Ruth Nestvold's Blog, page 44
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. 
July 14, 2013
A research dilemma: new archeological discoveries at Caerleon. (And an update).
I do love research. Collecting information and brainstorming plot elements that will fit what I’ve found is one of the most enjoyable parts of writing for me. And now that I’m back to The Pendragon Chronicles with A Wasted Land, I’ve been collecting new research gems and brushing up on old, creating a visual mosaic using Pinterest.
This last week, while I was googling visuals for the various settings of the novel, I stumbled across a fascinating link to new archeological discoveries in Caerle...
July 10, 2013
Slowly increasing my word count, the natural way
I wrote a couple of days ago about how I intend to experiment with myself, see if I can increase my writing speed a bit. I started this week, and while I only had two days to test some new techniques, the first couple of things I’ve tried seem to be showing results. (Tuesday was taken up with grandmother duties, as well as the Big Project redux, some files that had to be redone.)
I’ve taken several fast writing courses over the years, have participated in several Nanowrimos, and while they mi...
July 9, 2013
Another way to think about marketing
Joanna Penn has a guest post over on David Gaughran’s blog that went up yesterday about marketing myths. Several of the myths I was already aware of (“If I get a traditional book deal, I won’t have to deal with marketing” — known that one for a long time, having been traditionally published *g*). But myth #2 really got me thinking:
MYTH 2: Marketing is scammy, sucky and awful and I’m not the type of person who can do it anyway
It’s time to reframe marketing.
Think of it this way instead. Market...
July 7, 2013
Mindsets and our attitudes to success and failure
Lately, I’ve been watching the sales of my books slide into oblivion, and it’s disheartening, to say the least. I have to admit that at times I’ve been tempted to define myself through that lack of success, to start wondering if I’m a failure at this whole self-publishing gig.
Today, I started reading a book that might just help me to find my way out of that attitude: Mindset by Carol Dweck. Basically, she defines types of mindsets, the fixed mindset and the growth mindset, and describes how...
July 1, 2013
Clarion West Write-a-thon, goals for the next quarter, and a sale on Yseult
I’ve taken a rather extended break from blogging, for a number of reasons, the only one that is relevant being that I had enough distractions and I wanted to get some writing done. And I have made progress on a couple of projects, despite very full days. I mentioned a while back that I wanted to make a stand-alone version of an episode from Shadow of Stone, and I finished a first version of “Gawain and Ragnell” with it’s own chapter breaks and appropriate quotes from Arthurian literature. Whi...
