some scenes were filled with so much cruelty (good for tension!), others were so irreal or in some parts the main character (MC) only used the F-word or varieties of it in many sentences.
Ok, he was very angry in that scene but couldn´t he use other cuss words? Who the hell did write these scenes??;)

Now I am in the position to decide whether to use the F-word or not.
Censorship or not- that´s the question.

But on the one hand I fight censorship in books and stand up for freedom of thoughts- censorship would restrict my freedom of expression.To get a realistic scene, the MC had to use these words. So why shouldn´t I use it ?

On the other hand I´ve never written such an aggressive scene before nor did I write down the F-word. Ok, it´s my second draft, my second story- but these could be other reasons for my indecision....Hmmm.....

So?

To get the scene alive I have to use the unwanted word- BUT

the next trouble, the next decision: Should I really write the whole word? Or just make some dots in between?

My MC would laugh at me and tell me to write down the whole word because he would speak in that way.

So what is the best for the reader? What´s the best for the writer?

I have never imagined that one single word could cause such problems! ****

Readers are different and I cannnot give satisfaction to every reader- that´s impossible- unfortunately;(

One word - so many decisions!

I hope to find a good solution for this scene because I won´t delete it- it´s too essential.

Easter holidays, food and revisions

Hope you had great easter days;)

We had the perfect weather-like in summer.

Now I have enough energy for revisiong N2;)

Just have to be more consequent and write one hour a day, than I´d be ready soon.

It´s a lot easier to revise during holidays than after work...and bad weather helps me as well to go on with my revisions.

Anyway, have a good one;) and enjoy the music!

               
                                        

Recipe-Corner:

Apple Tiramisu is easy to make and very variable. I made it today for the next family meeting and it was great! And kids will love it;)

Music-Corner:
Eros Ramazotti and Tina Turner Cosas de la vida

For writers

Best Agents blogs:
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/Announcing+The+Best+Agent+Blogs+Of+2011.aspx

Check it out;)

Springtime Lethargy

Springtime lethargy! Are you tired as well? I nearly cannot stand up in the morning, in the afternoon it´s hard to to my job and then I go to bed so early! Like a very long jetlag....Hope it´s over soon.

Need to post this blossoms--reminds me of warmer weather some weeks ago. Today- just cold , windy and some snowflakes. Yes, it´s that cold again here!

But therefore I finished revising my assignment! Thank God! Now I have time to revise my other 2 novel drafts;) LOL!!! Ok, I need some time for doing nothing but sleeping. As I said before- springtime lethargy!

Music-corner:
The fitting music in this case: Brahms Lullaby, oh, sweet childhood memories;))

So,  enjoy Brahms´ music and sleep well! I ´ll do that;)

Revisions and Vacations

The first BBQ this year- yeahh!!!

Beautiful weather, butterflies, twittering of birds, smell of flowers....sooooooooooo relaxing!

It was great to have a little break between my revisions.

I was angry about my laziness in the last days; I didn´t revise a lot (because of the great weather and too many other things).

Ok, it wasn´t the weather´s fault.

It has been my own fault not to finish revisions on time.

My deadline was the end of March, now it´s April;(

but today I revised the missing last 40 + pages, so just 3 pages are left.

I ´ve organized another meeting with friends- and then, I want to be finished. So, just a few days are left, then I have to be ready. I don´t want to revise the draft anylonger-

it´s so exhausting to revise mostly in the evening...

it´s about time to do something else in the sun;)

I want some days off-I need them!! Just let me dream of vacations!

Music-corner: Vacation-song by Nelly Furtado: VACACIÒN!!!! Great music for dreaming of vacations;) Just listen and think of sea, sun and whatever you need to be happy and relax;)

Re-, re-, re-.....

Reading, rewriting- revising... that will be my job for the next hours.
At the moment I have troubles with the "re-". I love to write and read my draft but after a time, it gets hard and harder.
I try to avoid the word "boring" because that wouldn´t fit.
But the "re- process" isn´t as thrilling as the actual act of composing for me.

What an insight, isn´t it? Lol;))))

So, today will be a challenge- I have to reread my assignment, rethink some expressions and paragraphs, rewrite some sentences- have to revise my draft.

Why is it so difficult to do the "re-thing"? I mean for me? I know other people who don´t seem to have problems in revising drafts. Some are able to do revisions again and again. I wish to have their skills, their patience, sometimes.

And here I am now, blogging -instead of revising. Here I can create something new; even if it doesn´t interest anyone but me;))) The writing is  "new", sometimes I get comments on this writing, get feedback.
Maybe that´s the problem with revising other drafts.

Not just maybe, it´s a fact that a lack of feedback doesn´t help to increase intrinsic motivation.
Ok, explaining this doesn´t help me to go on with my revisions. I have known this before...

Maybe I just have to think of my future readers. (Will I have some?) I want them to have fun with my writings; I want them to get new insights. Maybe these thoughts provide enough motivation for revising my writing now...hopefully.

Ok, ready, steady and go.
Go and revise.
GOOOO!

ok, I´ll do that now, till next time;)

Time flies

I have the feeling that Í haven´t done anything productive for some weeks- although it isn´t true. I´ve revised my writing, done enough work for the job, ... and we are nearing the end of March!
Due to the doctor´s advice I have started to do some sports but after my fall this hasn´t been that easy. I wanted to start complaining about my shoulder and so on but than I thought about the people in Japan and then all my "troubles" seemed to be so irrelevant.
I´m in the lucky position to be able to visit the doctors and get help; I hope that many people will donate for Japan that the doctors without borders, Caritas, Red Cross an other organisations are able to help many of them there, too.

Well, I hope to get my revisions done till the end of March, I have to. But now I have reached a point where I cannot stand reading the same passages again and again. Bored of my own writing? No, not bored. It´s quite interesting- but I needed a break to be able to reread it again.
I had to stop revising it because I would have shortened the whole introduction and other parts. But I was told it is ok the way it is and I shouldn´t change it...Ok. But the more you read the more you want to change sometimes...

Good, anyway, happy weekend and make the best of your day;)

Music-Corner:
Great guitar player-Matteo Negrin- plays Nora Jones´"Don´t know why"

Weekend!!!

Step by step, little by little , I get my writing done. I thought to be ready soon...lol!
But I haven´t thought of formatting problems...At the moment, I´m ok with that, have enough time to get it done. Time to go to a b-day party ;)) therefore the songs in the

Music-corner:

Celebrate good times;)




Have a great evening!

Writing Contest

Writers, check this out!
Pacific Northwest Writers Association-
"Every entry accepted in the contest will receive two –critiques—a useful tool for any writer."

Good luck;)

Food-corner:
Just tasted a new tea- Meßmer Inca-Tea- allspice,coriander, clove,fennel, cinnamon, orange + something I haven´t known before: Lapacho Bark. Really good.




Amazon.de

   

Photos from Austria;)

Being able to spend time on writing is so great, I´ve missed it a lot;)
Now I use my free time for revising, blogging,... aahh, so cool and relaxing!

Like a cold drink in the heat...

To my revisions- I´m learning every day something new abbout my MCs, really interesting. I´ve forgotten so many thing, I´ve forgotten scenes I´ve written in November,...now many things, events or characters seem to be nearly new to me;)

So, it isn´t boring to act as a "detective" at the moment. (see last post)

I think, my second novel is written in a better way than my first.Shouldn´t sound arrogant, but writing a lot improves writing, that´s for sure. I really enjoy reading it. Well, the plot of novel 1 is more developed-because I could spend more time on writing it. That´s no excuse for plot 2;))) that one is ok for me.

I forgot the reason for posting today- to introduce a photographer, Julius Silver-

with great photos of Austria (and other countries)- check them out and enjoy the beauty of that country!

Photo-corner: Austria- by J. Silver

You have to have a look!!

Revision- detective-game

Today I had enough motivation and energy to start again with my revision process.
This time revision is different from last year´s. Last November I made lists of  my characters before starting to write the novel. I knew about their job, their age and family situation,... all in all , I knew basic infos about the MCs. With my key data I began to write and developed the plot.

This year I just knew that my MC was male, I knew his nationality and wanted him to have troubles in his life. That was all. Surprisingly for me, I managed to write more than 50.000 words without enough data collection before.

But-- now I have to make lists of my MCs , after writing. Interesting thing. Because of no list and basic infos, the names, the age of persons, their family status quo,....everything changed throughout the story.

Once the person is married, then she is a widow, one time the MC lives in the city , 60 pages later he lives with his parents in a village,....

My o my, enough to do.

But I´m feeling like a detective, like Columbo, trying to find out all about a person´s life;) So this time the revision process is more fun for me, it´s thrilling;) you never know what happens next.
But to be honest, it´s more complicated, too.

10 pages later I found out about the difference in age--so I can jump back and find the place, where I have to correct something. That´s a bit nerve wracking.
Hopefully I´ll have enough energy to handle that "searching-game".
Keep writing and have fun!