November in Drenthe

—

November – Drenthe

LeoLovesParty oppert de mogelijkheid van een weiland. In de buurt van Amsterdam, of tussen Amsterdam en Utrecht in ergens. Een weiland op zichzelf is natuurlijk niks, dus daar zou dan wel een tent op moeten komen. Kardinaal wordt genoemd als een club die tenten maakt en zou kunnen leveren.

Nog veel vragen: welk weiland? Waar? Dan moeten er boeren gepolsd worden of dat kan en hoeveel dat zou kosten. En is er elektriciteit om apparatuur op aan te sluiten? Hoe krijg je alles ter plekke? Kan zeker tof zijn en geeft veel vrijheid. Maar wel een boel te regelen.

11. September 2009

Das schon traditionelle alljährliche Mitarbeitertreffen der NÖ Superintendentur bot gute Musik (Kohelet3), gutes Essen (gegrilltes Wild) und immer mehr bekannte Gesichter.

- Posted using MobyPicture.com

Stierkalfjes

Landschappen van Zuid-Limburg op een zonnige zomer ochtend.

I really was beginning to wonder if it was going to happen. Three strong-headed women, one collaborative project. Too many pens on the page.

But, we did it!

 K.M. Weiland, Lynnette Bonner, and I opened a new blog designed for book lovers–whether writing them or reading them.  AuthorCulture opens today!

K.M. Weiland writes historical and speculative fiction. Her first book, A Man Called Outlaw, is available on her website Imagine. She has a medieval historical coming out in October called Behold the Dawn. Her blog, Wordplay, is aimed at folks who not only write, but want to write better–any writer can find something enlightening on her site.  

Lynnette Bonner’s historical romance, Rocky Mountain Oasis, is making its debut this summer. She had been waiting for her book galleys, chewing her nails to nubs, and trying to be patient. Once they came in, she took no time at all making her choice and getting the cover design perfected. Now, it’s posted on her blog, Writer’s Journey.  You can find out more about Lynnette on her website, Lynnette Bonner.

What we hope to accomplish with AuthorCulture is to provide an entertaining, educational, and informative website for readers, wannabe novelists, newbie writers, and veteran authors. Our plan is to conduct author interviews, hold contests and giveaways, provide book reviews, share writing tips, and present information about publishing, marketing, and self promotion.

We’re going to have fun! Drop in and join us!

Enkele impressies van het Heuvelland in Zuid-Limburg.

If they were forced to choose, Slash and Duff McKagan would opt for Axl Rose over former frontman Scott Weiland as lead singer for Velvet Revolver.

“Some bad s**t happened at the end of the last Velvet Revolver tour,” McKagan told sleazeroxx.com. “It was brutal. There were late gigs … I just wanted it to be over.”

A full year has passed since Velvet Revolver split with Weiland, and still no suitable signer has been found VR drummer Matt Sorum said if the band doesn’t find “the right guy in six months … it might not matter.”

Sorum confirmed that the band recently came close to finding their man, but said that after a few sessions, it was clear the fit wasn’t right. The drummer declined to identify the singer who nearly nabbed the gig.

“There was something missing in the swagger department,” Sorum explained. “His vocals were great, but the attitude, it wasn’t really there, not all the way at least. Plus, I played his recordings for my girlfriend and a couple of friends and I didn’t get the reaction I was hoping for. Nobody went ‘Holy shit, that’s amazing!’ That really sent signals to me that something was wrong.”

Sorum went on to say he’s “shocked” that the group is still without a frontman, adding that in the end the singer must be “a guy who blows people away.”

“Otherwise,” he continued, “why bother? We can do other things. I’m not saying we want to do other things – we’d much rather be doing a Velvet Revolver album or tour right now – but if it’s not going to be awesome … “

Meanwhile, according to The Pulse of the Radio, Slash has indicated on his Twitter account that he’s been approached to mentor contestants during an upcoming “Rock Week” on American Idol. The guitarist said, however, that finding a new Velvet Revolver vocalist via an “Idol”-style tryout was out of the question.

“If we wanted to make a quick buck, that would be the way to go,” he said. “There’s such a huge lack of integrity in that process, be it putting a band together or finding a relationship or finding a new best friend, whatever the premise is. It’s just a cheap way of doing things and I don’t think that you can actually find the individual or the character or the quality or whatever it is that’s important.”

Slash and Scott Weiland of Velvet Revolver – Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ, May 18, 2007.

VH1 is reviving its former signature series “Behind the Music.”

The cable network is ordering about 10 new episodes of “Music,” bringing back the iconic documentary program that ran for several years on VH1 starting in 1997.

Lil Wayne and Scott Weiland have signed on to participate, with the network near agreements with several other artists.

“It felt like the time is right,” said Jeff Olde, VH1 executive vp original programming. “There’s all sorts of new artists on the scene who have emerged and have these great stories. And there’s other artists that we always wanted to do the first time around.”

VH1 had a reminder of the show’s popularity last fall when it aired a well-received 90-minute live New Kids on the Block “Behind the Music” special. The event showed the group’s first public performance in more than a decade along with a “BTM” retrospective.

“We always hear about the show, even now,” Olde said. “It’s amazing how much affection viewers have for it.”

VH1 stopped airing regular episodes of “BTM” in 2002, then aired only a few
a year until 2006. In focus groups, VH1 found “BTM” is so deeply associated with the channel, some viewers assumed the series never left the air. The show’s storytelling model of the meteoric rise, tragic fall and sober rebirth of an artist was so distinctive that “The Simpsons” devoted a 2000 episode to parodying the show. There was also a short-lived spinoff titled “Behind the Music 2″ that looked at the careers of younger favorites.

VH1 will update the show’s format for 2009, but not too much. Jim Forbes is back as the show’s narrator, though the new episodes will add more current footage to anchor the story in the present day – like the way the New Kids special intercut with a live event.

“I’m leery about changing certain elements,” Olde said. “I think the audience will be mad if we mess with it too much.” THR

Goed nieuws voor alle outdoorliefhebbers! De ANWB lanceerde net voor dit weekeinde twee nieuwe portaalsites. De ene gaat over wandelen, de andere over fietsen. Beide sites hebben gemeen dat ze het actief buiten bezig zijn centraal stellen. skrivadur – van huis uit meer een loper dan fietser – bekeek meteen het wandelportaal. En, eerlijk is eerlijk, het ziet er goed uit.

skrivadur is graag buiten actief.

Berg aan informatie
Het nieuwe wandelportaal bevat een berg aan informatie. Je vindt er nieuws, routes, tests, tips en tricks. Een leuke tip van de ANWB – of beter gezegd: van de redactie van buitensportblad Op Pad – betreft speciaal geselecteerde wandelgebieden, die volgens de ANWB/Op Pad beslist de moeite waard zijn om te ontdekken. Het rijtje telt momenteel vijf gebieden: de Veluwezoom, het waddeneiland Schiermonnikoog, het Noord-Hollandse Duinreservaat, het Limburgse Heuvelland en onze eigen ‘achtertuin’: de Loonse en Drunense Duinen.

Een Nationaal Park in 'onze achtertuin'.

‘Brabantse Sahara’
De informatie over onze eigen ‘Brabantse Sahara’ is bijna helemaal correct. Ik kon mijn lach niet onderdrukken, toen ik de eerste zin over de Duinen las. Hou je vast, dan citeer ik ‘m even: “In het Nationaal Park De Loonse en Drunense Duinen ligt één van de meest uitgestrekte stuifzandgebieden van West-Europa: zo’n dertig vierkante meter ‘levend’ zand.” Whahaha, dertig vierkante meter? Dat is  kleiner dan onze échte achtertuin. Ik denk dat de redacteur er een kilootje naast zit. Dertig vierkante kilometer lijkt me een beter formaat! Hoe dan ook: het is een flinke lap klapzand!

De 'Brabantse Sahara'.

Rennen, snuffelen en spelen
Overigens zijn de Loonse en Drunense Duinen meer dan de moeite waard. skrivadur, skrivadurske, skrivadurak en skrivaduvel komen er graag en vaak. Hoewel het niet overal mag, kan onze skrivaduvel er lekker los rennen, snuffelen en spelen. Natuurlijk houden we dan in de gaten of er geen wild zit. Op sommige plekken kom je flink wat groot wild tegen. Niet zelden spot je er reeën.

Zand, zand, zand, maar de duinen bieden nog veel meer.

Mooie plekjes
Hoewel de wandelende duinen het meest bekend zijn van ons Nationaal Park, zijn er nog veel meer mooie plekjes te vinden. Rondom de Duinen liggen uitgestrekte bossen. Die zijn aan het einde van de negentiende eeuw aangelegd om de dreiging van de zandverstuivingen tegen te gaan. Andere hoogtepunten zijn Plantloon (lange lanen en weilanden met houtwallen), Huis ter Heide (de stille kant van het Nationaal Park) en De Brand (een broeklandschap met natte graslanden en moerassen). Wandelend (met en zonder gps) is het Nationaal Park het beste te ontdekken. Dan kun je overal komen. Het stalen ros is ook een optie, maar dan zie je niet alles. O ja, je kunt de rest van je leven elke week door de Loonse en Drunense Duinen struinen. Telkens zie je iets nieuws.

De duinen 'wandelen' onder invloed van de wind.

Meer weten?
Klik dan eens op de volgende websites:

• Nationaal Park de Loonse en Drunense Duinen
• Natuurmonumenten
• Duinboeren
• Loonse en Drunense Duinen

Have I got news for you!

Katie Weiland, aka K.M. Weiland, aka Tarin, is finally going to send Behold the Dawn on the road to publication!

I interviewed Katie last September, and she gave some insight to her research techniques for Behold the Dawn. But it was off the record that I asked her when she was going to publish that masterpiece.  She wasn’t in a hurry. God has a plan, she said. She’d wait on Him.

I am completely in awe of this young lady who’s half my age. She has amazing discipline, patience, tenacity. And she’s been writing seriously for longer than I have, and has some great work to show for it. (Check out her free e-stories.)

And she has a great blog. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you really should. Wordplay is Katie’s classroom where she teaches everything you want to know about fiction writing. Today’s lesson is: “The Benefits of Outlining.” 

Katie and I are complete opposites when it comes to writing. She outlines. I write. In my post, “Whatever Works”, I describe my writing process. Seat-of-the-pants. I have thoughts and ideas scribbled on scattered pieces of paper, and I just write.

In the length of time it takes Katie to do her meticulous outline, I have a book. While she’s writing her first draft, I’m editing.

Which way is best? Although I seem incapable of doing things her way, I think her way is best. Katie’s characters don’t pull surprises on her by page 130 that require her to go back and change everything. Her plot holes are covered before she starts writing, and she doesn’t need to spend time pitching tar over them seventy pages into the novel. In fact, she’s one of the few who knows I’ve had to rework The Cat Lady of Forest Lawn almost from the beginning because one of my characters got away from me. (Guess the secret’s out now, huh?)

I see similarities in what Katie and I do. It’s just that, instead of battling out an outline, I battle out the story.

In Katie’s post, she discusses her extended plot outline: “In places, this plotting goes pretty quickly; in other places, I have to stop to work my way through iffy plot points and implausible character motivations. This step, by itself, can take several months . . . “

It’s the same for me, but by the time I’ve completed the battle, I’ve written the narrative and dialogue, too. So when I have “writer’s block,” it’s just like working out plot points and motivations.

I like the way I write. I like spending the day working in my head, then transforming those thoughts into scenes and chapters. I like letting my characters dictate what’s next, what their motivations are, what their reactions to other characters are. At least to a certain extent.

What I don’t like is having to delete page after page, because something that should’ve worked didn’t, and I would’ve found that out had I done an outline.

Comparing my novels to Katie’s would be like comparing the butterfly with the eagle. The only similarity is that they can both fly. I’m a newbie to writing, and I write fluff. I stick my little nose in this flower and that one, give my readers a laugh and a feel-good ending. Eventually I want to move to more challenging plotlines, but for now I’m comfortable.

Katie’s work soars. Her settings, characters, and plots are deep and intricate and vivid. That doesn’t come from outlining alone. That comes from study and work and practice. That’s why I have hope for my own work. I’m willing to do those three things.

But I hate outlining.

Landschap – Drenthe

State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America.

A collection of essays and snapshots on the 50 states as seen through the eyes of 50 writers.

More on The Seattle Times.

7/17 Arnie Morton’s of Chicago Steakhouse (Downtown Los Angeles, CA)
Steakhouse.  This is my 3rd time here.  i still get the same cut.  New York strip steak for $49.50.  i had 5 glasses of iced tea during lunch.  My sides were Mac and Cheese and mashed potato.  Don’t eat too much of the attractive onion loaf or else you won’t be able to finish your steak!

Weiland Brewery (Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, CA)
Bar/American.   i only come here when it’s paid for by a company.  the food is not that great is neither and neither are the drinks.  they do have cocktails on a menu but it’s really hit or miss.

on this particular night, i had 1) a Japanese pear martini – grey goose pear vodka, peach pucker, splash of sweet & sour,

2) Key lime martini – Burnett’s vanilla vodka, whipped cream, powdered sugar, fresh lime juice

and 3) a Mochatini

Foodwise, I had onion rings, chicken quesadilla, garlic fries… nothing memorable.