Writing Exercises 118 and 119

Hello again!
I'm awfully sorry I'm late. At least I now have two writing exercises for you. Here they are.
This is writing exercise 118:

2018/03/18 – clouds (Haiku)

A cloud in the sky

Watch it gently drift away

I wish I was there

And this is what I did this week:

 

2018/03/20 – Where's the rum gone? (Singlish poem, or is it?)

I dun have leh.

I dun have lor.

I dun have liao.

I dun have mah.

I dun have lah.

I dun have ha.

I dun have hor.

I dun have sial!

(For some reason, I don't have it. I wish I had it, but sadly I don't. I used to have it, but I don't anymore. It would help if I had it, but I don't have it.

I really don't have it.

I'm telling you that I don't have it. Don't look at me; I don't have it.

I can't freaking believe I don't have it!)

Writing Exercise 051

This is my last writing exercise in November. It had been an eventful and exciting month full of writing, and thus my triple drabble is just about that. :)

2016/11/28 – NaNoWriMo 2016 (triple drabble)

Everything began with November 1^st; no, even before that ideas were forming, plotbunnies were jumping around and waiting to be released. This year was a year of beginnings, of progress and commitment. And NaNoWriMo was just the icing on the cake: fifty thousand words, thirty days, one goal – ready, set, go!

For a while the world passed me by and it was just me and my words. And a promise. Creativity blossomed, chapters sprang into creation, page by page, word by word, letter by letter. Characters came to life, inhabited my dear Neverbeen Universe and invited to come along on their wondrous adventures.

The write ins fuelled my motivation, propelled my wordcount forward. I made new acquaintances, found writing buddies to push through the hardest parts and cheer them on in turn. I truly enjoyed the excited and creative atmosphere and the notion of finding likened minds close to home.

The Dead Pete Society was crowded with bubbling creative heads; sprint after sprint we incited each other's enthusiasm. But I missed them. Separated by oceans, our hearts are reaching out to one another.

November 8^th, and I won, but I wasn't done yet. My novel wasn't finished, so I continued. Two days later the last word was written; 60,894 words crammed into 47 chapters, 60,894 words of ambition and accomplishment, 60,894 words… and I did it!

I celebrated that day.

But I didn't want NaNoWriMo to be over so soon. So I thought of what to do. Then I remembered my other works needed translation, too. Therefore I resumed writing, I continued the fun and the flow and the fantastic feelings. Days swept by, hours ticking beneath the clicking staccato of typing. Before I knew it the end of November is here.

Let's celebrate the finale of an awesome month!

I did it!

So far NaNoWriMo has been a blast to me. :D
I've been to two write ins and it was so much fun and motivated writing, that it propelled me forward.
I hit the 50k words on November 8th, and I finished translating my novel 'Ravenous Adventures' on November 10th with a wordcount of 60,894. Wow. That was fast, don't you think? :o
But I decided the story wasn't over until the fat lady sung, and so started translating my second short story collection 'More Untold Stories of Neverbeen Universe' and continued NaNo.
In the meantime I'll lay 'Ravenous Adventures' in the hands of my trusty betas and hope they'll like what they read. By the way, I'm looking for more betas, for both the English and the German edition. So if you're interested, tell me. :)

Writing Exercise 048

Despite the fact that I'm pretty busy with translating Ravenous Adventures for NaNoWriMo, I managed to write a little something this week. It's a drabble about... writing. :)
Enjoy!

2016/11/07 – about writing (Drabble)

First there is blankness, whiteness even. Fingers hover above the keyboard, itching to move and press the keys. Then from nowhere – or so it seems – there sparks a thought, or something less than a thought; nothing but a vague image which gradually becomes pin sharp. It morphs until it forms an idea. Suddenly a faint smile, eyes light up briefly – a soundlessly pulled trigger. For a long while nothing but a fast clicking fills the air, as letters destroy the blankness. Abruptly the frantic tapping stops. The creak of a chair, a sip of cooled coffee and a contented sigh.

NaNoWriMo is here!

NaNoWriMo has begun.
Three days in, I'm at over 33k words already. :o

On Tuesday I went to a kick off write in in Essen. There I met a bunch of other authors from the region. At some point we were about twenty people even! Everyone was so motivated, and with the exception of two breaks we wrote and wrote and wrote. It was awesome and amazing. I was totally in the zone, and the people I met were really fascinating and nice. Someone even brought muffins. :D

The location was great, too. You had to pay a low entrance fee, but all the drinks were free and there was a brunch buffet, which was tasty. We had a fireplace chamber all to ourselves and the atmosphere was really cozy and productive. There were even activities like yoga or art exhibitions in this building.

I'd like to go again and write together, but as the other write ins are scheduled for Saturday-Monday, I probably won't make it. Weekends are reserved for my beloved fiancé. <3

Anyway, the members of the Dead Pete Society are equally excited about NaNoWriMo. We're writing and cheering each other on, inciting and motivating. And it feels so good to be in the flow.
It's so much crazy fun, and November has just begun! :D

Trials and Tribulations

November is fast approaching, and I'm really excited about it. :D

I decided to try the trial version of Scrivener, but it took me all night to get it set up the way I need it (the tutorial was very long also). I'm not convinced yet.

As I tried to import the files I needed, nothing happened. I reread the tutorial, tried again... nothing. By the time I copy/pasted forty-seven chapters manually I was almost fed up and ready to bin it.

But I thought to give it a try, and I did. One chapter down, I think it's only half bad. The split screen option is useful for translating, and the NaNo daily target wordcount function is inciting. I have to change the font every chapter as it is preset, but that's minor trouble.
I decided to stick with Scrivener through NaNoWriMo, as I'm reluctant to try Papyrus, since I might be stuck with a shut down trial version before Novemer ends.

I just hope, the export function works better than the import function, so I can decide whether to keep it or not. If all goes well I might have found an early Christmas present...

Apropos of November, next month will be very busy, and as I'll be preoccupied with translating my novel I don't know how often I'll be able to blog. I'll try to at least continue my weekly writing exercises, but no promises.
I hope you're still with me when November is over!

Writers Gotta Write

It's still early October but I'm already fired up for NaNoWriMo. :)

Ravenous Adventures is still in editing mode, but this November I'll translate it. In fact, I wanted to get a bit of a headstart and as my writing buddies from the Dead Pete Society already started their projects I couldn't wait either. It's so exciting when everyone is in writing mood and we cheer each other on. :D

This year is my first time participating in NaNoWriMo, so I'm a bit nervous. Still I'm awfully looking forward to November. Yesterday in preparation for NaNo I watched a webinar recommended on the NaNo page, and it was pretty interesting. I also plan to attend a kick off meeting in Essen on 1st of November, where I get to meet other Wrimos (authors participating in NaNoWriMo). I hope we'll have a great time writing together, and maybe we'll even forge a group that meets up regularly. As the Dead Pete Society members live all around the globe, I'm looking forward to meet local writers, too. :D

Anyhow, I've started writing the German translation of Ravenous Adventures and I'm pretty excited about it. But while I set out to write I ponder my tools.
Usually I use Libre Office, which is just a basic, open source writing program. It is sufficient for my needs, alright. But I wonder...

Some of my writing buddies use Scrivener. There is a trial version for Wrimos, and I'm oogling it.
But on the other hand, someone in the forums of my home region on the NaNo page recommended Papyrus. Which seems just as good to me. I'm not decided yet and I don't want to experiment during NaNo when I need to concentrate on writing.
I might just download both trial versions at the end of October an see what I like better, then get set for November. Or I end up sticking with Libre Office. I don't know yet.

Do you have experience with either of these programs?
Which one would you choose and why?

Please, let me know. :o
Until then I'll keep writing, writing... because writers gotta write. ;)

Oktoberfest

It's already October.
NaNoWriMo is approaching, and I'm really looking forward to it. I updated my NaNo site, then set out to get a bit of a headstart... which means, I actually couldn't wait for November to arrive. By now I've translated 6 of 47 chapters. I feel like I'm on a roll, and that's just great. :D

In the meantime, October is a month full of events also. As you know 3rd of October was the national holiday in my country, but there are also All Saints and Halloween...and Oktoberfest. XD

While I'm not a huge fan of this event, my fiancé and I once had a funny conversation about misheard lyrics. I don't remember the song, but we both heard 'beer woman'. So we joked about how Beer Woman was a new superheroine of some sort, who saves the Oktoberfest when they'd run out of beer. Here is the quick sketch I drew with SAI:

Long Time no See...

Just a little update on what I've been doing lately... :)

Neverbeen Universe is here!

Today I'm totally over the moon. :D
And guess what?
The reason is: I finished the German translation of 'The Untold Stories of Neverbeen Universe: Short Story Collection' volume 1! The ebook is now online and available on Amazon for Kindle (or the free Kindle App for any other device). Yay! Isn't that awesome?
I'm so happy. Technically this is my second publication already; and there's more in the making. :D

Here you can get my short story collection "Die unerzählten Geschichten von Neverbeen Universe: Kurzgeschichtensammlung" volume 1. So you can test your mettle (if this isn't already your mother tongue). ;)
Have fun reading!

Writing Update

It's been a while since my last vlog, hasn't it?
So here's another one, where I introduce my various WIPs.

You're interested in some of those? Feel free to ask me about them anytime. :D

Language, please!

You know by now that I'm still working on the second volume of 'The Untold Stories of Neverbeen Universe'.


However, people keep asking me: "Why don't you write in your mother tongue?"
Up until now my answer was that I wanted people all over the world to be able to read what I write.


But it got me thinking anyways. And I realised that I wouldn't reach too many people in my home country if my works weren't translated. So I sat down and revisited my book in order to translate it. Because I'm the author and I should know better than any translator what I wanted to say, shouldn't I? :o


Translating is serious business, though.
And I sometimes find there are things that can't be translated. They just can't. Unless you lose essential linguistic jokes or double entendres or plays on words. While both languages are rich and beautiful for different aspects, there sometimes aren't equivalents there.
And it sadens me, it frustrates me even. :(
Because I don't want to change my stories or force something that doesn't fit; because I want to convey everything as it was meant.


For a fitting translation is also an important aspect that makes a book or breaks it.
So if you ever consider publishing your works in different languages, you'll want to make sure the translation fits.


The best solution probably is to do it yourself. Because you know what you want to say and it doesn't cost you anything but time and effort. But in order to do that you have to be fluent enough. In my case that's not the problem; but even as a native speaker I reach my limits.
Therefore at some point you would have to rely on professionals. That's an easy option, but costly.


Anyhow, I'm more of a DIY type; I'll stubbornly keep translating to the best of my abilities until it's done. So there may be a German edition of 'The Untold Stories of Neverbeen Universe' soon. Yay. :D