Still there .... with a new website!

Sorry for yet another blog interruption! In the past few weeks, things once again didn't quite go according to plan (what's new?). I got a bunch of bad news, my weight loss stagnated, and have you heard about the mess with Dorchester yet? And in case you're wondering: yes, I'm one of the authors caught up in the mess. Hooray!

But to get something positive out of the whole situation (always look on the bright side, eh?), I sat down to work on the new website. I finished it earlier this evening, and it's now up and running (there are only a few bits - the Bewitched audio file and some pics - which aren't). So please check it out and let me know what you think of it: www.sandraschwab.com

Two Conspirators

My heroine, Carlotta, and her new friend are up to no good ...

"I think that went very well," Charlie whispered to Lady Isabella as she pushed the wheeling chair after the elderly lady. "You were truly splendid!"

The other girl shot her a blushing glance accompanied by a shy smile. "Would it be very wicked of me to admit that --" The blush deepened. "-- that I enjoyed myself?"

Charlie grinned. "Oh, no! It's the spirit of St. Cuthbert's, you see."

They caught up with the lady who had led them across the room to a table where a group of young gentlemen lounged in their seats. Charlie surveyed them critically. So one of those was the fabled Mr Whitstock, owner of the most splendid phaeton in all of London.

(from a scene I wrote last night)

Urban Sketching, or, The Cool Things You Can Discover with Flickr

A few months ago I created a Flickr account (oh well, it was more, like, over a year ago, but who's counting, I ask you?) as part of my desperate attempts to kickstart my creativity. I thought that sharing pictures of my crafting projects might do the trick. (It didn't, not really; but hey, I did teach myself using a sewing machine. That's something, right? And frankly, I'm tickled pink that I can sew. *g*) (I'm also tickled pink that my humble creations seem to have inspired others to tackle crafting - yay! Surely that's the best compliment ever!)

Though I don't upload pictures on a regular basis, I love Flickr. You can discover so many interesting things there. Like these

1. Twin Spruce Dress: Simplicity 3965, 2. Picnic Dress: Simplicity 3965, 3. Prairie Girl Dress, 4. Finn the Human, 5. Peony Prince de Galles, 6. Granny Stripe Blanket - edging detail, 7. P1100441, 8. Untitled, 9. SSS1, '11, my original Peony, 10. Sorbetto Dress, 11. Crochet Chinese New Year Dragon, 12. Heart Kitty, 13. Quilt for baby - detail, 14. Felt hamster, 15. at petit morpho, 16. berries and butterfly stumpwork, 17. Loulouthi Quilt - handquilting, 18. House tape measure by Poppyprint, 19. my book 1, 20. Jasmine muslin, 21. Jasmine Colette, 22. Monkey Man, 23. New Pattern!, 24. Purple Embroidered Cuff with Glass Button and Gold Beadwork, 25. Chevron Embroidered Necklace, Beaded Fringe, Turquoise on Moss Green Linen, Gypsy Boho, 26. macaron, 27. Crumm, 28. Bowl Bear Amigurumi is looking at U

(Did you see the itty-bitty crocheted dragon? Isn't it cuuute???)

On Saturday I browsed the pictures of the group Moleskinerie and happened to stumble across some absolutely stunning sketches of urban landscapes, like this one:

Or this:

Or this:

Aren't these awesome?

I did some research (I'm good at that *g*) and discovered that there is not only a whole blog dedicated to urban sketching, but that there's also a book called The Art of Urban Sketching


Now, you know that I've got this thing with books, right? And because I'd fallen in love with the works featured on the blog, I naturally ordered the aforementioned book. It arrived today, and let me tell you, it is absolutely and utterly stunning. After a short exploration of what urban sketching is, the book takes you on a journey around the world via the sketches of the various contributors.

It's one of those books that you can open again and again, and every time you will discover something new. *happy sigh*

A Trip down Memory Lane

Visiting my past -- that's what I did last summer when I attended a conference at the University of Freiburg: for the first time in 25 years I returned to the Black Forest, where I had spent a part of my childhood. During my primary school years my family lived in Waldkirch, a small town near Freiburg. I used the town as a model for Kirchwalden in Castle of the Wolf, and the Castle of Wolfenbach was partly based on the Kastelburg, one of the two castles overlooking Waldkirch.

It was strange and exciting and - gosh! - terrifying to go back to the town which I had loved so much and where I had been so very happy. It was a truly wonderful place to grow up: Waldkirch is surrounded by forest, meadows and fields -- the perfect playground for a young child. With my friend Anja, I often went "on adventure", exploring meadows, falling into brooks, discovering ugly spiders. Another friend of mine, Doro, lived on a farm in one of the neighbouring villages. A FARM! How cool is that?! They had cows and chicken, and the kitchen was directly next to the door that led into the cowshed.

This is the apartment house where we used to live on the fourth floor (American style of counting floors). The flat was huge and had several large balconies. Anja's family lived in the same house, so we typically went to school together (we didn't always come home together: indeed, when we quarelled at school, we made sure not to come home together *g*).
And this is the view from our old street. See how close the forest is? Back when we lived there, there was only one row of houses along the street and there were fields directly behind the gardens.

The next picture shows St. Margaretha's, one of the Catholic churches in Waldkirch (I do believe that it gets a mention in Castle of the Wolf). The inside is decorated in the Baroque style -- no wonder then that I've never liked the more puristic church in my current hometown. :)

Next, the market square (that one, too, gets a mention in Castle!). Apart from that ugly, blinking pharmacy's sign on the right, it hasn't changed much.

The Bayer-Sepple (a restaurant) still exists ...

... as does the "Herrebeck", a bakery.

And when you turn around, there is still this, of course:

In June I will attend another conference in Freiburg. Naturally, I will return to Waldkirch and will indulge in another trip down memory lane. :)

Discrimination is still discrimination even if you dress it in magic

Let me tell you a story ...

Once upon a time there was a Romance Writers of America Chapter. They called themselves Romance Writers Ink and decided their purpose would be

to promote excellence in romantic fiction, to advance the professional interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy, to provide a general basis of mentorship to any writer who is actively, and seriously striving to become published and thus establish a career in the romance genre, as well as to provide a camaraderie for writers within the romance publishing industry.

They also had one annual contest for published writers, the More than Magic, which had the following categories:

• First Book
• Historical
• Novella
• Paranormal
• Romantic Comedy
• Romantic Suspense
• Sensual Contemporary
• Single Title
• Sweet Contemporary

Oh wait, and there was yet another category:

• Erotic Romance

Oh yes! They had a special category for erotic romance! Weren't they cool? And forward-thinking? (At this point I would like you to think about what's really hot -- pun intended -- in erotic romance right now ...)

The judges for this contest were recruited not just from the RWI chapter, but various other RWA chapters as well, and naturally, all judges were romance readers. Regular romance readers.

And then in 2012, RWI added a little amendment to their contest rules, namely the following little jewel:

Note: MTM will no longer accept same-sex entries in any category.

In other words: gay and lesbian characters need not apply.

Why? you might ask (and you wouldn't be alone).

Kari Gregg, who writes M/M erotic romances, sent an e-mail to the More than Magic contest coordinator to ask exactly that. The reply she got stated

that RWI chapter members were “uncomfortable” with accepting same-sex contest entries. “Same-sex was just too much.”

So apparently, aliens with interesting appendages, sex-crazed werewolves, vampires with exotic tastes, slutty rakes, zombies, forced seductions, outright rape, vanilla sex, masturbation, anal sex, threesomes, foursomes, orgies are all okay and perfectly acceptable, but two homosexual partners in a loving relationship are too much?

Excuse me?!

To make matters worse, it would seem that at the RWA offices nobody feels inclined to call out such discriminatory behaviour.

And to make matters even more worse, on some RWA loops, some members showed themselves astonished over the uproar and cautioned others to actually use the word "discrimination".

Would they be as nonchalant if the revised contest rules statet that "MTM will no longer accept entries with African American characters in any category"? Or perhaps, "MTM will no longer accept entries with Jewish characters in any category"? Do we really need to spell out how crass this kind of discrimination is?

The changes that Romance Writers Ink made to their contest rules are discriminatory and unacceptable.

Wanna learn about late Georgian loos?

Then come to RWA National this year and attend my workshop! It's called "Inside the British Country House, 1770-1830," and yes, it's going to cover toilets.

And bellpulls.

And bath houses.

And a host of other topics.

In addition, it seems that I got myself another workshop on Twitter last night. This one is for the Beau Monde conference and will deal with early nineteenth-century magazines (no Punch, alas).

Needless to say that I'm so excited and that I'm so looking forward to summer!

Wooohoo!

I've just managed to survive 6 minutes of hula hoop, 10 minutes of I-am-a-chicken-so-I-flap-my-arms, and 30 (!!!) minutes of free-style jogging with Wii Fit Plus!

Earnings: 7 WW active points. Yay!