Writing Exercise 159

Merry Christmas everyone!

May your wishes come true, the feast be splendid and the time with your loved ones worthwhile. :D
Here is a little something for you to read:

2018/12/26 – Merry Christmas (poem)

Baubles and tinsel and fairy lights

A shooting star in silent nights

Cinnamon and vanilla flavours

Gifts and wishes and favours

Choirs singing a heavenly song

Knowing that you belong

With family and friends and lovers

Powdered snow everything covers

Festive and joyful atmosphere

Wishing dearly you were here

From the heart I say – it's true:

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Writing Exercise 106

Merry Christmas to you all!
I hope you enjoy the holidays, have pleasant celebrations with your loved ones, lots of delicious food and nice presents. My little something for you is this week's writing exercise: a tanka.

2017/12/24 – Christmas (Tanka)

Come together and

Celebrate with your loved ones!

Spirit of Christmas –

Fairy lights illuminate

The darkest night and our hearts.

Writing Exercise 103

Hey there!
This week I'm a little late. But I have a little Haiku for you, and it is about something related to advent and Christmas. Maybe this will get you in the mood for this time of year?

2017/12/03 – advent calendar (Haiku)

Advent calendar –

Count the days until Christmas.

Presents every day!

Never too late

As I browsed through my pictures for some inspiration, I found something I drew for my good friend for Christmas, which I haven't shown you yet. But I figured it's never to late to do that, right?  ;)
The picture is some fanart of Shikamaru Nara, a character from the series Naruto. I used SAI for this. Any opinions? :D

Now what?

As the new year has started you might either be exhausted from all these holidays or energized with good intentions.

Either way, after completing NaNoWriMo in November your work isn't done yet. You may have a first draft but don't make the mistake to publish it as is. Please, don't! A draft is a draft, and it needs serious polishing to become the shining gem it is supposed to be.

January is the perfect time to do this polishing as it's often ugly outside and you usually feel both drained of creativity and motivated to start the year fresh.
You probably haven't touched your work in about a month. So when you open the document again you likely will be surprised what you have achieved to write in November. You will see your story with a fresh set of eyes.
Now read, and read carefully.
As you go, catch all those typos and puctuation errors, reword where necessary, cut too long paragraphs or add to them where they are lacking. You will see, there is much to do.

Be critical, but don't butcher your story.

Get help when you're stuck or story blind. You will want to introduce your draft to your betas soon. Let their comments help you edit. Don't take their criticism too much to heart, but learn from them, accept and adapt. Remember: they want to help you, not harm you.
And by the end of it you will have an improved new draft.

In Between

I hope you had a lovely Christmas holiday with your loved ones.
Did you get a lot of nice presents? Was the feast delicious and your company enjoyable?

As New Year's comes next, I ponder. A lot of things have happened this year ever since I started this blog. Good things, exciting things mostly; but also sad and crazy things that I wouldn't have thought ever to happen. In retrospective the good things almost always weigh out the bad things.
I made new friends and reconciled with old ones. I published two books and a translation of one and wrote another, which is now in beta stage -- both the English and the German edition. I made a promise to marry the one I love! I joined a literature project and found my enrepreneurial spirit.
So I'm taking all these positive things with me and look forward to 2017.
I'm not going to dewll on what might be or should be or could be next year; what's more important is to acknowledge the things I've accomplished and draw strength from that to accept whatever the future has in store for me. All I know is, that it's going to be another exciting year, and I'm looking forward to sharing this with you.

Writing Exercise 054

The Dead Pete Society decided to write Christmas stories about Santa and the reindeer. Except we joked about Rudolph being a crack-nosed pimp, Santa being the horny bodyguard and the other reindeer being hoes. You can imagine how absurd and funny the conversation was! XD
Anyway, every member of the Dead Pete Society picked two of them and committed to write a story. My choice were Santa and Dunder. So prepare for a very different Christmas five times drabble. :o

2015/12/22 – Christmas story about Dunder, the hoe, and Santa, the bodyguard, for the Dead Pete Society (5 x Drabble)

It was Christmas time and like every other year the show was about to start. Santa, the nitwitted bodyguard, readied the sleigh, with which pimp Rudolph paraded his eight hoes around the world. Dunder was one of them. He was the heaviest of the lot and wagged his meaty butt as he scurried after the others. Santa, being also on the heavier side, was ogling him again and as Dunder passed him he couldn't resist and slapped him on the back.

„Ho-ho-hoe,“ he stuttered and grinned like an idiot. He hardly said anything else, but with this intonation it meant he was horny as a unicorn.

„Not when I'm at work,“ he whispered back and shot a quick glance to the front, while Rudolph sniffed his red nose and handed out the straps. Dunder waddled into line and took his place beside Blitzen. Nervously he licked his lips and tried to fasten the XL garter belts he was supposed to wear to his costume bra and fancy panties.

Santa came to check on them and when he reached Dunder he took his time to squeeze his feisty butt again. „Ho-ho-hoe,“ he let out happily while Dunder only harrumphed and rolled his eyes. It was always the same with him.

He just couldn't keep his hands to himself when they were readying themselves for the show. That was the problem with a man only coming once a year; his bag was loaded to the brim and once the world tour was done and all the candy sticks were distributed Santa would sneak into the ladies' stables and hump every butt that stood erect. Especially Dunder's if he was not with a punter.

Because Dunder was like his name - dumb. And dumb people were good fucks, they say. At least Santa was of that opinion, and since he wasn't the brightest light himself they made quite a pair. Secretly of course, for the pimp would surely charge their bodyguard if he knew Santa was dicking around the stables.

So Dunder now shooed Santa away, who grunted and sat inside the sleigh. „Ho-ho-hoe,“ he counted and guarded the bag with the toys. Like every other year he then was allowed to crack the whip and the ladies stalked ahead, heads held high and flaunting their cleavages and butts to the clients all over the world.

As they were getting into the mood Santa grinned and waved dumbly at the people salivating after the eight hoes. „Ho-ho-hoe,“ he advertised and Rudolph approved of his work. Dunder in the meantime was doing his dance in sync with the others. Sometimes he imagined they were doing the samba at carnival in Rio when they paraded and so he shook his ass extra sexily; the crowds loved it. So from town to town they toured and beneath the cracking of Santa's whip Dunder jingled all the bells he had. It was as thrilling as it was arousing. But this was their way of saying „Merry Christmas!“

Stay focussed!

Hopefully you had a nice fourth Sunday in Advent.

As the days rush by, tension and pressure usually rise during this time of the year.
Have you bought and packed all the presents yet? Is the Christmas tree set up? Have you shopped and prepared everything for the feast? Are you ready to meet the whole family? Is the house decorated properly?
Constantly you are reminded of what needs to be done. Often the spirit of Christmas is lost in the stress of preparation... or in a traffic jam of equally stressed Christmas shoppers, who are forced to listen to the same old Christmas songs every few hours, again and again.

So why don't you grab a cup of your favourite tea or coffee or cocoa, sit down on your sofa or armchair and just revel in the moment. Take that time and take a breather, calm down and think about what's really important. The spirit of Christmas; a message of love and hope, a light in the darkness. Draw strength from that, refocus and find the same love and hope inside you.

The next time you stand in a long line at the register or wait in a traffic jam by the nearest super market you might find more patience in you -- and the forgiveness which comes with the knowledge that the others blocking your path are just as eager to be done preparing and go home to be with their loved ones.

And maybe in between gifts and baubles and fairy lights there will be a flash of inspiration even? :o
So don't miss the next writing exercise. ;)

Writing Exercise 052

Yesterday I missed the chance to write you a Santa story. :/
But instead today I have a drabble for you about a snow day. This is just as good, isn't it? Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pre-Christmas time and the cozy atmosphere of winter.

2016/12/07 – Snow Day (Drabble)

The air is cold and clear, the soil white and crispy with hoarfrost; a distinctive smell lingers and you know it's going to happen soon. As your gaze wanders towards the cloudy sky, a cold wetness hits your nose – the very first snow flake. And there they are! Silently they float towards the earth, soft and beautiful. You stop to admire the tiny flakes grow to the size of a coin. Within minutes the ground is powdered in white, but the snow keeps falling. Quietly it crunches beneath your step as you continue your path. What a splendid snow day!

Fairy lights

I hope you had a lovely second Sunday in Advent. :)

On Saturday my fiancé, two of our friends and I went to a Christmas market with a medieval theme. There were a lot of booths and people wearing garbs, and we were ones of them. The hot beverages and sweets were very welcome, we watched a fire show and awesome concerts. It was pretty cold, but also pretty amazing. There were campfires and tents all around, so you could warm up whenever.

The market was located around a lake, and on the surface of the frozen water there were hundreds of lights. It was so beautiful and the atmosphere seemed as if enchanted. You could very well imagine fairies dancing in the dark.

This picture is but an insufficienct glimpse at what it was like. But it is enough to give you an impression of this almost magical night...

Advent, Advent...

It's the first Sunday in Advent already.
Do you feel christmas-y yet? Have you bought and packed the presents for your loved ones yet? Have you set up an Advent calendar?
Yesterday my fiancé and I strolled through a Christmas market. There were lots of booths with sweets, glühwein, handmade toys, candles and spices. Christmas trees with fairy lights everywhere. It was beautiful and the atmosphere was nice.
But today is going to be a cosy day. The first candle of my Advent wreath is lit, and it remains for me to wish you a happy first Sunday in Advent. :)