A Deck of Cards

I read two different novellas over the weekend, both with tattoo artists as the main characters. I love tattooes, have a few myself, so I though that to have a tattoo artist as the protagonist would be really cool.  I was really disapointed in both books though. It felt like the writers did not do much research on what it is like to be a tattoo artist in a tattoo shop with actual clients! I'm all for using your imagination, but in the 'tattoo artist' you have the word 'artist'! Yet the stories did not try to even scratch the surface of what it's like to be an artist.  If you have to know one thing about me  it's this: I am an artist. I sketch, draw and paint. I create pictures out of my mind and put it to paper in the hope to make something that will please the eye? Yes. But also because if an idea is in my head, it's there constantly . Until I put it on the page. The same thing happens when I write. The illusion that an artist goes into his/her mind whi...

Hey everyone, So I just finished this novel that was recommended by three different people from work that I know. Their views were so good that I went to the bookstore over the weekend and bought the book. I was not very impressed with what I was reading at first: the feel of the story was slow compared to what I usually read (fantasy, romance, fiction) so I was ready to give up (several times throughout the book). A bit more than half way through, I started to get into the book. The character, an English lecturer in an American university, was a bit more living, and I thought 'This is it, now we'll see something'. Inside, I kept on hoping that something -anything- would happen. And when it did....!         I won't ruin the book by saying anymore; but as I have just read the last page, I am glad to be sitting down. The writing is magnificent in a way that caught me by surprise. The story itself left me feeling rather drained, ready to be filled with life once m...

I am sooooo excited!!!! I entered a competition in June on the subject: 'without'. Some of you might think it's not much, and you'd be right. Without what? you may think. I know that's definitely what I was thinking. At first I was going to write about a few characters from my book and make a short story with them in it. And then... I don't know how I got this idea, but the story would not leave my mind until I wrote it down. And what a relief when I did just that. Then I looked at where I could add details to make up the 1500 words needed. A tweak here and there. I edited it about three times, re-reading it a countless amount more. And... I sent it. And I waited... and waited. There I received an email that I didn't bother opening because of everything that was going on in my life. Then I opened it and ... The excitement!!!!! Now, if you follow the link below, you can read the story. Let me know what you think via the comments here, or on twi...

Sorry I've been quiet for the past few months. A lot has happened and I am still trying to cope with a lot of it. A lot of not so good news. My house was flooded on the 1st of July, due to a fire in the flat above. Thanks to firefighters, there wasn't too much damage, but it's still inhabitable. So me and my family have been staying out for the past few months, and living out of a suitcase is not as fun as it is during holidays... I had a very cherished month with a family member close to my heart who unfortunately passed away recently. I'm still dealing with the loss, even though I knew it was coming. But I am back to work now, and I felt like I should explain why there was such a long silence. Anyway, I am planning to bullet journal my blog posts to make the most of everything. Let's see how it goes :) Thank you to all of you amazing wanna be writers and people who read my posts. 

Hi everyone, It's been ages I've not written anything here. I've been busy working on my second novel, just to get my mind of my first novel... and I'm thinking about everything I have not put in my first novel. So... this is a welcome exercise to get away from my manuscript. So for today's post: relating a traumatic event.  About three years ago, I used to work for a gambling company. I'd been doing so for five years or so, had enough experience to be the manager of several branches. I declined that part of the job, because I felt I could be more useful and happier in my current role: a customer service manager. On that particular day though, I wish I had never accepted the shift I volunteered for. I came in the shop around ten in the morning, the other staff member was already setting everything up. After a nice coffee and the door open, we settled back and had a chat, as a young woman came through the door. We checked her age, we did what we had to on th...

Hi everyone, So for today's post, as you can see, the subject was Tattoos and Body piercings. There are many things that I could say about this subject from the body itself to the places you get them done. But for the 5 minutes exercise I thought to write a monologue. I chose that route because I felt that it would be the quickest way to get things across. So, here we go: 'I love tattoo and body piercings! Do I have any? Of course! I love what tattoos can express about yourself. It can tell a great story. You can tell what a person is like by the tattoos on his/her skin. Some people spend little and get average tatt's while others will spend more and get beautiful artworks. I lean more towards the beauty + cost: I'll gladly spend a bit more if it means that I'll be happy about my tattoo. Now, body piercing, you say? I'll tell you something: I find some beautiful, others scare me though.  I think that some places are just not to be pierced, not to be t...

Hi everyone, So I realize that with the holidays and getting back to work, New Year resolutions and the life happening, I haven't been on my blog in WEEKS!!!! I apologise. So, let's get into this: Winter. As usual, I'll start with what I wrote on the five minutes exercise, and then I'll reflect. "The earth wears a white coat this morning, as I wake up and walk on silent feet across the room to the window. I look over the horizon at the sun getting up slowly; it looks like even the sun doesn't want to disturb the earth'sleep.  The trees to my left are covered in white, from the top branches, to the roots bent over the ground- ready to walk away, shaking the snow off their body. when I breathe out, I notice a little puff of white flowing away. The heating must be off again. I shrug to myself. It will just have to be left well alone.  108 words. So, in here, I'd need to look at my grammatical mistakes, and possibly change a couple of words. A...

Hi everyone, Have you ever done this: describe objects around you as if you were describing people? Huh? Come again? It sound weird isn't it? Who would actually do that? Well, if you read often, you may notice that several authors do, in fact, do that. So, this is what we did as a little exercise. On the table, we had several objects: a cone, a twig, a big leaf, a smaller one, a large pebble, a stone or a bone (we are still debating on that one). This is what I came up with: A) She's got wrinkly skin from all her years out in the open. Her small size makes her look fragile, but everybody knows that she is as sturdy as a rock. B) His thin frame is even more pronounced as his long gnarly fingers come into focus. "Come here Child." The Child doesn't want to approach, scared of these hard, unyielding eyes.  C)  Broad shoulders and bulky across his top half, it takes a long time to get this fit! Everybody laughs. If only they knew! Their laugh is why he...

Happy New Year everyone, I am now back from holidays, where I didn't do as much writing as I should have; but I took notes and came out with a couple of story ideas (short stories) and a few points that I plan on incorporating in my Manuscript. But, first things first: in this article, I want to show you what I came up on the subject of "Place where I was born" during my writing exercise (5 minutes of free writing on the subject). By now, you know how this works. So. Ready? "We eat cheese and love our meet dishes. We have Chateaux and beautiful gardens, a great history that teaches us the values of fraternity, equality and freedom. We were taught to respect, to fight and to love our country. We hated rules and made new ones. We started revolutions.  This country that I was born in is the most spectacular in my eyes. But it isn't home. Just like a mother letting go for her child, I left this emptiness in my heart. I left because I couldn't contribut...