Tuesday's Top Ten

I almost forgot today was Tuesday. Since I've become a fulltime writer, I tend to forget the weekdays...
But anyway, today you'll get my top ten movies (umm...problem is I couldn't just choose 10):

1. Kill Bill
2. Ice Age
3. Bad Boys
4. Ocean's Eleven
5. Alien
6. Lethal Weapon
7. X-Men
8. Men in Black
9. The Silence of the Lambs
10. Die hard
11. Lord of the Rings
12. Waterworld
13. Indiana Jones
14. Mission Impossible
15. Pirates of the Caribbean

The list could go on and on. I love movies. Especially movies with action, blood, humor and high stakes. I'm not the romance movie type of girl. I think my husband's very glad about that!

Btw, I got a glimpse at a cover draft for THE OTHER LIFE yesterday!!! I can't wait to share it with you!

Help Write Now Auction!

I'm sure you've all heard about the Help Write Now Auction that is taking place at the moment.

I want to point out two special items you can bid for:

1. A prize pack from the GotYA girls. We're offering 50 page manuscript critique + a query critique + a 10 page manuscript critique from Claudia Gabel, editor of Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of Harper Collins + books.
Doesn't that sound awesome??? You can still bid for it!

2. Apocalypsies package! What's offered: A 50 page crit from 5 Apocalypsies + a query crit from 5 Apocalypsies + a synopsis crit from 4 Apocalypsies + an ARC of STARCROSSED + a 10 page manuscript crit from editor Stacy Cantor Abrams (Walker Books).
Amazing, right? You should hurry because there isn't much time left to bid!

Tuesday's Top Ten

It's Tuesday and a cold is trying to kill me. *sigh* I didn't get more than four hours of sleeping from all the coughing.
But now it's time for my top ten desserts!

1. Bread and Butter Pudding with caramelized bananas
2. Eton Mess (strawberries, meringue and cream)
3. Tiramisu
4. Panna Cotta
5. Mousse au Chocolat
6. Crème Brûlée
7. Chocolate Soufflé
8. Oreos ice cream.
9. Lemon-meringue-cake
10. German Baumkuchen (a layered cake)

Oh, and one word: home-made. Always home-made (except for the Baumkuchen. That's too complicated!).
Now I'm hungry but sadly my cold is affecting my stomach, so nothing but tea and some porridge for me.
What are your favorite desserts?

Book Wars!

It's going to be bloody and brutal and merciless and...

Or maybe not, but you should check it out anyway. What I'm talking about?

"The Book Wars - Historical vs. Dystopian" hosted by YA Book Reads.

Writers like Saundra Mitchell (The Vespertine), Catherine Fisher (Incarceron), Y.S. Lee (The Agency) and many more debate in their guest posts why they write/love dystopian or historical fiction.

AND I'm happy to say that I was invited to write a guest post. It's titled "Nothing is Scarier Than The Unknown" and you can read it here.
And, of course, I'm talking about my love for dystopian. The Other Life is a dystopian thriller after all!

So my lovely followers, please leave a comment on my guest post and tell me here or over on the YA book reads blog if you love dystopian or historical or maybe both?

Tuesday's Top Ten

I think this blog needs more randomness. That's why I'm starting Tuesday's Top Ten. Every Tuesday (duh!) I'll post my top ten movies, books, food, cities, animals etc until I'll run out of things to list.

Today we'll start with one of my absolute favorite things...

...food.

(not in any particular order)

1. Eggs Benedict (Whenever my husband and I are in a hotel I order them for breakfast. LOVE them, especially with spinach and smoked salmon)

2. Pizza with arugula, Parmesan cheese and prosciutto di Parma

3. Kimchee Bockum (Spicy Korean dish)

4. Chili Con Carne (the spicier the better)

5. Saltimbocca (Italian food – yum!)

6. Vitello Tonnato (chilled veal in tuna sauce – can't get enough of it)

7. Risotto (with lemon, peas or mushrooms)

8. Burgers ( Any kind. I'm not picky when it comes to burgers)

9. Moussaka (Greek food - yum)

10. Lasagna

I love to cook, so I've already cooked almost all of the above (except for the Eggs Benedict and the Kimchee Bockum).

So what are your favorite dishes?

Good News!

Sorry for the long silence! I've been busy writing. I finished two first drafts in the last two weeks. One is the draft for the sequel to THE OTHER LIFE and the other is a secret project (nicknamed ALOMF).
BUT that's not the good news I wanted to tell you.
Here it is (from Publishers Marketplace):

Rights to Susanne Winnacker's THE OTHER LIFE, to Anja Schleicher at Heyne in Germany, in a two-book deal, at auction, and to Fernando Baracchini at Novo Conceito in Brazil, by Alex Webb at Rights People on behalf of Julia Churchill at Greenhouse Literary Agency.

THE OTHER LIFE goes international!

Brazil and Germany. *happydance*

Maybe I should start learning Portuguese and plan a visit to Brazil!

I don't need to plan a trip to Germany nor do I have to learn the language.

I live in Germany and German is my first language and my family doesn't speak English well enough to read my books in English, so it was very important for me that my book would be translated into German.

And Heyne? They are part of Random House and a fabulous publisher. They publish writers like Stephen King, John Grisham, Patricia Briggs (who writes the Mercy Thompson series that I loooove) and Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series.

Long story short: I couldn't be happier.

Back from London!

I spent the last few days in London with my husband. It's only an one hour flight from where we live in Germany but it was only the second time that I was there.

I loved it. Not just because of the sightseeing but because I finally met my lovely agent Julia Churchill! I had lunch with her, my editor Rebecca and Anna from Usborne. And I had dinner with my amazing crit partner Tracy and her husband.

Meeting all those people reminded me again why I love publishing so much. The people are just awesome.

Before we arrived in London I promised my husband not to buy books because we booked our flight with Ryanair and they don't allow passengers to take lots of luggage. Well, I was determined not to get any new books but then I saw the book shop and went in. My husband got that resigned glint in his eyes when he watched me browsing the books. I managed to take only seven new books back home with me. That's not too bad, I guess.

Oh, and I finally had Fish & Chips!

Check out my guest post for The League of Extraordinary Writers! It's about aliens and apocalypse and X-Files!