I'm Marina - 4 Times published German author, with a hell lot of sarkasm regarding her Universtiy degrees, a passion for Entrepreneurship and generally always searching for love in the details.
🇬🇧 The dining Room was a place, that felt fallen out of time. Old-fashioned, but not that old, that it felt like a museum. Rather it was a place where time stopped. The old dark red persiancarpet was timeworn. The chairs left markes on its soft pile.
It was a place of longing, where everything was alright and nothing ever hurts. For centuries. In painting portraying forest scenes hung on the walls in thick gold frames. They inveted everyone looking at them to start deaming and get lost in the scenes. I was not very familiar with are, but that is what I imagined real romance to be.
On the massive oak chest of drawers, we tried to move once , but figured after only five minutes, that we would not be able to move it, candles were placed on a fancy gold tray. It seemed like a modern twist, but also caught the feeling like no other piece of decoration. The falmes flickered as if they too wanted to share in the exuberant atmosphere.
🇩🇪Das Esszimmer war ein Ort, der wirkte wie aus der Zeit gefallen. Altbacken, aber nicht so alt, dass man sich fühlte wie in einem Museum. Eher wie ein Ort an dem die Zeit still stand. Der alte dunkelrote Perserteppich war abgetreten. Die Stühle hatten ihre Markierungen auf dem weichen Flor hinterlassen.
Es war ein Sehensuchtsort, an dem alles gut war und nie etwas weh tun würde. Schon seit Jahrzehnten. In einem dicken Goldrahmen hing ein Gemälde an der Wand. Eine Waldszene, die nur so dazu einlud zu träumen und sich in ihr zu verlieren. Ich kannte mich mit Kunst nicht aus, aber so stellte ich mir die wahre Romantik vor.
Auf der breiten Eichenholzkommode, die wir mal versucht hatten zu bewegen, aber schon nach fünf Minuten an Ort und Stelle gelassen hatten, standen Kerzen auf einem hübschen Goldtablett, das wie ein harter moderner Bruch wirkte, aber gleichzeitig auch die Stimmung einfing wie kein weiteres Dekostück. Die Flammen züngelten, als würden auch sie an der ausgelassenen Stimmung teilhaben wollen.
EVERYONE(!) I’m blazing this post because at this pace we might barely hit 1,000,000 signatures—or just fall short. PLEASE reblog this post, no matter where you are from, so we can reach as many EU citizens as possible and end this horrible practice!
I want reclame my life!
Or at least that's what I have figured out when returning to tumblr!
So first of all who am I now?
I'm Marina, 24, at least until the end of this month. I try to write for a living as both my degrees were so far unable to land me a job - yes, this is typical in germany at the moment. You can have a bachelor and a masters degree, speak several languages and no one will care, as they deem you too expensive despite not having any work experience. I was rowing in University and I love it, I loved how my body felt, but since i graduated I was unable to sit in a boat, also due to injuring both my ankle joints years ago and now having permanent bone bruises in both of them, that don't want to heal. So no muscal mass is left anymore or got replaced by fat. I gained over 20 kilo since. Lovely? Isn't it? Also leaves me with a wardrobe full of beautiful cloth (some vintage Burberry I would die to wear!) that don't fit any more. Plus I am also stuck with an unpaid PhD I could care less about as the topic is simply put completely questionable and stupid! My major is entrepeneurship, so far so good and with a lot of potential, when you also take my specialisation on female entrepreneurship in account, but my PhD is within education as it was the only one I could land in order to at least stay within academics in a way. Frankly spoken I hate, and I really hate Entrepreneurship education with a passion. The research behind it leaves me questioning my santiy, cause how do you want to teach something, of what no one knows if it is inherented/ in your DNA or learned thinking patterns? Shall that question not be answered first?
Who do I want to be?
Myself again. An academic and creative weapon. Someone who finds solutions and is not constantly chasing after problems. I want my calm and structured life back, in which I was able to enjoy all the small things. I want to row again on a daily basis as well as do cardio and strength training.
What is holding me back?
- Money (I earn nothing at the moment, but still have round about 1000€ moth I have to pay in rent, bills and so on)
- Fear of rejection (I applied to over 290 Jobs and was unable to land even a real interview)
- being tired constantly
- tiding up after my mum, who currently uses me as a dog sitter when ever she can and forces me by that to structure my day around her needs, instead of my goals, so I only can get shit done either early in the morning or late at night. Our schedules and Ideas of life simply don't match at all and she slows me down a lot.
- Stress (my whole life situation makes me so stressed that I eat too much and watch YouTube Video after YouTube Video, sleep horribly and am constantly tired)
What do I need to do?
- Read more instead of watching stupid videos, that don't have any value
- set boundaries with my mum, eventhough she might hate me for being a roadblock in her way - she wanted another dog, so it's her problem if she can't handle her two dogs, when I have my dog mostly under control.
- start training again (running and lifting, plus some rowing on the maschine)
- apply to other PhD positions that actually pay you and jobs not in f-ing Germay, cause let's be honest this country is a lost cause for me (or maybe even in general by now)!
- lose weight and eat more healthy
- drink less coffee! (Seriously, when I was still in training I was drinking no coffee at all and did so much better)
- clean my apartment and have for once eveything organised again
- keep my notebooks updated and use them to collect thoughts, ideas and quotes I like, as to go back to my habbit of collecting pretty things in that way.
- work harder on the PhD I currently have to do until I find something better as having at least one publication is better than non and increases the chances of getting admitted somewhere else.
- keep on studying swedish and economics in order to be prepared for whatever comes my way
- do my divers license (find a way to pay for it first)
- finish my next novel the best way possible
What can I do immediately?
- reading (Wuthering heights, Mansfield Park and Jane Eyre are sitting mostly untouched in my library)
- continue writing on my novel/ other projects that at least generate me some money
- search for more opportunities job wise/ academic wise
- do another lesson in my swedish book/ reread another chapter in one of my many economic books
- do a light weight session after walking all three dogs
- starting with tiding up my desk and sorting my leather working tools back into their boxes as well as finishing the project still laying there
- cut sugar for the rest of day and limit the intake to the morning
- switch coffee for caffein pills (easy in my opinion to use as a pick me up for the time until I sleep better ), water and tea.
What is my next step?
- Finishing the leather bag i am currently sewing while listening to the audio recording of wuthering heights by the german televison (I guess it was a podcast by SWR 5) and continue reading it later instead of watching TV at night.
- posting on my author social media (Wattpad, Instagram) and deliver all my Patreon posts in order to maybe generate more income in the future.
Level up your writing skills in English - Dialogue Punctuation
A guide for those whose first language is not English (pro tips at the end)
Well, this is maybe the most that the new authors struggle with. As any other language, English also has its own rules for dialogues and I bet you could find them on the net as well, but if you want it short - here I am.
First things first, we use ‘’ and “” for dialogues in English and never ‘—‘ or ‘–‘ or spaces or just ‘start new line’. We need to indicate the people are speaking. ‘’ - for thoughts and “” - for speaking.
‘I was dancing with him.’ - I understand it’s in the character’s head.
“I was dancing with him.” - I understand the character says it out loud.
The next part is punctuation. I know, a lot of you maybe struggle with all these commas and no commas at the end, at the beginning, dialogue tags and stuff, but, believe me, it’s not as hard as it seems. So, what is important to remember is that we use commas with things that we do with our mouth or verbally and full stops with actions.
“It was quite interesting,” she said.
Look, comma is inside the “” and ‘said’ is something she does with her mouth or verbally.
“It was not so easy.” She moved closer to the table.
Look, full stops is inside the “” and ‘she’ is written in the capital, because ‘she moved closer to the table’ is not something she could do with her mouth or verbally.
Also, do not forget to start each character’s speaking from the new line, so it doesn’t look like a mess.
“I came here from the north.” He put his gloves on the table.
“Me too,” she agreed.
Look, 2 characters speaking, each of them having their own line. Also, notice that the first one is doing action, which is why there’s a full stop at the end, and the second one is agreeing - which is something we could do with our mouth or verbally and - which is why we have comma at the end.
The other thing to remember is that ‘…’ is not interrupting. It’s about the words slowly fading as the character speaks. If you want to show that the person was interrupted - use ‘—‘.
“I wasn’t sure whether to go…” Jake answered.
Look, there’s no comma or full stop at the end of “” and I understand that Jake’s voice becomes quieter and quieter as he speaks, showing that he’s really unsure of what to do next.
“I wasn’t sure wheth—“
“I will tell you!” she shouted.
Look, there’s no comma or full stop at the end of “” and I understand that the character is interrupted. Also, take a look at the second line: there’s an exclamation mark inside “”, but she is written with the small letter - yes, because shouted is something you do with your mouth or verbally.
One more thing: if your sentence finished with ! or ? there’s no need to add a full stop or comma at the end or after “”, ‘’.
That’s it for beginners. Practice with those above to sharpen your writing skills. Yes, you may think it’s too easy and want more, but believe me - I’m also using the rules above and rarely use the rules I’m gonna tell next in my own writing. Make small things look good first and then go to bigger things.
Well, my fellows, who are professionals in writing dialogues and the tips above were like a baby talk to you, fasten your seatbelts, you’re gonna find out some more tricks (I hope).
Okay, first things first, ‘’ and “” could be interchangeable. If you want to write thoughts in “” - you’re welcome, but don’t forget your choice for the rest of the story, so the readers are not messed up with what’s thought and what’s word:
“I was dreaming,” he thought.
And
‘I was dreaming,’ he thought.
Are both fine.
Next, using dialogue tags or actions before the words themselves:
Jake answered quietly, “What if I got it wrong?”
She pressed her hand to his chest. “It can’t be.”
It’s also okay. Just mind the punctuation: commas are for dialogue tags (mouth or verbally) and full stops for actions.
Depending on what you choose for your story, we use ‘’ inside “” and “” inside ‘’:
“I was surprised by ‘his’ behavior,” she stated.
If you have prolonged dialogue tag or action with dialogue tag, the tag should always come directly to the sentence (it’s easier to avoid any extra punctuation drama):
He answered quietly, smiling, “Of course.”
Julie laughed and asked, “What’s that?”
“I want this,” she replied, walking down the street.
There’s a difference when the words are interrupted by dialogue tag or action:
“We’d rather,” Jake said and lifted his arm, “win this auction.”
“I’ll never”—she pressed her finger to his chest—“let you do this!”
But personally I never use this rule, cause it’s just hard to punctuate and I believe that non-English readers may find it too hard to understand.
Well, that’s all for now, thanks for reading and I hope that was useful! <3
I drink coffee like a bandaid for my brain. Too tired? Coffee. No inspiration? Coffee. It’s cold outside? Coffee. Headache? Coffee. No social battery? Coffee. It doesn’t fix my problems but it does hide them a little more.
“Loving someone is taking a constant risk with your emotions. When you find the right person,the one you know you want to be with, that person becomes worth the risk.”
— Monica Murphy, Second Chance Boyfriend
Marina Blue @diepferdeautorinvonwattpad - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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