Friday-Fill-In: 2011-18

1. 'Main Hoon Na' is my favorite Bollywood movie, because it's a great story with lots of fun, action, love and smashing songs, not to forget that Shah Rukh Khan is a blast!
2. Go to page 45 of the book you're reading or of the book closest to you; go to the 6th paragraph and make a sentence out of 7 words from it: When we were in the south of castile, we'd tried a typical seafood dish including all the gourmet's desires, delicacies like langoustes and mussels.
3. I am currently reading 'The Count Of Monte Christo' and the words are taken from Edmont's engagement party.
4. After eating such a rich dinner, the best help is a long walk.
5. Take some time to watch a Bollywood movie, they are much better than their reputation.
6. A good Indian dish needs a bit of sharp spices (at least).
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing on my couch and continue with my 'Monte Christo', tomorrow my plans include thinking over a present for a friend's birthday I (to my shame) have forgotten and Sunday, I want to cook an Indian dish!

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ABC, Bonus: A-Z Favorite Booklist

For 26 days we'd tried to find alphabetical topics to write about. Some of us even had a theme. Mine was writing. When writing is one side of the medal, than reading is the other.

No, I don't want to start the challenge all over again, I just want to find out, if my reputation as a passionate reader is justified. Can I make a A-Z list of my favorite books sorted by book title? If there's more than one choice for a letter, I've picked the most favorite book. Here's my A-Z FAVORITE BOOKLIST:

1. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
2. The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series, J.R. Ward
3. The Count of Monte Christo, Alexandre Dumas
4. Dead Poets Society, N.H. Kleinbaum
5. Emma, Jane Austen
6. Felidae, Akif Pirincci
7. Die Goldhaendlerin (The Gold Merchant), Iny Lorentz
8. Harry Potter Series, J.K. Rowling
9. I'm Off Then: My Journey Along the Camino de Santiago, Hape Kerkeling
10. -
11. A Kite's Eye View: India between Earth and Sky, Nicolas Chorier
12. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
13. Millennium Trilogy, Stieg Larsson
14. -
15. -
16. The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
17. -
18. Ramses Series, Christan Jacq
19. The Stand, Stephen King
20. The Twilight Saga, Stephenie Meyer
21. -
22. -
23. Warrior Cats Series, Erin Hunter
24. -
25. -
26. -

That was fun ... and quite interesting! I should try that on my favorite movies, too!

What about you? How much can you fill an A-Z list of your favorite books, colors, sweets, names, movies, what ever? Go, have a try and share it with us!

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WQ-16. Romantic Relationships.

30 Days Of Writing Questions 16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how "far" are you willing to go in your writing?

The only romance you can find in my fairy tale writing is the kiss in the happy end. Everything very nice and innocent before they live happily ever after.

Next, you don't even find a kiss when your main characters are cats. =^..^=

And then there's my current big WIP. In this story my focus is more on adventure, fantasy and mystery. Also growing of age and overcoming your fears play their parts ... but no romance. Well, not in this book! But there lures something like a sequel in the back of my mind, nothing in detail, only some possible shadows, including that my heroine has to find her love or better love has to find her!

So, for the moment I could only give you some hypothetical answers. I'm a highly romantic person, but I don't like clichés and kitsch. I say, that would reflect in my writing. You know, romantic scenes, very decent and elegant, which hopefully makes you sigh, too! As much as I like to read hot scenes, like in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, I can hardly imagine myself to do the same. Okay, I've never tried, but that for I should first find a strong cover story, just like in the BDB books!

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Wreck This Journal: Glue In A Photo Of Yourself. Deface.

TRANSLATION OF THE LEFT PAGE:

Name:	Nofretiri
Age:	Unfortunately old enough for water, fire, scissors, light and other tools.
Person:	Human or Na'Vi or whatever?
Caution:	Subject might be armed with at least a pen and dangerous! Don't let her close to your journal!

*hmm* I think the page speaks for itself! ;-)

---
These are the pages I've used to deface myself:

• http://www.pikipimp.com/
• http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/
• http://reface.me/profile-pictures/avatarize-yourself/

Also very cool are:

• http://www.photofunia.com/
• http://www.sp-studio.de/
• http://simpsonizeme.com/ (not always available!)

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ABC Challenge, Epilogue.

It slowly seems to become habit, that every time writing a A-Z blogpost I hear a certain song in my head. This time it's 'Time To Say Goodbye' by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman:

Yes, it is a Goodbye, but a bittersweet one, isn't it? At least for my part, my experiences were mostly positive!

AMAZING PARTICIPANTS

From the start I was intrigued by the idea of A-Z themes ... obviously not just me! Somewhere after 1.200 bloggers joining in the challenge I've lost track! That's mind blowing! With that incredible list at hand I just picked up the blogs with promising, strange, interesting names and some by coincidence, too. It's hard to say, how many blogs I've visited in the end, but quite a few found their way on my reading list! I truly wished to have more time to stop by on every single blog!

What I wished for A-Z Challenge 2012: I would really appreciate to have something like an additional sentence or some keywords, what all those wonderful blogs are all about. I don't like the thought, to have missed some good blogs! *sigh*

Speaking of Nofretiris Dream Of Writing: Within this one month I could gain more new followers than in the whole year my little blog exists! I'd like to thank and welcome all the new followers here on my blog! You're awesome!

TOP 5 OF MY FOLLOWERS

1. F for Freewriting
2. S for Show Not Tell Crusader Challenge
3. C for Checklists
4. N for NaNoWriMo
5. L for Linguistik (linguistics/language)

MY PERSONAL TOP 3

I'd say my most fun post was Y for Yarn: Yo, Ho, Haul Together. Even if this double translation wasn't the easiest part (Pirate language à normal English à German), I had a blast of a time to cover A-Z Blogging Challenge into a little pirate story! Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!

The dediCATed cat fan I am, I loved to write those two little cat view stories: T for Tiere (Animals) / S for Show Not Tell Crusader Challenge =^..^=

MY PERSONAL ACHILLES HEEL

Surprisingly not one of those most feared letters X or Y ... despite or just because of the limited words I've instantly got an idea what to write about. No, my personal Achilles Heel was the letter U!!! After quite some obstacles I've landed with the very little elegant U for Urlaub (Holiday)!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Would I do it again? - Yes!
Would I recommend it others? - Yes!
But, please don't get me wrong, for now I'm happy it's over!

THANKS ELIZABETH!

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ABC, Z for Ziel (aim, goal, end, last chapter)

This is the end. Beautiful friend. This is the end. My only friend, the end. Of our elaborate plans, the end. Of everything that stands, the end. No safety or surprise, the end. I'll never look into your eyes...again. by The Doors

- we've reached the last letter of the alphabet. 30 days ago, who had have thought, how fast the end is here. And with this last letter today we want to think a little about the last chapter in a book, the big finale, the end.




In the Book Meme I've been asked: Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
I decided for cliffhangers, but frankly speaking, that's only half of the truth. First, my Top 100 favorite books contains mainly stand-alone books with a tidy ending. Second, I'm a huge fan of book series, like The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. Each book tells the story of one main character and brings it to a proper satisfying happy end, BUT she also continues with different subplots and leaves them open. So, at the end of each book you simply can't wait to get the next book in your hands. That's what I meant with my Book Meme answer 'cliffhangers usually mean, that the story continues'.

Honestly, I'm much better with beginnings than with endings. But I've realized the significance of a good ending, when Jamie DeBree fooled us on 1st April with a very sudden, very unsatisfying end of her weekly blog series 'The Bikers Wench'. So, what can be said about endings?

POSSIBLE ENDINGS

• Hollywood Ending: This is the happy ending where the hero will get the girl or win over a villain and bring peace to the planet.
• Ironic Ending: This is the bittersweet ending when the hero may win with a loss with a sort of Pyrrhic victory or may win in losing. Sometimes, stories in literary and mystery genres use this type of ending.
• Tragic Ending: The hero loses and the antagonist wins or they both die, but even if the conflict is resolved at the hero's expense, the argument in the story idea is confirmed.
• Surprise Ending: The surprise lies in a twist or a revelation that changes the understanding of the trajectory or the spirit of the story. If skillfully carried out, this type of ending is the most successful.
• Vague or Undefined Ending: This is when the story is left open-ended, leaving the reader imagining what could happen. This type of ending is not very effective with most genres, except for horror.

TIPPS FOR ENDINGS

• Identify the ending of your story.
• Consider when is the best time for a story to finish.
• Link the story to a larger theme to end on a high note.
• Ask yourself "what is the main conflict in my story?"
• You can surprise the reader but you must also satisfy them.
• Don’t use sappy extraneous contemplation.
• Don’t cheat and suddenly have everything work out fine.
• Some genres have an expected ending that you can’t mess with, e.g. romance.
• Don’t forget to end the book (or explain it is a trilogy/series!).
• The resolution comes after the climax.
• Ask somebody else to read your ending.
• Revise, revise, revise!

So, this is it: The end of A-Z Blogging Challenge?
Yes, because we've reached the last letter of the alphabet.
No, because there's one more thing to come: A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post

Stay tuned! :-)

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ABC, V for Veni. Vidi. Vici?

eni. Vidi. Vici. - I came, I saw ... but did I conquer? Obviously not yet. The A-Z Challenge is almost over. Delete the 'almost'. It's 1st of May, veraciously it's officially over! And me? I'm still struggling with that vicious letter V!

I veto! I'm not ready to vacate and go on well deserved vacation. This whole mission shouldn't have been in vain. I have to be valiant, stick to my values and vanquish the venomous thought! I have to verify the verifications and try some new varieties. It's me versus the vacuum in my brain. Maybe I should listen to my inner voice and take some more vocabulary into consideration?

It's like voluntarily going on a voyage and finding of my own volition the new vigorous point of view. I swear, I stick to my vow, fight the villain and get my vengeance. Victory is mine!

So, in the end I hope verses will be made to my venture and the last words would be: Veni. Vidi. Vici.

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