Call for Antagonists

Dragon Coat of Arms

Dragon Coat of Arms *

I readily admit it: I have a hard time scheming. I am not a girl for intrigue. I could never hurt someone intentionally. And that makes it a bit more difficult for me to develop a credible antagonist.

Yet the antagonist carries the story for a large part. He or she (or even it!) creates the obstacles for our heroes, the challenges they need to grow into their heroism. We need antagonists in our stories, badly. Continue reading

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Medieval Life … Includes Roundworm

Richard III

Richard III

As you all know, I write predominately fantasy. What you may not know is that I actually studied archaeology for a couple of years. So I have a good idea of how life really was back in those middle ages or earlier. And let me tell you – I’m quite happy I’m living in the 21st century.

Here’s one reason why:

New Research Shows That Richard III Suffered from Roundworm Infection

Continue reading

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Archaeology Tidbit – Ancient Meterorite Beads

The other day, I found some fun news on Science Daily, about beads created in Ancient Egypt. They were made from iron, and now scientists proved that they were actually hammered out and then rolled from meteorite material.

How cool is that?

Even more interesting is the fact that someone did this *before* smithing had even been invented – people were not using Earthen iron ore until millenia later. Who figured out how to do that? Who discovered that this strange stuff that fell from the sky could be hammered into shape? Continue reading

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Back after a Long Break

Pu'ukani's Song

Pu’ukani’s Song

I’ve been away from this blog for a long time. That’s because I have been focusing on my other life as coach and therapist and putting in a lot of work in my website and offers. It’s fun to open up internationally and creating wonderful programs for people who want to change their lives.

But it meant that I didn’t have time, nor the space in my head to keep writing blogposts here. And I apologize for every time you went to take a look and didn’t find anything new. Of course, I also moved the blog to my own domain …hopefully, you’ll find me here. I’ll drop hints on my old blog location, as well. Continue reading

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Some More Writing Advice – Beginning, Middle, End

Beginning, Middle, End

Beginning, Middle, End

Sorry for the long silence. I’ve been working on my other business … and that took a lot of time and energy. Even so, I’ve been overwhelmed with the great responses to my short story ebook, “Sequoia”. Thanks go to everyone who downloaded it when it was free, everyone who bought a copy, and most of all, everyone who commented on it, either on Amazon (8 reviews! Woohooo!), or in any other shape and form. You are wonderful! Continue reading

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Launch of the Ebook Sequoia

Sequoia

Sequoia – a short story

Today, I’m officially launching my brand new ebook “Sequoia – a short story”. It’s free on all amazon stores today, so you can grab it right away and enjoy it!

Now, what made me write “Sequoia”? I really don’t know anymore. This is one of the tales that simply flow from mind to keyboard. I was reading a lot of shamanic books, meditating, thinking about nature, energy and how it is all interlinked. Fun times, and somehow, all this coaleced into this story. Continue reading

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“Save the Cat!” – Ein Drehbuchratgeber

Cat

Save the cat *

Stellt euch vor, ein recht unsympathischer, mürrischer Held tritt auf und tut kurz darauf etwas Unerwartetes: Er rettet ganz selbstlos eine Katze. Auf welche Weise auch immer. Und sofort mögen wir ihn. Der Film ist gerettet. Und der Roman auch.

So eindeutig und klar strukturiert kommt das Buch mit diesem Titel daher. Continue reading

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Was ich am Ebook-Marketing hasse

Bücher im Einkaufskorb

Ebook Vermarktung *

Ich bin ja dem Selbstveröffentlichen gar nicht abgeneigt und habe sogar gerade meinen nächsten Bestseller eine englischsprachige Kurzgeschichte zum Formatieren etc. in Auftrag gegeben. Daher schaue ich natürlich, was andere Autoren in diesem Bereich so treiben, um ihre Geschichten und Romane zu vermarkten. Und ich gebe zu, dass ich dabei Dinge erlebe, die mich als Leserin doch immer wieder ärgern. Continue reading

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What I Hate When People Market Their Ebooks

Books in shopping box

Selling Books Online *

As I’m thinking about self-publishing, I’m also trying to get a feel for how to market my future bestseller upcoming short story. And I’m stumbling on things that make me, as reader, rather angry.

In fact, I think the last thing I should do as author is to make my readers angry at me. Continue reading

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Dying to Forget – Trish Marie Dawson

Dying to Forget

Dying to Forget *

The other day, I talked about how writing in present tense is a sign of a beginner and amateur. I still mean it. And that’s why I almost didn’t continue with this novel. Even so, I dug in, and here, present tense works somewhat. That’s because of the special location where the novel takes place, and because of the topic itself. More about that in a moment.

I often get notifications about free ebooks on Amazon. And yes, it’s part of Amazon’s marketing strategy to give away books for a day, to gain a larger readership. These days, I’ve gotten a little smarter and check reviews before I grab a book, even if it’s for free. Continue reading

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