my journey as a civil war novel writer

Better to do it today, not sure how much time I will have to write after today. The last days of the year are always hectic socially. From now on almost every evening is filled with gettogethers with friends playing games. And in the daytime I have to do some research and work. It happens when you are your own boss. You are more inclined to work weekends, holidays en evenings then others are. My main resolution for next year is: to listen to my body better. Next year for the first time ever my body is going to be in the driving seat. No more taking painkillers to keep going. If my body is telling me it needs rest, I am going to do just that. It is not going to be easy, I know myself too well, but I plan to stick to it. And I would ask others to help me stick to this. If I am going to make a succes of my own business I have to. And I do want to be nice to my body. It has got me this far, it is about time I did something back. :) For everybody else reading this blog, I wish you a good ye...

Boy was this a year of ups and downs. I started the year cramming for an exam, for my first year degree in counseling & coaching. It involved going through 4 books full of facts and they asked tiny details. I make it! And passed the exam. The next two months I delved into preparations for my practice, I was well on track to start in July and full of confidence and got a lot of work done. In april some breaks were planned. With my then boyfriend and a group of english friends coming over for the elf fair. That is when things started to go to hell in a handbasket. I had some doubts about my relationship for a while now and that was making me unhappy. But it took me some time to voice them because he is such a nice guy and we shared a lot of the same hobbies. Round the same time my dad fell ill and was admitted to hospital. I set every thing aside to be able to take my mum to hospital everyday. For me with the RSI it is physically tough to do that and it meant that I could spend less ...

Graphics & Myspace layouts It is time to start this years reviews. I will start with the easier one, books, and leave the year's review of my life for another date. This year in Shelfari I kept a list of how many books I read this year. It are the books marked as owned. It comes down to 225 but those include study books. So it is not that bad. These I count amongst the highlights of the year. There were many more good books but I had to make some selection. Catherine Asaro - the ruby dice Not a new author for me. I love this series and am always looking forward eagerly for a new volume. It is a family saga in space. And it has got everything, romance, action, SF. The a uthor is also a scientist so she knows what she is talking about. And that combination of romance and hard SF make the series so very good in my opinion. patrici a Briggs - moon called An au thor that I only started reading this year. I tried some more new vampire/werewolf writers this year and most were oka...

Merry christmas to everyone all over the world. Everybody celebrates it differently. Parcels on chrismas eve or chrismas day, one day off or two. Here in the Netherlands we have the presents on christmas eve. This is what I got from my parents. I can use it when I go away for ebooks, music and films and to check the internet. But mainly I am going to use it for the practice. It has all legal software, linux based. It ways next to nothing and I can still type on it very well. I do have a laptop, [I want my mum to go and use that one more and not only for games!!!!!] but on bad days when my arms hurt it is too heavy for me. This one isn't. In between clients I can make some notes and do more with them when I get home. So it is ideal for my needs. I will blog about the weekend later. Monday evening I met with an accountant. It is all becoming so real now, the only thing missing is the clients. It is strange to think that I will be opening my own business. Exiting and more then a litt...

This time of year is always sooooo busy. Christmas is under a week away already, were has december gone!!!! Going to spend the weekend in Belgium playing boardgames so no blog for me for a few days. Wanted to let my readers know. :) Made another decision today, I have joined a paid dating site. They had a discount deal going on. And I feel I am ready for it again, so fingers crossed for me. The end of the year seemed like a good time to make a decision like that. New year's resolutions and all that. After the weekend I will tell you about the games I have played. Monday evening I have an accountant coming over. Yeah the practice is becoming very real. :) Have a good weekend everyone!

Yesterday was the tradiotional kaarsjesavond in Gouda. The main programme is the lighting of the christmas tree in the marketsquare for the first time. And all around the market square all electrical light is doused and the houses and the city hall are lighted by candles. It is a huge tree given by our sistertown in Norway every year. It is a very popular eve nt drawing a huge crowd each year. The last couple of years they have added a lot to i t wi th a whole day programme. This year I went along for the first time in ages, us gouwenaars tend to stay away on the evening itself because of the crowds. But this year I had friends coming over. Marjon and Susan came in the afternoon and Susan's husba nd Jaap joined us for the evening programme. We had a stroll over the market square, seeing everything in the daytime a nd taking some pictures of the old houses and of course cityhall and the old weigh building. They had some people out in period dress and dresses up as father christmas ...

Getting ready for another busy day, the last in a row now so I can use wednesday to friday to relax and get ready for the weekend in Belgium. Tonight is kaarsjesavond in Gouda. I will tell you more about it later in the week and share some pics hopefully. Finished reading the english heritage handbook, it was more setting a cross on almost eve ry page about things I would like to see. Hopefully I will get the chance to see some of them next year. Starting a new book tomorrow. Living in the past, a book about historic reenactment. It is about time that I read some more about that. Next year I am probably going to participate in my first. I have of course been a spectator at a few. I also need to read up on the english civil war, a time period that I don't know too much about. It is in April so I had better get a move on! I haven't said anything about my studyday on saturday yet. I was frustrated that I wasn't feeling any better but I did manage to go for most of the day. And...

Yesterday was the midwinter fair at the archeon. These festivals are getting realy popular in the Netherlands. It surprises me a great deal. From young to old a lot of folk will com e dressed up. Now I like doing that in the summer, but it was pretty darn cold yesterday and especially on saturday when I had to go to school. I love looking around and seeing all the people in their wonderfull crea tions. As I was not 100% well yet yesterday I had not brought my good camera and hardly took any pics. Normally there will be at least 100 pics on my camera at the end of the day, maybe more. The highlight here is as always professor doctor Roland Rotherham . If you ever have the chance to hear him lecture, go! He knows a great deal about medieval and older british history and he can talk about it for hours. But the special thing about him is that he is like the bards of old, he does so in a beautifull speaking voice, using facial expressions and wide gestures. And he does so with a huge dose o...

Just a note to let you all know I am still here. This week is not easy. Last week the first week of the withdrawal was a breeze, this one is hell. I got hit by flu, period and the severe headaches all at once. And after a while it plain starts to wear you down. No energy to even get out of bed, head hurts if you sit up, it makes you doubt life and everything. You see I also take the paracetamol to go out and do fun things, they give me that extra little bit of energy to keep going. What if I can't do that anymore now? What if i can never have fun again? Never go anywhere anymore. Yeah, that bad. Today I don't believe all of it anymore but yesterday i did. Today I kinda half believe it. still not good, but I will get over it, I suppose. Maybe giving up the painkillers will give me new energy. I just don't know. I just hope I will be able to go to school tomorrow and be able to have fun at the fair sunday and with kaarsjesavond with friends tuesday. I did manage to do osme re...

I am coming down with a cold, which is not making me happy at the moment. As you guessed it, I can't take anything for it. Well something for the coughing that does not have painkiller in it and stemaingfor my nose. But I like my paracetamol when I have a cold. I am a complete and utter ninny who does not like to lay in bed and do nothing. There are not enough hours in a healthy day so when you are sick the world around you doesn't stop and wait. I did manage to go out to friends last evening. There were five of us an d we were supposed to play a number of shorter games. Derk had bought a new game and it took a little while to explain. But around 8.30 we were ready to start playing. and around 24.00 we had still not finished!!!! I left about fifteen minutes later because by then I was starting to begin like crap. Pity because by then I was in a pretty good position to have a shot at winning. It was a fun game but a bit on the long side. And a bonus, I had Nina on my lap for mo...

Still hanging in there. I feel a cold coming on as well now, so a little bit scared for next week. Colds mean paracetamol for me to keep at least some energy and of course I can't. But today is day 5 and it is still not as bad as I thought it would be. If it stays like this I am a very happy puppy. Yesterday I saw the verdict in the O.J. Simpson case on tv. It made me think about justice again. Now I am no fan of the jury system at all. That man should have been convicted 13 years ago, no doubt about it. To 99,9% of the world population it was clear that he was guilty. The only ones that seemed to doubt it were t he members of the jury. But.... to this was a different crime and to gi ve someone 33 years for a robbery in which nobody was injured or killed. Well that is plain wrong as well. Yes he deserves punishment and he is finally getting it. Is this justice however? Somehow it doesn't sit right with me. I am doing some light reading. Not much as I find my mind jumping from o...

So far so good. Yesterday was a hard day but that was because of my dentist's appointment. They hurt me again and I could take no painkillers for that either. Tough, tough, tough, but I survived. so back to the game fair last weekend. It was great fun. Very different from the dutch one. Here there was only one sell ing stand but it was a big one and the y had huge discounts. On friday evening we started at the house to play a few games to get in the mood. Saturday morning we played Cuba. It is losely based on Puerto Rico but with lots of other options. In the afternoon we played Tribune, lot's of different elements in this one and we all enjoyed it. It was stuffy in the hall and by the end of the afternoon everybody was hav ing headaches. I did buy some discounted games today before going home. Aqua Romana and elfenko ning. Which I have both played before. And I took a gamble on a gam e called Origo. It was so cheap that I can't go far wrong with it. The thing with games,...

First an update. I am doing okaish. Had the last painkillers at 2.00 PM monday and today I had a headache for the first time. It is still bearable and I hope it stays this time. I think I have never gone through a headache without taking something. Am using gell packs and ice rollers etc. Natural remedies and it relieves some. Did my christmas shopping this morning, also got myself some treats. Doing anything more usefull right now is out of the q uestion. Back to last thursday and the christmas fair at castle de haar. we arrived around 4 in the afternoon, after getting lost, yup my fault. It was already getting dark a bit. The setting for this fair is very special, look at the picture. This is not a very old castle but very fairytale. And especially after dark it was beautifull to see. We did not buy much as the prices of most stuff were pretty steep. Did get some little things and enjoyed myself for a few hours. After that we drove on to Belgium were we would spend the weekend playin...

Back from my long weekend away, it was great fun! But more about that later in the week. I want to start with what went on today. I am now in for a little less fun. Went to the headache clinic this afternoon and honestly told them how much painkillers I use throughout the week. Before the RSI I kept it under control, but RSI causes more headaches as well through sore muscles and it slowly crept to be out of control. And with me on the brink of starting my own practice, it just won't do. I have to stop taking all painkillers at once. The first 2 or 3 weeks can be brutal, worse headaches then usual and I am not allowed to take anything. Then there will be 2,5 weeks of a transition period in which the headaches should get less again. After that they can diagnose what causes the headaches and begin an effective treatment. Needless to say I am not looking forward to the next couple of weeks. If I don't blog for a while you will know why. I debated waiting to start this untill after ...

I am still doing it!!!! Not planning. Just doing what I feel like from moment to moment. Do I like it...... hmmmmmm not sure. Part of me does, part of me feels weird like I should be doing homework, read books etc. I am going on a trip tomorrow and haven't even packed or put things aside to go into the bag. And that is very rare for me. I do feel proud about that to be honest. Today I spend looking around internet for christmas prezzies, I like to get the best deals and will spend hours on that. Yup dutch! This afternoon will look for some more in town. Tomorrow going to the christmas fair at castle de haar. It is said to be very nice we want to be there when it gets dark. It is a fairytale castle anyway so that should be fun. Then in the evening going to Mel and Sven's in Belgium. Mel is coming to the fair! This weekend we will be going to a boardgame fair there. That is my other addiction next to books, boardgames! A very nice hobby because it is something you do with a grou...

I think I have made the decision about the lost files. It was touch, but I think I will go with the middle way. Clean what I have up a bit, pretty it up just a touch and then start! In january I want to ask friends if they know people who would like counseling/coaching knowing that I am only just starting out and of course they will get it at a discount rate. So I don't have to be perfect and can learn without feeling guilty about not being perfect. Also looking into more volunteer work to get experience. The promised reviews. Finished The Founding by Cynthia Harrod Eagles. I just found out it is the first volume of about thirty!!!! And the family sage spans many centuries. I picked this one up because it takes place around the wars of the roses time, one of my favorite time periods. It was written in 1980, makes sense if there are 30 books following. I liked it but I am not wild about it. There were too many characters in the book, about three generations. The action moved a bit t...

I don't know what to feel. Because of the painkillers [I think] I felt completely hyper today, so much energy that I needed to create, create and be busy!!!!!!! I had nearly finished the treatment plans and done an hour's work earlier. I don't know what I did wrong but somehow I saved the 4 new pages as the document instead of all 77 pages. What is worse I also backed it up to my external HD this way. I have now lost what I have been working on the last 6 weeks in one go. [I have the rough draft so the work is not gone that bleep.] But I had put things in my own words, organised it etc so it looked perfect. Yeah I know. I am devestated. And before saturday I would only be devastated. But at the studyday it came up that i over prepare. So right now I am not sure what I will do. Take a deep breath and start over and get completely stressed as I will never make my deadline of the 15th of december. Reorganize what I have a little bit but not do all the work again. Leave it like...

Yesterday was not a good day painwise. I am still in a lot of trouble over the dentist visit. Yesterday was really bad, I could barely hold anything and could not write at all. Not good timing on a study day and I started there by dropping my tea cup breaking it in pieces and crying about it. Pfffffff. Well I went home early because I was doped on painkilles and they were not doing much good anymore. Had another good cry at home and feeling unbalanced and sorry for myself. I d id not fee l focussed enough to grab a good book so selected a weepy movie. Braveheart! luckily I can still watch it and enjoy it despite not liking Mel Gibson much anymore for his views. Usually when this happens to me with an actor I cannot watch the movies anymore either. So I am glad I can still see this one as it is a good movie. Not historically correct at all, William Wallace did not look like a pict and the relationship in the movie does not do justice to Robert the Bruce. I do love the depiction of Edw...

I am a bit of a klutz. I had ordered and airbed without an inbuild pump because I am prob going camping next year. And those nasty tents don't have any electricity. Don't even get me started on them having no sanitary facilities. I am NOT a camping girl, but it will be for a good cause, will tell you more abou t tht at another time. Back to the airbed. I was going to pump it and see if it was intact. Now I did happen to find a very old pump. Of course it did not fit. By the time I fo und that out I had pushed it through the hole in the bed and it was stuck. Groan, in getting it out I broke the seal of the airbed. It still works, kinda... took me nearly half an hour to get enough air into it. But the seal that slows the flow of air when you want to close it broke off so that is a real bummer. I have to practice in being very fast in closing it to keep some air in it. Sigh. Last night I was watching the Dr. Phil show and the man really managed to piss me off s everely. Now I am ...

Tomorrow is dentist day, the first of three actually. I need crowns. {I hope that is the engli sh translation it is kronen in dutch} It will take three appointments, no idea what they are going to do. I only know that tomorrow will last about 90 minutes and I need to keep my mouth wide open all the time. Now that is the part I am not looking forward to. Going to the dentist is not my biggest hobby and keeping my mouth open that long is agony. The trouble with my muscl es starts in my neck and shoulder muscles and it can either go to my arms and hands, as it does most of the time but it can go to my head as well and give me terrible headaches. Well I can take it easy thursday and friday. But I have to be fit for studyday on saturday. Yesterday I watched the latest Sharpe: Sharpe's peril. It is really, really great, I watched both episodes in one go. It has the old action, a good story an d believable characters. I am so glad that Sean Bean is still willing to do them. It is the se...

First I would like feedback on this post!!! I did it!!!! This morning I went onto the motorway near my home in my own car for the first time in over ten years. I asked my dad to come along but he didn't even have to help. Well it was quiet but still. :) N ow the trick will be to try at slightly busier times. That said quiet times here are still not empty roads. I like in one of the most densy populated parts of the country and probably of Europe so there are always cars on the road. the part I would like feedback on is: How do you other people who hav e driven for years sit in a car. I find that I am hyper focussed on everything around me. Not when I drive in town and normal roads then I can relax but on the motorway I am very vigilant. Today for example there was a car in the dead corner of my car. I had seen it in the mirrors so I knew it was there and I waited before it had overtaken me before going to the other lane. But I keep thinking, you might have missed it, you might hav...

Yesterday I was too busy to blog. Nina was visiting again. I really love that little dog and I can spend hours playing with her and petting her, but I was exhausted after a day. :) Devil's brood arrived yesterday!!!!! A new Sharon Penman book is always cause for celebration! And I know I am going to enjoy it. This one is the third bo ok in the story of Henry II and Eleanor. It is such a great story, Eleanor was such a strong woman, married first to the king of france and then to the man who would become king of England. Outliving both her husband and nearly all her children. That must have been hard! And I love the setting that these novels take place. Chinon and Fontevrault in France. I was lucky enough to visit there a few years ago. Chinon is a ruin but we spend nearly a day there taking it in. And the abbey? One of the most beautifull things I ever saw. Like I said these books are special to me. I think I read Here be dragons first. I picked that up in I think 1987. And read...