my journey as a civil war novel writer

Taking some time out this morning to w atch remembrance day for the first world war . Although my country was neutral during the war it has always interrested me. I t helps that I studied military history for a while. I h ave been in Verdun and to the fields in Flanders, the Menenpoort in Ieper with all the english names on the walls. It makes you pauze and think. A war to end all wars, and not 25 years later an even bigger, more horrible war errupted all over Europe and that time we did not manage to keep our neutrality. But for soldiers? I am not sure which one was worse. The second war was horrible for everyone, also civilians. In WW I civilians mostly suffered if they lived on or near battlefields but those soldiers. Image 4 years in those trenches, fighting for every centimeter. Dying for a piece of land and not seein g much difference. It was the war that first acknowlegde shell shock and was therefor important in psychiatry. If you ever want to read good books about that I rec...

Saturday was the wonderful realms meeting. There were 11 of us altogether. All women of course. Haven't run into a man yet who likes romance books. :) I enjoyed myself hugely. And that is a good thing. From my 25 until my 40 year I have mostly had male friends. Of course there have always been some good female friends, but the main part of my friends were male. That was because of the roleplaying I guess. That is still mainly a male world. And on holiday it is usually me and a bunch of guys. And I get on fine with them. Although it is not always a good feeling to be one of the guys. If you understand what I mean. Sometimes you want to be a woman. The last couple of years I have noticed that I am making a lot of new female friends and liking their company more then I did a while ago. So now my circle of friends is turning out more even, both male and female. I am not sure I would have enjoyed a meeting like saturday so much 5 years ago, and I certainly would not have admitted that I...

Just a quick post as I am getting ready to head out to the first Realms forum meeting. I am looking forward to it. It is not often you get to share time with people who read the same books you do. I have some friends who share my passion for SF or historical fiction and non-fiction. But for my romance books it is rare. And of course I have not been out of the closet long in admitting I like reading those books. To my surprise most people who enjoy it have a high education and like me like to read it as light reading in between studybooks or intensive jobs. Started part six of Laurell Hamilton's Merry Gentry, a lick of frost. I finished book 5 jus t in time yesterday so I can go straight on with the new one. Book 4 and 5 were no t the strongest in my view, the story was a bit weak, and I do like a good story and character development in my books. I have high hopes that number six is going to be better in that regard. In any case it will make for a few hours of nice light reading. ...

I can worry endlessly about money but today I have decided to give some to a good cause. The refugees in Congo. I am so afraid that it is going the same way as the genocide in Rwanda over ten years ago. And that the conflict will reach Rwanda again. This cause is closer to my heart then several others bec ause a good friend of mine is fr om Rwanda. To hear him talk about what happen ed to his family is heartwrenching and it shouldn't happen again. This time I hope the world will not wait and watch but act before it is too late. There isn't much I can do myself but give some money. For dutch people, look here: stichting vluchteling. Today I am going to take it easy, as tonight will be an intensive night. I think I have said before that in preparation for the practice I am following some more lessons and part of that is an intervisie group. Here we help each other with questions from our life and work that we need some help with. Tonight it is my turn to bring in a question. I...

Yesterday I visited my first ever crafts fair. I never call myself a creative person except for writing, although I did a lot of crafty things as a child. Practically now I don't have the patience to do crafts. People would say I have loads of time but I can't set myself to it. Of course most of them I would have to do in very small portions because of my hands, the same I do everything else. And that would be hard as well. Having to stop when you are in the flow. But the fair was fun! I was in good company with two good friends, Marjon and Susan. And I was only going for the fun. And fun we did have, loads of it. We only s a w about half of the stalls and didn't have time to do any workshops. I was good and didn't buy much. In the past I would have and on coming home would have dumped it in a corner and probably never have done anything with it later. I am getting better with my money. Only christmas is a danger zone and I did buy an ornament for christmas. Anything w...

First my faith in the banks has been restored a little bit. Earlier this year I had a lot of trouble with a checque that they cashed for me and keeping 45 euro in charges without telling me beforehand. Luckily I complained and met someone at the local bank who agreed with me. She couldn't do anything more but told me to write a complaint letter and she would back me. So I did not expecting to hear anything, especially as the bank, Fortis, got into a great deal of trouble in the mean time. But yesterday I received a phonecall saying the money has been returned, all of it!!!! Very nice with the h oliday season coming up. Today i s the day of the elections in the United States. But I think that it is of import to the whole world. You see that in the Netherlands, it has been about the onl y thing on the news for the last couple of weeks. Everybody is talking about it and the kids learn about it in school. And it IS important to the rest of the worl d. Look what 8 years of Bush has do...

I intend to talk more about politics tomorrow morning on the day of the american elecions itself. But last night I saw a very good documentary about the influence of tv and film on the elections. They stated that series as West wing, commander in chief, battlestar galactica and even the horrible 24 have helped people get used to seeing a black man or a woman as president. Funny how it works but I think they are right. When west wing introduces Mat Santos as the democratic candidate in the series in 2004 they were even looking at Obama. It is eerie to see how reality is fol lowing the series now. I finish ed some books this weekend. Another Anita Blake reread, obsidian butterfly. Not my favorite in the series. Not because the story is not good but I miss too many of the regular characters. Only Edward is in it of the re gular cast and therefor it was slow reading for me. Starting Narcissus in chains tonight. That will hold my interrest better. The whole cast is in it and that one intro...