New Story and a #ROW80 Update!

The Zugspitze on a clear day...

When it's a rainy day in Bavaria and the Zugspitze is covered in clouds, there's no hope for hiking, so it's the perfect time to post an update on writing, etc.

I'm in Germany for a 3-week course in international and military relations as they apply to Europe, Central Asia, and the Trans-Caucasus, so I've put the French on hold and am learning to sprechen sie Deutsch instead... By the time I leave, I hope to be good enough to get around, which I've always considered to be "order a drink, be polite, check in to a hotel, and buy a garment." If you can do those little things, you'll probably be OK... And of course, many people here speak great Englisch, which is both helpful, but also makes it harder to learn Deutsch, since you aren't actually forced into it...

My latest release!

Since I'm here, I thought it would be a great opportunity to release the German translation of Happily Ever After, whose translated title, Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind... means, literally, "And if they have not since died..." (then it is implied that they must be living happily ever after...)

Translation is wonderful! You learn so much through it... For instance, when my translator, the wonderful and talented Sabine Ströbele sent me the draft, I noticed that a line in which the Queen observes that she was never an ordinary, average princess now included a strange-looking numeric code: 08/15.

I thought this was a typo, and asked Sabine about it - it turns out, this is a German idiom that dates back to the first World War when the MG 08/15 machinegun was the "standard issue" weapon, and was so ubiquitous that even today, someone or something that is ordinary, average, or lacking in originality is referred to as being "08/15."

So, if you read German (or know someone who does!) please recommend this short, fun Märchen (fairy tale) for their reading pleasure!

This announcement is also the biggest part of my ROW80 update, because it's the final check in the block for my publishing goals category in this round:

WRITING
- Write 10 Chapters of The Perfidious Mister Wickham COMPLETE!
- Write 3 Chapters of my Learning Indonesian book
- Finish Charming
- Finish The Welsh Mouse
- Finish The Artillerists
- Finish Merry Christmas, Mister Washington
- Finish Intercepts

PUBLISHING
- Publish the German Translation of Happily Ever After COMPLETE!
- Publish A Matter of Honor COMPLETE!

FITNESS
- Score 300 on the Combat Fitness Test
- Bench Press over 100 kg

LANGUAGE
- Five hours of studying French per week (replaced this with German until 15 September...)

NETWORKING
- Execute my “Social Media Plan”
- Build my “Core Group” to 25 people

ADMINISTRATION
- Re-Design my blog COMPLETE!
- Create a Kickstarter Project to support The Perfidious Mister Wickham COMPLETE!

Well, obviously (and disturbingly, from the perspective of an author) the biggest thing I have left to do in the next 3 weeks is write! (And not blog posts, either!) So, back to the drawing board (errr, keyboard!)

Wishing you all a great week, and will try to have some more interesting posts in the next few days about awards, electronic newspapers, etc...

Auf Weiderzehn!

Edward

Chapter Two Posted! Take that, #MrDarcy!

Well, I'm another week into my serial novel, The Perfidious Mister Wickham... I cordially invite you to pop over and check it out here, and let me know what you think, not just of the story, but the concept of a serialized novel, and the presentation method, which is a rather neat embedded book made using FlipSnack... 


If you're thinking about presenting written media online, this might be a way to do it to stand out a bit from the norm...


A few other notes of interest - Triberr users, consider adding hashtags (sparingly!) to your post titles, as this will cause your Triberr-tweeted Tweets to get better visibility from people following a particular item of interest... And foreign audiences - are you making an effort to engage with them? I've recently discovered there's an ardent base of Jane Austen fans in Brazil, and I'm preparing to release my first German translation of a short story, so as I figure out what the best way to connect with an audience when you don't speak the language, I'll be sure to post and let you know... But if you have any experience or suggestions, I'm all ears!


Have a great week!
Edward