Leah Witmond - Leah's Blog

Writing good dialogue

2011-07-05T09:58:00.001+02:00

Writing good dialogue is something that can be learned. You don’t have to have a natural talent for it; although I suppose the latter would help.

You might like to know that I used to struggle – a lot! – with dialogue in the past. In fact, I used to be so afraid of it, I tried to cut all dialogue at all by placing my characters in places where they wouldn't have to interact with others. Until I learned the “trick” and found out writing dialogue is really one of the easiest parts of writing.

The “trick” is - of course - to listen to people as they talk. Listen, listen, listen. How do different people say different things?

Some are highly sophisticated and use big words. Others are the silent types, and won't use two words if one would suffice. Then you've got the foul-mouthed ones. And the explosive types. The nervous "blabbers". You get the picture.

Once you figured out how people talk, you can apply that knowledge to your story.

Also, note that people don’t usually talk in long, grammatically correct sentences. They stammer and stutter, start out saying one thing, then change their mind and end up saying something different – and mess up the grammatical structure of their sentence as they do so. Some use double negatives. (I’ve never seen nothing like that.) Some say me when they should have said my. They say should of, could of, would of… Use these abominations to your advantage. They can help you create different voices for different characters.

Finally, even if your characters are highly educated people, with IQ's well over 200, you cannot allow them to be too high and lofty in their speech, or you will run the risk of losing your readers. Remember the average IQ is still 100. You've got to make your characters talk in such a way that everyone - not just the educated - will understand what they are talking about. Unless... unless you've got a character you want to alienate from your readers. (But then you'd better make sure you've got a good reason for wanting to do that.)

I'm back

2011-07-03T10:08:00.005+02:00

My blogging vacation took longer than I expected, but I'm back again - I think.

Lots of things happened over the past year, and unfortunately I hacen't been writing a lot. However, after having moaned a bit about the need to edit my novel, I finally decided to actually do it, so that's what I've been doing over the last few months.

It's been an uphill struggle, and I found myself rewriting page after page of crappy writing, but I've got the first five chapters of my novel edited now. Just 22 more to go, which at this rate will take me only a couple of years.

But wait... the summer holidays are almost here. Can you guess what I'll be doing this summer?

Editing Blues

2011-02-24T22:12:00.001+01:00

It’s a lousy job, but every writer has to do it: editing.

I used to have a couple of house elves – years ago, in one of my alternate universes – who were supposed to take care of the editing for me. Not that they ever got anything done. Not to my satisfaction anyway.

Lazy buggers, that’s what they were. Used to sleep – after finishing my bottles of Baileys, of course – in their hidey-hole under the stairs. But you know, it was nice to be able to cling to the idea that someone else was responsible for that part of my job. Not anymore, though.

They ran out on me. Left without a word. Not even a little note to say “thanks for putting up with our antics for all those years,” or, “thanks for all the Baileys.” Nope. Nothing. They upped and went. Just like that. Left me to do my own editing and you know what?

I hate it.

Summer Holidays

2010-07-08T21:02:00.002+02:00

The summer holidays arrived sooner than I expected.

The warm sunshine changed our world, and as an unschooling Mum, I find myself going on field trips (more than usual) with my family, enjoying lots of time away from the computer.

This means I won't be updating my blog as often during the summer months. I may pop in and post the odd message, but don't count on it.

I intend to be back to my usual two or three posts a week in September.

Writing a homeschool transcript

2010-06-27T20:18:00.009+02:00

With the summer holidays approaching, last week has been a busy week.

I'm not only a writer, but also a home educating parent, so this is the time of year when I have to create some kind of overview of what our children have learnt during this academic year. As we're unschoolers, and I'm not exactly good at record keeping, I really, really hate this job.

Thankfully, I've got my Homeschool Blog, and lots of photos to help jog my memory. I store my children's worksheets in files, so I can find them back when I need them. Also, instead of getting books from the library and running the risk of having to pay high fines for not returning them in time, we just buy all the books we need.

I'm now nearly done creating my 11-year old daughter's transcript, and discovered that, although we felt like she'd been playing most of the time, she'd actually done an impressive amount of learning.

She read 25 novels, watched films of Classics and Modern Classics (on TV, DVD and at the cinema), learned some amazing things about dinosaurs and prehistoric times, performed several science experiments, and lots more.

Now, there are some subjects we still need to wrap up for this year, but now that I've got this great overview of what she already achieved, it's easy to see which gaps still have to be filled within the next couple of weeks.

I still have to write my 16 year old daughter's transcript, and how I wish a had a house elf to do that job for me!

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

2010-06-24T10:00:00.002+02:00

Are you one of those writers that are forever struggling with their punctuation? Or are you a real stickler, and blessed - or should that be cursed - with the seventh sense?

It doesn't matter which of the two you are - or even if you find yourself balancing somewhere in between those two extremes - if you are serious about writing, Lynne Truss's book Eats, Shoots & Leaves is a must-have for your personal library.

Presenting itself as The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, this is the funniest book about punctuation I ever laid my greedy little hands on. It doesn't spell out the rules, but shows you with numerous examples that punctuation really does matter, even if it is only occasionally a matter of life and death.

My 11-year old, who used to be a reluctant reader until quite recently, voluntarily picked it up the other day, and surprised me by reading page after page of this little treasure, and asking me questions about the things she didn't understand. And after maybe half an hour of absorbing new knowledge, she surprised me even more by saying, "Mum, you know, it's really quite cosy, sitting on the couch together, reading."

Need I say more?

Essays & Cartoons

2010-06-08T21:01:00.004+02:00

Is your child easy to love, but hard to parent? DRT Press is seeking personal essays written by parents of children with ADD, ADHD and/or other mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders for a book about the experience of parenting children with such conditions, for publication (expected) in Spring 2011.

In addition to essays, DRT Press is now seeking comic strips which illustrate the same topics. Comics will be printed in black and white only; no color. Because creating comics requires a specific skill set, contributions will be accepted from persons who are not parents and caregivers of challenging children, as well as those who are, as long as the work captures the parenting experience.

The deadline for submissions has been extended through June 2010.

For more information, please visit the DRT Press website.

Writers who committed suicide

2010-06-03T09:20:00.001+02:00

Here's a nice little post to cheer you all up. If you're a writer, you stand a good chance of ending your life cut up on a pair of rails, dangling on a rope, by medicine and/or drug poisoning, or drowned in your bath and/or blood. And all this by your own doing.

Mind you, you only get second chances if you mess up grossly at your first try.

Writers like R.H. Barlow, John Berryman, Bozhidar, Menno ter Braak, Thomas Chatterton, Elise Cowen, Thomas Disch, Daniel Evans, John Gould Fletcher, William Lindsay Gresham, Ernest Hemingway, D.A. Levy, Klaus Mann, John O'Brien, Piet Paaltjens, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton all commmitted suicide.

In fact, there are many, many more, but I just didn't feel like typing all those names down. As writers we always have to watch out that we don't develop RSI.

May I politely suggest you don't follow these writers' example? Suicide is not a very pretty way to leave, and people won't really like you for it. I just thought you should know.

Short Story Competition for young people

2010-06-01T10:16:00.005+02:00

Litro Magazine along with IGGY has launched its first short story competition.

The Young Person’s Short Story Award is a new major short story award for young people.

It is open to young people from around the world aged 11-19. In addition to a cash prize of £2,500, the winner will be published in Litro Magazine and will see parts of their work displayed on a poster in a London Underground station.

The winner and two runners-up will also have their story published on Litro Online and on the IGGY website.

For more information and terms and conditions of entry, please visit the Litro website.

Entries close at 5pm (GMT, I would say), Friday 25th June 2010.

IFWG Short Story Contest

2010-05-18T09:05:00.004+02:00

IFWG publishing, specialist in speculative fiction, is running a short story contest.

The contest closes May 30, 2010.
Entry is free.

Prizes: Finalists will be published in SQ Magazine. The Grand Prize winner will have the option to publish a novel or other major title with IFWG Publishing.

Visit the Story Quest Contest page for more information on how to enter this contest.

My hero

2010-05-16T13:45:00.003+02:00

He came out of nowhere and saved my arse when I had gotten myself into a rather precarious situation. This instantly elevated him to the status of hero. Not just any hero, of course, but one of almost divine proportions. I mean, don't we all need that kind of hero?

In the months that followed, I thought about what had happened a lot. I thought about him a lot, and none of his glory diminished at all. I could picture every tiny detail of his face. I still remembered the exact timbre of his voice, as I recalled the things he said to me.

Last week, I saw him again. He was somehow different, and yet he was still the same. We talked about what had happened, that first time we met, and things finally fell into perspective. The trouble I perceived myself to be in at that time, never really existed. At the same time, the situation was even more serious than I realised, but in a very different way.

During the few minutes we spoke, my hero changed. When we each went our own ways again, my Divine Superhero had turned into an ordinary man, who simply did something extraordinary at a time when this was needed.

Oh, he's still a hero in my book, and probably always will be. A hero of human proportions, and I'm fine with that. It's alright to have our heroes. In the end, I think we all need them. But we also need to be able to see our personal heroes as ordinary human beings. It's better that way.

Writing Talent

2010-05-13T16:39:00.004+02:00

"Talent is five percent."

That's what my daughter's violin teacher used to say about the art of playing the violin. The same, however, applies to any art form, and this includes writing.

You can be a very talented writer indeed, and never get any of your work published, or even up to publishing standards, if you fail to practise the art of writing.

Being a writer - whether for the sake of the art, or for other reasons - means you have to work. Make the mistake of thinking you can be a writer and not slave over your work, and you're out of business.

Talent is just a starting point. If you are serious about writing, you will need to develop and cultivate your talent. Here are a few tips to get you started:

Write every day.
Study the craft, and learn the rules. (Good writers don't mess up their spelling, grammar and punctuation.)
Use reference books.
Ask for feedback (not from friends or relatives, but from other writers that you admire) and be prepared to take criticism to heart.
Search the internet for useful information, but for goodness' sake don't do all your reading online, as you'll pick up more bad writing habits in a few days than you'll be able to unlearn in months.
Join a writing forum.

Good writing comes at a price: a lot of hard work. Blood, sweat and tears. Well, hopefully not the blood, but you will sweat over your work, and you may very well be crying along with your character at one time or another. But don't let this discourage you. It'll all be worth it.

Happy writing!

Bedtime Stories For The Damned

2010-05-11T19:31:00.003+02:00

Black Label Books, a small, new e-publisher calls for submissions for Halloween stories.

"Bedtime Stories For The Damned is not an anthology, it is a series of terrible tales fit only for those with a taste for blood and
darkness. Each 5,000 to 10,000 word story will be released as a standalone tale."

Submissions are open until July 31, 2010.

Payment: %50 royalty.

Before submitting your story, be sure to read the submission guidelines.

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T20:10:00.002+02:00

Although we're not in the habit of making a big fuss of Mother's day and dancing to the commercial tune, we do like to celebrate Mother's Day in a way that feels right for our family.

This year, the hubby and children made me a lovely breakfast: fresh fruit salad, bread, and tea on a nicely laid table. Not much else is needed to make Mother's Day a perfect day.

Unfortunately, by the time I thought of taking a picture, we'd already finished our breakfast, but I can still show you what was left of it.

That doesn't look half bad, now, does it?

They also gave me a bottle of Baileys, a bottle of Martini, and a chocolate bar. The booze will probably have to last me till Chanukkah, but as long as I've got chocolate I don't mind.

Grammar and Punctuation: Why bother?

2010-05-06T19:04:00.010+02:00

"Writing is all about expressing yourself. Whether or not I've got my grammar and punctuation in order, is not important. Writing is Art. I am the artist and therefore am not bound by any rules."

Really?

If you adhere to the view expressed above, you are really saying that it doesn't matter whether your reader can understand what you're actually writing. But is that what you really want? Isn't writing about communication? What's the point in writing, if you fail to get your message across to your audience?

With that in mind, let's have a look at some basic mistakes that every self-respecting writer should avoid at all costs, because they make him look illiterate.

There, their and they're

Do you know the difference? If not, look at this example: Their book is over there; they're reading it for literature class.

Just imagine I would have written something like this: There book is over they're. Their reading it for literature class. Would you have been able to make sense of it?

I didn't think so. But what's the difference?

It's quite easy, really.

Their is possessive. Their book, their home, their car, their child.

There refers to a place: 'The books are over there, in the bookcase.' 'Look there! A mouse.'

They're is a contraction. It's simply a shortened form of they are.

Now that I explained these three, let's have a look at this:

Your and you're.

Do you know the difference? You should. If you can't tell the difference, people will think you're stupid. It's your responsibility to make sure you know these things.

Indeed: Your is possessive, whereas you're is a contraction. Easy, isn't it?

It's or its?

It's is a contraction. It means it is. Its is possessive, and does not get an apostrophe.

It's about time. The door is about to come off its hinges.

Than or then?

You should use than when you make a comparison: More than, fewer than, larger than, smarter than.

Then can mean several things. It could refer to a moment in time: It was then, that I saw him.

Then can mean next: She showed us the gadget. Then she went on to explain how it worked.

Then can mean in addition to: First she gave Ed a punch on the nose, and then kicked him between his legs. (Ouch!)

Finally, then can mean therefore: If you want to be a writer, then you should mind your grammar.

Last but not least, one of my pet peeves.

Should of, would of, could of

Please, please, please, don't do that! It's wrong, and frankly, I think it's plain dumb, too.

It's should have, would have and could have. Of is a preposition, not a verb.

If you're at all serious about being a writer, please, do yourself a favour and get your grammar right. It will save you lots of embarrassment.

Screen Writing Competition

2010-05-04T08:51:00.001+02:00

If you're a screenwriter, check out the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards competition.

The Grand Prize is $25,000 – and there are Gold, Silver and Bronze Prizes to be won in ten different genre categories.

Deadline: Saturday, May 15th.

Entry fee is $69, and before submitting your script, please read the rules. If your submission does not comply with contest rules and regulations, it may be disqualified.

Good luck!

My week in pictures

2010-05-03T13:28:00.011+02:00

Last week was a busy, but wonderful week. It was one of those weeks when everything suddenly seems to happen at once, and your life is turned upside down - but in a good way.

Yesterday - no, I'm going to tell everything backwards - we went to Hilversum, where cineast and writer Hans Koekoek had organised a Writers Podium, where writers read from their own work.

I read the Dutch version of my poem cure, and a short piece of fiction I'd written especially for this occasion. The atmosphere was relaxed and informal, so I wasn't nervous at all, and really enjoyed reading to the public. Judging by the applause I got, the public really enjoyed my poem and short story a lot.

After the event, we went back home with Hans and some others for a drink and a bite to eat at his place. I got to know some very nice and interesting people, and definitely intend to go again next time.

Now I think I'm ready to tell you about the rest of my week in chronological order.

On Monday, I spent most of the day tidying up and moving furniture around in the house, because on Tuesday we had a film crew here: Three Arts students making a documentary about home education.

It was a fabulous day, with those three girls filming a lot of the things we typically do as a home educating family. Things like practising for our 16-year old's Drama Class.

I spent all of Wednesday moving more furniture around, because on Thursday, we had our new grand piano delivered to our home.

Just look at this. I think it's really quite impressive.

I moved my desk to a corner of the room, near the window and doors to the garden. Even though you can't see it in the picture, I've got a lovely view from behind my desk now.

Quite a change from how it used to be.

Dialogue Attribution

2010-04-29T09:54:00.001+02:00

Let's start with a statement:

When writing dialogue, using only "said" will make your story dull. Instead, you should use a wide range of words to attribute dialogue. Murmured, lisped, breathed, shouted, screamed, beamed, quipped, shrugged, groaned... the list goes on and on.

As far as I know, there's currently two schools of thought on this subject. The one that says you should use as many different words for said as you can possibly think of, because you want to avoid repetition, and the one that tells you to always use said unless you really need to use a different word for it.

I adhere to the latter, and will explain why.

Said is unobtrusive. In fact, it's so inconspicuous your readers will hardly even notice it, whereas when you use words like "breathed, whispered, moaned, groaned, exhaled, snorted, etc." your reader cannot help but noticing them. These are words that draw attention to themselves. Your reader will get bored with them, and probably sooner rather than later.

How many times can you read a piece of text that has those crutches (because that's what they are) without wanting to either yell out in frustration or laugh your head off, because it sounds so silly. I don't breathe words, I speak them. I breathe air.

Of course, I'm not telling you to use said all the time. It's best to try and avoid using any attribution at all in dialogue. Insert some action instead.

"Don't do that. It hurts." She pulled her arm away and shot her brother an angry look.
"That's why I do it, you little wimp." The evil grin on Jason's face told Amy she was in for a bad time again

(I agree, this is not my best writing, but it should get my point across.)

Just for comparison, I'll give you the same sentences with attribution.

"Don't do that. It hurts," Amy whimpered. She pulled her arm away and shot her brother an angry look.
"That's why I do it, you little wimp," Jason snorted. The evil grin on his face told the little girl she was in for a bad time again.

Which do you prefer?

Poetry and Short Story Competition

2010-04-27T11:24:00.004+02:00

The Writers Bureau, Britain's leading creative writing home-study college, have just launched their annual Poetry and Short Story Competition for 2010.

Poems must not exceed 40 lines and must be typed (single spacing is acceptable). Short stories must not exceed 2000 words and must be typed using double spacing.

The fee is £5.00/$9.00 per entry.

The Closing Date is 30th June 2010.

All prize winners will be notified by 15th September 2010.

A complete version of the rules can be read at the Writers Bureau's Competition Website.

Stuff

2010-04-25T21:28:00.010+02:00

Last week has been frightfully busy. I had a few appointments in town, articles had to be written, reviewed and edited, but what kept me busiest, was all the "stuff" I had to do in and around the house.

Three students are making a documentary about home education for their finals, and we agreed to appear in it. Tomorrow, they'll be here to shoot some footage, so the house needs to be in order. We can't have dust bunnies hiding under the desks now, can we?

But wait. That's not all. Next Thursday our new grand piano will be delivered, and we need about half the living room to be empty by then. That's no real problem, but where do I put all our things?

One of the desks will have to go. That's one of the reasons why I redecorated our 11-year old daughter's room last weekend, and put up a small computer desk in it.

The hubby and daughter moved her computer to her room, and left an extremely messy desk behind in the living room. Of course I wasn't going to sort that mess alone, but our daughter did need some help with it.

When that was done, I had four bookcases that looked like someone had just put in books and other stuff into them shortly after we moved into the house (which is exactly what happened), and I'd been wanting for years already to finally create some order there. This was as good an excuse as any.

With the hubby and younger daughter asking me to come help them with the backyard only every other hour, meals to be fixed, the laundry and grocery shopping to be done, and only the older daughter leaving me at least some peace some of the time, this kept me occupied for a couple of days.

Today, the bookcases were done, and I only needed to find new places for all those things that were hiding in the bookcases but shouldn't have been there - which meant emptying a cabinet, and wondering what on earth all that stuff was doing in there anyway.

My cabinet looks better than ever, and I've only got two tables full of stuff I need to put away now.

That should be easy.

When you hit a writer's block

2010-04-23T10:00:00.001+02:00

Someone told me if life gives you lemons, you've got to make lemonade. That's great advice, except that when you hit a writer's block you don't even get lemons, do you? You simply get nothing. And how can you make lemonade out of nothing?

Here's how I deal with my writer's block.

I put on my MP-3 player, browse my folders until I get to the Bad Mood Music, and go for a stroll in the neighbourhood. I'll sing along with my music and glare at anyone that dares look at me, and if anyone is stupid enough to try and talk to me - and not many people are - I'll give them my most devastating glare. That usually gets the message across.

I'll kick stones. I'll have a good long talk with my characters and tell them how badly they pissed me off. I ignore all the looks I get, or even better, glare some more.

When I return home again, I'm usually in a better mood, but if not, I'll chop the veggies for that day's supper. And if need be for next day's supper as well. All the while listening to some more Bad Mood Music of course, but this time over the speakers of my stereo.

The hubby and children know to leave me alone when I'm in a bad mood. Or make me a nice cuppa tea and give me a box of chocolates.

Arvon Poetry Competition

2010-04-22T15:03:00.003+02:00

From the Arvon Foundation website:

"The next Arvon International Poetry Competition will open for entries on 13 May 2010. This year, the panel of judges will be chaired by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.
"This prestigious biennial competition was founded by Ted Hughes in 1980. The first ever winner was Andrew Motion. All entries are anonymously judged and the competition has a reputation for uncovering the poetic talent of the future."

What a week

2010-04-18T21:22:00.014+02:00

It's been quite a week, last week - but not in a bad way. I've been busy with a lot of different things, and I think the future may hold some exciting changes for me.

After a lot of deliberation, I opened up my new blog, Completely Mental. I'd been wanting to create a blog or website about mental health for a long time already, but never felt confident enough to go ahead and do it. I did now.

Because managing a blog can be a lot of work and, let's face it, I don't always update as often as I'd like to, I also decided to engage some guest writers. This not only helps keeping those new posts coming, but I think it's good to hear other people's voices on this particular blog as well.

By the way, if you're interested in becoming a guest writer for my mental health blog, please contact me using the form on the contact page of the Completely Mental blog.

Also last week, we had three arts students visiting. They plan on making a documentary about home education, and would like us to participate.

We agreed, of course. This means we had to come up with suggestions as to where they might want to film us, and ask permission to shoot footage at several places we frequent with our children.

In February, I got contacted by one of the biggest educational publishers of my country. They asked if I'd be interested in writing for English language learning courses at secondary school level.

This wasn't something I'd have sought to do, but since they asked, I wrote back I'd be interested and would like some more information. They invited me to a short training, from which I got back home with a couple of trial assignments, which I had to hand in by April 6.

I'll be honest: it was tough. Very tough. I had wanted to complete three trial assignments, but only got two done.

Last Thursday I got a very nice email back from them, that started with the words: "I'm sorry to have to tell you, but..." They then went on to tell me why I wasn't the person they were looking for, but they would like to keep me in their portfolio, as they might have other work for me in the future.

I can't even begin to tell you how relieved I was. It they'd have offered me a contract, I'd have said yes, and would have been struggling with that writing gig for the next several years for some 12 hours each week.

Now, I'm free to devote my time to the kind of writing I'm really passionate about. Creative writing. And my new mental health blog.

Still, if - somewhere in the future - they've got a job for me that really fits me, I'd be more than happy to write for them.

What else?

I promised my 11-year old a makeover of her room, and finally got around to doing that this weekend. Our cats (brother and sister both suffering from renal failure - and sister already died from her illness at age four) had puked on her carpet more often than I care to remember, so it needed to be replaced.

On Friday morning we bought her several yards of nice, easy to clean, vinyl flooring. Yesterday, we moved all the furniture out of her room and got the dirty old carpet out. I got myself a brick from the back yard, and set to work levelling the floor.

By the time I was done, I was wasted and spent the rest of the evening watching a DVD with the hubby. Since we'd disassembled her bed, and her room was empty anyway, our daughter slept in our room last night.

This morning, after breakfast and a few stupid computer games, I fitted the vinyl flooring, assembled our daughter's new bed, and moved the rest of the furniture back into her room. Well, except for the chest of drawers that was coming apart anyway. We put in a small computer desk in its place.

All this without the hubby's help, as he wasn't home this morning, and wanted to watch the Formula I Races this afternoon. Guys and cars... Oh well, he'd only have been in my way, so I was way better off without him.

And our daughter? She's really happy with her new room.

Before

Now

Finally, I even found time to play around with the XtraNormal online text-to-movie software a bit. But that's for another post.

Show, don't tell

2010-04-15T10:58:00.008+02:00

As writers, we all know the adage: Show, don't tell. It's one of the most important rules in writing these days. Whereas famous writers of the previous century like Tolkien could get away with page after page of description, we can't afford to do the same. It would land our manuscripts in the bin under the editor's assistant's desk immediately.

Yet, many writers struggle with this. It so much easier to just describe the environment, or what your main character looks like. But how do you show it?

Allow me to tell you... no, show you the difference.

Tell:

Carla was a petite blonde, with blue eyes that sparkled as she spoke. She always wore frilly, feminine blouses and ruffled skirts. Her favourite colour was pink.

I can't believe I just made up a character like that, but I did. I'm sorry. I'll try to never do that again. Now, let's see if we can make this at least a bit less telly.

Show:

Carla ran a hand through her blonde curls. She shook her head, and her blue eyes sparkled as she said: "Come one, Tony, don't be shy. This is gonna be fun."
She took him by the hand and dragged him to the dance floor. Dressed up in her prettiest pink blouse and ruffled skirt, she felt like Marilyn Monroe. Just as seductive.

I think I need a bucket so I can throw up. How did I manage to write such a sickly sweet scene? But never mind, I think I got my point across.

The difference, as you'll notice, is that in the first scene I simply described what Carla looked like. Such a description is rather dull compared to what I did in the second scene, where I gave you some action. Carla became a walking, talking and dancing little temptress.

This is, in a nutshell, the difference between show and tell. Use it to your advantage.

Writers wanted

2010-04-14T01:26:00.004+02:00

Are you a writer with a strong affinity for and a solid knowledge of Mental Health? In that case, you might be the person I'm looking for.

For my new blog Completely Mental I'm looking for several guest writers to contribute one or more articles or true stories that deal with diverse mental health issues.

Please send your entries to me using the form on the contact page of the Completely Mental blog.

Unfortunately, I cannot offer any payment, but a link to your blog or website will be included in your guest post.

Needless to say, your writing needs to be impeccable. If you can't spell or don't know how to write a grammatically correct sentence, please don't waste my time, but improve on your writing skills first.

Wedding ring

2010-03-22T21:09:00.004+01:00

In January 2009, I lost my wedding ring. I didn't notice it immediately, but when at home that night, preparing our supper, I noticed it wasn't there anymore.

I could have kicked myself for not having been more careful. I knew I'd lost weight. I knew my fingers were really too thin for my ring, and I'd told myself time and again already I should stop wearing it outside the house, as I might lose it one day.

And that's exactly what happened on that cold January day.

What was worse, I'd been to so many places, I really had no idea where it could be, but we went back to check them all. The sports hall, the bus station, the lunch room, the grocery shop just around the corner. We looked everywhere but couldn't find it, and no one had seen my wedding ring. My husband even went to the police to report my missing wedding ring, in hopes someone would find it and return it to them.

Spring came, but still no wedding ring. Summer came and went. Autumn too, and a new winter arrived. A winter with lots of snow and ice. I'd given up hopes of ever finding my ring back again. The hubby promised me he'd buy me a new ring for our twentieth anniversary, which will be in a couple of years. (Am I already getting that old?)

Last Saturday, after sundown, I went to the neighbourhood grocery store. The one almost around the corner. It was near closing time, but I wanted to buy us a nice green salad to go with the chips we'd be having on Sunday after our annual Passover Shopping Trip to Amsterdam.

For some reason I still don't understand (as I never do this), I went to have a look at the advertising board near the entrance. The one where ordinary people like you and me are allowed to put up their personal ads for free. And there was this notice, written in bright red and all caps.

Found: Wedding Ring.

As I read on, I read a pretty good description of my ring. The one I lost over a year ago. My bi-colour wedding ring with the diamond.

My heart was beating in my throat. Could it be true? Could this really be my ring?

I went over to the customer's service and told them it was probably my ring they'd found, and gave them some details about it that only I could know. Well, and the hubby, but he wasn't with me there. Unfortunately, the ring was locked away and they couldn't get at it at that moment, so they asked me to come back on Monday.

I got up early this morning and was at the shop almost the moment it opened. This time, two ladies my own age were working at customer's service. The ones I asked back in January 2009 if anyone had found my ring at their shop. They even remembered it, and one said, "that was such a long time ago!"

I presented them with the hubby's ring. They only needed to take one look at it. The smiles on their faces told me enough, before I'd even got my ring back.

So, here I am, staring at my ring ever other minute. But I won't be wearing it outside the house. Not until I've found a way to make sure I won't lose it again.

Don't you love happy endings?

What does it take to be a writer?

2010-03-18T19:24:00.003+01:00

The answer to the question of what it takes to be a writer, isn't difficult at all, and I'll answer it in a moment, but first, let's listen to what novelist Alex Hutchinson has to say about it.

Basicailly, what Alex Hutchinson says, is this: In order to be a writer, you have to write.

Is that all there is to it? Well, yes and no. Obviously, not everybody has this drive to write. To write not just every once in a while, but every day. Yet, if you have this inner need to write, every day, year after year, and you feel miserable when you cannot write, then you are a writer.

Obviously, it helps a lot if you have a knack for storytelling and a good grasp of the written language as well. But you don't have to be a great writer at once. In fact, most writers start out being bad or mediocre writers.

Heck, I was six or seven years old when I started writing. How good do you think I was, when I hardly knew how to spell yet? But these are things that can be learned, and we all learn along the way.

There's another aspect to writing as well, though, that is sometimes easily overlooked. Being a writer is a lonely profession. Not everyone is cut out to spend much time alone, with just the characters that happen to live in their heads at any given time. If you're a very social being, being a writer might be hard on you.

Finally, there this thing called discipline. When you're a writer, more often than not, nobody is going to tell you to sit down and write (e.g.) a certain amount of words before you're allowed to take a break. You have to tell yourself to do so, and then promptly apply your butt to your chair and start writing.

To this end, some writers tell me they have huge bottles of butt glue, which they apply to their chairs before they sit down, or they would never get anything done. So, if you are one of those writers that has trouble sitting down to actually write: get yourself a good supply of butt glue and don't forget to use it.

The best books I ever read

2010-03-12T13:51:00.006+01:00

Recently, a new thread has been created on one of the writers forums I frequent. In this thread we tell each other which are the best books we ever read, and why we like these books so much.

I love books, so it's not easy to pick just one, but thankfully I don't have to. Here's a list of my favourite books - not necessarily in that order.

I never promised you a rose garden - Joanne Greenberg
The old man and the sea - Ernest Hemingway
The chosen - Chaim Potok
The Belgariad/The Malloreon - David Eddings
The Narnia Chronicles - C.S. Lewis

I love these books for several reasons. The first three on my little list stand out for characterisation. We get a deep insight into the minds of the main characters, which is one of the things I want from a good book.

For those not familiar with Eddings or C.S. Lewis, the last two on my list are not single books but three complete series of books. These three series have some important characteristics in common.

Firstly, the stories are placed in a fantasy setting. I'm a dreamer and love fantasy.

Also, there's a lot of symbolism in all three series. Some of it very transparent, but other symbolism is much more hidden. I prefer the latter over the former, but thankfully, all three series have enough to offer.

Of course, my list of favourite books is by no means complete, and I reserve the right to change it or add to it at any given moment, but for now, this is it.

Would you like to share your list of favourite books?

Birthday

2010-02-16T16:29:00.002+01:00

No writing Tips today, but at least I'm writing again. I don't know why, but the last two months have just been slow months, with me not feeling up to doing much of anything. I'll blame it on the winter.

Yesterday was my birthday. Due to the wintry weather - we haven't had that much snow in years, or maybe even decades - I didn't have much visitors, but that didn't make my birthday any less fun. I had a wonderful day with the people I love, got some really nice presents, and ate the most delicious Chocolate Cheesecake.

I also listened to Stevie Wonder.

Yes, I'm really that old...

Pianos and studies

2010-02-07T18:33:00.006+01:00

Call me a spoilt brat, but I've got not one, but two pianos, and I wouldn't want to miss either of them.

The first one, which I bought when I was still a student and had hardly any money to spare, is an ordinary upright piano. It's in our living room, and might sadly be nearing its end. I'd hate to have to sell it and have to buy a new one, but such is life, I guess.

My second piano is an eletronic one, a Yamaha. I bought it when I had to temporarily move into a small apartment and couldn't take my other piano with me. Not wanting to be without a piano for a year or possibly even longer, I bought this electronic one, and never regretted it.

The Yamaha is now situated in my bedroom, where I can play when I can't sleep. Since I can play this piano with headphones on, I don't have to worry about waking up the children or the neighbours.

Also in the bedroom, is my little study. An ancient laptop, still running on Windows98, and a mini notebook, both sat on the beautiful marble coffee table I inherited from my great-aunt.

It's lovely, being able to retreat to my little bedroom study when I want to write my stories or poems. Just to sit there and not being distracted by either the cats or the children. Just me and the words inside my head.

Writing Opportunities

2010-02-04T20:02:00.008+01:00

Are you a screenwriter?

Then you might be interested in participating in the Sixth Borough Screenwriting Competition.

The winner will be offered an option contract for a Feature Film. All entrants will receive a written analysis of their screenplay.

Deadline: April 1st, 2010.

For more information, please visit the Sixth Borough Screenwriting Competition website.

~*~

Artocratic Magazine is seeking submissions for their April 2010 issue.

Artocratic welcomes essays, short short fiction, poetry, memoir and the unclassifiable. Themes prevalent in Artocratic include creativity, identity, eccentricity, questions of meaning, and the myriad ways humanity grapples with the infinite.

Deadline: The sooner the better. Cut-off date for the next issue is March 10th.

Payment: Unfortunately, Artocratic are not offering any payment at the present time.

~*~

DRT Press is seeking personal essays written by parents of children with ADD, ADHD and/or other mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders for a book about the experience of parenting children with such conditions, for publication (expected) in January 2011.

Soft deadline for submissions is March 1, 2010

Payment: Compensation includes 10 copies of the completed book and unlimited discounted copies. Payment may be offered.

My Kind of Crazy

2010-02-02T21:33:00.003+01:00

First of all, my apologies for having been absent for a while. January is always a difficult month for me, but now I'm back again.

Today's Writing Tip isn't really a writing tip, but rather a book recommendation.

My Kind of Crazy, by Janine Crowley Haynes is a self published book about a woman's struggle with bipolar.

I haven't read the book yet, but I think it's incredibly brave of Mrs Crowley to write a book about this subject, and even more so because she's writing about her own life. That takes a lot of courage.

Mrs Crowley's book is now being used in psychology classes and Mrs Crowley has become a guest speaker for mental health organizations.

I definitely intend to buy this book, or even better, ask it for my birthday. It's my sincere hope that her book will help remove the stigma from mental illness.

Birthday

2010-01-24T21:29:00.005+01:00

Today is my husband's birthday. We don't really make a big fuss over birthdays, but this year, we had even less visitors than usual. Due to the wintry weather, my in-laws were unable to come, so it was just my parents and sisters, and my younger sister's daughters that paid us a visit today.

I baked my carob apple cake, and - even though it's not nearly Purim yet - my vegan Purim cake. They were still warm when our visitors arrived.

After the first cup of tea - with cake, of course - our girls went upstairs with my nieces, and we didn't see much of them anymore during the rest of the afternoon. At times we did hear some suspicious noises, but of course we pretended not to hear. Instead, I decided to let my 16-year old take care of things upstairs. She's perfectly capable of babysitting her younger sister and cousins.

My relatives went back home before dark, so now we have the evening to ourselves, meaning that the hubby is upstairs in his Holy Loft enjoying himself with either the TV or one of his computer games, and I'm downstairs, playing with my computer. Our daughters are probably both doing the same.

Oh yes, we're quite a nerdy family. Didn't you know?

Grief

2010-01-18T20:40:00.004+01:00

According to my schedule, I should have posted yesterday - but I didn't. I've no other excuse but this: I felt lousy.

Yesterday at sundown my daughter's Yahrzeit began.

Today, we visited her grave. I also wrote a crap poem. Not just a mediocre poem, but something really crappy. Very abstract and telly.

I hate it when I write something bad. It doesn't matter whether it's poetry or prose. Bad is bad, and bad just doesn't sit well with me - so there's only one thing left for me to do. Rewrite the whole dratted thing and do it well this time.

Signing off now, one moody mum.

Short story contest - and more

2010-01-14T23:18:00.000+01:00

I've got some exciting writing opportunities for you again today.

Nadine Laman at First Draft is organising a short story contest. Stories should be 500 - 1000 words, can be any genre, and should not be published anywhere.

There are two categories. One for published writers and one for unpublished writers.

The deadline is February 22, 2010, and the prize $50 USD to one winner of each category.

Be sure to read the Contest Guidelines and Judging Criteria.

MediaVirus Magazine is interested in receiving short stories and poetry for publication in their online magazine.

Unfortunately, at this time, they are unable to pay contributors for their work, but if you are a beginning writer, this is as good a way as any to build your portfolio and get your name out there.

Take a walk

2010-01-12T20:55:00.005+01:00

What do you do when the Muse fails you? Or even worse, you're suffering from a full fledged writer's block?

There's several things you can do to beat your writer's block or invite your Muse back in. Not all of them will work equally well for you, and the ones that work for you, probably won't work all the time either, so it's really a matter of trial and error.

Here's some examples of what works for me.

go for a walk
do the dishes
chat about my problem with my daughter, who's also a writer
or - when it's late - go to bed

Why do these things work? It's quite simple really. Whenever I'm stuck with whatever it is I'm writing, my mind will go round in circles, trying to come up with what to write next. Those circles, however, are leading me nowhere, or I wouldn't be stuck in the first place. By stepping away from the keyboard, or putting down my pen and paper, and doing something entirely different, I'm breaking that cycle and allowing my mind to consider other options.

While I'm out walking, looking at the scenery and trying not to look at people, so as they won't start talking to me, my subconscious is at work. It will take things from my surroundings - a beautiful sunset, the water fowl, children playing with a raft - and see what it can do with them. When I come back home, I might already have the solution to my problem.

If I do the dishes, again, my subconscious will be searching for the solution to my problem while my hands are busy doing a chore that needed doing anyway.

The chatting with my writer daughter needs little clarification. I will tell her about my problem, or - more often - she'll tell me about her problems with her story. We'll brainstorm together, and the nice thing is, while I'm thinking of what would work in her story, my subconscious may suddenly present me with the solution to my problem.

Then of course, there's going to bed and have a good night's sleep. Obviously this only works when it's getting late already and you've probably been at it for far too long anyway. You mind has gone to sleep even though your body hasn't yet, so you might as well go to bed. When you wake up the next morning, you may or may not be able to get on with your story - or article or whatever it is you are writing, as even while you're asleep, your subconscious isn't sleeping. It never does, and it's very good at solving whatever problems you may have during your sleep.

You may want to try one of these approaches next time your Muse has taken some time off. You'll never know what works for you until you try.

Happy writing.

Dental Drama

2010-01-10T09:10:00.005+01:00

Last week has been a pretty awful week. I knew it would be, and worse, there was nothing I could do to make it any better.

My week started quite well, really. On January 4, we went to see my younger sister, who was celebrating her birthday. She'd only just come back from Denmark, where she'd been staying with friends during the winter holidays, and was full of stories.

The next day however, I had an appointment with my dentist first thing in the morning - and it wasn't for my biannual check-up. That was a couple of months back, in October. No, something was going to happen. Something I wasn't looking forward to.

One of my molars had to go. The thing had been pestering me for almost a year now, and nothing the dentist did could make it better, so we had no choice. Well, maybe the endodontologist, but I didn't want that. Or antibiotics, to which I'm intolerant, so that wasn't going to work anyway.

It took him half an hour to get the thing out. At the time, I didn't feel any pain, as he had me properly anaesthetised. But believe me, the pain came soon enough. And it remained for days. Even now, my jaw is still tender, but thankfully the real pain has gone.

But the pain wasn't the only thing that has been bothering me last week. I could live with just the pain, but what was worse, I wasn't allowed to eat solids for the next three days following the extraction of that tooth. Now, that was bad. You know what I ended up eating? Babyfood! Well, not really, but that's what it looked and tasted like. Yikes. It was vile.

The only time I enjoyed my supper, was when I had Beer Cheese Soup. My friend Patti from My Writers Circle kindly sent me the recipe, which I veganised quite succesfully.

Next appointment in four weeks time. I'm so looking forward to it. Can you tell?

Writing Opportunities

2010-01-07T23:16:00.004+01:00

Today I've got some links that might interest you if you want to get published and earn some money from your writing.

XOXO Publishing is currently seeking submissions for six fundraising paperback anthologies, and general standard paying anthologies, novels, short stories and novellas.

Please be informed that XOXO publishes adult material, and you have to be over 18 to be allowed to enter their website.

If you are interested in getting your work published with XOXO, please review their Submission Guidelines For Writers carefully.

Virtual Tales is currently seeking complete novels or novellas of at least 30,000 words to sell through the Virtual Tales website and other partner sites in print, eBook and eSerial formats.

Virtual Tales will not publish NC-17 / X rated stories, Erotica, Alternative lifestyles, Children's books, or Self-published works that are currently available for sale anywhere.

Virtual Tales pays authors 50% of net sales for both print and electronic sales.

If you are interested in getting your work published with Virtual Tales, please review their submission guidelines carefully.

How to NOT write a fantasy novel

2010-01-05T14:50:00.007+01:00

Ever since The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Naria people have been writing - or trying to write - best selling fantasy novels. Some have been successful, but let's face it, most have not even had their novels published.

I have to admit to being one of these authors that would love to get a best selling fantasy novel out there, but realistically, this will probably never happen for me. Heck, I don't even write pure fantasy. I just write psychological fiction - not the most popular genre, I know - seasoned with a tinge of fantasy. It suits me fine, even though I'll probably never write that best seller.

For those that do want to write a best selling fantasy novel, I recently read some great advice on how not to go about it.

I'll just share a few tips on what not to do in your fantasy novel, and then provide you with links to a few pages which I highly recommend you read if you are serious about your becoming a fantasy novelist.

If you ever tried to read The Lord of the Rings, and you're anything like me, you didn't even make it past the prologue. Why not? Because there's way too much description. Heaven knows most modern readers just can't deal with so much description. Description slows a story down.

We live in a day and age where things happen fast. If the internet page doesn't load fast enough, we're out. There's millions more that are just as interesting, right? If the movie on TV doesn't catch our attention right away, we press our zapper once more until we find something that does catch our attention now.

Similarly, if the first line of a book fails to hook us, we won't read it. That's reality.

"This book is largely concerned with Hobbits, and from its pages a reader may discover much of their character and a little of their history."

In all honesty, did that line hook you? It may have been a perfectly acceptable way to open a book back in the fifties of the previous century, but unless your name happens to be JRR Tolkien - and we all know it's not - it just doesn't sell today.

So that's one: Don't bore your reader with page after page of description. Nobody wants to read it. And for goodness' sake make sure your first line grabs your reader and compels him or her to read on.

Now let's talk about your main character. Did you notice how in many fantasy novels the main character is a bungler that screws up even the easiest jobs? And have you noticed how the fate of the world is in his incompetent hands?

Good. Now go and don't make your main character like him. It's clichéd, and you won't get away with it these days. Surely you can come up with something better than that.

The list of don'ts goes on and on, but rather than writing everything down here, I'll just give you the URLs to two pages I found very enlightening. I consider them required reading for any aspiring fantasy novelist.

How to write a best selling fantasy novel
The fantasy novelist's exam

Enjoy!

Happy New Year

2010-01-03T23:32:00.002+01:00

I'm back from taking a short winter break, and wish my readers all the best for a happy and healthy 2010.

I don't know about your new year's resolutions, but I have none. I do have plans for the new year, though.

Since I've got two novels written - first drafts only - I'll have to devote a lot of time to rewriting and editing them. I want to have them ready for submission to agents and publishers before the end of the year.

I've also got the outline for a non fiction book written, and wish to finish that one before this year is over too. Although it won't make me rich, it would be nice to have some more books published.

Other than that, I really need to get some more articles out there. One or two articles a week should be very doable.

I'm looking forward to what 2010 will bring us, and hope most of it will be good.

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-22T15:09:00.006+01:00

I know, it sounds clichéd, but right now our world really is a Winter Wonderland. Just look at this.

This is our backyard, and I can assure you, it isn't usually as picturesque as this. Neither the hubby nor I have a green thumb, so we've got nothing, absolutely nothing green in the backyard. Except for maybe the stubborn weeds that grow between the pavement. We usually get rid of those before winter sets in, though.

What? The plants over the fence? Oh, yes - they're not ours. They're the neighbours' plants, but we don't mind them growing over the fence and into our backyard. In fact, I even like them.

Today is our fourth or fifth Snow Day in a row, but today the thaw set in. You should hear the thunder when those avalanches come sliding down the roof. I always hope I won't get on of them on my head. So far I've been lucky. Maybe Murphy's Law doesn't apply to me?

Creating Interesting Characters

2009-12-20T17:34:00.003+01:00

Some writers seem to know instinctively how to create nice, interesting, yet believable characters, whereas others have a hard time getting them 'just right'. What's the Big Secret?

Let me tell you, there is no secret. Even if you're not naturally gifted, you can still create good - and maybe even great - characters. It's a skill that can be learned.

Different writers use different techniques to come up with their own unique characters and bring them to life.

Some draw their inspiration from the people they know. They take Aunt Betty, Uncle Gerard and the nosy old lady that lives down the street and yells at passers-by, put them in their virtual blender and out comes a mix of the three. This character may be as plump as Aunt Betty, complete with a matching appetite, yet she has Uncle Gerard's Dark hair and uses his vocabulary whilst yelling at the neighbour's children. You get the picture.

Other writers browse through magazines, cut out pictures and allow their minds to ponder on what kind of person this muscular guy in the pool might be, or the little blonde in the Pet-Poop-Begone ad.

Then there's those writers that like to base their character's character traits on two or more different astrological star signs. They may end up with characters that are as ambitious and disciplined as the Capricorn, perfectionist and conservative as the Virgin, and to top it off intuitive, yet jealous and resentful as the Scorpio. Wouldn't that be an interesting mix?

Whatever you do, just make sure not to turn your characters into Mary Sues - unless you're writing a farce, in which case a Mary Sue could be very entertaining. If you're unsure about any of your characters, you could always decide to do a Mary Sue test for them.

After Nano

2009-12-17T01:23:00.004+01:00

After winning Nano, I suddenly find myself unable to work on my novel anymore. The Muse seems to have gone on a short holiday. Good for her, of course, but I do hope she won't stay away for all too long, as I still want to really finish that novel.

Of course my Muse deserves her holiday, so I won't be too harsh on her, but if she isn't back by January 1, I guess I'll have to start working on finishing that novel without her. I'm sure she'll be back in no time at all once I get back to the story again. I know her - she wouldn't want me to finish it without her help.

Meanwhile, I might as well enjoy my free time. It's the Holiday season after all, and with so much going on, it's hard to concentrate on my writing anyway. This is the time of year when I prefer to write poetry and short stories. I can finish the first drafts on the same day I started writing them, and that leaves my mind free to think of what to eat, and how to entertain our guests.

In January, after the holidays, I can devote my time to my longer projects again. I can hardly wait - but wouldn't want to miss out on the festivities this month either. I'm having way too much fun.

Sickness

2009-12-13T21:04:00.003+01:00

Just when I thought everything was going to be fine again, it happened. It was night, when it started. Isn't it always?

IT was a very bad earache. One that kept me awake all trough the night and made me go and see the doctor the next morning.

Her verdict: A hefty otitis media. Great, that was just what I was waiting for. With so much writing to catch up on, and the holidays approaching rapidly, this was about the last thing I wanted to happen.

Since this was a Really Bad Ear Infection, the doctor prescribed anti-biotics. I should be fine real soon again, right? Well , no such luck for me.

I quickly found out I was intolerant to this kind of anti-biotics. Lucky me, within 48 hours I ended up sicker than before. Sure, the ear was getting better, but I had this horrible itch all over my body. Worse: the itch was worst in my face, so I had a real hard time trying not to scratch my face. As if that wasn't enough, I also felt as if my throat was being squeezed shut, which made breathing rather hard. Then, there was also the nausea, which is really just a side-effect, but it got worse with every new dose I took. It sure didn't make me any happier.

So we phoned the doctor, and she decided I'd better stop taking the penicillin. Sadly, I still felt rather awful for another 48 hours.

By the time I started feeling better, I decided to get writing again, and moved my office to my bedroom.

At least being a writer means I won't have to stop working because I'm ill and can't stand on my own two feet.

A writer's life really isn't all that bad after all.

I Won NaNo!

2009-12-06T18:44:00.006+01:00

Firstly, my apologies for having been absent for yet another month. I've been in hospital yet again, but I'm back home now, and hopefully won't have to go back to hospital in years.

Now for some good news: Despite having been in hospital, I still got my novel - 50,000 words - written in November, and for the first time in my life, I became a NaNo Winner.

This year, I wrote my novel in Dutch, and that might have been the reason why I finally succeeded. Even though I speak English (almost) fluently, writing in my native language is still just that bit easier.

Even though I reached my goal of writing 50,000 words, the novel isn't quite finished yet. As I wrote my novel at top speed, I had to leave some blanks, but that's alright. I'll be using December to fill in those blanks. Next, I'll put my manuscript in a drawer and not look at it anymore until February, when I'll start revising.

NaNo Fever - and two more articles

2009-11-05T21:25:00.002+01:00

I'm seriously ill, and I'm afraid I won't recover from this illness until the end of this month. I'm suffering from NaNo Fever. NaNo Fever, as you may know, is a seasonal disease that afflicts many thousands of writers every year during the month of november. It's also a very contageous disease, but - and this is very important to know - it only ever hits writers. Other people have so far remained immune to the virus.

What happens when someone is ill with this terrible NaNo Fever, is that he or she will feel compelled by forces as of yet unknown, to write a full lenght novel (50,000 words at least) during the month of November. They start with a completely new story. A blank piece of (virtual) paper. Then they'll write like crazy until by the end of November they have reached their goal and written their novel. It doesn't matter whether it's good or bad. All that counts, is that the novel gets written.

I promised myself I wouldn't allow myself to catch the NaNo Fever this year, but alas, it hit me all the same, and now I'm a little over 10,000 words into my latest new novel.

Meanwhile, I am not allowed to slack on my other writing tasks. I will still have to write one article a day, and update my main blogs three times a week.

My latest new articles, EMDR, Effective Treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and How to Stay on Top of Your Laundry have been published at ScribeSeeker.com the other day.

Salvatore Publishing

2009-11-02T14:44:00.004+01:00

Today, when I logged in to my favourite writer's forum, the first post I read was one informing us that Salvatore Publishing, the publishing house that was going to publish my first novel and some of my short stories, has ceased to exist.

The owner of Salvatore Publishing wrote in a statement:

"Sadly, due to the current economic climate, the Salvatore Publishing website has now ceased to exist. Unfortunetly, Salvatore is no longer in a position to accept submissions from authors and there will be no more titles published under the brand. The books that have been published over the last 12 months will remain in the market place and available for purchase on Amazon and other internet retailers until such a time that the individual authors decide to source alternative publishers. Author's rights and royalties will not be affected by this decision."

I can't honestly say I didn't see this coming, as I did notice some of the early signs last summer already, but still, it saddens me that Guy and his crew have been beaten by the economy. I wish things were different, but they aren't.

I'm going to have to find myself another publisher now, and I'm not exactly looking forward to that. But it's all in the game, isn't it? I can do one of two things: Give up or keep on trying. I guess I'll be going for the latter.

New Articles

2009-11-01T20:19:00.002+01:00

Last week I've had five articles published on ScribeSeeker, a relatively new site article directory.

I'm already working on some more articles, so keep coming back for more. I'll soon have more articles on several different topics published.

The importance of goals

2009-10-28T11:03:00.003+01:00

Over the last months, I haven't been very productive. There were reasons. Real reasons. I've been ill and in hospital for quite a long time. There were also excuses. Things like being busy - yeah, right. Busy doing nothing?

The illness aside, what was the real reason for my lack of productivity? Would you like to guess? I'll leave some blank space here, so you can think about this before reading on.

...

OK, here's the real reason:
Lack of planning.
I hadn't set myself any goals, apart from this very vague goal of wanting to write and earn money with my writing. Can you see what's wrong with that?

I knew I wanted to write - but how much did I want to write? One article a day? One article a month? No articles at all, but only fiction? Did I want to write every day, or just when I felt like it?

And how about the money? How much money did I want to earn? $1 a month? $100 a month? $1000?

What I really needed were goals. Specific goals. And that's what I'm doing now. I'm setting myself some specific goals.

Instead of saying I want to write, I now committed myself to writing at least one article a day. I'll do this for six days a week, since I don't work on Shabbat. I also decided I will update my main blogs at least three times a week. That is very doable.

As for the money-thing: I haven't been able to specify that one very much yet. This is because at this moment I don't know how much is realistic. However, by the end of this year, I should be able to set myself a realistic goal about my earnings as well.

Birth

2009-10-25T23:43:00.010+01:00

One of my poems, Birth, has been published to Authspot today.

photo by Inferis
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 license.

Paid Writing Opportunities

2009-10-23T11:52:00.003+02:00

For those who want to make money with their writing, here's some paid writing opportunities.

And last but not least: DRT Press is seeking personal essays written by parents of children with ADD, ADHD and/or other mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders for a book about the experience of parenting children with such conditions, for publication (expected) in January 2011.

Oblivion

2009-10-23T00:02:00.003+02:00

Just to show you that poetry needn't always be high and lofty:

Oblivion

Writing Tips: Poetry

2009-10-21T10:29:00.007+02:00

Lately, I've been writing poetry as if my life depended on it again. Now, I don't consider myself a great poet by any means, but over the last couple of years I have learned a lot about the dos and don'ts in poetry, and my poetry has improved. Drastically.

Most of what I learned re. writing poetry, I learned over at the Poetry Boards of My Writers Circle, where I occasionally put up some poems for critique. The critiques -- although sometimes harsh -- have taught me things I probably wouldn't have learned otherwise.

For those interested in writing poetry, or improving their poetic skills -- yes, poetry is a craft and can be learned, although a bit of talent certainly helps -- I'll list a few things you might want to keep in mind when writing a poem. These basic rules apply, unless you write solely for your own entertainment/ enjoyment/ stress relief or whatever.

Look at your poem through the eyes of an outsider. What's in it for someone who doesn't know you?
Try not to use too much abstract language. Love, joy, pain, bereavement... it's all pretty abstract. If you want to write about one of these themes -- and you probably will -- try to convey your message in words that create an image for your reader. Paint a picture.
Avoid generalisations. Be specific.
Don't use clichés. We've already heard them a thousand times, so why would we want to listen to them again?
Unnatural, strained rhyme kills your poem instantly. Don't use rhyme unless you can make it sound natural.
Forget about the thees and thous. We don't speak like that anymore, so don't write like that either. It sounds stupid when used in modern poetry.
Funny formatting. So you think funky formatting looks cool? Think again. There's only one valid reason why you should stray from ordinary formatting, and that's if the poem needs unconventional formatting to get its meaning across better.

The list above was excerpted from Critiquing Guidelines & Suggestions for new poetry writers.

Meet my fellow writers

2009-10-20T13:31:00.002+02:00

It's been a while. I've been busy, I've been ill, but things are looking up now, so I hope to be able to post more frequently to my blog again.

Today I added a blogroll with links to blogs of fellow writers from My Writers Circle to my blog. You'll meet all sorts of writers if you visit these blogs. Some are published writers, others are just starting out. Some are poets, others write mainly prose...

Enjoy!

The Hidden Crown - Chapter 27

2009-05-30T22:59:00.000+02:00

It took me long enough, but I finally finished chapter 27 of The Hidden Crown. This is the last chapter of Book One. I plan on writing two more books to complete the series.

Since I hope to get the series pubished, I will be editing the book over the next few months. This will probably be quite a bit of work, as when I started writing "The Queen of Hearts" I had no idea this would turn out to be such a big project. Also, the merging of "The Queen of Hearts" and "Priest Cutie" needs to be much smoother. Then there's the problem of too many names starting with the same letter. Not so good, so I'll have to change that, too.

It will probably be quite a while before I'll be able to start writing Book Two.

My new book

2009-05-26T20:33:00.005+02:00

My first book will be published on June 6, 2009.
Last weekend was crazy, but we made it and this is what my book will look like:

The English translation of the title would be Home Education in the Netherlands and Flanders
It's the first Dutch book on home education, and I'm quite proud of it.

Photography: Lana Hogenstijn
Cover design: Yetske van Niekerk
Illustrations: Lisa Witmond

Illustrations

2009-05-18T00:34:00.004+02:00

Only three more weeks before my first book (on Home Education in the Netherlands and Belgium) will be launched, and we've been going through a hectic time. Not only did my publisher ask me to write one additional chapter for the book, but also he offered my 15 year old daughter the opportunity of illustrating my book - an assignment she gladly accepted.

The illustrations are ready now, and I like them very much. But of course it's at all possible that I'm biased, so I'll let you decide for yourself. Below is one of her illustrations.

We sent the illustrations to the publisher a couple of hours ago, and hope to hear from him soon.

The cover design is in the capable hands of another young artist - also home educated - and I can't wait to see the final result.

Short Story Submissions

2009-05-04T00:58:00.003+02:00

It's been a while. Lots of things have happened - and not all good. But this is no place for whining, so let's move on to the good news.

I submitted two short stories for publication in a Gothic Horror Short Story Anthology, and I have reason to believe they'll both be accepted. The publisher already contacted me, and wrote:

I'm delighted you want to get involved. I am finishing off a couple of our current projects and then I'll be moving on to the anthologies. I have filed your submission and of course I am pleased to accept it for publication.

He will get back in touch soon. I can hardly wait.

Earth Hour 2009

2009-03-30T17:36:00.000+02:00

Last Saturday was Earth Hour 2009.
At 8.30 PM we switched off the lights for one hour, took a stroll in the neighbourhood - where we noticed that sadly not many people had followed our example - and at 9.30 PM we switched on the lights again.

But what's all the fuss about?
Let's see what the official website, Earth Hour, tells us:

We need the world to take action on Global Warming. And you can start here. Use Earth Connect to share your thoughts about Global Warming. In the lead up to Copenhagen, your words will be more important than ever before.

To me, it's about more than global warming. It's about using the Earth's resources responsibly - so we won't have depleted them by the time our children or grandchildren have become adults. Or do we really want them to inherit a destroyed planet?

Oh, I also made a little movie: Vote Earth 2009 - SimStyle.

Going Crazy

2009-03-15T10:21:00.000+01:00

I think I'm going crazy!
But of course that's nothing new. Maybe my life was just never meant to be a calm and easy life, with every day the same as the day before. In fact, if my life were like that, I'd probably go crazy even harder.

I've been having a few hectic weeks, to say the least. First of all, I've been seeing my dentist way more often than I'd like to. Oh, he's kind enough, and he doesn't look half bad, but the guy is incredibly expensive. Not to mention the pain I've been in. And all isn't over yet. I've still got another appointment to look forward to. Great!

What's worse, it that one of our cats got severely ill. Her brother had already been ill for about half a year, and now his sister turns out to be even worse than him. They both have massive kidney failure, which is uncommon for cats their age - they'll be four in may. If they will live that long. The male has been on meds and a diet for five or six months now, and is doing fine, but we've had to take his sister to the vet's late yesterday night again, as she was badly dehydrated again and needed a drip. The lab results were alarming and the prognosis is not too good. I'm not giving up on her yet, though.

But as they say, life goes on. I still need to get my articles written, and am still working on my novel. I even found time and inspiration to write a couple of short stories, so that's not bad.

Over the last few weeks, I had five more articles published.

And there's more to come, of course. I've got three more Home Education articles in the works, one idea for a financial article, a couple of articles on parenting, and last but not least an article on the art of writing.

Another Short Story: Killer Instinct

2009-03-08T00:27:00.001+01:00

He’s as cute as they come, but don’t let his innocent puppy looks fool you. This guy is a ruthless, devious animal. He’s got killer instinct, I swear. No man ever hurt me as much as he did. And he wasn’t even mad at me when he did it. He was as calm and composed as I’d ever seen him.

Curious to know what happened?
Find out in my latest Short Story Killer Instinct.

Enjoy!

New Short Story: Ouch!

2009-03-05T00:17:00.001+01:00

Yep, that's right. I just published a new short story, about... well, something rather painful.

You'd better have a look for yourselves: Ouch!

Enjoy the suffering of my main character, and share your Evil Thoughts with me. You might just inspire me to write another Ouch!

As always, this story is not based on reality. All characters are fictional and any resemblances to real persons or events are coincidental.

Two new reviews published

2009-03-01T12:00:00.000+01:00

As mentioned in my previous blog post, I had to write four articles last week. Sadly, due to a severe case of Writer's Block, I only wrote three. And even that I wouldn't have been able to accomplish without the help of my 15-year old daughter, who did a lot of research for me and helped me outlining my articles, bless her.

The two educational articles have been published at BrightHub now.
Robert Krampf Science Education
Classics for Kids - Review

Of the financial articles, I only wrote:
How to avoid overspending on your credit card.
This article will be published within one or two weeks from now.

Meanwhile, I've got plans for several more articles.

Due this week

2009-02-23T08:36:00.000+01:00

This week I've got to write four articles:

Two educational articles. Reviews actually, about educational websites:

Robert Krampf Science Education
Classics for Kids

And two financial articles:

How to avoid overspending on your credit card
Do you really need a credit card?

I'm not particularly looking forward to writing these articles, and would much rather concentrate on my fiction writing, but since my fiction doesn't earn me any money yet and the articles do - albeit very little...

Oh well, I'll write one article a day. I should be fine. At least I can brag about being a published writer.

Eye to Eye

2009-02-22T13:53:00.002+01:00

It doesn’t happen every day, and maybe not even to every writer either, but if and when it happens, you’ll probably not believe your eyes. What am I talking about? Why, meeting a person who looks exactly – or almost exactly - like one of your own characters, of course.

It happened to me about one year ago, and I was swept off my feet completely. Priest Cutie came walking into my life and into my story a year earlier, and I’d been writing about him quite happily, as my loyal readers will no doubt understand. I hear a lot of my female readers were quite taken with my creation.

So, what’s the story?

I’ve got bad teeth. I’m not blameless, but it’s not entirely my own fault either. Not that it matters; it doesn’t change the facts. Having bad teeth means you’ll need more dental care than others who have good teeth. Simple.

It was around my birthday, and I had a problem with one of my teeth again. I can’t remember exactly what; it’s a year ago, and it doesn’t matter whether I need a new filling or a root canal. It all sucks.

There was one big problem. We’d moved three years earlier and hadn’t been able to find ourselves a new dentist yet and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to having to travel a couple of hours to get my dental problem solved. Fortunately, a new dentist had opened his practice just down the road from where we live only a few months - or was it weeks? - before. I decided to try my luck with him.

Blimey, did I get lucky! This young dentist reminded me a lot of my very own Priest Cutie. Oh, his skin was a bit lighter, his eyes darker, he was wearing glasses, and a few other details - like the shape of his nose - were a bit off. Still, I could hardly believe my eyes and certainly didn’t know where to look or what to say. I took a deep breath; I had to, hadn’t I? You can’t expect a dentist to be psychic, so I’d have to tell him what was wrong or he wouldn’t very well be able to help me.

He’s been our dentist for about a year now, and I’ve seen him quite a few times already, thanks to the horrible condition of my teeth. Thankfully, I’m not as self conscious about talking to “my character” as I was that first time, even though I still keep thinking of him as “Priest Cutie”.

As far as I can tell, he's a good dentist. He seems very precise and careful. Polite and caring, too. So much so, that he even seemed a bit nervous about not anaesthetising me. He kept asking if I was still all right. I was fine, of course. Somehow, I can deal with most dental procedures quite well without needing anaesthesia. Still, it was really nice of him to ask.

Changes

2009-02-19T09:53:00.000+01:00

My life has changed a lot over the last year, and my blog will reflect those changes. I've already made a few small changes to the layout of this blog, and more will follow soon.

I have now officially retired from SimTales. I don't play the game anymore, not even to take pictures for my stories. I don't have time, nor do I feel the desire anymore. I've gone back to writing the old-fashioned way: without pictures.

I find myself balancing a couple of demanding jobs - some of them paid, others unpaid, but all of those jobs are very important to me. As a home educating mother, I have the obligation to oversee my children's studies. The fact that they are getting older does not mean I can lean back while they are doing their lessons. In fact, it seems like they need me even harder now than they did before. Not to help them getting their lessons done, but for guidance, encouragement and deep, philosophical discussions. I like it, but it eats up a big chunk of my time.

Recently, I've also become a ESL-teacher for children. It's not a big job, just two hours of teaching every week. But I've got to prepare my lessons and as the school is at the other end of town, it takes me about an hour to get there, and the same amount of time to get back home again after the lesson.

Oh... and did I mention writing? No? Well, I'm a freelance writer, so I've got to write. Preferably every day. Articles, lessons plans, books. I enjoy it greatly, even though I couldn't feed my family from the income my writing generates just yet. But I intend to get there.

Kaddish

2009-01-28T14:40:00.000+01:00

Today is the sixth Yahrzeit of my daughter Sarah, z'l.

I wrote a little poem in her memory.
Kaddish

Also, I'd like to share a beautiful song with you.
Shma Elohai, by Sarit Hadad.

The Hidden Crown

2009-01-18T11:49:00.000+01:00

First of all, my apologies for my long absence. Holidays, illness, work... it all got in the way of writing. But now I'm back, and I bring both good and bad news.

The bad news is I won't be finishing The Queen of Hearts and Priest Cutie as Sim Stories.

The good news is that tale continues, but without pictures, on my new blog The Hidden Crown. This blog is open to invited readers only. If you want to continue reading this story, please send me an email: Leah

Two new chapters have been published since I opened my new blog. Chapter 25 - Cordelia and Chapter 26 - Cordelia. These would have been Chapters 12 and 13 of The Queen of Hearts.

It may seem a bit confusing at first, but I just merged the two stories into one. You'll find your way around on the new blog soon enough, I promise.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-21T11:49:00.000+01:00

The Holidays are here!

While most of you are probably preparing for Christmas, we'll be celebrating the Eight Days of Chanukah, starting tonight. We'll have guests all Chanukah long. I'll be doing lots of cooking, many presents will be shared, songs will be sung and stories told.

The house will be filled with warmth and light. The Light of Chanukah, The Light of Hope.

Happy Holidays, and see you next year!

Video Created and by Aish.com
Music Credit: "Location is Everything" by Daniel G. Harmann

Shared under Creative Commons License
(Attribution - Non Commercial - No Derivative Works)

Headbanger

2008-12-02T19:37:00.000+01:00

The moment it happened, I knew something was wrong. For a split second the world went black. I grabbed the nearest chair to prevent myself from falling. I was dizzy.

Next came the pain. And the nausea. My eyes wouldn't focus anymore - one of them just didn't seem to want to move at all anymore.

I staggered to the other end of the room where, thanks to my laziness the laundry basket was still sat on a dining chair, filled with a load of clean, dry laundry. I found a washcloth in it.

With a cool, wet washcloth pressed against my sore head, I retreated to bed. The hubby would have to fix us some supper. Knowing him, it was probably going to be chips, but for once, I didn't mind.

I slept all night, until well past ten in the morning. The hubby insisted I went to see our GP. He even phoned to make the appointment and then drove me over to her practice.

Her verdict: there doesn't seem to be any serious medical damage, but it will probably take me a week or two to get back to normal. In the mean time, I should try not to read or write too much, or use the computer. I should rest a lot, and give her a call when things don't improve or get worse.

Great. I'm so happy now.
Sure looks like I won't be updating any of my stories this year anymore.

About Characters

2008-11-30T12:42:00.000+01:00

I recently had a reader assume that, because one of my main characters held certain convictions, I also held those same convictions. As all experienced writers know (or at least I hope they know) it's very well possible to write about people who aren't like yourself at all.

Let me illustrate my point.

I'm currently writing a story about a guy who just murdered his wife - in a gruesome way, I might add. Does that mean I would murder my partner? With a medieval axe no less? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm afraid that just won't happen.

What? Oh, yes sure, it was a crime of passion. But even so. I still wouldn't do it. Sorry, my friends. I'm a boring person. That's why I write in the first place, to make my life more interesting.

In the past, I've written stories about womanizers, gay couples, homophobe materialistic ~~bitches~~ ladies, violent drunkards, racists... Again, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not like them, and I don't adhere to their convictions.

I just write about them. It makes my life much more fun. If I stuck to writing about people like me - plain Janes - well, sorry, I just wouldn't have a story to tell. Not a single one.

Oh, I admit it. I wrote myself into one of my stories once. I happened to be the storyteller. (What else?) Even in that case, I made myself more intersting than I really am. I couldn't resist. I am a writer, after all. And writers (fiction writers, I mean) are lying ~~bastards~~ creatures. It's what they do, and with a little bit of luck, people will even pay them to be able to listen to their lies.

That, my friends, is fiction. Lies. Sweet little lies. Big, horrible lies. But lies all the same. Who said lies don't pay?

Starting Over

2008-11-27T16:18:00.000+01:00

Great. It's back to the drawing table.

I sent the MS to the publisher two days ago. This morning I got an email from him, asking me to phone him as he had a couple of questions. I hate the telephone, but alright, I gave the guy a call. He was busy, so he asked for my number and promised to call me back later today. Which he did.

To make a long story short, he wants me to do a complete rewrite of the whole darned thing. Turns out he wants a nice story instead of the factual non-fiction I gave him, and although he's impressed with my knowledge, he thinks I provided an information overload.

Super! So it's back to where I began. Give him a nice story and slip in the info. Exactly the thing I always got criticised for in school. They wanted facts, and not a story. Now I'm giving facts, and he wants a story. I'm totally confused.

But oh well, he wants a story? I'll give him a story. I'm way better at stories than I am at non-fiction anyway. Just why couldn't he have told me so half a year ago, when I took on this bloody job that no-one else wanted?

A Writer's Christmas

2008-11-25T19:48:00.000+01:00

My friends over at My Writer's Circle just launched a new book, a Christmas anthology. If you're still looking for a Christmas present for one of your loved ones, why not get them this book. All proceeds will be donated to a children's charity.

A collection of Christmas stories for adults written by authors from across the globe. Gather round the fireside and let our motley crew of characters regale you with stories of humour and horror, love and lust, mischief and mayhem!

A Writer's Christmas features authors of every shade - the reader will discover everything from pulp fiction to purple prose within these pages, all bound with the bow of a festive theme. Christmas is the best of times, we are told, but for many children, it is the worst.

Salvatore Publishing, and the authors who have kindly offered their work for free, hope to bring a little light into the lives of these unfortunate children. You can help too, by purchasing A Writer's Christmas - all proceeds will be donated to children's charities. We hope you enjoy these tales, and we thank you for helping those less fortunate than ourselves at this special time of year.

Need. To. Write.

2008-11-20T16:51:00.000+01:00

I've been feeling sick over the past few days, and that's not good. I've got way too much to do, so I really can't afford to be sick right now.

I still need to revise one chapter of my book and do that last round of editing, so I can send my MS off to the publisher in time. I also need to write several articles about home education and web development, and then there are my other projects that need my attention too.

But I can't focus, I can't think. My head is foggy, and it hurts. A lot.

Can't write like that. Aaaargh!

Novel in a Month

2008-11-16T12:09:00.000+01:00

Last Friday I received this wonderful course in the post: Novel in a Month.

Have you ever wanted to write your own novel? I can assure you I have, and now with this course I'll be able to do it in record time too!

I've already started on a new novel, and am working according to the method laid out in this course. So far, I think this course is great. It takes you step by step through the whole process of writing your novel, editing the completed manuscript and sending it off to an agent or publisher - all in just one month.

Now, as with everything, there are some drawbacks to this course. What I miss, is a clear set of instructions on how to apply this method to your partly finished work in progress. I really would have appreciated that, as I'm already quite far into a novel I started about 18 months ago, and I would really have liked to be able to finish that first.

It's a minor drawback though, and I've already decided on how to solve this problem: I decided to just start a new novel (I had a great idea swimming in my mind already) and spend one month on it to get myself acquainted with this method. If all goes according to plan, it should be finished within that one month anyway, so there really isn't much to lose.

After that, I am sure I will be able to complete my long-term project and wrap that up in the course of just one month as well.

All in all, I think this course was well worth the money I spent on it.

Now, if after reading this, you are interested in writing your own novel, why not take your chance and buy the course? It's only $49.95, but I can now offer you a nice discount, so you will only be paying $ 39.95 if you buy the Novel in a Month course by following one of the links in this blog post.

You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain from it, because... you can try the course for a full three months, and if your novel isn't finished and published by then, you can return the course and get your money back.
With no questions asked.

So what are you still waiting for?
If you want to join the ranks of the authors you love, go ahead and buy your own copy of the Novel in a Month course.

I think you'll love it!

Almost there!

2008-11-14T12:56:00.000+01:00

The book is written. Well, almost.
I still need to go through a last round of editing, but that shouldn't be all too much work, so I'm happy - and taking the rest of the day off.

Ah, it's good to be a writer!

Book on Home Education

2008-11-12T10:33:00.000+01:00

It's been a while and I haven't posted to any of my blogs, but there's a reason.

I've been working like crazy on my book on Home Education in the Netherlands. As far as I know, it's going to be first book on home education in my country, so I'm really excited about it.
My deadline, which was set to November 17, has been postponed by one week to allow my to read up on the latest scientific research - which is so fresh it hasn't even been released to the general public yet - and complete my chapter on scientific findings about homeschooling.
I hope to be able to write that chapter today. Then I can send it off to the scientist who kindly allowed me to read his report, so he can - hopefully - approve of it.
After that, I've got one more round of editing to do before I can send the complete manuscript off to the publisher.

If all goes according to plan, the book will be published early next year.

Writing Opportunities

2008-11-06T10:40:00.000+01:00

Today I'm sharing some writing opportunities with you again.

Write a Plot and Win $5000
To enter this contest, all you need to do, is write a one-page synopsis for the next book in the Christine Kringle Series.

The contest is open to everyone in the world aged ten or older. You need to provide proof that you've bought the first book, but there's no entry fee.
Closing date is January 31, 2009.

Stories that Lift
Stories that Lift is accepting short stories and will pay between $5 and $20 per story.
They want true stories that are uplifting and entertaining, as well as being family-friendly.

The Snow Fairy

2008-10-30T09:17:00.000+01:00

I just received this blessing in my inbox and thought I'd pass it along.

You have been chosen to receive the Blessing of the Snow Fairy! The Snow Fairy will bring you good luck for one year! May you be blessed by his good deeds!

Let's hope he'll bless me with lots of lucrative writing assignments.

The Horde

2008-10-28T18:26:00.000+01:00

One of my writing buddies over at My Writers Circle just published a new book: The Horde

Available on Lulu.
Print: £8.95
Download: £2.99

Mounting losses in Afghanistan force the British military to unleash a new but untested weapon against the Taliban - a creature engineered and bred in secret laboratories.

Matthew Hunter, a tabloid journalist, discovers his brother is involved in the project and tries to get it stopped - now both their lives are in danger. Plagued by memories of his brutish father, Matthew is forced to confront both the demons from his past and the very real demons of the present in order to save his brother and to understand the truth about his own life…

Coverart by ThatLouie.

Writing Tips Contest

2008-10-27T21:24:00.000+01:00

Earlier this month best selling author Nick Daws launched a writing tip contest at his blog:
Nick's Writing Blog.

The rules are easy:

So what does the competition involve? Well, I thought I'd ask readers to submit their best writing tips of under 250 words including the title. Tips must be original (I will check this online), and they must be posted as comments on this blog. Only one tip per person, please. I'd also be grateful if you would give your tip a title so that I can identify it.

The two winners get an annual subscriptions to SpellCheckPlus Pro

Closing date of the contest is Friday 31 October, so hurry up if you want to participate.
Right now there are only six submissions, so your chances of winning will be really good!

Christopher Crawford

2008-10-21T09:03:00.000+02:00

Almost a year ago, I proposed a writing challenge at the SimTales Forum. We'd done a few challenges before, and this one seemed like fun, too.

Sadly, it was the wrong time of the year, and everybody was just too busy preparing for the December Holidays, so I received not one single entry. I didn't write one either.

Yesterday, I dug up this old Writing Challenge and gave it a try.

It’s a Thursday night, and you’re in a bar waiting for your date/colleague/husband/brother/sister/whatever, who so far failed to show up. You’re about to go home again, when a man – you later find out his name is Christopher Crawford - enters the establishment, and walks right up to you…

You'll find my take on Christopher Crawford at my new blog 305 Words.
Suitable for all ages.

Stuck

2008-10-14T10:50:00.000+02:00

I'm about 2000 words into chapter 12 of The Queen of Hearts and I'm stuck. I know what should come next, that's not the problem. I wouldn't even have any trouble coming up with the right words, so why am I still stuck?

Trivial as it might seem, I like all my chapters to be around the same length, which happens to be about 2500 words for The Queen of Hearts. Right now, at 2000 words I've got a nice cliffhanger. Not a big one, but a cliffhanger nevertheless.

Continuing the story the way I planned it, would mean spoiling my cliffhanger, which I don't want to do. Ending the chapter here, however, would mean I'm 500 words short. That may not sound like a lot, but it is 20%. One fifth, which is quite a lot if you look at it that way. It would translate into being 15,000 words short on a full length novel of 75,000 words. Just putting things into perspective here.

So what am I to do?

I'll clean my kitchen, fold my laundry and cook all those fresh chestnuts my daughter's best friend gave us. I'll walk to the greengrocer's to buy us some fresh fruit.

Meanwhile the story will be stewing in my mind. I'll just allow it to stew for as long as it needs, until I know what to do.

Add This

2008-10-14T10:38:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I signed up with Add This and edited my blog template so the button shows up at the bottom of all my posts. I did this with several of my blogs.

To be quite honest, I know very little about social bookmarking - but I intend to find out. If you are interested in adding an AddThis button to the bottom (or top) of your blog posts, let me know. If enough people tell me they are interested, I'll write a little tutorial.

Writing Opportunities

2008-10-09T12:42:00.000+02:00

Writing Contests:

Blue Mountain Poetry Card Contest
Deadline: December 31, 2008
1st prize: $300 * 2nd prize: $150 * 3rd prize: $50

Dream Quest One - Poetry and Writing Contest
Postmark Deadline: December 31, 2008
Prizes
Poetry Contest: First Place $250.00 * Second Place $125.00 * Third Place $50.00
Writing Contest: First Place $500.00 * Second Place $250.00 * Third Place $100.00
Entry Fees
Poetry Contest: $5 per poem
Short Shotry Contest: $10 per short story

Jobs

Triond - Earn monthly revenues while you build a portfolio of your writing.

Gumtree - Writing Jobs in and around London, UK

First Payment

2008-10-09T10:08:00.000+02:00

Oh, the joys of being a freelance writer!
I received my first payment yesterday: the grand amount of $30.00, which translates into € 21.38. With a little bit of luck, I can feed my family for two or even three days from that kind of money.

Then again, we have to keep in mind that this was only three articles, and although mine were a little bit longer than that, they only have to be 350 words long, which really isn't much. So I'm not complaining. Not complaining at all.

Besides, next month I'll get paid more. I've got 11 articles assigned to me for the month of October - with one of them published already, and four more written but not published yet, so I'll be earning at least $110.00 next month.

But this isn't just about the money. This is also - and maybe even more - about establishing myself a name as a freelance writer. Filling up my portfolio, gaining more experience.

I'll be able to earn myself and my family a living from my writing yet. Just wait and see. I'll keep you posted.

New Tutorial: Using Wordpress to Create a Portfolio

2008-10-09T10:01:00.000+02:00

My latest web development article Using Wordpress to Create a Portfolio, published at BrightHub on October 7, teaches you how to create a portfolio using a free Wordpress Blog.
And no, I'm not pushing Wordpress here; just doing my job. Actually, to be honest - I like Blogger better than Wordpress, but that might be food for another article.

This tutorial is geared towards people with at least some previous experience in the blogging world, and is probably too concise for absolute novices.

For those interested: My Portfolio
I guess it's good enough for now.

Still no updates?

2008-09-30T00:52:00.000+02:00

Well, you see, it's like this: Life Sucks!

I have been writing and am making progress on both The Queen of Hearts and Priest Cutie, but I just haven't finished a complete chapter yet. These are difficult chapters to write - for different reasons.

But that's not my biggest problem. The biggest problem is this thing called Real Life. A few days after I pubished my latest chapter of Priest Cutie, my sister was admitted to hospital in the middle of the night with gallstone colics. Someone needed to step in and take care of her children. Guess who was the lucky one? Don't worry, they're nice little girls, and I enjoyed having them, but I wasn't overjoyed with the reason why.

It was decided that she needed surgery, but that didn't happen until Sept. 22, my youngest daughter's birthday. And again someone needed to look after her children; at her own place, this time. So I got lucky once more. I was at my sister's from Monday evening until Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, back home things weren't going all too well either. One of our cats had got sick, and our 15 year old cat, who'd been having kidney problems for quite a while already was deteriorating as well.

Yesterday, our sweet little old cat died in my husband's arms. Today we took our other cat to the vet's - for the third time already in less than a week. The initial plan was to open his belly and have a look inside to figure out what exactly was wrong, but x-rays and echoes showed very large and deformed kidneys, so they ended up not wanting to risk that right now. Instead they took a blood sample and sent it to the lab in Germany for analysis, put him on a drip since he was quite dehydrated, and kept him there. He is still at the vet's clinic and we hope he'll be good enough to come back home with us tomorrow, but things don't look well.

So, all in all, life sucks and I can't concentrate on writing at all. Updates will come; I just don't know when yet.

Homeschooling Book

2008-07-16T23:18:00.000+02:00

Books don't write themselves.

It's been almost two months and I wrote the first draft of one chapter. If I keep working at that pace, the book won't be written in years yet.
I know why I'm not making any real progress; I just don't like writing non fiction. Not nearly as much as I enjoy writing fiction anyway.
Yet I need to get this book written, and I know there's only one way to solve my problem. I have to make a planning and stick to it.
So tonight I sat down and made my planning. The manuscript will be ready on November 17, when I will send it off to my publisher.

I probably won't be able to update my stories very much until then, but that can't be helped. I really don't want to mess this up and let this opportunity slip through my fingers. Not if I can help it.

Also, I decided I'm going to have a go at writing children's books.
Why?

Firstly because my beautiful 9-year old home educated daughter asked me to write a book about a home educated girl. You can't blame her for that, can you?
Secondly because I think I might be able to write up to ten children's books a year - if I make a good planning and stick to it.
Finally, I really want to earn some money doing what I enjoy doing most: writing.

Starting next week, I'll be spending one day a week at the library in town, just writing. No distractions from my computer, my lovely girls or my sweet husband. Just me and my manuscript.

I just know this will work for me. I always seem to be able to write best when I'm alone and away from home.

Six Word Memoir

2008-07-03T12:34:00.000+02:00

Shez at Homeschooled Twins tagged me at the Dutch version of my Homeschooling Blog with a meme about ten days ago...
I decided to put up my meme here.

Write a six-word memoir.

Post it to your blog including a visual illustration if you would like.

Link to the person who tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogsphere.

Tag 5 more blogs with links

Don’t forget to leave a comment in the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

I had to take my time; a six word memoir proved to be more difficult than I expected, but here goes:

Don't mess with me; I bite!

So, yes, I'm a thin, vulnerable looking woman and that means some people make the mistake of thinking they can mess with me.
So not!
Those who know me, know they'd better stay on my good side...

Other than that - I'm really nice, I promise.

***

I'm tagging
Sandra at Sandybvv's Blog
Lizzy at Lizzy's Blog
Gracia at Gracia's Blog
Melissa at Chardonnay Central
and Silver Arrows at Out to Lunch

Book Deal

2008-05-25T20:24:00.000+02:00

I've got a book deal.
As in I'm going to write a book and get it published. Garantueed! (And I haven't even written one word of it yet...)

We were at this Homeschooling Conference today, at a workshop and someone said we really shoud have a Dutch book about homeschooling. Then someone else (a publisher) said if he could find someone to write that book, he would publish it.

Well, what could I do but jump at the opportunity?
So I said I'll write it.
My publisher (wow, that sounds sooo cool!) wants me to write a 200 page standard work about Home Education in the Netherlands.

I guess I'd better get to work now...

Spring Bride 2008 - Round Three

2008-05-24T10:37:00.002+02:00

I didn't think I'd make it, but I did: I finished Round Three of the Spring Bride 2008 Contest at Insim, and that means I finished the contest.

It was killing, and I'm still not sure whether or not I'll ever want to participate in a contest over there again. This was completely different from anything I've ever done before, and I did learn a thing or two - or so I hope.

As a writer I've only ever had to write what I wanted to write, and I found it hard to write according to a script that was at least partly designed by someone else. I had my own story to tell, and to make that fit in with the rules and guidelines of the contest was quite a challenge; in my story just about everything was different from the usual wedding stuff. And I'm not talking about my bride being Elven - that was the easy part.

I was shocked when I found out I'd have to write my couple's own wedding vows. I'd never done that before and didn't know where to start, but it sent me on a nice journey into the world of Wedding Vows.

I learned that Wedding Vows should not be too high and lofty, and definitely not too long. They should be easy to memorize for the bride and groom, so they can recite them flawlessly even in the stress of The Moment.

Of course they should come from the heart (which was the easy part for me, as I always write from the heart).

They also should have a poetical quality about them - without becoming actual poems - and even "informal" vows should still be written in rather formal language. Ordinary speech would definitely kill any vow.

And, obvious though it sounds, many people seem to forget about this: vows are to be vows; not just a declaration of how much the couple loves each other. How would you feel if you got married to a guy (or girl) who told you how much he loved you, but didn't make you any promises at all?

Remembrance of the Dead

2008-05-05T15:35:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was a special day for us.
On the Fourth of may, our country commemorates the victims of the second world war.
For as long as I can remember, I would watch the solemn ceremony at the Waalsdorpervlakte (Plains of Waalsdorp), near the Hague where I grew up. It has been my wish for years already to go there on the fourth of May and pay my respects to those brave men and women who gave their lives for my freedom.
Yesterday was that day. We arrived at the Waalsdorpervlakte by six, spent a couple of hours waiting, until finally around half seven the silent walk to the momument began.

Being there, in that place, where so many people were executed, meant a lot to me - even though I was born years after the war. Because even though I was never in the war, the war has always been in me. Through all the stories my mother and grandmother told me, the pain I have seen in my relatives lives, in their eyes... it's always been a part of me. And it will be, forever.
I was in awe, as if I were standing on sacred ground - which, in a sense, I was of course.

New Tutorial

2008-04-30T14:55:00.000+02:00

On request, I just posted my new tutorial on how to create a Blog with Bigger Pictures.

One advance warning: If you're afraid to experiment a little, this is NOT for you! =P
This tutorial was written with the more experienced blogger in mind.

Coming Soon: A Purim Spiel

2008-03-10T19:19:00.000+01:00

Over the last week or so, I've been working on a little Purim Project which obviously has to be finished by march 20, sundown, as that's when Purim starts this year.
First, I've written a Purim Spiel, which I'm playing out and illustrating in the Sims.

Secondly, I also decided to make a little Purim Movie. A decision I sort of regret now, because I made things rather difficult for myself here, but now that I've put in so much work already, there's simply no turning back.
Here's a preview...

Yahrzeit

2008-01-09T20:16:00.000+01:00

Today (sundown, January 9 - sundown, January 10) is my daughter's sixth Yahrzeit...
She was severely disabled and died of cardiac arrest on Sh'vat 3, 5762 at age five.

Yahrzeit

I light a candle
say your name
in the flame
I see your face
and pray
kaddish

I give tzedaka
go to see
your grave
and leave
a pebble

memories of the child
I held
oh so tenderly

precious baby
darling child I say
your name and pray
kaddish

Music: Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton

mp3 hosted by http://boxstr.com

Review on Nick's Writing Blog

2008-01-03T21:36:00.000+01:00

Good news!

Best selling author Nick Daws just posted a review of my E-book Blogging for Storytellers on his blog.

Nick's Writing Blog: Blogging for Storytellers

You won't believe how pleased I am with that. Thank you, Nick!

I've been a member of Nick's forum My Writer's Circle for about a year and a half now, and have really grown as a writer since I joined the forum in July 2006.

InterNerds

2008-01-03T15:37:00.000+01:00

Yep, that's what we are: a family of Nerds. Internerds. Even the cats. All three of them.
Just look at the pictures if you don't believe me.

Shimi is patiently waiting for "his" notebook to be returned to him.

Kleintje is being inspirational on my lap while I'm trying to write a story.

While Tika is distracting Lizzy from writing hers.

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T19:55:00.001+01:00

May 2008 bring you health and happiness,
and may your dreams come true.