The Girdle of Melian

long long time ago I wrote up a Writing Wrap-Up By Decade post (which, incidentally, linked to a post in which I said I hoped to attend the Surrey International Writers' Conference -- and now I have !)... Here's what the original wrap-up looked like: 2000 : Some poetry. Some book and music reviews and essays in university newspapers. Probably some short stories. Nothing to sneeze at, unfortunately. 2001 : Year-long travel column in Bizim Anadolu 2002 : Started my YA novel An Arnavutkoy Spring , which takes place in Istanbul c. 1910 2003 : Continuing work on the first draft of An Arnavutkoy Spring 2004 : Year-long book review column in Bizim Anadolu 2005 : These memory exercises are hard! I don't remember what-all I was writing in 2005. Maybe I was playing at translating Tolkien into Turkish. Who knows? 2006 : Joined the Compuserve Books and Writers Community. (I should mention that this was a direct result of reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabald...

urrey! I've just attend the Surrey International Writers' Conference for the first time, finally! All thanks to Kathy Chung and the other members of the SIWC Board, who organized a fantastic online version of the conference. There were so many amazing workshops, and the videos are available to all participants for the next month -- highly necessary, because there are so many brilliant talks to catch up on. I love the feeling of inspiration and excitement that comes from talking of storywriting with a group of other writers. And of course it was wonderful to see "in person" so many friends from thelitforum.com! Congratulations to Robin Malcolm for winning the storyteller's award! One thing Laura Bradbury said has rally stuck with me: She noted (I'm paraphrasing) that we WANT to do this, we WANT to keep learning, so why do we give an ear to the voice that says "I suck"? Self-doubt is always there, but it should never override the fact that w...

hoto interlude! Work has gotten busy and so has writing life, so here's a photo interlude! Two things I'm focusing on: Plotting for NaNo ! I have the names of my heroine and hero, the identity of the murder victim, the main suspect, the method of murder...and an inkling of some of the interpersonal conflicts. Hope the writing goes well! I was meant to be attending the Surrey International Writers' Conference this year! While this didn't work out, I am attending this year's virtual conference! Not quite what I expected for my first time, but motivating and inspiring nonetheless! I'm very glad that the conference didn't have to miss out on a year. Funny, it was eight years ago that I hosted my own virtual Surrey for all those unable to attend... Dolphins! Jellyfish! Interesting glassworks history Octopus! Ground floor display at the Museum of Natural History An update on the pangolin... Text of the United Nations Charter on its first adoption...

ocooning. In between the work and the NaNoWriMo prep (come find me, I'm Denizb33 on the site!), I'm still knitting and baking a lot. A fruit cake that turned into a crumble... Vanilla icebox cookies dipped in chocolate! A special birthday cake! It took three tries, but I've nearly perfected these Sally's Baking Addiction chocolate chip cookies ! Next step is to make them smaller, but just as yummy! First snowfall on the Alps! September 2020 A baby blanket for a colleague! All about knitting in Yorkshire, from Amanda Owen , the Yorkshire Shepherdess's books A random flower that appeared in the pot in which the dill failed! Morning yoga beside Lac Leman, bliss! I'm thinking of tackling a murder mystery for the first time during NaNoWriMo. Not a suspense, not a romantic suspense, but an actual murder mystery... Nothing to lose, right? If it doesn't work out, I have the elements in place to switch it to a second-chance romance! All I nee...