The book I’m most grateful for…

is Märchenmond by Wolfgang & Heike Hohlbein.

Thinking about it I was a bit surprised because I was convinced it would be Sunshine by Robin McKinley – which is and will probably remain my favourite book. It’s the one that cheers me up no matter what and has been read too many times to count. It’s like a medicine, which given I’m full of a cold right now is apt but when I actually thought about it it’s not the one that I’m the most grateful for.

I was twelve when I read Märchenmond all the way through, I had started it once before but it was too long and I gave up after the first chapter. The hero is a boy and I didn’t much like boys… My parents had bought it for me after someone at school had raved about it, though now I seem to remember that was The NeverEnding Story* – they are somewhat similar I suppose.

Bizarrely I was in England when I began reading it, it was Christmas and I was sitting in a rocking chair while the remainder of my family was in church and my father as upstairs sleeping. By that stage he probably wasn’t well enough to have travelled to the UK but I’d refused to spend the first Christmas after mum had died alone with him and my older sister.
(Disclosure: Our family is very large, broken and very confusing to go into details would make this entry about three times as long and make me sound like I’m having a pity party. Yes that Christmas was awful and I hated Christmas for years after but I like it now. )

With nothing to do and bored I began following Kim on his adventure. I don’t remember how long it took me to finish, I’m sure it was a few days as I wasn’t a fast reader back then. That Christmas was the last one I would spend with my father, he died a few months later and I moved from Germany to England.

All of this sounds awful and why am I blogging about it?
Well because Märchenmond was the first time a book helped me. After that I found comfort in many more stories but it was Märchenmond that made my twelve year-old self forgot where she was and for that I’m very grateful.

 *that’s Die unendliche Geschichte to me, if you’re interested.

FYI – the book has been translated!

Phoenix (take2) & competition

On Friday I worked out that I’ve bought 32 books this month… O_O
As of tomorrow it’ll be 33.

I buy books, show tickets pretty much most things in even numbers, there are a few exceptions. Such as 13*, 21, 33 and basically anything ending in a 5. I will round 5 up to 6 though – go figure. It’s a somewhat annoying and expensive habit of mine.

Writing-wise I’ve reached an interesting time…

I haven’t written as much and I’m behind on my ROW80 targets (truth be told they’ve sort of gone out the window) yet while the quantity of words is lower, the actual quality is better then ever before so I won’t beat myself up about it.

I plan on writing another chapter today and putting the other pieces in the right before order. My main target for ROW80 was to finish the first draft of part one. I think I’m still on track for that.

I’ve told you my annoying habit (I think my shyness with strangers annoys my family more) so it’s time to confess the rest.

• one secret: Twirling in rainbows on a cold dark stage. Which was being let into a theatre and trying on the costumes, exploring backstage and dancing on the actual stage in costume.
• one interesting quirk: I really truly have no rhythm. I can see it. If I watch people dance/clap I can tell you if they are wrong but when it comes to doing it myself I can’t. Marieke is the perfect witness to this, we’ve seen a few** shows and I have to copy her in order to clap to the beat. If I don’t copy I go wrong.
• one of your best character traits: I am a very loyal friend and will do pretty much anything in the world for the people I love.
• one of your favourite things in the whole world: This one was hard, I included loads in the poem. That I live by the sea, the whole ghost and moving wall paragraph is one of the trips I took with Marieke. (One of our friends was playing a ghost in the musical Secret Garden and he had to move the scenery as part of the role – we might have teased him a bit ) Journey to Atlantis is a ride in Sea World, or it was went I went for my 21st birthday and having the entire cast of Dancing with the Stars wonder into the hotel bar in Philadelphia is another…

The lie?

I’ll get to that in a moment, going back to my habit and the slightly obscene number of books purchases (work bonuses are dangerous). I have been reading like crazy to keep up (14 1/2 for this month) and two of my favourite reads were: Cracked Up To Be & Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers.

So I’m going to give away Some Girls Are because I think it’s just that tiny little bit better then Cracked Up To Be.

To enter leave me a comment and you get extra entries for following me on Twitter, subscribing and if you guessed the lie you get another 2.

I lied when I said I’d been trapped behind iron bars. I’ve had plenty of chances with all the historical places I’ve visited. I’ve managed to avoid it so far. Not so lucky with ghosts though…

The competition closes on the 12 March 2011 and they winners will be announced on the 14 March 2011. It’s internal providing the Book Depository delivers to your country, you can check their list here.

Good luck!

 

*lucky in our family
** ok, LOADS

The First Crusader Challenge

I learned two new words today, courtesy of Rach’s first crusader challenge but I had to look them up first. How many of you had to do that?

The Challenge
In 300 words or less, tell us:

• one secret
• one lie
• one interesting quirk
• one annoying habit
• one of your best character traits, and
• one of your favourite things in the whole world.

The post can be in any format, including poetry but must include the random words, “bloviate,” “fuliguline,” “rabbit,” and “blade”.

I decided to ignore the fact that I’ve never written poetry or done anything remotely similar, and to just go for it. It’s a challenge after all.

Psst!
Come closer.
Closer still.
I am here to tell you of our protagonist,
against her will.

 

Here in the darkness let me bloviate
as I tell you the tale of a girl
who has twirled in rainbows
on a cold dark stage.

 

With sparkling eyes
that cut like a blade,
she had travelled the world.
By air and by sea
and found the one place
she truly wishes to be.
Right here, next to the coast.

 

Psst!
Be still.
Let me continue my boast.

 

She is loyal and true
to those that are dear,
but quiet
when strangers are near.

 

She sees rhythm and movement in those who dance
but ask her to follow, she’ll fall in a heap
tripping over her very own feet.

 

Another secret I have to share.
She found her name, not in fuliguline,
but from the rabbit’s best friend,
a feisty feline.

 

Psst!
Stay near.
There is more to hear.

 

She prefers evens to odds in all manor of things
when purchasing words,
magic,
and other such things.

 

She has journeyed to Atlantis,
danced with the stars,
and once
been trapped behind iron bars.

 

And finally,
I tell you true.
She could be a friend
to any of you.

 

For she knows secret gardens
and ghosts who move walls.
She has found hidden worlds,
buried below city streets.
Yet these are not her treasures to keep.

 

But most important of all,
before I bid you goodbye.
Know this.
She is I.

 

Halt!
Come back!
Psst!
Let me speak.

 

Which of the things,
I told to you,
does not ring true?

In the dark…

This weekend I took my MC to a dark place. Afterwards, feeling suitably guilty, I wondered if I’d gone to far…

Broken and alone she’s sitting in a corner waiting for me to put her world back together again.

I won’t.

I’m going to build her a new one.

Christmas Spirits

I came back from Edinburgh yesterday.

We were only there for 2 days but I loved it. Marieke* and I went to see The Secret Garden which was wonderful. Apart from that there were writing conferences and of course book shopping. We found a road which was basically just charity shops and by the time we reached the end we were packhorse’s. We also visited Mary King’s Close, which is truly fascinating and scary. The mulled wine at the end was greatly appreciated.

As it’s really and truly Christmas season and I’m going to be doing a bit of a giveaway so please come back this Thursday to learn all about it!

I want to say thank you for my lovely comments on the blogfest entry, I really appreciate it and I promise to post more from Quarantined in 2011!

* yep that one

I’m such a tease…

only in writing.*

Well I said the first teaser was going up this week and here it is.

I hope you guys enjoy it.

***

He sighs. At least, I think it’s a sigh. It’s an inhuman sound. He stands, dropping Carly like she’s nothing, and walks towards me.

My breath catches. I brace myself, ready to run.

Only I don’t.

I’m not moving at all. I’m screaming at my legs to go but there aren’t obeying. It’s like being weighted – I can’t move and I’m fighting for air. It’s like the stillness I felt earlier, only a hundred times worse.

I feel hot and my vision begins to swim. A force is pushing me towards him, drawing me in. I try to dig my heals into the grass but it does little to stop me. I’m almost through the hedge when he’s suddenly right in front of me.

We are so close our faces are almost touching. A few leaves between us, nothing more. He must see me, surely he has to see me.

I can feel his breath on my face. It feels thick, like a blanket cutting off the air. His smell is something I’ve never smelled before and it’s suffocating me. I whimper, I might be begging, I’m too drowsy to tell and then suddenly it’s all gone.

***

Even though I was going to give myself the week off I’ve dived head first into revisions, along with starting a couple of basic outlines for the WIPs. I love revisions, who knew? *lol*

*I think that’s important to note

Space the final frontier…

My desk is too small.

When I bought it I had to consider a few things, like how much room I had left after squeezing in 4 bookcases, sofa, tv unit, coffee table and fridge* (and the fact that I didn’t have that much money left over).

On my desk I have my computer, document holders, pencil holder, storage boxes and a bunch of other stuff. Most of this is buried under research docs, books, drawing pads, notebooks, sticky notes  and as of today the first sixty something pages worth of manuscript.

Result being?

Everytime I move one thing, something else lands on the floor.

If I could magically make my living room bigger I’d get a new desk, a nice big one. With extra storage, secret compartments! And it would be made of real wood not chipboard.

Until then, I’ll keep loving this one, even with a daily avalanche.

* I’m not kidding about the fridge, the washing machine took its space in the kitchen. So it was living room or bedroom, where would you have stuck it?