Ruth Nestvold's Blog, page 34

Old Sarum

I went to Old Sarum on the same day as Stonehenge, but I’m devoting a separate post to it, since it is actually part of my research for A Wasted Land, and not just something cool I took advantage of seeing while I was in Britain. The tourist bus makes a stop there on the way back to Salisbury from Stonehenge.

Old Sarum

I’ve been to Old Sarum before, when my husband and I were traveling around Britain and I was researching sites for Yseult, the first book of The Pendragon Chronicles. I wanted to...

Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral

Rain was forecast for my second day in Salisbury, so I didn’t feel like trying to do Calleva and tramping an hour+ through Nomansland in search of what’s left of the Roman city, no matter how important it was during the period in which The Pendragon Chronicles are set.

So instead, I bought the bus ticket complete with entrance to Stonehenge and Old Sarum. I haven’t seen Stonehenge in over a dozen years, and while it isn’t part of my research, it is a part of the lay of the land in the region...

Indulging in a research trip to England: Salisbury and Amesbury

When I was invited to a wedding in England, I figured I might as well add a couple of days on to the trip to visit some of the sites where the novel I am currently working on, A Wasted Land, take place. I decided to base that part of the trip in Salisbury, because it was closest to two of the main places I wanted to see: Amesbury and the hillfort there (for the first time), and Old Sarum (for the second). It also isn’t far from two other sites I was particularly interested in visiting: Winche...

Late on stating my quarterly goals, but with a good excuse

I’m in England right now, and have being visiting sites for the next novel of the Pendragon Chronicles, A Wasted Land. Today I’m heading off to the east coast of Suffolk for a wedding. Yay! Anyway, as a result, I haven’t had time until now to get my goals for the round sorted out. Woke up early this morning, though, so I figured I could get that done before heading off for the train to London.

Salisbury, where I am now

Writing:

- Write 500 words a day, five days a week, for an average of 2500 w...

Learning to make selfies in England

I realize that I’ve promised posts about my travels while here, but at the moment I’m too busy running around, and too worn out in the evening when I get back to the BnB. But never fear, I am taking notes and composing posts in my mind and on paper, and I will post some of the results of my research when I get back, at the latest.

In the meantime, here are some of my attempts to make selfies with my relatively new smartphone. You can’t really tell, but this is me in Salisbury Cathedral:

Here’...

Facing the enemy for #WIPpet Wednesday

I’m crazy tired right now — watched the US – Belgium game last night, which went late, and I have only just now finished packing for my flight to London tomorrow. But at least I *am* done now, and since I know I will not be posting next week — Wednesday is the Wedding! — I figure before I trundle off to bed for my much deserved rest, I will post another snippet from A Wasted Land for WIPpet Wednesday. My math for today, 7/2/14, is to add up all the digits, giving me 14. So here are 14 short p...

99% of what Writers are hearing in terms of advice comes from 1% of Authors.

Ruth Nestvold:

Great article about the difficulty of taking advice in this rapidly changing publishing world — my own or anyone else’s, since within a few months, it could be obsolete.

Conclusion: you have to keep reinventing yourself. In the writing life, there is no such thing as making it (except perhaps for a fraction of a second, or a fraction of us writers.) Dream of resting on your laurels? Plant some bay. :)

Originally posted on Write on the River:

So how much actually applies and is u...

Slowly getting back to writing: My quarterly accounting post

Those who follow this blog will know that I took some time off from writing the last couple of weeks to give my mourning brain a break. When the mourning seemed to be going on a bit to long, I remembered the letter from Clarion West in my inbox and signed up for the Clarion West Write-a-thon again this year. That started on Monday, and I haven’t quite reached my goal of 500 words a day, but almost: 400 a day on Monday and Tuesday, and 500 on Wednesday. At least it’s helping with my main goal...

Singing a song of Arthur for #WIPpet Wednesday

I skipped #WIPpet Wednesday entirely last week, knowing I just didn’t have the energy for visiting lots of blogs. I think I’m slowly shaking my lethargy now, and I will try to be a good fellow blogger this week. :)

For this excerpt, I’m returning to A Wasted Land and Kustennin, the new Dux Bellorum of Britain. When I last posted an excerpt from his story, he and Taliesin were posing as minstrels to scout out Venta / Winchester, the capital of Cerdic, their enemy in the recent wars. This snipp...

Fake Bestsellers, Concern Trolls and Hidden Agendas

Ruth Nestvold:

Last week, I read the original article by Tony Horowitz claiming he was a digital bestseller and was particularly irritated by his claim that digital publishing was the problem — *and not that he had given his rights away to an incompetent e-publisher*! I could only shake my head that this was published in the NYT, arbiter of American culture. David Gaughran’s analysis of the “bestseller” status is once again illuminating.

Originally posted on David Gaughran:

Last Friday we were...