A Possible Publisher

On Friday evening I went to a reading of a Swabian author who writes very enjoyable YA and romance novels based in and around my home town. The reading was fun; the author has a fun style both in writing and reading that prompted a lot of laughs and made the half-hour reading fly by in what felt like half a minute.

The author is a friend of my mom's and - squee! - introduced me to her publisher. I asked him a lot of questions about publishing in Germany in general and his press in particular. This publisher is a smalli press that releases all kinds of books themed in, around and about the state of Baden-Württemberg, in which I live.

I've actually had some ideas about basing an urban fantasy in the town I currently live in. This town is very old and has a lot of history, including a legend about the devil visiting and being chased off with an onion disguised as an apple. The publisher said that sounds like something they *might* (a very careful might, but hey, at least he didn't say 'no' outright) be interested in and I should send him a two-page summary of a story before writing the actual book. 

Now that, regardless of my chances of actually wowing him with my summary, is a sweet deal. It means I won't have to write the whole book before shopping it around. If the idea doesn't appeal to him, he'll let me know and that will be that.

So now I'm kind of excited and amazingly motivated; I scribbled away at the summary all weekend. It isn't finished yet and I'm definitely not going to rush it and send it out without other people taking a look at it. I'm also going to start reading a few more German books again, to get back into the flow of that language. I usually write in English because I read most books in English and it flows a tad more naturally for me. But just a tad and I can work on that.

*still excited*

Meeting An Author, My NaNo-NoGo & Christmas Short Story Idea

I'm going to a reading on Friday, of a German author who is a friend of my mom. She has read some of my short stories and apparently really liked them, so I'm kind of totally mega-excited to meet her. After the Frankfurt Book Fair fell flat for me due to other commitments, this is the next best thing. Maybe this author has some suggestions how I could proceed getting my novel published in Germany. 

I don't want to get my hopes too high, though. I'm looking forward to meeting her, regardless, and to experience a published author in action on her book tour. It'll be my first reading ever.

I'm not participating in NaNoWriMo this year. That'd just be too much on top of everything else right now. Writing everyday is good but I won't manage the 1,667 words per day unless I buck up at the weekends - and, at the moment, I need those to do other things than sitting in front of the computer all day, like I do at work. Too much computer time and I get island fever and inspiration floats far out to sea never to be reeled in again. The NaNo-pace just won't work for this working gal.

So right now I'm typing away on a christmassy short story - I have what I think is a cool idea: what if one South African kid's Christmas wish is of a White Christmas, in the heat of his southern continental summer? How would Santa and his little elf helpers deal with making that one come true? 

I still have no clue how to solve this little quandary, but my main character is hard at work to get it done. Pantsers surely know the feeling. :-)