Ruth Nestvold's Blog, page 44
August 21, 2013
Another excerpt from A Wasted Land (for #WIPpet Wednesday)
It’s my first chance to play #WIPpet Wednesday again since returning from vacation. This time, I give you 8 paragraphs from page 21 (8/21). In this scene, Celemon has just learned that her betrothed is accused of getting another woman pregnant.
She wanted to scream and scratch Aurelius’ eyes out, wanted to cry and run away, wanted to do something, anything, about the hotness in her chest and the pain and anger closing her throat. Instead, she took courage from Kustennin’s steady gaze, saw his...
August 18, 2013
On the joys of brainstorming and traveling
In the last few weeks, I’ve made very little progress on my fiction. As those of you who have been keeping up with my blog know, I was in Iceland for almost a week, and in the US traveling and visiting family for over two weeks. When I left, I’d been thinking I might be able to find time in the evenings to write, but that didn’t happen often. During our trip, I got a whopping 1100 new words written on A Wasted Land. Most of what I was writing consisted of travel reports about our Iceland trip...
August 13, 2013
Iceland, Days 5 & 6: From Glaumbaer to Gunnuhver
Day 5: Ringroad back to Reykjavik and Glaumbaer
After the late night the day before, we got off to a slow start on our last full day in Iceland. Our first stop was the turf houses at Glaumbaer, an open air museum consisting of some traditional Icelandic buildings which were once a farm. Wood was scarce in Iceland, and in historical times, the most common construction method was to make the walls out of turf. Only the fronts, the windows, and interior details were of wood.
Also in Glaumbaer is...
Iceland, Day 4: Dettifoss and Whale Watching
Our first goal of the day was some falls east of Lake Myvatn, Dettifoss and Sellfoss. On our way there, though, we noticed a tour bus turning in at a little side road. When we saw the brown sign, we decided to follow it. We ended up at some springs in caves below a rift, Gjrotagja. The hot springs in the caves were a popular bathing site until some eruptions at nearby Krafla raised the temperatures too hot for comfort. The waters have cooled down again now, but bathing is still no longer allo...
August 9, 2013
Iceland, Day 3: Gothafoss and Myvatn National Park
The reason we chose to stay in Akureyri was how close it was to several impressive waterfalls as well as to Myvatn National Park, sites we picked as particularly interesting after a little research into the sights of Iceland. It would have been nice to stay closer to the park, but online at least there wasn’t anything left to be had when I finally got around to booking our stay. Chris ended up doing a lot of driving back and forth, but at least it was never night.
Our first destination from A...
August 2, 2013
Iceland, Day 2: Reykjavik to Akureyri
On our second day in Iceland, we took the Ring Road (Route 1) north to Akureyri. Our first detour was along the fjord Hvalfjörthur rather than taking the tunnel. We saw a number of lovely waterfalls, and many, many sheep (which I failed to photograph).
We also stopped in Borgarnes, following a recommendation in Lonely Planet, but we weren’t impressed. It’s one of the few times, however, that Lonely Planet has led us astray.
Our next stop was Grabrok, a crater next to the Ring Road that none o...
July 29, 2013
Iceland, Day 1: Stuttgart to Frankfurt to Reykjavik
I promised to blog about our trip to Iceland, and now, with a week+ delay, here’s the first part of my report. The days in Iceland are very long in the summer, and we regularly didn’t even get back to our vacation rental until after 10 pm — and it was still light.
Anyway, on to our little adventure just south of the arctic circle. Chris and I normally don’t like flying out of Frankfurt, since it involves taking trains, which can be delayed and connections missed, causing all kinds of inner tu...
July 28, 2013
Saying goodbye with a laugh: The Jay Lake Wake
Astonishingly, our busy travel schedule this summer allowed me to attend an important event for a dear friend of mine, Jay Lake’s “live wake.” Anyone who knows Jay won’t be surprised that he would rather go out with a bang than a whimper, and the wake was certainly in the category of “bang” — and luckily, it looks as if it won’t be the last.
To begin the proceedings, Jay was carried into the room in a coffin.
After which he rose from the dead with a typically Jay-like gesture of triumph.
The...
July 18, 2013
Brief update, my first #wippet Wednesday, and a blog hop reminder
Funny how an upcoming vacation can be so much work. As I predicted recently, in the last few days, I’ve had very little time for writing. Instead, I’ve been writing emails to vacation rentals, printing out Google Maps directions, putting together a folder with all the info we need in hard copy, making last minute arrangements here at home, that kind of thing. I made a big dent in my to-do list today, but I’m still not done. And until now at least, there was simply no time for writing today.
S...
July 15, 2013
Faerie and Feadh Ree: Developing the magic system for The Pendragon Chronicles (A fantasy blog hop.)
Magik & Mayhem Blog Hop and giveaway, July 15-19
Do you like like tales of fantasy? Are you fond of elves, fairies, pixies and kobolds? Do you enjoy stories with magic? Welcome to our blog hop! Here is a chance to read about such creatures, find out about fantasy stories, and win books and gift cards! Summer is more magical already. 
