my journey as a civil war novel writer

Happy samhain to those who celebrate it tonight. Me I don't adhere to one relgion. Wiccan is maybe the closest I have ever felt to a religion but there is alw ays something I don't like. So I create my own. I have a house altar with an i mage of jesus, a rosary, a small buddha and an idian medicine pouch. I would love to add something pagan and wiccan as well. And I take the thoughts and teachi ngs that speak to me and make them my own. It makes me pretty happy. Bookwise I have been a very bad, bad girl. I ordered more books yesterday. It is like a drug, I can't stop. And I like too many genres. The recent interviews on realms on our bookshelves have given me so many new tips again that I could not resist. Yes you may slap me. But reading keeps me sane. It makes me slip away i n fantasy worlds for a few hours. I can salivate over Jean Claude and nobody notices. I prefer books over dvd. When I read I can see the pictures in front of me. I love movies but if I have to choose...

Finally decided on a pair of glasses yesterday, not funny. My ideas are very difficult to measure, that means I cannot go to the cheap chains. I did not go for the most expensive option yesterday also because I am 99% convinced that it is not for me. The shop assistant was 99% convinced it would work but I have leant to listen to myself better and stick to my guns. But still the total sum comes close to 700 e uro and I can get only a third back from the tax man, nothing from health insurance because my last glasses are not 3 years old. And there is the dentist with the 2 crowns still to come. Joy! Tax etc i s on my mind a lot today. I need to finish the email for the accountant. The one that is coming to talk to us in december during the 4th study day. Boy do I have a lot of questions for him. I don't understand money matters easily and the site of the tax office is like greek to me. Hopefully this man will be able to make me understand, it is his job after all. Finished Jean Plai...

I am doing a bit better so today I want to return to the blog. Also because I think one of the reasons of the stress is clearing up. There was some disagreement with a friend that I hold very dear. And I think we are getting closer again. That makes me very happy. Later this afternoon I will send her another email. And then go into to wn to talk about my glasses situation once more and determine how much money I want to spend on them now. I also have two crowns coming up this year and none of these costs were planned. Gulp! But as promised books! I finished a book of lists. Movies made about the american civil war. It wasn't much more then a list with lots of photo's. But it did give me ideas for of the older movies I would still like to see. Not sure if they are available on DVD. I also finished the second J.D. Robb novel, Glory in Death. They are futuristic detective novels and I am really starting to like them. The third book I finished was a dutch book with tips for peole s...

A short blog message from me today. I am still in fair bit of pain. I had a good summer and then it is even more annoying. It is a combination of pulling a mus cle and stress. Always a bad one for me. So I have taken it easy today. Did a bit of research on the tax side of starting the practice. Watched some dvd and read.Started the fourth Merry Gentry book. The new book is al most here so i have to keep reading. Tonight I am not going on the computer, watching some DVD's with a friend. Hopefully I can do some more tomorrow. I hate not being able to write much.

Yesterday was a pretty tiring day. Second studyday. It was a good day learnt a lot and the group is wonderful. It feels safe and already close after just two days. But I was exhausted at the end of the day. The chairs are not exactly comfy for me and I pulled a muscle in my back. Which of course leads to more pain in my arms, grumble. It meant i could play with the new scanner a little less then I had planned. But I did man age to get the first set of family pics done. It is pretty amazing to look at. There are photo's of nearly a century old which depict my great grandfathers, and my grandparents as young people. It awes me. And it makes me happy that they are now safe on the computer and the internet and not just in an old drawer. A nd I finally have a photo of Timmy, the dog I had for 14 years on my computer . I love scanners, I really do! I have also been ordering some books. 3 studybooks and some fun books. Book 6 and 7 from the Merry Gentry series. Now I am rereading them I...

Woke up this morning with the wind blowing outside of the window. Now that is not a nice thing to wake up to if you are as prone to seasickness as I am. So I had to gulp and get past it and hope for the best. It was not difficult to leave the cottage by the ten o'clock deadline. We had not spend much time there so there wasn't much to clean up. Most difficult was cra mming everything in the car, but we are creative! Before heading off to Dover there was a stop at Tesco's. Mel needed to get some things that they don't have in Belgium. I didn't really stock up as there was no room . Next time! At Dover castle I joined english heritage. The membership is valid for a whole year and I do plan on some short trips to England next year. The entrance to this castle already covers a quarter of the fee. Those things are getting soooo expensive. The wind was really picking up now nearly blowing us away! We were booked on a tour of the secret wartime tunnels first. These tunnel...

At least today we did not have to get up before dawn. But still we would not be sleeping late as we were meeting friends at Leeds castle at 11. Not a long drive so getting up by 9.30 was doable. Leeds castle is close to Maidstone in Kent, and not Leeds in northern England. Don't ask me why. :) It is nicely situated with a park around it , we walk ed through i t towards th e castle entrance. Our friends were running a little late and of course we made jokes about that. There is a history of being late and getting lost there. But it was great to see them again. Robert and Dru and Chris. Dru and Chris are brother and sister. I know them through Robert who has been a friend for a few years now. In April of this year they came over to the Netherlands with another friend Sarah, and we had a great time then. With the seven of us we toured th e castle. I was pleasantly s urprised that we were allowed to take pictures inside, usually it is not allowed in houses like this. And there was plen...

I so did not feel like getting up the next morning but we had to, as we had a long way to drive today. Mel was meeting friends in Oxford at 11. And that was a 2,5 drive, on the way we would drop off Derk and Martin in Maidstone so they could go to London for the day and we would meet up there in the evening. The drive went smoothly even around London until we hit the citycentre in Oxford. They were working there and even on a saturday the traffic is bad. Mel dropped me off at the c orner of St. Giles and Magdalene street and I could indulge in a favorite hobby, DVD and book shopping. First I orientated and looked at things I might like to buy. Strangely en ough the HMV in C anterbury though smaller had been better stocked. But lack of space in the car and not wanting to spend too much money kept me from buying too much. A lthough I savilated over the complete West Wing and Sherlock Holmes. If I didn't have such big medical expenditures coming up and a broken down printer I might ...

Back!!!!!! And had such a great time. I am going to cover the trip one day at a time otherwise it will get too long and take me too much writing at once. So today you will be treated to friday. We made good time to Belgium last night. It was a pretty short night on an airbed in a small room. I went to bed around 10 but did not sleep un till 11. And then woke up a few times. We had to get up at 4.30, gulp! I think we were all still feeling tired. Driving to Dunkirk went fine, we arrived just when check-in was c losing and could drive on the boat straight away. It wasn't very busy, we had some breakfast on the boat. And then went outside to watch Dover coming up. It is so spectacual to see the white cliffs looming up. The best way to reach England really. Checkin at the cottage was 4 o'clock in the afternoon and it was now 9 o'clock. We had already decided to go sightseeing today. And the choice of destination was Canterbury. I had been there before in 1985 so I did not remem...

I had not planned on writing today as I am leaving for England this evening. But events made me want to write and borrow the title of one of Carl Rogers greatest works. I think it apropriate somehow to my situat ion. I am a person who has struggled with standing up for myself all my life. Well actually since my teenage years when I was bullied severely. Lately I was doing a lot better and then when you have a slight fall back it seems to hit you even harder. Especially since as a coach/counselor myself I know exactly what I am doing wrong and what I want to do different. That makes me angry at myself and that makes it even worse. Holidays are occasions that can drive my stress level through the red. I feel responsible for everybody around me having fun and that way I do end up being the only one not having funn. And I am sick and tired of that. Had a good wake up call last night, no need to get into details. So I am making a resolution: 1. I am going to start every day with a meditatio...

Yesterday was a bad day. I had planned to go to a school meeting in the evening but had such a bad headache that I ended up canceling. I really hope they go away before the trip! And I can't wait until my meeting at the headache clinic the first of december to see how they can help me to help myself. Yeah, that is something I have learnt over the years. Don't be a victim, you have your life in your own hands and you are the only one who can change things. But it doesn't hurt to ask for help. :) I finished vampire seduction by Raven Hart and you know what, I still don't know if I like it or not. It's different from the ones I have read lately and I was trying to figure out why. I think I finally have it. It had less of a female presence. There were women in the book, strong women even but they didn't seem to be that important. And although I like reading about men. :) I like strong women in books as well. So I have not really decided if I will continue with this...

So last week I talked a little bit about the upcoming trip to Britain. I am really addicted to Britain and the US. And this year I am lucky enough to be able to visit both. Went to the East coast of the US this summer for the Gettysburg reenactments, and thursday ev ening leaving for Britain to see a play with Kenneth Branagh in London. Ivanov at the donmar warehouse. Looking forward to that hugely. I have seen him on stage before but that was more then 20 years ago. On holiday in Denmark I saw him play Hamlet next to castle Kronborg, that was really amazing. But the reviews for this play are pretty good as well. And yes next to books I am a theatre addict. I have seen some pretty great names on the London stage over the years. I am most proud of seeing John Gielgud on stage during the last play he did. That was one of the times I came over especially to see an actor and I never regretted it. Another one of my favorites was Antony and Cleopatra with Judi Dench and Anthony Hopkins. This...

Another hectic day over. I skipped gym class because otherwise it would have been too much altogether. This afternoon we had guests. My mother's cousin who lives in Aberdeen, WA. She has lived on and of in the Netherlands and the US for most of her adult life. And after her second marriage they moved to the states for good. She is in her mid seventies and her husband is 84 and still travelling! For some reason the old family photo's came out. I have never done much with genealogy but as I get older have become more interrested in especially my mother's family. I still miss my grandmother who passed away in 1991 very much. I had never really looked at thes photo's before and seeing them of my grandma as a young woman and a child and seeing my greatgrandfather as a young man. Somehow I found it very emotional. It made me decide to want to put them in an album and find out as much as I can about who everybo dy in the photo's are. And I would like to buy a scanner and p...

Because I am really, really tired from yesterday. I have decided to take it easy today and tomorrow. Except from trying to get my bike back here that is going to take plenty of time today, grrrrr. Friday is going to be a busy day with a visit from family living in the US and the first intervision evening with the group. I want to be fit for that. So today and tomorrow, relaxing and reading! Last evening I started reading S.L. Viehl's omega games. I have been reading the stardoc series for a long ti me now. And I love them very much. Although I must admit I am still getting used to the new twists to the heroine. [won't tell to much about the storyline :)] I love SF more then fantasy as a rule and this is also SF with a romantic twist something else I like very much. I also love the series she writes as Lynn Viehl about the Darkyn. If I have to chose which series I like best I really don't know. I hope they both continue for a long time.

Yesterday morning there was an email in my inbox from an Israeli internet friend I had known online but never met. He was in Amsterdam for a few days and would like to meet. Since tomorrow is Yum Kippur, today was the best day. I had a driving lesson at 11.30 so me coming to Amsterdam was not a great idea, but he didn't mind coming to Gouda. So this morning I had my driving lesson which went great by the way. My driving instructor says I am so ready to try the highway on my own. It is my own perfectionism that keep s me back. I have to try now on sundaymorning. And I have to do it! Then quickly ate a piece of bread and went to the train station to collect Oded. The train was ten minutes late but he was on it! We walked around town for a little bit and visited the St. Jan's church. And showed him the biggest jewish monument in town. Afterwards we went to my house to have some tea and then talked a l ot about everything and nothing. Learnt a lot of new things about Israel. I woul...

Today was roleplay day again. I am a member of the goudse roleplaying group The wanderers of light .I have been a member of this group since 1990. And through the years I have played many games here. At the moment my favorite game is Rokugan , legend of the 5 rings.The setting is a kind of fantasy version of old Japan. We all play samurai. My character is from the Crane clan, one of the most powerfull clans. And she is the sister of the clan daimyo, the most important person in the clan. That seems like a big advantage. But it means all the focus is on m y character and it is very easy to loose face and honor in this system. Also my character has a forbidden love. The man she loves is from a clan that is usually at war with the clan Crane, the Lion cla n. And she has always been a known enemy of the lions. Publicly she still is but since she fell in love in her heart she thinks differently now. In a culture were political marriages are very normal, and she being a high ranking unma...

Today I will not be talking about book s. Also because most of my reading at this moment is study, preparing for the intervision group we are starting next friday. Yesterday evening there was some shocking news. The dutch government has taken over Fortis and ABN-AMRO banks. Two of our largest banks and I have accounts with both. Last weekend they already tried to do something and assured us all was fine. Apparently it wasn't. With the government money behind it, I think it now is. But it raises the question, what is happening in the capitalist countries? I am a socialist. I believe in looking after the weak in society. I believe in government run businesses. [not necessarily bankst though] but trains, busses, postal services and stuff like that. The last 20 years all have that has been privatized in my country. With a result that prices have gone up, reliability has gone down and safety has gone down. So tell me what is the advantage for the public? I still don't see it. Also ...

First books! Before I start with the difficult stuff. Finished king, C.L. Wilson has done it again!!! And I don't want to wait till june to read the next book, snif! That is the downside of reading series when they come out, the waiting! And some authors make you wait for years. :) Ah well I prefer it to those who write too much too fast and the quality goes down. I am going to start a book by a new author [for me] vampires' seduction. Next to my study books I really prefer light reading at the moment. No literature or anything. Just fun! Hopefully this is a keeper and of course it's a whole series again! Wednesday I went to the optician. The good news, my glasses are slightly off and that could influence the headaches and that is something they can do something about. There is also a new technique that could help with my problem of seeing hazy in bad light. But of course it is going to cost! The optician recomeded varifocus glasses. I am at an age were I just need readi...

There are days that I hate Dutch drivers! I had to take my dad to the hospital this morning for a check-up and of course it as during rush hour. In town I have to cross a point were it is almost impossible to get on the road at that hour because nobody will let you in. So I avoided this point by taking a detour and ended up there on the right road. Now I was thinking about the other people who have trouble merging in. And I let one car in what all the cars ahead of me didn't do. But then the other cars waiting pushed their way in in front of me. And that makes me mad!!!! you try to help and then they take advantage of you. Not good! At the hospital which we made with minutes to spare we found out that the doctor had been stuck in traffic and there was a 45 minutes delay. Grrrrrr not a nice morning. Started a new book this morning when I got home. romantic historical novel set in the time of Charles I. It is a new writer for me, so it is wait and see. I like a good story in my roma...

Today is a busy day with not much time for reading. This afternoon going to the optician to have my eyes checked. See if that is influencing my headaches. I did have time to check out this wonderfull new blogsite. http://portaltorealmsonourbookshelves.blogspot.com/ It is a great site! Check it out if you have the time. And I am nearly finished with the Sixth wife which deals with Henry VIII's widow. The story is seen from the point of view of her best friend. Luckily this is a character from the series The Tudors, otherwise I would not have been able to place her. Charles Brandon's widow. It is interresting, but not the best book about the period I have ever read. Hey and I have become serious about the writing I was discussing yesterday. Going to do it together with my good friend Mel. And if more people want to join... I am going to ignore pain and time restraints and follow my heart. The pain book has tought me that that is the best way to beat the pain anyway. Today I am al...