Lazy Sunday

It is Sunday already. How is it that some days (usually school or work days) time just seems to slow down to a point where it drags on, making the day painfully long--whereas other days (usually free days) seem to have less hours in them?


I swear that my free days feel like this: I wake up around nine, somehow have my breakfast at 12 and eat lunch at 3 and dinner around 10 at night. Then I have one hour left before I start to think about sleep.
Yet of course my days aren't (always) really like that. Free days just seem to go by with a few bits and pieces missing and before you know it you have to get back to work or school again. 


When I woke up this morning I got rushed so that we could go to my grandmother before it would snow again. Just when I was wide awake and ready to go (having hurried everything) did my parents inform me that the weather would probably be too bad to go, so I could just relax and take it slow.


...So I decided I would. 


I was reminded of an Italian sentence which seems perfectly fitting for today:  il dolce far niente. Basically it means “The sweetness of doing nothing”.
And I thoroughly enjoyed doing pretty much nothing all day: I sat around, thought about a great number of silly things and talked with my mom about everything and nothing. 


We watched Eat Pray Love together (where I got reminded again of the phrase and which awakened once again this irresistible urge to just pack my bags and go into the wide, wide world and travel. Fortunately this feeling is not so strong in winter, when it’s cold and grey, and stronger with my in spring and summer. So I’m good. No travelling for now).


(By the way the ice cream she is eating in this picture is from a store called Blue Ice and its The Best Ice Cream EVER! If you ever come to Italy try it!)


I read some (will come back to this). I played a card game. I surfed lazily on the internet and now I’m sitting warmly wrapped in some blankets on the couch writing this blog post while listening to soundtracks (Eragon at the moment) and wondering whether or not I have the energy to get up and exercise a little on the home trainer.


Sometimes we just need days like these, where we don't feel obliged to do anything and can just relax and take some time for ourselves and our family.


Do any of you get days like this? Do you feel like you need them?
My body has this not so great mechanism where, whenever I feel too pressured or am too busy with school and friends and life--in other words when I don't get these free days--my body shuts down and I become ill. I'm forced to take some time for myself.

Trust me this isn't great when you're in an exam period. But it does show that we should all take a break once in a while. 


About what I am reading (told you I would get back to it), it's a book called Write to be Published by Nicola Morgan. I'm not sure I ever told any of you this, but I'm a sucker for "how to write" books. I really enjoy reading them, even if I heartily disagree with whatever the author tells me to do, or if I already know everything in the book.

I like reading new and different ideas and to find out how other authors handle the business of being an author (whether unpublished or published). It often gives me inspiration and new courage to get back to my story.


This book in particular I really really like. A lot of things Nicola talks about are crucial points and warnings that I have yet to encounter in other "how to" books.  


I'll talk about it a bit more once I'm finished but for now I encourage people to go to her blog. I haven't had much time yet to look at it properly but if it's anything like her book, it's got to be good. 
http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com/

It's time I go back to my tough decision whether to read something or to exercise before diner. I hope you've all had a lovely weekend and are ready for next week! 


Keep Writing!

Xx Noortje 

School, Basements and Celebrities

Wednesday was my first day of the second semester--and it's been exhausting. I suppose first days and weeks of everything are especially tiring. We see new faces, go to new places and experience new things. And that wears us out. I will probably get used to it by next week... but let's just say that no writing has been done since Wednesday. 


My first day of the second semester started out fine, and I think it was the first time I've ever seen Amsterdam during the snow, but I'm not sure. Of course I forgot to take my camera so I have no pictures to show you except the ones I found on the internet. But let me assure you it looks like this. 


I always love snow; it gives everything a peaceful quality and reminds me of Christmas and snow fights and ice skating and other great memories. Speaking of ice skating, the Netherlands has been going crazy about the "elfstedentocht" (which is an ice skating race where the participants skate on natural ice, and pass 11 Frisian cities). Unfortunately the ice isn't thick enough in most places, but here in the neighbourhood children have been skating for days! 


After our first class we went to this adorable little tea room near the Dam and whilst we were waiting for our orders my friends spotted no other than Paul Turner from The Voice of Holland, which was pretty cool. My friend who's a really big fan asked him for a picture and he was really nice.


Yesterday was pretty horrible with lessons all over Amsterdam (including a basement) but I think the lessons might be interesting.


I don't have much else to say except that I've woken up at an ungodly hour for the past few days and that the cold has gotten to me. So I'm going to wrap up in a blanket, drink some tea and get started in   Great Expectations (some of the better homework).


I'll write again soon and hopefully have more interesting things to say! Hope you've all had a great week and have written lots and lots on your stories! I'll try and catch up on the past few days tomorrow.


Keep Writing!

Xx Noortje 

Books, Snow and Homework

 So yesterday I faced the cold weather again to go to a meet up at the station. Right now the railways are a mess with all the snow and ice and especially over the weekend hardly any trains were riding. The ones that were, were all of course late. 


I met up with a woman to buy some second hand books for my next semester. This lovely pile: 

I can't say that I'm really looking forward to another semester of school and tests and exams, but at least it will give me something to do. I always get a bit bored when I have a holiday for too long. What's really annoying is that whenever I'm busy I always have tons of story ideas, really want to be writing and have a million fun things I would love to do. 

Then the second I have a day completely to myself, I get bored and just don't feel like doing anything except maybe hang on the couch, watching bad TV. Does anybody else get like this? 

This is going to be a short post because I already have some homework (gotta love the internet. Teachers you haven't even met before can just send you homework via email). 

But here are some pictures I made when I went out for a walk last week. Hope you like them! :) 

Sorry it's gonna be a bit long but I just couldn't choose! I made like 100 photo's and here are the nine I love the most!
Just click on the first picture of you want to see them close up in a slideshow :) 

They are all a bit similair but the sky was just so beautiful!
Hope you like them. I'd better get started on my homework now.


Keep writing!

Xx Noortje 

Snow!

Look what I woke up to this morning! 

 I think I'm going to cancel my writing schedule I had planned for today to go outside and take some pictures! 

Is anyone else having this much snow? (or more) 

Xx Noortje 

Baking Bricks

Yesterday was not much of an success, but great fun.

I decided to take a day of writing (I'm on holiday, one of the perks of being a student) and spent some time with a friend doing what we almost always do when we meet up: bake.

We poured over some newly acquired baking books and decided that we would try our hands on making bread. I mean how hard could it be right?

Well our problems started when we couldn't find the right ingredients so we decided to improvise and buy the next closest thing... which was probably why after we spend a long time kneading the bread ( till our arms ached ... I'll never underestimate a baker's strength again) and even a longer time letting it rise... it... well didn't. The dough was supposed to double in size but stayed the same. 

We decided to make some bread anyway which unfortunately were a bit hard... and heavy ... both in the hand and on the stomach (We bravely tried one). 

Yet it was still great fun and fortunately we had some back-up brownies (our specialty). 

I went to bed yesterday with the great expectation of waking up early and dedicating myself to editing 20 pages or so of my first novel. 

--Instead I woke up late, spend the entire morning watching Sherlock Holmes behind the scenes and then found I had a massive headache and went back to bed. 

(On the left here our finished product from yesterday)

Fortunately I feel fine now and will wrap up this post in order to go back to my story. I find editing really hard especially because my attention span isn't that great and I tend to find a million fascinating things to do instead of editing. 

Which is why I am now holed up in the attic with strict orders on my family not to bother me for anything except maybe tea. 

I hope everyone is having a lovely week and is having more success with writing than I have at the moment! (I probably should turn of the internet as well) 

Xx Noortje 

A New Start

It has been bothering me for a while now that this blog is essentially slowly dying. The reasons for this is that I simply have nothing more to say on tips on writing ... at least for the moment. Because as writers we never stop learning and I for one still have a long way to go. So instead of giving more advice on things I've already written about or (even worse) trying to give advice on things I know nothing about, I decided to try something new.

I'm going to start by introducing myself because I believe that I have never properly done that. 

My name is Noortje de Graaff. I'm currently 19 years old and I started writing my first "novel" when I was nine years old. 

I grew up in The Netherlands in a lovely town just an hour away from Amsterdam. Last year I embarked on an exchange year to England and have very much enjoyed my time there. In fact I can't wait to go back this summer! 

Right now I'm studying English Language and Culture at the University of Amsterdam and am about to begin my second semester. University is not really what I had expected (probably because most of my expectations came from books and movies that were set in different countries) but I am enjoying myself. 

For a while now I have been working on a fantasy series, currently consisting of three books. Almost two years ago (February 21 2010) I created this blog and mentioned that I was working on book three. Well I'm still working on it.

Although I haven't been sitting still over the past two years. I've participated and won two NaNoWriMo's and am now busy re-writing my first novel! 

From now on I'll post more about my life as an unpublished writer (which might look familiar) and see if it is fascinating enough to continue. If not you will always know where to go when you have trouble sleeping! 

I've posted shamefully little in the past couple of months and will try to do better. Of course this new twist for Wribie doesn't mean that you can't still come to me with questions! On the contrary I'd love to help anyone who thinks I have something to offer them :) 

This is it for now.
For the Nerdfighters who are reading this enjoy International Nerdfighting Day!
And to the rest of you,

Keep Writing!

Xx Noortje 

New Year's Resolution

Happy Holidays everyone!! 

It's a little bit late, but I hope everyone had a great time and is enjoying this holiday season with their family and friends! 

I haven't been writing a lot here and for that I appologize but I have been very busy with my first semester at the University of Amsterdam! 

I still remember how nervous I was just a few months ago, and how I thought I would never get used to it. And now it's almost 2012 already. 

I haven't written a lot in this time, although NaNoWriMo did help as it usually does to get me into the writing mood again. Did it work for you guys? I hope you managed to reach your goal if not for the 50.000 words than your personal goal! 

The end of a year is a time to look back and see what we have done. I went to England for a year, I am writing on my thrid book in my series (and loving it) and I made some amazing friends, both here on the internet and in school and I've almost finished my first semester at uni!

My goals for next year are the same as the last few: 

• Have fun
• Grab uppertunities
• Make new friends
• WRITE! WRITE! WRITE!
• Try to get an agent
• And try to get my novel published :)

I hope you guys will do great on your writing as well and if you have the dream to get published go for it! 

Leave a comment if you want to share your new year's resolutions with us :) 

I probably won't be posting a lot anymore because I have said most of what I wanted to say.

But that doesn't mean I don't check on it often.

I could write more about myself if anyone would care to read about that, but I wouldn't want to bore you too much :) 

So if you have a question, or just something to tell or maybe something writing related you want to share (like a site or an event I can post about) please let me know!

Thank you for staying with this blog for 2011 and have an amazing 2012!! 

And as always, keep writing! 

Xx LordKiwii