Writing
Becoming a writer has always been one of my dreams. Turns out I needed to find the right language to get started. While I could (and did) write decent academic papers in German, my stories and characters come to me in English. Goethe would call it the language of my heart.
After I learned how to type superfast during my PhD, it was time for the next stage: Writing a novel. This is a life-long project, perfect for a scanner like me because every book is different. Planet Myrthe is the fictional home of the fantasy stories and novels I write and self-publish under the pseudonym M.B. Ratel. You'll find the official homepage, including a couple of free stories, here or follow my work on Twitter.
At some point I plan to write thrillers too. One book at a time.
I practiced:
- writing really fast
- improving my process
- slowing down
- focusing on the sentence right in front of me
- asking for feedback and accepting it gracefully
I learned:
- how to write and edit a novel
- about ProWritingAid, an editing tool I absolutely love!
- book cover design
- I'm not a good alpha reader and critique groups are not for me
- writing is easy, revising/editing is difficult and publishing is scary.
- how the traditional publishing industry works
- to think of one book as several products and how to run an author business
- how important copyright really is.