Kick-start

I just realized this blog hasn't been updated since November. What have I been doing with my time? There was a deadline just before Christmas, den there was a holiday in London, followed by three weeks of the flu, and then, because I had been slacking in my holidays and semi-comatose during the flu, as soon as the feber cleared, I had to work twice as fast as normal. I'm still not up to date with everything, but I'm getting there. And for a freelance writer, what pays now, gets worked on first.
No time for lounging on the sofa, I'm afraid ...

My little Kindle - Pros and cons ...

What I like about my little Kindle:
- It's easy to carry.
- It never gets to heavy in my backpack.
- It's comfortable on the eyes.
- I get the books I buy in seconds.
- I can read heavy books without getting a strain in my neck.
- I can lay on my abck and hold it in front of my nose without dropping it on my face.
- There's free access to loads of free classics I haven't read before.
- I can buy a book in the middle of the night if I want to.

What I miss about my Kindle:
- It doesn't smell as good as a book.
- I can't flip back and forth the way I can with a book.
- I can't make what we call "donkey ears" - that is, I can't fold down the upper corner on pages when I find something I'd like to read again, or just to remember where I left off.
- I can't spill anything on it without ruining it. (My most cherised books are spotted with jam and coffee stains, and spills from whatever dinner I'm cooking while reading).
- It has boring covers - or sleeves. Even though the cover I have now makes it look like a fine, old leather bound book. (I like colours!).
- I can't lend books (at least not until I've figured out how. And anything technical that takes more than three minutes, is something I never bother to use time on).
- I can't give away books.
- It's too easy to buy books, only to discover I don't like it!

And most important of all:
 I can no longer read the first chapter, browse through pages, get a feel of the book and read the ending before I decide to buy it. I can't walk around Amazon and read a little here, check out a book there, sit down on the floor and pull out a stack off books - and really enjoy myself before I buy a book - or ten.
That's why I will never give up books for good. And also because bookstores are the only stores I can stand being in more then five minutes. I can stay in there for hours without getting bored to death ... anyshopping mall or High Street without a bookstore has no interest for me.

What do you think?

From a Serial Writer's Diary ...

I signed a new contract yesterday - on Halloween - and I'm not sure if that's good or ... or not good. The contract was a standard contract with one of my current publishers (yes, I have two). It basically says that they will pay me a certain amount of money so that we - the publisher and me - can develop my idea and when and if it actually turns into a new series, then we'll write a new contract.
Sounds easy, doesn't it?
It's standard. It's the kind of contract you get when you have written a proposal and three chapters, and they think its good enough to invest an editors time into it.
I put the contract in my backpack (Norwegians rarely have handbags, we have backpacks - after all, we do have manuscripts to carry, books and pencils and whatnot), and because I had preperations for a 50th birthday to prepare for, I forgot it there.
Now I like contracts, I celebrate each and everyone - not with champagne, I'm not much of a drinker - but there are rituals to follow even so. Usually I don't forget them like this.
So when I pulled out my notebook from the backpack, it got me thinking. Writing romance series like I do, is hard work. I haven't been to a movie in almost two years (Yeah, really), and it occupies my mind a lot. I make sure I write other things too - there's a children's book coming in March 2013 - but it's hard to get enough time. And also thinking time. (My writing muscles are the only muscles I train on a regular basis ...)
It takes  a year or two, to go from an idea to a finished first book, then there's the at least six or seven books that has to be finished before publishing the first, so that you can write without "deadline-panic". So this new idea might hit the stores in late 2014 or early 2015.
That's what got me thinking. It's still 2012.
Planning my life that far ahead is a new experience.
It's okay, I'm not regretting the contract. My idea is good, very good actually, so I'm not worried about that. I can do the work.
But so far ahead is spooky. Usually I have problems thinking ahead to tomorrow ...

An update ...

I suddenly realized it's been almost 3 months since I posted anything on this blog. That's no good. So I am hereby "waking it up".

We have had a very busy summer. Thankfully it was a cold and rainy summer, so the weather favoured work. In July we finished first draft of a new childrens book - more to come about that later. We've written four so far, and they have been very short and easy to write (because they were short). They were also part of an in-house series concisting of easy-to-read books. The new one is different  because we are no longer part of a series where more than on writer contributes with books, we are now to write our own series! Also this book is about 2-3 times longer than the previoues books. A real challenge. The next draft is due in November. We are very excited about the new project, it's been so fun to work on it, still is. The book will be published in March, and then the next before Christmas.

I'm hard a work at my new series, the sixth book was just published, one more to go before Christmas. I have the most wonderful illustrator for the series. The picture is from book 5: Dreams and Lies.

A little Sikh history ...

We are working obsessively with our newest project, and in the meantime ....
BBC's documentaries rock!

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)

My small tribute to one of the truly great ones: Ray Bradbury 1920-2012

I have a copy of Ray Bradburys essays on writing in my book shelf: Zen in the Art of Writing (1990). When I despair of writing, tired of trying to come up with something new, fed up with looking for the «good idea», I pull it out. It's a small book, just 174 pages, loaded with inspiration.

In his essays he writes stuff like this: Your Thing at the top of your stairs in your own private night ... may well come down.

The first of his books that I read was The Illustrated man. The guy who slept beside a fire, covered in tattoos that lived their own lives and told stories (nobody with a tattooed body these days, come even close to beeing that interesting). Fahrenheit 451 was another amazing read. What book would I choose to memorize if I lived in a society that burned books? (For me it was Jane Eyre then and now).

I found his books at my local library where I went almost every day and read at least one book before going home, loaded with ten others.

“I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.”

“Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't "try" to do things. You simply "must" do things.”

On e-books:

“I still love books. Nothing a computer can do can compare to a book. You can't really put a book on the Internet. Three companies have offered to put books by me on the Net, and I said, 'If you can make something that has a nice jacket, nice paper with that nice smell, then we'll talk.' All the computer can give you is a manuscript. People don't want to read manuscripts. They want to read books. Books smell good. They look good. You can press it to your bosom. You can carry it in your pocket.” Fahrenheit 451

I learned from him that if I wanted to be a writer – and I did – I had to write every day – I was already doing that back then and I do it today: Christmas Eve, New Years Eve and every other «Eve» there is. If I don't write my pages every day, I get restless and snap at people. Usually someone comes and stick a notebook and a pen under my nose, or gently pushes me into the office, turns on the computer and quietly close the door behind them. They may also bring coffee ...

“If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”


I have to read his books again now.

17th of May - Constitution Day

I sit at my desk, ready to work - a bit delayed to be honest - and think about Constitution day. For me it's been a quiet day, celebrated with good food and good friends. 17th of May is a childrens' day,with unlimited icecream and soda, cakes and sweets. A day we wave our flags and sing our rather pompous national songs. This year its a little different. We're in the middle of the 22nd of July court case, and on some level it was nice to take a day off from it all. I feel for everyone directly involved in this, and I hope something like this never happens anywhere else.

On a lighter note:

This is from the backyard of my house, I'm the cry-baby in the middle. I was never one for wearing skirts and dressing up. I look like I'm about three years old, so it must have been taken in 1964 or 65.

 A few years earlier ...

This is the oldest picture of a 17th of May celebtration I could find. From Oslo 1898. Although the celebrations started at least as early as 1823.

From the changing of the flags on 7th of June, 1905 when the Swedish/Norwegian flag was lowered, and the Norwegian flag was up for the first time.