Monday, March 22, 2010

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.


Wednesday, March 17, 2010

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?

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

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...

Thursday, March 11, 2010

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.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Query letter - a nightmare come true...

...or something like that.

I don't think writing a query letter is my worst nightmare. That would be ridiculous. Writing a synopsis however...


But this post wasn't supposed to be about my irrational fear of synopses nor about my other fears (Spiders...).


Okay. Let me try this again.


Query letter.


I've finally written one.


It wasn't as painful as I'd thought. Yet, I'm not sure if I possess the necessary experience to assess pain. The worst pain I've ever felt was probably when I tore a ligament, though the sound as it ripped might have distracted me from the actual pain (briefly).


I'd say writing a query letter ranks between the pain after four wisdom teeth had been extracted from my mouth and a ruptured ligament.


Or maybe I'm just exaggerating.


Writing a synopsis will probably top the ruptured ligament.


But I digress (again).


My query letter.


It's now waiting in QueryLetterHell on Absolute Write to be ripped apart. The first critique wasn't very painful. But don't let me start about pain again.


Friday, March 5, 2010

Witty? Not so much...

I decided to start my blog.

Finally.

Up to now I've been lurking in the shadows, hoping for a flash of inspiration; waiting desperately for the day I'd have something really witty to say for the first post on my blog. I've now realized that day will never come. I'm probably not half as witty as I thought.

You might wonder when I came to this conclusion.

Last night.

And no, I wasn't lying in my bed, having happy thoughts about writing. I was actually cleaning the floors of our house from our dog's puke. Though that wasn't the most pleasant experience, it gave me some insight into myself that only a thorough house-cleaning at 2 am can evoke.

After I'd managed to rid the house of the stench and stopped retching, I realized that, wittiness-be-damned, I'd write my first post the next day.

And here I am.