Katharina Gerlach's Blog, page 26
February 26, 2013
Wednesday’s Quote – and my take on it
The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.
Paul Valery
What Valery is trying to tell us is that you need to take action. No one is going to discover me and my books if I never write and publish them. How can I become a famous author if I don’t have any books for readers to discover?
I dream of readers who love my books and who’ll rave about them to their friends, so I’ve begun to publish the stories that float through my head. Of course, I can’t write half as fast as I can dream them up, but I’m trying my best. What are your dreams? What action steps can you take to make them come true?
February 25, 2013
My Monday Cup of Tea (ehm Cocoa): hickup in the German social security system
During the last two weeks, my life exploded once more. My middle girl broke her thumb and we spent endless time at doctors. I’m very grateful for the German health-care system (all expenses were paid by an insurance), but the bureaucracy that goes with it drove me nuts.
My daughter broke her thumb on a school outing, therefore, my normal insurance doesn’t have to pay. There is a special insurance for accidents that happen during publicly funded events (like school outings), but they insist on using specially appointed doctors. Unfortunately, not many of those live around where I live, so we had to drive for quite a while before we found one. I’ve got a whole folder with an x-ray and written reports from all the docs we saw, and I’m mightily fed up. Unfortunately, the thumb is not healing the way it should, so I expect to spend more time driving around. Sigh.
That said I’m still on track with my projects. In a few days, I’ll announce the upcoming publication of the print-book of “Scotland’s Guardians”, and soon after, I’ll let you know which title will be published next and when. I hope you’re all mighty curious. 
Thank you for letting me vent,
February 23, 2013
Freaks Fun Friday: The Scottish Kilt
So, what if it’s Saturday? I didn’t have enough time for anything the last few days. Maybe I’ll tell you about it on Monday. For now, I need to go to bed.
I am a freak, I admit it. When I was younger, I actually enjoyed going to school (go ahead, laugh at me) — not because I wanted to meet my friends, but because I loved learning new stuff. It hasn’t changed all that much. I’m still delighted if I manage to smuggle facts into my stories without anyone noticing. at this place, I’ll give you access to my twisted mind. Welcome to a Freak’s Fun Friday.
I’m currently putting together the files I need for publishing a print version of “Scotland’s Guardians” and noticed that I never mentioned the Scotsmen’s best known garment. Well, I’ve had a good reason. The people Bryanna meets during her travels did not know kilts like the ones we’re used to seeing today. Originally, Scottish people wore the belted plaid, an extra large piece of fabric in tartan colors. It was meant for wrapping around ones body, and it was long enough to be used as a cape or a blanket too.
quote: “The philibeg or small kilt, also known as the walking kilt (similar to the modern kilt) was invented by an English Quaker from Lancashire called Thomas Rawlinson sometime in the 1720s for the use of the Highlanders he and Iain MacDonnell, chief of the MacDonnells of Inverness employed in logging, charcoal manufacture and iron smelting, for which the belted plaid was “cumbrous and unwieldy.
This story has become well known, due in part to the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper’s work, but more recent evidence has shown this theory to be out of date as several illustrations have been found of Highlanders wearing only the bottom part of the belted plaid that date long before Rawlinson ever set foot in Scotland. There is some suggestion of its use in the 1690s, and it was definitely being worn by the early 18th century. It most likely came about as a natural evolution of the belted plaid and Rawlinson probably observed it and quickly deduced its usefulness in his situation and insisted on introducing it among his workers.” (from Wikipedia)
I do belief that this compressed history is probably the correct one, although I like the story better where the Scottish poet Robert Burns invented the kilt for a visit of the English king. In my eyes, this makes Scotsmen even weirder. What about you? Have you ever tried to imagine a Scotsman without his kilt?
February 20, 2013
Wednesday’s Quote – and my take on it
This time, I’m posting a picture (1000 words and all that). You can see how true the words are if/when you get the chance to see how much I sweat to learn all about marketing. *grin*
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I don’t know how to attribute this picture correctly. I don’t have the copyright for it, and the link on Pinterest sends me to a private page on Facebook. I’m terribly sorry, because I’d love to give credit to the one who took this picture and merged it with one of the greatest quotes I’ve come across. If you’re the one responsible, please contact me so I can put up a link to your site.
Remember that working independently means working on your own all the time.
February 18, 2013
Review Monday: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
I read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken first when I was twelve, and it was one of my favorites immediately. I keep rereading the whole series all the time and still find it fascinating.
About the Book:
Wicked wolves and a grim governess threaten Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia when Bonnie’s parents leave Willoughby Chase for a sea voyage. Left in the care of the cruel Miss Slighcarp, the girls can hardly believe what is happening to their once happy home. The servants are dismissed, the furniture is sold, and Bonnie and Sylvia are sent to a prison-like orphan school. It seems as if the endless hours of drudgery will never cease. With the help of Simon the gooseboy and his flock, they escape. But how will they ever get Willoughby Chase free from the clutches of the evil Miss Slighcarp?
My thoughts:
These were truly believable characters, and they were dropped into a really nasty situation. No one likes losing their parents, but adding the loss of their home topped it all. I loved the way the two girls never let themselves get down. They fought back with everything they had. Since this story takes place in an England with slightly alternate history, the story also taught me (unconsciously) about the way of live in GB. Joan Aiken is a genius. What I loved best about this series is that she took one minor character from the first book and made him the hero of the next and so on. That way, there was always room for the characters to grow, and I was never bored. I might borrow this idea some day.
February 15, 2013
post canceled
Hi,
Sorry but I have to cancel Freak’s Fun Friday for today. I’m quite ill.
Cat
February 12, 2013
Wednesday’s Quote – and my take on it
If I did not learn something new every day I was dead but too stupid to lie down.
Flowinginkwoman’s Dad
I got this quote from a forum I’m participating in, but I love it. As I confessed before, I’m freakish enough to really like learning. I once read a book where kids could insert Computer chips in a slot on the back of their heads and then, the knowledge would download automatically to their brain. I guess I’d download the whole library and still that wouldn’t be enough. The thing I would miss, though, is the delight I feel when I find things out for myself. The facts I have worked hardest for are the ones I remember best. What about you? Did you hate school or was there some itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny grain of knowledge that interested you? Let me know in the comments.
February 11, 2013
Review Monday: Ordinary Princess
When I began reading English, my Scottish mother (adopted) bought me a book. It was quite slim so I wasn’t too frightened to try, and it turned into one of my all time favorites to this day. The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye is a story for all ages.
About the book:
Along with Wit, Charm, Health, and Courage, Princess Amy of Phantasmorania receives a special fairy christening gift: Ordinariness. Unlike her six beautiful sisters, she has brown hair and freckles, and would rather have adventures than play the harp, embroider tapestries… or become a Queen. When her royal parents try to marry her off, Amy runs away and, because she’s so ordinary, easily becomes the fourteenth assistant kitchen maid at a neighboring palace. And there… much to everyone’s surprise… she meets a prince just as ordinary (and special) as she is!
My thoughts:
This book shows everyone that ordinariness or it’s opposite lie in the eye of the beholder. Princess Amy is anything but ordinary. Her problem is that she’s not what her parents want her to be. She doesn’t behave like princesses are supposed to, and she isn’t fixated on beauty (hard to do when you’ve got freckles believe me). When her parents come up with a nightmare idea to marry her, she takes matters into her own hands. This is the absolute anti-Cinderella story and that’s why I love it so much. It contains just as much romance and some typical fairy tale elements, but it twists them in a way that makes them new and exciting. If you haven’t yet, give this story a try. It’s not very expensive and you can get it as an eBook too.
February 7, 2013
Freaks Fun Friday: Dreams
I am a freak, I admit it. When I was younger, I actually enjoyed going to school (go ahead, laugh at me) — not because I wanted to meet my friends, but because I loved learning new stuff. It hasn’t changed all that much. I’m still delighted if I manage to smuggle facts into my stories without anyone noticing. at this place, I’ll give you access to my twisted mind. Welcome to a Freak’s Fun Friday.
For one of my projects, I researched dreaming. I was sure there had to be more behind the rapid movements of a sleeper’s eyes (REM). What I found is discouraging. Sure, scientists can measure a lot of things like REM, the heart rate, and brain activity. They can even pinpoint the area of your brain you’re dreaming with, but they cannot tell you what you dream and even less what it means.
So, I turned to dream interpretation. This subject is very vague with lots of it based on psychology (more or less Freudian). Nothing I found was satisfying for me. I do not believe that my brain floods me with symbolism. I mean, it provides me with symbol-free stories the whole day long why would it change this during the night? I gave up on the science of dreams, but not on the idea about a dream-scientist trying to build an effective trap for nightmares. I will write it some day. Until then, I’ll tell you one of my favorite dreams:
I’d been invited to the Munich outlet of a big bookstore chain for a reading event. So I booked a tiny room in the most famous hotel for artists, the only place I could get. I arrived late after a long and tiring train journey looking forward to a night’s sleep, but the minute I lay down, someone in the apartment above me began playing AC/DC. Don’t get me wrong. I love their music (well, most of it, together with Blues, Classical Music and the Beatles), but in my dream I was too tired to appreciate it. So I got up and walked upstairs to beg the hotel guest to turn the music off. When I knocked, a stranger opened the door. He listened to my plea politely and then asked me if I didn’t like the music. We got talking. Some time later, I mentioned that I thought Angus Young looked much older than his years. The man laughed and called over his shoulder into the room, “Did you hear that, Angus? I told you, you need to sleep more.”
The man at the door was Brian Johnson, AC/DC’s lead singer, and I hadn’t recognized him. When I woke, I had the sad feeling that this happens to artists all the time. People love their music, their paintings, or stories, but many never remember who created them.
There isn’t much to interpret in this story, don’t you think?
February 5, 2013
Wednesday’s Quote – and my take on it
“I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork.”
Peter De Vries
I’m the same yet different. The process of writing, of getting the words and worlds on paper (in my case virtual since I write on a computer) is magic. At the same time, it’s the work I struggle with most. Sitting down to pound out a 1000 words per day is a nightmare. There is no time to wonder whether those words are good or not (That’s what revision is for. I love revision). I have to remind myself of this fact often, or I would never finish writing down my stories.
The other kind of paperwork is even worse. As soon as I began to publish my novels I was faced with administrative paperwork. I keep records for the tax office, records to judge Project efficiency, records of my contacts, my marketing efforts, and the courses I took. I hate bureaucracy, and Germany seems to be particularly good at it.
