Teaser Tuesday!

This is my first teaser, so I'm a bit nervous.

My teaser is a snippet from my WIP (511 words). It's YA fantasy/Greek Mythology/Paranormal romance. :D
It's the POV of my MC Rhea. Hope this isn't too confusing.

*snipped*

The Waiting Game

You know, I'm fairly good at poker. My hubby doesn't stand a chance against me, nor do most of our friends. I'm even quite good at Monopoly (yes, I like to play board games and YES I can hear you think 'freak'!) and at all kinds of other games.

But over the last few weeks I've realized one thing. I suck at the waiting game. I sssuuuuccckkk! As in royally suck.

You don't know what the waiting game is?

Come on, try again.

I'm sure every writer out there knows that game.

And I'm quite sure most of you hate (HATE!!!) it as much as I do.

It's a bit like gambling. Maybe like roulette. Because as soon as that little ball (aka query letter) is out there, there's nothing you can do. You watch and wait. And you hope. But there's nothing you can do.

NOTHING.

But I tell you, roulette is easier and not as nerve-wrecking as the waiting game. Because roulette is over within a few seconds. The ball stops and then you know exactly if you've won or not. But the waiting game? No such luck.

You wait and wait and wait. And there's no guarantee that the little ball will ever stop (aka Will I ever get a response? When do I have to stop hoping for one?) Of course if the ball never stops it's also an answer. Because if it never stops, it will definitely not stop on the field you chose. So you lose, though the ball never stops. But it takes weeks, maybe months until you realize that. Until you stop hoping.

Imagine the stress? If you play roulette the anxiety lasts a few seconds. But in the waiting game? Weeks and months of anxiety. And every time you look at the roulette table (aka your email inbox) you hope the ball has finally stopped (a reply!) and you beg that it has chosen your field to stop. But then after a while you just hope it stops at all, even if it lands on another field (aka rejection) because you want to know.

You need to know.

If you think about it, we writers are the masters of gambling. Because we don't only play at a single roulette table. We play at ten tables, maybe even more. So there are many, many balls we want to stop on our field.

Maybe we enjoy the constant anxiety? The sleepless nights? The sting of rejection?

I don't think we do. But we know if we don't play the waiting game, if we don't throw the little ball and hope for it to land on our field, then we'll never have the chance to win. But we want to win.

And so we bear the anxiety, the sleepless nights, the uncertainty.

So we watch the tiny ball spin and spin and spin. Until it seems like it's all we're doing.

Waiting.

Always waiting.

And hoping.

And never stopping.

Because that's what gamblers do.

Never stop.

And then one day, maybe, we'll hit the jackpot.

And that's the reason why we gamble (aka query) isn't it?

Steph Bowe's Massive book giveaway

So here my dear followers is another contest you might want to enter. You can win books (Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, and many more).
The contest ends April 30th.

Photos

I thought I'd show you some pics from Germany. All of them were taken by me or my husband. Maybe they inspire you. Hope you enjoy.

Berlin. The Brandenburg gate.

Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria.

Courtyard of the castle.

View from the castle.

Schliersee. Lake in Bavaria.

New city hall in Munich.

Nuremberg, Bavaria.

The Semperoper. Opera house of the Saxon State Opera Dresden.

Castle Weesenstein.

Wartburg castle. 1999 added to the World Heritage List of UNESCO.

Elbe Sandstone Mountains

The Bastei bridge. Elbe Sandstone Mountains.

Bremen

Bamberg in Bavaria. Former city hall (Altes Rathaus).

Bamberg. Former city hall.

Another contest!

Another contest you don't want to miss!
Beth Revis, author of spec fic for teens and represented by Merrilee Heifetz of Writers House, celebrates her book deal with a Book Deal Celebration Contest.
There are two prizes:
Prize pack for readers (e.g. $30 gift certificate for Amazon...)
Prize pack for writers (e.g. critique of your query letter and first three chapters...)
The contest ends April 3rd.
I'll enter, and you?

You want to win books?

Check out Storywings' contest. It's called 49-followers-contest (though she has over 300 followers by now! wow!!!)
The blog looks great. You can win all kind of books (like 'Hush, Hush', 'Fallen', 'Shiver', 'Hate List', 'The Hunger Games', and many more...)
I hope I'll be one of the lucky winners. There are so many great books I'd like to win...

SNI - sweeter than chocolate...

I was absolutely determined to revise my manuscript today.

Sadly, a shiny new idea had popped up in my head last night (and I wasn't even wiping off puke! Though, doggy still isn't feeling well...) and it wouldn't stop bugging me.

Yet, I tried to stand fast. Revisions, nothing but revisions today.

Happy about my steadfastness, I took my printed manuscript and began to read. After the first page of chapter 5, I couldn't remember a word I'd read. Shiny new idea was occupying every inch of my brain.

I came to the conclusion that doing some research for SNI couldn't hurt. It would take an hour, maybe two. Then I'd revise.

8 hours later...

I've done my research for SNI. (Thanks to Wikipedia!)

I've finished a two-page synopsis for SNI and a plan for each chapter.

And I've written 5300 words for SNI.

Complete manuscript feels neglected. Maybe I should feel bad. I know I should have used this day to revise.

I know it.

But SNI is like chocolate. I know it's bad for me, but it's too enticing to resist.

Tomorrow I'll revise. Nothing will stop me.

Except for SNI. Maybe.