Normal Life Continues ...

... with more corrections. (Gosh, I hate corrections!) But on the bright side, today was the first day after the deadline I woke headache-free! Yay! In addition, the chocolate graving is now firmly back under control again. Yay #2! And what's more in today's mail I found A) the Poirot Collection 5 (more lovely Hercule Poirot films starring David Suchet) (Yay #3!) as well as B) a free book from Harlequin: Ann DeFee's Somewhere Down in Texas as a sort of aftereffect of RWA National (Yay #4!) -- Harlequin had organized several signings, but at most of these signings there were more people than books, so they let us write down our names and promised to mail us the books. As you can see, they even sent books to Germany! Isn't that cool? Three cheers to Harlequin!

I've been thinking about what story to write next (yes, I know, I need to finish Betrayal first! Never fear, I'll do so!). If you remember, two days after I had first finished Castle of the Wolf, I started working on Bewitched. (Of course, then I revised Castle a couple of a times, got a bit of a depression, revised Castle some more, etc. etc., which explains why it took me so horribly long to finish the dratted thing [aka Bewitched].) This time, no new story has presented itself so far.

But ...

... I've been thinking ...

How about I take out one of my old stories, dust it a little and polish it a little and see what comes of it?

So what do you make of these first two sentences:

There was nothing I hated as much as court parties. But, of course, being the king's daughter, I had to attend every single one of them.

Back to Normal Life ...

... i.e., corrections. Hooray, hooray!

But what was really cool: this evening I watched TV. I actually watched TV this evening!!! Do you know how long it is that I last watched TV in the evening? I also watched the first part of Pirates of the Carribean -- wow! Nice film! Who would have thought it? (And I wasn't even freaked out by the living skeletons, even though the living skeletons / zombies in Dark Project freaked me out to no end. Just hearing that sound -- wooha, whooha -- gave me the creeps! *shuddershudder*)

At the same time I'm trying not to get too depressed about my manuscript nor about Castle -- as far as reviews go, I was spoilt rotten with The Lily Brand; this time, the reviews are more mixed. Or at least the reviews I've seen so far -- the include the whole range from 5 stars to "I hated it". Which can be a bit depressing. Especially when one is already depressed about the ms one has just handed in. And in order to increase depression even more, one can always start to worry about one's regular job, about the past and the future, one's weight, hair, pick one -- and if it should so happen that in such a situation one has run out of chocolate, cookies AND gummibears, well, it's not nice, I tell ya! (Midnight blubberings, here we come!) (Sheesh, I really need to stock up the chocolate!!!)

Oh help

I really don't know what to do with myself now ... *scratching my head*

Typical falling-into-hole-after-deadline syndrome, I'd say...

The Morning After

Feeling still elated (is that a bad sign? Oh gosh, it's probably a bad sign, considering how crap I felt after I had handed in Castle), but also still worried about that second part (oh, okay, here's the crap feeling, so perhaps it's going to be right, after all). I don't think I've handled the magic particularily well (except for that scene I wrote last evening / night; I think that was nicely done) (well ....), which is a real bugger. :-/ I hate it when things that look so wonderful in my "mind-films" don't translate well onto the page (and it did look sooo lovely in that particular mind-film *sigh*).

Great: one of my cats has just bitten into my hand because, for some strange reason, I wasn't okay with her sitting on the keyboard.

Ooookay, but for the most part, I'm feeling elated and totally, blissfully happy!

Now, of course, I have to start thinking about which writing project to tackle next (apart from finishing "Betrayal", that is).

The New Face of the German Romance Magazine

Isn't it awesome???????

In case you haven't heard of the LoveLetter before: it's the only German romance magazine; it was launched two years ago and was, at first, only available to subscribers. The numbers of readers steadily grew, so now the LL team took the next step, and the black-and-white booklet was transformed into a full-colour magazine! I can't wait to get my hands on the April issue!!!

A big congratulations to the editor and her whole team: you've done an AWESOME job!!!!!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Done!
Done!
DONE!!!!!!

The book's done! The dratted last scene finished (and it's not too bad, I think) (I haven't read it again, though). Oh joy! (I also left them the sword to kill the plant. My mind refuses to concentrate on proper ways to kill a magical plant, so for now they can keep the stupid sword.)

I also found a solution for the villains: total annhiliation (or however you spell that word) -- "They didn't stand a chance." (Ha! That shows them!)

Now I only hope my agent and editor are going to survive reading the dratted thing. :-/

But for the moment, I'm soooooooooo happy!!!!!! Yay!

$%($)"`?)=§/(!!!!!!

What the heck was the point of writing this novel??? Can anybody tell me?????? AAAAAAARGH!!! *head desk*

I've just realized that I have given absolutely NO thought to doing away with the villains. What in all the world am I going to do with the villains? Okay, one of them dies, but what about the other? How about sending them to Bedlam? Hmm, that would work perhaps (especially since I start feeling like a Bedlamite myself....) (See? At times like this it would be really nice if dancers and choreographers had blogs. Because, you know, you could visit said blogs and read about totally romance-unrelated stuff! Look at pics of nice-looking men hopping across a stage or other such things! -- Yes, totally shallow, but hello? nobody can expect me to be all deep and serious right now when I'm about to have a nervous breakdown over the dratted ms!)

Totally OT: Speaking of pics of men: Have you noticed that Harlequin is using one the same male model for almost all of the Kimani romances? And he hasn't got any hair! At least not on his head, but sometimes in his face. I mean, hello? Ever heard of a bald romance hero, even if he was fashionably bald??? (Oh, wait, isn't J.R. Ward's Z running around with a shaven head? His own, that is. Not running around with other people's shaven heads.) You people there at Harlequin: this is bad. Really bad. Especially when the book describes the hero as having nice, fairly long hair. Don't do this to us! And that strange beard? Beards are generally a big no-no for romancelandish heroes! So they should be for cover models, too!!!

Okay, rant over, back to the ms.

Heck.

Interim Report #3: On Swords and Stuff

*taking a deep breath* Hey, you villains! Here I come! So swing your swords and behave!!!

So, I'm no getting ready to finish that last scene. With the swords.

Btw, to attack the plant with the sword was a really bad idea: frankly, the scene sucks. Big time. Duh.

5-O'Clock-Tea Interim Report

Finished the proofreading. Last scene still remains to be written. To sum up so far:

Prologue-Chapter 4: really love these!
Chapters 5-9 : not too bad either
Chapters 10-12 : uh-oh
Chapters 13-14 : waaaargh! *head-desk*
Chapter 15 : not too bad
Chapter 16 : waaaargh! *head-desk*
Chapter 17-18 : not too bad, again
Chapter 19 : something between uh-oh and *head-desk*
Chapter 20-21 : uh-oh
Epilogue : fine

In short, the first half of the book is fine, the second half mostly crap. Wonderful. Furthermore, I've remembered that I originally wanted to have some tension between my hero and his older brother. I totally forgot about that. Duh. I'm not quite sure whether there's enough time to put it in.

I've also stumbled across a word I don't know: these long sticks of rolled-up paper they put next to the fireplaces to light fires and cheroots? What the heck are these things called? Anybody?

Interim Report

70 more pages to proofread.

One more scene to write.

5 1/2 hours left. (Well, actually, thanks to the time difference I could actually stretch it to 7 1/2 hours.)

I've run out of gummibears and chocolate Zwieback.

Chapter 13, 14, and 16 suck.

Help!

Halbzeit

What can I say? Despair! Despair! Despair!

And my heroine is a cry-baby. *sigh* Okay, she's got every right and reason in the world to cry her eyes out, but still, I cut the whole bawling short. Drowning in tears, as Alice found out, isn't too much fun.

Have I already mentioned how much I hate reading my own stuff when it's all still raw and not yet approved by either agent or editor?

Last Day (419 pages)

The Last Day of Writing the Book has dawned. What will happen? Will Sandra manage to finish the $U%)"§" last scene? Will the villains wave around pistols or swords? Or will the terrible witch Jewellyn bonk her wand on everybody's head and drain the blood from Maid Maiken's fair body? Will strapping young Gilland manage to save the maiden? Will it all end in madness? Tears?

Stay tuned for further news from the writing front!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!

Never mind those bloody villains! They refuse to behave, so instead of finishing that $%U)"§!%$%§ scene, I'm going to proofread for the next two hours or so. And then fall into bed, get up at six, and continue proofreading.

Oh yes, and try finishing the $%)"?§=%(")§ last scene.

Duh.

Inconsequential Musings

Why can't dancers have blogs? Or, more to the point, why can't Adam Cooper have a blog? Can you imagine how many people he would make happy by starting a blog??? Heck, if he only posted a picture of his cats, people would be totally, senselessly, blissfully happy.

Or choreographers! Matthew Bourne should do a blog! Or should force his company to do a group blog!!!

Given, there's Dani, who runs the Friends of New Adventures website, but still, it's not the same. GIVE US THE BLOG! Post video clips of rehearsals on YouTube! How cool would that be?

It's totally unfair that only authors should have blogs. We want our favourite dancers & choreographers, too!

(Note: I'm beginning to go slightly ga-ga, if you haven't noticed yet. I totally blame it on the deadline.)

(Note 2: Still, a blog by any of the aforementioned people would be uber-cool. Just saying.)

(Note 3: What do you think looks better on villains: pistols or swords?)

Sh*t

Still not finished ....

Today we serve you ...

Feuerzangenbowle!

Yay! The last scene is finally under way!

409 Pages

Earlier this evening I phoned a friend of mine. "How's the book doing?" she asked.

"Ooooooh," I wailed. "It's soooooo horrible! The first third is sort of nice, but, you know, the rest of it! It's horrible. They'll probably not want to publish it!"

"Sounds exactly like your last manuscript."

Oh.

Oh well.

So, does that mean ... there's still hope???

Yay!

I still need to write that $&)=!§/%($ last scene, proofread the second half of the book and insert those corrections.

Ironically ...

... that love scene wasn't quite so bad as I had feared.

I still haven't written that last scene, though. *sigh*

I want to cry

I really, really want to cry.

The wail that echoed through towns and fields

I still haven't written that last scene (I hate writing last scenes -- probably because writing last scenes drives home like nothing else that the book is nearly done, which in turn means that I'll have to send it to my agent and editor soon, which means that they're going to read it ::mumble::and drop dead.::mumble:: AAAAAAARGH!) Instead of writing, I'm proofreading. (I also hate proofreading because it means I have to read my own stuff and we all know how I like that -- duh.) Consequently, I've now reached a state of utter doom and gloom. 'Tis not pretty. *sigh*

Sandy on Literature Map

My page is starting to fill up.

Look here. :)

There's a light at the end of the tunnel

Or at least I hope there is. :)

As of today, I only need to write two more scenes: the "Feuerzangenbowle" (since there's an Admiral Reitz, there also must be a "Feuerzangenbowle": each year my boss, Prof. Reitz,* invites his whole team to a Christmas party at his home and makes this special winter punch for us) and the big showdown with the villain.

I think I have too many pages though. Duh. (But I'm NOT going to cut anything right now. After all, this won't be the final version anyway.) (I.e., I'll get a list.)

I'm also worrying about the paranormal elements I included in the story: they're actually more fantasy than paranormal, and I fear they might be too fantasy. Hmm.


Today's Manuscript Fun Fact:
Today my heroine had to lie down in the snow. Neikkid. Stark neikkid. -- Poor thing.

* Is horrid picture. He's a much nicer person than he looks in this picture!

The Perilous Orchard

Horrible Histories episode of today:

Kassian, Gidonius, and Martinus venture forth into the Perilous Orchard. When they eat from the Forbidden Cherries, they call forth the wrath of the nymphs, the Ladies of the Orchard. With their magical song, the nymphs lull Gidonius and Martinus to sleep and bury them under cherry blossoms. But, lo and behold --

Shall I really tell you? *g*

~*~

Things are moving rather well at the moment *knocking on wood*. I've got the sneaky suspicion, though, that I'll end up with too many pages, especially since I still need to write three scenes, one of them the great showdown with the villain. Hmm.

I'm getting a bit nervous about proofreading the second part of the novel and inserting all the changes in time.

Ah well ...

My Blogging Day on Unusual Historicals

And I'm musing on deadlines, of course. :)

Unusual Historicals

Shiny, bright ARCs

You might remember the blog bitching party Heather and I indulged in at some time last year (here and here). After all the bitchery and after we sort of realized that none of us is a seven-headed, green-haired monster, I offered to send her a copy of Castle. And so I did. :) Or rather, I let Dorch do it, and Heather posted a pic of it on her blog:

Awwwww, lovely! :)

Ramblings on Bewitched

What if ...

... all you knew about another person was based on a lie?

... your whole relationship with that person was an illusion that had ensnared you both?

... you had seen through the lie, but could not possibly tell him?

... you didn't know anymore what was real and what was not?

And what if the illusion hid a truth that could bring death to you both?

(Oh yes, and on top of all that, you're snowed in and there isn't any decent chocolate to have because, duh, it hasn't been invented yet, and he really, really want to carry you off into his bed and have his wicked way with you, and, boy [Note: not that you're a boy yourself, this is just, you know, generally speaking], you're fancying him like mad, but WAIT! What about contraception, hm?)

Despair, despair, despair

DESPAIR!!!!

As you might have gathered from the cry of deepest, darkest despair above, I'm once more utterly convinced that the dinosaurs would have made the better authors. *sigh*

The Problem of the Love Scene

Ooookay. I wrote that love scene. But somehow I really didn't want to (even though, as I have probably mentioned before, generally enjoy writing love scenes): it just seemed all so tedious to go through the whole motions, "here he enters the room, they kiss, do some panting, some flinging off of clothes, too (enter some descriptions of his splendid physique!), more heavy hankypanky ensues, will he give her her first orgasm already at this stage? orally? manually? or what? and then they sink down on the bed, and ... oh ... hm ... *scratching my head* wham-bam (usually with with rupturing a hymen which is, for some reason or other, not where those things are usually located, but somewhere really high up in her ... uhm ... honeypot), she sighs ... nah, yells ... screams (don't all romance heroines scream when they orgasm?), and he roars ... groans ... or whatever he feels like doing when he's coming (perhaps she's pushed her stocking into his mouth?), they sink down into the pillows in heavenly bliss."

And into all that, throw some emotions, which will further the plot, tell us something about the characters, etc. Oh yes, and most important of all: BE IMAGINATIVE & ORIGINAL!

*headdesk*

No, I really, really didn't feel up to it. So instead of writing a fully sketched love scene, I only wrote the fore-foreplay section involving The Horrible Histories of the Rhine:

"Read me ... read me your favourite scene so far."

"My favourite --"

"Yes."

Amy tried to clear her befuddled mind. Gracious, he was only touching her hand so far, but her body already went up in flames. "The ..." She licked her lips. "The episode when Markander saves fair Alexandie from the horrible lindworm."

"Read it." Each word a carress. "Read it to me." He drew back, his gaze intense. "Please." His hand slipped from hers. "Please." [NOTE: Waaaaaaaah! This is so cheesy! *headdesk-headdesk-headdesk*]

How could she deny him then? Even though she would have preferred if he just kissed her. She fumbled a little with the pages until she had found the correct one. "N-noble Markander, like a bold and daring hero, then entered the valley where the dragon had his abode," Amy began haltingly.

Last-Minute Research

Sheep.

One of my secondary characters (Lord Munthorpe; Munty for his friends & acquaintances) breeds sheep on his estate and, consequently, loves talking about sheep. Which is the reason for the sheep joke (well, sort of joke anyway) in the novel.

Isabella poured tea and the Scottish duke [NOTE: he's not going to stay a duke; I might make him a viscount or something] told them all about the sheep that merrily bounced about his lands up north. "-- we also have Blackheads, of course."

"Blackheads?" Amy took a sip of the thin tea.

"Lord Munthorpe beamed at her. "On account of them having black heads, Miss Bourne."

BUT ...

... is there actually a breed of sheep called Blackheads?

No, but there are the Scottish Blackfaces. :) Aren't I lucky? So Blackheads got turned into Blackfaces yesterday.


Sheep the Second.

What does the barometz (or should it be borametz?) in the British Museum look like? I could swear that found a pic of it online some months ago. But didn't find said pic this morning. Duh.


Blickling Hall.

The estate of my hero's family is loosely based on Blickling Hall in Norfolk. Ordered a tourist guide on Blickling at abebooks a the beginning of this week. It arrived yesterday. Yay!


Dressing Rooms.

Did all guest bedrooms have a separate dressing room? Haven't found out yet. Will probably remain vague on this matter.


Drawing Room.

Was the drawing room only used when somebody paid the family a call? Or could it be also used as a general sitting room? I know that the library was often used as the family sitting room. But I've made the library at Rawdon Park into a large, drafty place.


Apples.

What kind of appletree could Admiral Reitz have in his garden? Certainly one that he can fall out of. *ggg* Thanks to Mr. Beeton and the Book of Garden Management (yay, Carolyn!), to pick a variety of apple was not too difficult. :)


Greenhouses.

I know that greenhouses became enormously popular once the tax on glass was removed. But did people, or rather, did the nobility already have greenhouses before that, i.e. in the Regency era? Another easy one: after minimal googling, I found a neat plate that shows a Regency greenhouse in winter: here.


Scents / Perfume.

Still need to pick scents / perfume for my protagonists. I've already (almost) settled on bergamot for the hero, but what about the heroine? Need to think some more about that one. And do some research on what kind of perfumes were available at that time.

Still alive and kicking

10 more days.

10 more days until the deadline will hit me over the head. (Well, not really, the deadline isn't until the end of the month, but I'll need to send the dratted manuscript to my agent so she can send a print-out to my editor.)

And I still got 60 more pages to write. Or something. *headdesk*

And I'm stuck. Or rather, I've been deserted by the Muse.

WAAAAAAAAAARGH! *headdesk headdesk headdesk*

This time, not even writing the love scene helped (it helped when Cissy got stuck on the Rhine). *headdesk* I've never had any problems writing love scenes. Heck, those are usually among the first scenes that I write. But no, not this time. Plenty of sexual tension beforehand, no problem, but when they get to the serious stuff -- blank. (Waaaaargh! *headdesk*)

By now, I'm once more utterly convinced that poor ChrisK will drop dead when he reads this manuscript.

Does this work?

I had a lovely smooching party with the Muse this morning (good thing, given the fast approaching deadline!), and once again things didn't quite go according to plan (remember that time when I wrote CASTLE OF THE WOLF, and my heroine suddenly grabbed a knife and held it somebody's throat? Yes, exactly like this not-going-according-to-plan. *ggg*). So this morning I wrote this very romantic scene set outside in the gardens of Rawdon Park (actually, it seems as if half of the book is set in the gardens of Rawdon Park ... *scratching my head*), and quite suddenly my hero started to behave in the most silly fashion. I mean, helloooo, romantic scene, love of your life (well, sort of), would you please take this seriously? No, he wouldn't.

Drat.

But I went along with the flow (always a good thing if you don't want your Muse to leave in a huff) and the result was a somewhat crude joke about Lord Elgin's marbles.

Well, at least I think it is a joke. This is the tricky thing about writing in a second language: making the puns work. Sooo, could anybody tell me if the following joke actually works in English?

His warm breath carressed her ear. "Don't tell me that the same young woman who didn't bat an eye at the sight of Lord Elgin's very nude marbles, now quakes at the thought of showing me her unstockinged foot?" he murmured.

Ineffectively, Amy tried to push him back. "This is different." She gritted her teeth when he wouldn't budge. "Those were statues. This is me!"

He pulled back, his brows knitted in a frown. "Did I just say 'Lord Elgin's nude marbles'?" His lips twitched, then he threw his head back and roared with laughter.

Amy dropped her forehead into her palm.

Gaargh!

At the end of June, I'll give a paper at the "Feminism & Popular Culture" conference of the Feminist & Women's Studies Association (UK & Ireland) in Newcastle. It took me almost two hours to book the hotel and the "§§$%)=!"!=?$`& flight to Newcastle. Hotel wasn't too bad; I was just in full panic mode (I always worry about the accomodation when going to a conference -- just think about it: you arrive at the hotel, give them your name, and they, in turn, give you a blank look. "Schwab? No, there's no reservation under this name." Aaaaargh!) (I don't envy Schrumpfkopf for going to the ICFA this year: because the hotel changed owners, they seem to have enormous problems with reservations.). Anyway, as I said, booking the hotel wasn't too bad; I only drove the poor people at the Conference Centre mad.

BUT ...

... the flight.

Ooooh, the flight.

I tell ya, getting a flight from Frankfurt to Newcastle is tricky: you either have to spend the night in Amsterdam, several hours in Paris or Copenhagen, or you can switch airports (yes, airports!) in London. Can you imagine Sandy dashing from London City Airport to London Heathrow? With my luck, there'd be either a major traffic jam, or the tubes wouldn't be running. Or both. Probably both.

So, I decided to take a direct flight from Düsseldorf (my Dad offered to drive me to the airport :) ). Right. Found the perfect flight: 12:20 p.m. from Düsseldorf. Went through the whole booking process. Checked all necessary info twice. Checked the dates ... uhm ... at least four times.

And then ...

... nothing.

NOTHING!!!!

No more seats available on this flight. (Waaaaaaaaaaaah!) (Can you see me panicking?)

Okay, okay, no panic. (Ha! You sure can see me panicking!) NO panic.

Right. (panicpanicpanic)

Uhm. (paaaaaanic!!!!) (I'll never get to Newcastle! I'll have to take the 7:25 a.m. flight from Frankfurt and have to dash across London and there'll be a traffic jam and no tube running and I'll be stranded in London and miss my flight AND WHAT THE HECK SHALL I DO THEN????) (Sh*t, there isn't even a production with Adam Cooper in it running right now.) (Booohooo! *headdesk*)

Okay, okay. Let's just try another site for booking flights online. (breathe-breathe-breathe-PANIC!)

Type in name of airports.

Type in dates. (Sh*it, wrong date.) (panic!)

Check dates.

Check dates again.

Click on "Search for Flights".

Wait.

(Whaaaaa! Why does this take so long??? PANIC!!!! *squeeze eyes shut* They won't have a seat available. No, no, they won't. You'll have to dash across London, traffic jam, tubes down, miss flight, PANIC! PANIC! PANIC!)

Results are in. Oh, look there's the flight. Click on it. (Ha! They're tricking you! Just like that other site! You'll have to dash across London, traffic jam, tubes down ... breathe-breathe-breathe)

Flights there. Check dates. Check dates again. Check airports. Check dates. Print out page. Check dates.

Right.

Click on "Put into shopping basket". (Ha! They're tricking you! I tell ya, they're tricking you! You'll see!)

Register with the site. Check everything twice. (You'll have to dash across London, traffic jam ...)

Check again.

Click on "Buy now". (Ha! In just a moment they'll tell you that there's no seat available. Just wait and see! You'll have to dash ... panicpanicpanic! *squeeze eyes shut again*)

"Thank you for booking ..." page appears.

You stare at it.

Surely, this must be a mistake. Right? I mean ... this flight is booked out, right? What do they mean, they're going to send you your tickets???

Does this mean ...

Wow.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've got a seat on the plane to Newcastle! :)

The Last of Friday

Or is it the First of Saturday?

Actually, it's more like the first of Saturday. Anyway, I'm so excited: Dear Author has mentioned my podcast! (Now, of course, I feel doubly bad for not having posted a new episode for so long. Hmm. Perhaps I can put one together tomorrow...)

And what's more: the book arrived today (or rather yesterday). "The Beeton Book of Garden Management" is now all mine (and yes, Carolyn, you can come and visit the book :) ) -- and it's a beautiful copy, very well preserved.

And what's even more: I got a very nice review of Castle from Coffee Time Romance today (no, yesterday). The reviewer calls it "enchanting and full of surprises". Definitely nice!

But for now, I'll totter off to bed. Good night!