A story, a dream and a writer between two languages
I am very happy to find my piece of creative nonfiction called “Shore Lines” published on the beautiful website of Haunted Waters Press. To read it, click on the picture below.
Many wonderful works can be found on the pages of Haunted Waters Press and their literary journal “From the Depths.” Browse or download and enjoy!
So, this is our Christmas Tree. Slender, so Peter can move around it in the wheelchair easily.
I like all our ornaments, collected over the years.
The “soap bubbles” of glass
and lace ornaments
Old-fashioned pewter decorations
things made of wood
or pottery
A friend made these angels
And, of course, real beeswax candles with the scent of natural honey.When the last flame goes out on Christmas eve, one may think of a secret wish, and it may come true.
After a rainless autumn, we have a warm winter full of a soft silver drizzle that silently and gently spreads a new kind of Christmas magic over the gardens – roses and other flowers still blooming, untouched by frost, enhanced by the muted light of December that sets them sparkling in an almost unreal way. I like it. Nature decorates with unpreposterous grandeur, sparks of hope and thanks hanging from every tiny stem.
Have a blessed and magic Christmas, everybody!
We had to remove an apple tree in our garden. Over the years it had grown much more than expected, and so a very old rose, nearly dead and hardly visible was forgotten in its shadow.
With the tree gone, the rose revived. It started to grow at the beginning of November, and now, a day before December, untouched by frost as yet, has fifteen gorgeous roses on it. A wondrous fragrance rises from them, warm and fragile, deep and beautiful – a scent I am sure only a winter rose can give, in celebration of survival, life, and the discovery of light even in dark and cold days.
My mother always told me when she came home from the war and the train carried her through a destroyed Germany, she saw a magnolia tree blooming undismayedly among the charred remains of crumbled houses. Whenever she got discouraged and lost hope and faith, she thought of that magnolia tree, and it gave her strength. Later, she planted one in our garden.
I think this winter rose will be a magnolia tree in my mind, though not the only one.
Ha! At long last, there is Scrivener for Windows, available HERE. (as a trial version, too.)
I was wary about the beta version, played around with it some but for serious work waited for the full version.
I thought this software would be good, but hey, nobody told me it is such FUN besides being a wonderful tool.
I’m a chaos person when writing. Notes fly about my desk like hyperactive moths. Plot ideas pool haphazardly at the bottom of overlong word documents, ending up as worms that seem unfamiliar to me and tend to knot. Index cards stick to closet doors and whiteboards, remaining there for years mixed with new ones until I hardly recognize them or remember to which manuscript they belong.
But NOW, there is SCRIVENER! There is a corkboard, ready at a click, where I can move around at will index cards in any size, amount and color I want, stamped with “First draft” or “Idea” or whatever I desire, and with custom-colored pins sticking in them.
There is a folder for research. There is s place for “document notes” that stay with a document and show up neatly at the side when I’m working on it (Only if I want, but I WANT!) There is also a space for “Project notes”. What a help!
I can change around everything at a click and have it exactly the way I want. The corkboard alongside the document, the screen split either vertically or horizontally – or two documents alongside eath other – or just the document I’m working on, without any distractions. Then there are the fun AND useful gimmicks like session targets and a name generator.
It is all very easy to get the hang of; it works intuitively, and there is a short tutorial, clear and to the point.
Hey, I can shove everything around at will and no stickies drop from the desk to get lost under the carpet or stick to my shoe soles. This software enhances the fun and sparkle in writing, saves time and helps me improve my manuscripts, because I have an overview at all times. Editing is easier and so is compiling.
Thanks all of you who created this wonderful tool! One so seldom gets exactly what one wants and needs – even before one knew what one wanted! So, it’s pure joy. I’m going to wallow, and I hope many writers will enjoy!
A sample from “New Christmas Stories”:
Click here
My love and I sitting in the garden on a balmy October Sunday, he in the amazing new wheelchair that opens up new paths – but at the moment our garden is paradise. Surrounded by trees spun of dancing gold, a carpet of gold and flame around us, the taste of golden apples of our own harvest on our tongues, church bells and birds in the background, the hum of last bees and the glitter of a dragonfly in flight. What more could one want?
Okay, it would be nice if somebody would want to read my books now and then. But it could hardly make me any happier.
I enjoy the scene deeply, almost afraid to breathe in case that makes the moment pass faster. It is so precious, so fragile.
Yesterday the deep blue sky was marked with huge white x-es again and again, as if humankind had crossed it out with certainty and purpose. The trails of planes rushing here and there, moving huge amounts of humans. It strikes me as funny, and slightly sad, all these people rushing about. They get nowhere far, just here and there a little on this tiny planet of ours, which is such a minute thing in our galaxy, which is only a minute thing in the universe. The sun burns on and never notices any movement on the skin of our bubble.
But it is such an amazing bubble I never get to the end of marvelling without moving an inch on it. Far below me, it’s fiery heart turns, far above me, familiar constellations burn in a gand array of silver sparks. Around me, it is a world of red and golden october glory, while the seeds blowing around me already write the stories that will grow with spring. My love’s hand is warm in mine. We breathe. We live. Why would I want to be anywhere else than right here, right now? I can think of no answer. My adventure is here.
And the crosses in the sky evaporate, already forgotten by the atmosphere, and all is clear.
While summer here was of a cold grey, drenched in rain and playing with grumbling storms, September has a different face. It has been soft golden glory throughout. I love the wistfulness of September, the knowledge that the days are precious and as fragile and beautifully spun as the silver webs between the dying sunflowers.
My husband’s muscle dystrophy has taught us how precious a day, an hour is. That nothing can be taken for granted: walking, eating, or even breathing. He has been in the wheelchair since before I knew him, and on the respirator for sixteen years. Yet he still works full time, seeing no reason not to. Even though or because his strength is always slipping just a little, we enjoy every single of these glowing days deeply. Often I feel we are luckier than many of those around us who are not aware of what they have, what richness a sunset is, the taste of a wild strawberry, the touch of a hand or a picnic at the lake. That amazing music always running through the moment – we dance to it in our own way, thankful for the stunning miracles surrounding us.
Not only for Kids:
When you are very young, you have big dreams of becoming an astronaut, a veterinarian, or something else that fascinates you. Often, these dreams are forgotten in the process of growing up. Little Daniel, on a holiday trip, gets a surprise and finds a way to keep his dream safe until he is old enough to make it come true. But is it that easy? And what happens to the dreams other people forget?
Do you have a child who likes bedtime stories and who dreams of becoming a fireman, a princess, an astronaut, a veterinarian, or something else exciting?
Are you a grownup who sometimes wonders where your own dreams of becoming a fireman, a princess, an astronaut or a veterinarian, went?
Then this story is for you.
I am very happy to find my piece of creative nonfiction called “Shore Lines” published on the beautiful website of Haunted Waters Press. To read it, click on the picture below. Many wonderful works can be found on the pages of Haunted Waters Press and their literary journal “From the Depths.” Browse or download and [...]
So, this is our Christmas Tree. Slender, so Peter can move around it in the wheelchair easily. I like all our ornaments, collected over the years. The “soap bubbles” of glass and lace ornaments Old-fashioned pewter decorations things made of wood or pottery A friend made these angels And, of course, real beeswax candles with [...]
After a rainless autumn, we have a warm winter full of a soft silver drizzle that silently and gently spreads a new kind of Christmas magic over the gardens – roses and other flowers still blooming, untouched by frost, enhanced by the muted light of December that sets them sparkling in an almost unreal way. [...]
We had to remove an apple tree in our garden. Over the years it had grown much more than expected, and so a very old rose, nearly dead and hardly visible was forgotten in its shadow. With the tree gone, the rose revived. It started to grow at the beginning of November, and now, a [...]
Ha! At long last, there is Scrivener for Windows, available HERE. (as a trial version, too.) I was wary about the beta version, played around with it some but for serious work waited for the full version. I thought this software would be good, but hey, nobody told me it is such FUN besides being [...]
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