Support Nicole Basaraba as a Samsung Global Blogger – 2012 London Olympics

Since its Wednesday, this would usually be my Writers’ Uni-Verse-City segement day, but I have been up to something special I want to share with you.

Since I finished the first draft of my novel for the Round of Words in 80 Days writing challenge, I’ve been working on some diverse projects such as competing to be a Samsung Global Blogger for the 2012 Olympics in London!

Representing Belgium (and Canada too of course), I would be tweeting, blogging and vlogging. That’s right, vlogging during the Olympics this summer to bring you the latest scoop and the most entertaining and funny stories I can dig up in London, which is also celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee!

So if you’d like to show your support for me as a Samsung Global Blogger to read/see some amazing stories this summer, please feel free to:

• click the “thumbs up” support button on my video 
• re-blog this post
• spread the word/link on Facebook and to your preferred social networks
• annnd tweet, tweet & retweet the link to my video:

Support @NicoleBasaraba (#Belgium) as a Samsung Global Blogger: http://samsungglobalblogger.uk.msn.com/videos/2979 #samsungglobalblogger

My second video entry will be up shortly. In the meantime, you can find my audition video and give it the thumbs up here: http://samsungglobalblogger.uk.msn.com/videos/2979

Thank you to all!

How will you be keeping up with the 2012 London Olympics?

Why write short stories? – A guest post by Edward H. Carpenter

Welcome to Writers’ Uni-Verse-City (or WUVC for short because every university has an acronym), a place where writers/bloggers can meet to discuss the craft of writing in the Internet age. WUVC will involve independent research, setting a curriculum and hopefully finding other participants (like you – readers/bloggers/writers) to: chip in, give tips, suggest books and other materials for study, teach me the ways of the warrior writer, and offer to guest post here at Uni-Verse-City (contact: annotationseditorial@gmail.com).

Today I’d like to welcome Edward H. Carpenter, who is giving us a few reasons why we should write short stories. 

Why write short stories? – A guest post by Edward H. Carpenter

There are potentially a lot of answers, but the first one that comes to my mind is “because there’s a story to be told!”

I can’t speak to how other authors come up with the inspiration for their short stories. Mine have generally appeared as the result of some stimulus from my immediate environment, or while reading, or often some combination of both. 

For example, my first short story, Seven Lives to Repay Our Country, sprang to life as a direct result of reading a passage in a history of World War II in which a Japanese General gave a final order for a suicide attack to his men, just hours before he committed ritual suicide rather than face capture. Being that I was living in Japan at the time and was an officer in the Marine Corps, the same organization that had fought those Japanese soldiers 61 years earlier, it just felt right to create a pair of fictional characters to explore those final hours on Saipan. The story wrote itself, as I recall, in the course of a long evening.

Another story came to me while watching mortar shells falling in the Arabian desert, and another from having read Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere while riding on the very London Tube system that features so prominently in that novel. Somewhere between Heathrow and Cockfosters, it occurred to me that in another world almost like ours, another man almost like myself might step off that same train and into history.

So that’s one good reason to write short stories; there’s a story to be told, and it’s simply not long enough to take any other form. Another reason that fledgling authors might consider this format is because it offers an excellent means of learning the ins and outs of both writing and publishing. 

Because if you can successfully write, edit and complete a single short story, then you are likely to be able to replicate that success with a novel. Moreover, you will have built up your confidence and experience, and gotten a lot of mistakes out of the way.

One great thing about short stories is such that they can be written in between your Great American Novel, (or Great Zimbabwean Novel, or what have you.) Once I’ve got the idea of a story in my mind, and have sketched some notes on paper, I don’t have to write it all at once, although that sometimes does happen. But more often, life gets in the way, and I have to return to it a time or two. Or twenty-seven. 

Short stories give the reader a perfect literary morsel to satisfy their craving for good writing in the space of a long commute by train, an airplane ride, or while waiting in line at the DMV. And it gives new authors a chance to learn the ropes, and more experienced writers an opportunity to explore outside their usual genres, give a favorite minor character in one of their larger works a voice of their own, or help to break through a case of writer’s block.

I wish you all the best in your writing, and great adventures in reading.

Edward H. Carpenter travels the world as a Marine Foreign Area Officer, enjoying both the jarring impacts of his weekly rugby matches and time spent quietly reading a good book. He has published three short stories to date; Seven Lives to Repay Our Country, Happily Ever After, and Lethargica. You can catch up with him at his blog, Facebook, Twitter or Goodreads.

Are you a novelist considering writing short stories? If you’ve written on both formats, how do you think they are similar? Different? Or how they help you in writing in the other format?

Visit La Piscine (The Pool) Museum in Roubaix, France

La Piscine is located in Roubaix, France, a town known for its industrial past in the textile industry and known today for its fashion designers.

La Piscine (The Pool), a huge pool and public baths were built between 1927 and 1932 for the health and well-being of Roubaix’s textile workers. La Piscine was closed in 1985, when the roof became unsafe and in 2011 it was restored and reopened as Roubaix’s Museum of Art and Industry (source).

The way they transformed a public pool into a museum is so creative and pretty. The  small change rooms and showers are now empty. Some are left as they were with coat hangers built into the tiled walls and the soap dish in the shower area. It was so interesting to see how small they were. Other change rooms and showers had textiles on display and other pieces of art.

The museum also had paintings on the walls where the change rooms and showers used to be. Roubaix was a famous textile town, and my favorite painting was the one of the ladies working in the wool factory in 1910.

The pool area of the museum has a permanent collection of sculptures, porcelain vases, textile samples, clothing, hats and other fashion accessories. Looking at the dresses and small handbags from the 1950s, it made me want to buy some of the finery on display.

Fabric samples

Ladies swimsuit

What I also liked about this section of the museum was that on occasion they would play a soundtrack with the sounds of children and people swimming and playing in the water. The echo of the large room, makes it sound real and adds to the experience of walking in the old pool.

A special collection of photographs be American photographer, David Douglas Duncan, along with nearly 100 original works by Picasso are currently being exhibited at La Piscine. See pieces of art in real life and then in the photographs adds so much more to seeing Picasso’s works. You can appreciate their detail and beauty as they stand alone, but also see them in context – how the artist placed them in his own home. Duncan photographed Picasso at work even from the first brush stroke.

Picasso painting – photo by David Douglas Duncan

Baigneurs a la Garoupe (1957)

See the Baigneurs a la Garoupe in the background

Ville La Californie – Picasso’s home in Cannes, France

I’d have to say that Picasso was a bit of a messy guy. An artistic genius who had so much artwork surrounding him, it looked like a warehouse of treasures. If you can call the Villa La Californie a “warehouse” located in the lovely Cannes, France, most of Duncan’s photos show the Spanish artist working and playing in only his shorts.

I’m no expert on art or artists, and I don’t even know that much about Picasso, but from what I can see from Duncan’s photos, he looked like an artist who really had a vision. Duncan captured Picasso frowning in concentration and it looks like he thought about what he was going to paint before he started and he made each stroke carefully and correctly the first time.

Its a very interesting experience to get a wider picture of Picasso and his work through Duncan’s intimate photographs of him working. I felt lucky to have the chance to see this exhibition knowing how many people out there adore Picasso’s work. Even if you can’t make it to see the Picasso/Duncan exhibition, La Piscine is still definitely worth a visit.

What was the most moving art exhibition you’ve visited? Have you been lucky enough to see something many people haven’t?

Spring is here – Festival of the Iris in Brussels

Two days of free concerts, activities, clowns, magicians, costumed performers, and buzz in Brussels center is happening this weekend. The Festival of the Iris/Iris Day (Fête de l’Iris) is a celebration of the symbol of Brussels.

On January 12, 1989 a new law created the Brussels Capital Region on the territory of 19 municipalities and the Brussels Region then started its own legislative and executive institutions. The Iris was chosen as the symbol of Brussels in 1991 because it was widely found growing in the region. After a big public contest was held, the emblem designed by Jacques Richez was selected as the winner.

As a Canadian in Brussels, when I saw the Iris symbol of Brussels, it reminded me of the Fleurdelisé – flag of Quebec. It seems that flowers are a popular symbol because Alberta, the province in Canada where I’m from, is known as “The Wild Rose Country” because like in Brussels, the wild rose can be found growing naturally in Alberta.

Last year I stumbled upon the festival while wandering around the Royal Place and down towards Grand Place. It was warm sunny day which added to the excitement. We can cross our fingers that the sun will push its way through the clouds this weekend.

You can pick up some swag adorned with the Brussels Iris at the blue tents or you can hop on the small train that will take you on a short tour of the city center.

The costumes are bright and elaborate. It was hard not to stare and I wasn’t the only one. Children and adults alike were fascinated by these women who looked like creatures from another world.

One of my favorite parts of the day was walking by this lady dressed in blue who was handing out an iris to each person passing by. She was also happy to smile and take photos. I’m sure this dress is not easy to wear for hours under the sun.

So if you’re in Brussels or nearby, come out on Saturday and Sunday 5 & 6 May 2012 to enjoy the festivities and maybe go home with an Iris flower and some swag.

How do you like to enjoy the beginning of Spring? Is there a flower featured as a symbol or marker in your city or region?

Literary Genre Blog Series A Success!

Welcome to Writers’ Uni-Verse-City (or WUVC for short because every university has an acronym), a place where writers/bloggers can meet to discuss the craft of writing in the Internet age. WUVC will involve independent research, setting a curriculum and hopefully finding other participants (like you – readers/bloggers/writers) to: chip in, give tips, suggest books and other materials for study, teach me the ways of the warrior writer, and offer to guest post here at Uni-Verse-City (contact: annotationseditorial@gmail.com).

I’ve met a lot of writers through blogging, twitter and participating in A Round of Words in 80 Days – “The writing challenge that knows you have a life” – and I’ve noticed that there are quite a few writers out there who don’t often talk about the genre they write it. I’ve read countless blog posts and books on the writing craft, but the topic of specific literary genres rarely comes up.

So as we’re all here to learn at Writer’s Uni-Verse-City, I have been fortunate to host several guest bloggers in the past few months in my Literary Genres Blog Series. Thank you to all the fantastic writers who participated and provided their expertise.

Genres are classified by writing style, authorial tone, the content and even word counts play a role. There are crossover stories that combine elements from more than one genre, but what makes a book fit into one genre over another?

This was the overarching question that the following writers took into consideration when writing their guest posts for this series. So to have everything in one place, you can find the Literary Genre Blog Series links below.

Elizabeth Craig – Tips on Writing a Traditional Murder Mystery. Elizabeth writes the Memphis Barbeque series for Penguin/Berkley (as Riley Adams), the Southern Quilting mysteries (2012) for Penguin/NAL, and the Myrtle Clover series for Midnight Ink. She blogs daily at Mystery Writing is Murder, which was named by Writer’s Digest as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers for 2010 and 2011. You may also know her from the “Writer’s Knowledge Base” and her amazing posts of writing links “Twitterific”.

Barbara McDowell - We want to make you Scream: Writing Horror. Starting with poetry being inspired by Emily Dickinson in her elementary school years, and then discovering Steven King, Sylvia Plath and Shakespeare Barbara’s poetry took on a less romantic tone. Poetry soon evolved in to fiction that had dark, human themes with suspense at each corner and horror waiting at the end. Today, Barbara writes for thrills and chills and blogs about pop culture, writing, music and life at Life Can’t Drive 55.

Marcia Richards – Historical fiction has it all. Marcia is creating her debut historical trilogy covering the years between 1917 and 1975. The Donnellys, an immigrant Irish family, struggles with economic troubles and personal tragedy, while striving to maintain their dreams. The trilogy highlights three generations of strong, young women fighting their way to the fulfillment of their dreams, learning who they are along the way. Marcia Richards’ blog Sexy. Smart. From the Heart, offers posts on writing, mid-life, history, and content that’s sexy and smart.

Amy Sue Nathan – The Women’s Fiction Mystique. Amy’s debut novel THE GLASS WIVES will be published by St. Martin’s Press in Spring 2013 and is represented Jason Yarn of The Paradigm Agency. Amy keeps a blog, Women’s Fiction Writers, which features interviews and guest posts with a published women’s fiction author and posts on the craft and business of traditionally published women’s fiction.

Roni Loren – Oh you write THOSE books – On Writing Romance. Roni wrote her first romance novel at age fifteen when she discovered writing about boys was way easier than actually talking to them. Since then, her flirting skills haven’t improved, but she likes to think her storytelling ability has. Her debut novel, CRASH INTO YOU, is now available from Berkley Heat. She also has a passion-fueled blogs: one for writers at Fiction Groupie and another racier blog for romance fans.

Laurence O’Bryan – Writing a Conspiracy Thriller. Laurence’s roots go back to a small estate deep in the Mountains of Mourne in County Down, Northern Ireland. In 2007, he won the Outstanding Novel Submitted award at the Southern California writer’s conference. Laurence’s book THE ISTANBUL PUZZLE is the first in a new series from Harper Collins as was released on January 19, 2012. He also writes a blog at Laurence O’Bryan – Crime & Mystery Writer.

Jenny Hansen – Lessons I’ve Learned About Memoir Writing. Jenny fills her nights with humor: writing memoir, women’s fiction, chick lit, short stories (and chasing after the newly walking Baby Girl). By day, she provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. After 15 years as a corporate software trainer, she’s digging this sit down and write thing. Jenny writes at her personal blog, More Cowbell and at her group blog, Writers In The Storm.

Lena Corazon – My love of Steampunk began as an accidental affair. California-based author Lena Corazon writes speculative fiction with a focus on fantasy and steampunk. She builds worlds filled with beauty and danger, populated by fierce women, dashing men, and delightfully evil antagonists. Lena is in her fourth year of graduate school for a PhD and she still find time to write towards her novels and keep the blog at Flights of Fancy.

Kait Nolan – How Paranormal Fiction is Like Garlic. Kait is stuck in an office all day, sometimes juggling all three of her jobs at once with the skill of a trained bear—sometimes with a similar temperament. After hours, she uses her powers for good, creating escapist fiction. The work of this Mississippi native is packed with action, romance, and the kinds of imaginative paranormal creatures you’d want to sweep you off your feet…or eat your boss. Kait is represented by Laurie McLean of Larsen-Pomada Literary Agency in San Francisco. A passionate believer in helping others, she has founded a writing challenge designed for people who have a life: A Round of Words in 80 Days and she also blogs at Kait Nolan – action-packed paranormal romance.

Stacy Green – Suspense vs. Thrillers. Stacy grew up watching crime shows with her dad and soap operas with her mom (R.I.P As The World Turns and Guiding Light), so it’s no surprise that she’s a sucker for a good suspense novel with some romance thrown in. She has completed a suspense novel of her own set in Las Vegas, titled INTO THE DARK. She also blogs at Stacy Green – Turning the Page.

Piper Bayard – Everything I Need to Know about Sci-Fi, I Learned from Star Trek. Piper Bayard is a recovering attorney with a college degree or two. She’s also a belly dancer from waaaay back, and she currently pens post-apocalyptic sci-fi and spy novels when she isn’t SCUBA diving, blogging, baking cookies, visiting Hospice patients, and chauffeuring her children to their various teenaged immediacies. You can find Piper at her blog “Author Piper Bayard“, on Twitter at @piperbayard or on Facebook.

Julie Glover – A Look at Young Adult (YA). Julie writes adult mysteries and young adult fiction. As a city girl from the Lone Star State, she owns both go-go boots and cowboy boots. Julie is currently seeking representation for a mystery, GRACE & FIRE, and completing a middle grade novel, A YEAR OF FIRSTS. Julie blogs at Julie Glover, Author and writes about the wonders of language on Amaze-ing Words Wednesdays and on various pop culture topics (movies, books, and more) on Deep-Fried Fridays! You can also find her on Twitter.

Sonia G Medeiros – Living the Fantasy Life. Sonia G Medeiros is a writer of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. She’s the author of more than a dozen short stories and flash fiction pieces, blogs at Sonia G Medeiros, and is working on her first novel, a dark fantasy.

And so there we have it, an awesome line-up for the blog series. Thanks again to all contributors!

Living the Fantasy Life – by Sonia G Medeiros

Welcome to Writers’ Uni-Verse-City (or WUVC for short because every university has an acronym), a place where writers/bloggers can meet to discuss the craft of writing in the Internet age. WUVC will involve independent research, setting a curriculum and hopefully finding other participants (like you – readers/bloggers/writers) to: chip in, give tips, suggest books and other materials for study, teach me the ways of the warrior writer, and offer to guest post here at Uni-Verse-City (contact: annotationseditorial@gmail.com).

Today I’d like to welcome Sonia Medeiros who is the last of the talented writers we’ve had as guests for WUVC’s Literary Genres Blog Series. Sonia’s giving us some into writing in the Fantasy genre. 

I’m thrilled and honored to be part of Nicole’s writing in different genres blog series. Sharing space with all the wonderful writers here is more than fantastic and I cannot thank Nicole enough for inviting me.

Living the Fantasy Life by Sonia G Medeiros

Dobryna - image via wikipedia

I blame my parents for my obsession with love of fantasy. As a child, I had what you might politely call an active imagination. I was often in trouble at school for daydreaming (though, really, I had already finished the work…usually). But did my parents act quickly to contain this? Did they enforce the boundaries of reality and the dangers of  dwelling in imaginary worlds?

Nope.

In fact, fueled by their passion for science fiction/fantasy, they fed my taste for the unreal with a steady diet of A Wrinkle in Time, Narnia, King Arthur, Wonder Woman, Conan, Lord of the Rings, Edgar Allen Poe, The Twilight Zone and WWF Wrestling (my dad *shrug*). They encouraged me to tell them my odd little tales and allowed me to pretend that I was a warrior princess from a magical world sadly marooned in this one without my powers.

Despicable, right?

Okay, okay. It’s not all their fault. They had some help from my grandfather who, while he may outwardly appear all CNN and Sunday Morning, further indulged my growing predilection for the fantastic by charging me with the task of collecting all the alien pods (actually the fruit of the sweetgum tree) from the lawn (a mighty sneaky way of getting the yard cleaned, if you ask me), listening to my sprawling Smurf epics and allowing me to watch The Neverending Story something like 642 times (although I’m sure he never intended me to make a career of all those wild imaginings).

Pain Inducer (Sweetgum Pod) by Jeff Kubina at Flickr

So, there. As you can plainly see I have my parents (and grandfather) to blame for not being able to keep my feet on the ground or my head out of the clouds.

And I thank them for it every day.

Wikipedia neatly defines fantasy as “a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomenon as a primary element of plot, theme or setting” and distinguishes fantasy from two of its closest cousins, science fiction and horror, in that it generally “steers clear of scientific and macabre themes”. Yet, the overlap between fantasy, science fiction and horror is sometimes so great that it may not always be possible to tell where one ends and the next begins.

Ring21 - image via wikipedia

It seems generally acknowledged that science fiction accepts the natural laws of our universe and so is about stuff that could really happen, fantasy often flagrantly ignores natural laws and is therefore about stuff that couldn’t really happen, and horror could go either way.

I’m sure I don’t have to point out the problem with such a definition.

It’s true that fantasy is full of created worlds where magic reigns, and where there are dragons, wizards, elves, heroes of prophecy, Excaliburs, and kingdoms under siege by Dark Lords. But fantasy isn’t about any of those things as much as it is a way of looking at the world with a childlike openness to Mystery. It does not seek to limit what could be by what is generally considered “real.” The passage to a mystical realm could really be behind that cupboard door, never mind how many times you may have opened it only to find the cereal bowls. Fairies exist even if we never see them. And toys have a secret life.

This openness cuts both ways of course. The child accepts the horrible right along with the delightful. A monster might live in your closet, no matter what your parents say.  That passage to another world could leave you stranded there forever. And the world is different in the dark.

Fantasy looks at the world with all the wonder and terror of raw childhood.

While science fiction insists on an explanation and horror is often about what should be unreal intruding on the real world, fantasy allows the world to simply be. What is fantastic isn’t necessarily in violation of the natural laws of the universe or unexplainable but neither is essential to the story (besides, sometimes the real seems at least as implausible as the fantastic…quarks, anybody?). Fantasy is the genre of limitless possibilities and the freedom to explore them, whatever the story consequences.

I love science fiction and horror but fantasy holds the dearest spot in my heart because, like Mulder, I want to believe.

A few fantasy suggestions to tickle your fancy:

• Piers Anthony’s very punny The Magic of Xanth series.
• Patricia Brigg’s urban fantasy Mercy Thompson series (yes, it contains hot werewolves and vampires…but they don’t sparkle).
• Greg Keyes Kingdom of Thorn and Bone series, especially The Briar King.
• Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story. As much as I loved the film version as a kid, the novel is vastly superior in every way.

What is fantasy about to you? What are your favorite fantasy stories, movies or television shows?

Sonia G Medeiros is a writer of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. She’s the author of more than a dozen short stories and flash fiction pieces, blogs at WordPress, and is working on her first novel, a dark fantasy and a post-apocalyptic zombie novella. When she’s not wandering along the tangled paths of her wild imagination, she wrangles home life with one fabulous husband, two amazing, homeschooled children, one part-alien half-chihuahua, and two cats who battle each other for world domination.

You can find Sonia on Twitter and Facebook.

All reading and no writing makes Nicole feel unproductive

I’m currently in between writing projects at the moment. I finished the first draft of my novel and I decided to take a short break from writing fiction. I’m currently reading “Writing the Breakout Novel” by Donald Mass and I’m starting to write down some ideas for my next novel.

Progress this week: I think I’ve chosen one of my three ideas to start working on for novel #2. This is good news, but it also means I need to get down to business and start writing character sheets, plot ideas, and get ready to write. I think this planning will take me the rest of this round of ROW80 to get a handle on. My plan is to finish reading this craft book and review books I’ve already read to find a strategy for plotting novel #2. Novel #1 was planned through a mixture of free writing and creating a skeleton plot. This time, I want to get more detailed in my planning before I start.

So I probably won’t be writing with fellow ROW80 participants during the #teamsprinty hour for a while, but I will drop in to cheer and maybe do some reading and note taking during that time. I miss writing fiction very much, its exciting and makes me feel productive. I think until I get to the writing stage again, I will continue to fell behind on my work. Perhaps when I start outlining and doing creative work, I will feel better.

Lauren Garafalo and Em tagged me to write 7 facts about my writing:

1) I’m not sure if you already know, but I write women’s fiction. Its my favorite genre, which I read A LOT of, as you can tell on the Book Reviews page of this blog.

2) My book ideas hit me randomly, when I’m walking to work or when I’m just about to go to sleep. But never in the shower (yet) as seems to be a common place for many writers.

3) The first half of the day tends to be the more creative part of the day for me, but because of working full time, I tend to write in the evenings.

4) What keeps me writing in the evenings is tuning in on Twitter and writing with the other participants in the Round of Words in 80 days challenge. We use the has tags #row80 and #teamsprinty for this hour of fun-filled writing. Even though we have lots of laughs, we usually have very high outputs.

5) I love movies. I’m luckily that I can still go see a movie and watch it as a viewer rather than a writer (the same is true of reading fiction). The second time around or if I really concentrate the first time, I watch it as a writer.

6) I write on my laptop in a Word Document. I’m thinking about using a fancy writer’s software, such as Scrivener, but I’ll have to see if this would help me or distract me from my writing.

7) I like to write one chapter or a certain number of scenes per sitting. For example, if I sit down to write for an hour, I will keep writing until I at least get to the end of a scene and if I finish a chapter before the hour is up and there is not much time left, I might wait until the next day to start the next chapter. I need a sense of completion each time a write and I don’t want to stop in the middle of something and then try to remember next time what I was about to write.

So those are 7 facts about my writing. I’m not sure if they are so interesting, but at least know you have an idea of how I work because all writers are curious about each other’s creative process.

How’s everyone else doing?

European Cafe vs. Canadian Coffee

I am no expert on coffee, although I love it and drink quite a lot of it. Coming from Canada to Belgium, I knew that the coffee would be stronger, but I didn’t know just how much stronger.

My intention of the following “analysis” is based on personal experience. I do not mean to offend anyone or generalize, but just to point out something I’ve noticed and found interesting while living as a Canadian Expat in Brussels, Belgium.

Coffee in Canada

In Canada, the popular places to get coffee are Tim Hortons, Starbucks and even Second Cup. I think its safe to say that Canadians tend to get coffee to go more on average than they do to sit in the restaurant.

At Tim Horton’s you’ll hear people ordering, a LARGE DOUBLE DOULBE (fresh filtered coffee with two creams and two sugars). At Startbucks you’ll hear people ordering a Grande Extra-hot Non-fat Hazenut Latte two pumps…or something extravegant along those lines.  

Also, if you’re getting a coffee at one of these places in the morning, it is automatically assumed that you will be waiting in line for 20 minutes and that you’re getting it to go. So if you actually want to stay and drink your coffee, you’ll have to let the cashier know so that you coffee is served in a mug rather than a paper cup. At other times of the day, the cashier might ask you if you want it to stay or to go.

What’s also great, at least I know it occurs at Tim Horton’s, you can bring your own travel mug to be filled with Tim Horton’s coffee and in doing this you get a discount because you’re being environmentally friendly.

Canadian’s are drinking on to the go, so you can find hundreds of different styles of travel mugs. I like the shorter ones with a handle, but some people prefer the taller slim mugs with no handle. It also depends on the size of your cup holders in the car.

Another perk in Canada, is if you order a coffee after dinner in a restaurant, in many places you will get free refills (this also is true for pop, or soda as some say).

So as you can see Canadians generally drink rather large quantities of relatively weak coffee. Yes we have expressos and americanos as well, which are a bit stronger, but usually these are used in desperate times or by more advanced coffee drinkers.

Café in Europe (particularly Belgium)

In Belgium, its rather difficult to find a place with coffee to go. There aren’t chains known specifically for thier coffee. There are a few take-away restuarants for the lunchtime crowd who do have the option for takeaway coffee, like Exki for example.

There are also a few English Cafés in Brussels I would recommend for takeaway coffee: Karsmakers in Place du Luxembourg (near the European Parliament) and Ciabatta Mania on Coudenberg 70 (beside the Museum of Musical Instruments). And its true that you can find the odd Starbucks in the Airport and in the Central Train Station. Besides these two English-style cafés, I’ve found that the coffee, whether to stay in or take away, doesn’t get much bigger than that pictured above/below.

http://brusselsfashion.com/?p=1109

But generally speaking, in Belgium, people are sitting in a restuarant or on a patio to enjoy a very small, strong coffee. It probably takes me about five sips for polish off a Belgian-sized coffee. The coffee is basically brewed as a long expresso. So it is very dark in colour, high in caffinne and often quite bitter (for my taste). But something that is a nice bonus in Belgium (and France) is the small chocolate or biscuit you are given with your coffee. Its true that you really do need something sweet to kill the aftertaste.

In summary

So Canadians (and from what I’ve seen, Americans and the British) are drinking large weaker coffees on the go and Europeans (and as far as I’ve seen, French and Italians) tend to sit in to enjoy a tiny strong coffee to kick start thier nervous system.

Having lived in both places, I think my prefered way to drink coffee would be a not too small, but not as large as the standard size in Canada, americano-style coffee (basically a watered down expresso), with a bit of milk and sugar of course. This way you get the amazing pure, rich taste of European-style coffee, but it isn’t as concentrated (thus loosing the bitter taste) and its bigger so it can last long enough to travel to work.

There could be many factors leading to these coffee-consuming differences. Here are some hypotheses:

• Its colder in North America so a longer-lasting warm drink is preferable?
• The distances between places (ex. work and the office) are greater in N. America so we get coffee to go because we have to sit in traffic for so long, there isn’t time to sit in a restaurant?
• Europeans tend to make things in smaller quantities (i.e. food portions are smaller) so maybe the coffee is more pure when made with the expressio machines rather than a filter coffee maker and thus its more “natural” to produce a small concentrated amount?
• It could be that for Europeans, coffee serves a purpose, it is meant to give you a caffeine boost, while N. Americans prefer to savour and enjoy the taste of the beverage?

Why do you think the way Canadians and Europeans drink coffee in these ways? How do you take your coffee?

A look at Young Adult (YA) Fiction – Guest Post by Julie Glover

Welcome to Writers’ Uni-Verse-City (or WUVC for short because every university has an acronym), a place where writers/bloggers can meet to discuss the craft of writing in the Internet age. WUVC will involve independent research, setting a curriculum and hopefully finding other participants (like you – readers/bloggers/writers) to: chip in, give tips, suggest books and other materials for study, teach me the ways of the warrior writer, and offer to guest post here at Uni-Verse-City (contact: annotationseditorial@gmail.com).

Today I’d like to welcome the ever-friendly and entertaining Julie Glover as part of the Literary Genres Blog Series. Julie’s giving us some background to where the category “Young Adult (YA)” came from, who reads it and what its made of. 

YOUNG ADULT. What a broad label! How on earth am I supposed to cover that topic in one post?

Yet young adult fiction has existed far longer than the label. I grew up reading Laura Ingalls Wilder, Judy Blume, and Nancy Drew. Nobody called it young adult. These were simply the books that I – and every girl I knew – read. The “young adult” label was finally applied not because fiction was suddenly being written about teens. That has always been done. (Romeo and Juliet or Huckleberry Finn, anyone?) It was when writers and publishers realized they could market to teens! S.E. Hinton’s ground-breaking book The Outsiders (1967) may have kicked off the approach of telling truer stories about adolescence, but more likely it was several authors in the 1960s and 1970s who started the YA trend that has continued to grow every decade like a redwood soaking up Red Bull.

Primarily known as fiction aimed at audiences between 12 and 18 years, several characteristics typify young adult novels:

• A teenage protagonist
• An egocentric focus, with the story often told in the first person
• Themes of growing up, such as identity, belonging, or the consequences of choices
• A familiar setting for the main characters, even if the novel is fantasy or paranormal in some respect. (For instance, Harry Potter is a wizard but he still attends school.)
• A shorter word count, usually between 45 to 80k, although that length has been surpassed by recent successes
• A more restrained handling of sexuality, violence, language, and adult themes – although some works push this edge
• Adults as peripheral characters, often absent or mentoring in limited ways
• The journey of protagonist growth usually focused on moving from childhood to adulthood in some way.

Young adult, or YA, has become popular not merely among tweens and teens, but among adults as well. Bestsellers like the Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games series have fallen into the hands of many adults and found a welcoming audience. Teens themselves want to read about characters like them who struggle in the real world with big challenges and find within themselves the will and the empowerment to continue and to grow. Adults remember those years as a pivotal time in life, when personality and character were being formed and tested. Moreover, there is a freshness about that time in life – when you were discovering yourself and your place in the world, when kisses were firsts and romance was intense, when every problem seemed to loom as large as an evil villain attempting to destroy your life.

We all relate to the young adult hero’s journey in one way or another. Despite the expansion of the readership, however, YA books still target those kids a bit younger than adult – our youth.

When I put pen to paper (well, keyboard to screen), it was natural to find that I was drawn to writing young adult novels. I am intrigued by big questions like “Who am I?” and “What is my mission?” and to intense decision moments in life. The teen years are chock-full of those! I admit to also adoring love stories that celebrate the tingle in your hand when a cute boy slips his hand into it or the chill on your neck when his lips touch yours. There is a juxtaposition of harsh reality and youthful naivete in YA stories that lends itself well to the conflict needed for a great novel.

Of course, within the YA category, you can place a book in any other genre as well:

• YA fantasy
• YA romance
• YA thriller
• YA horror
• YA dystopian
• YA sci-fi
• YA paranormal
• YA contemporary

And so on and so on . . .

YA writers should know the rules for young adult fiction and for their particular subgenre. For instance, if a novel is a YA romance, the reader expects a happily ever after. If it is a YA sci-fi, there is likely some deep question about how technological advances affect our world. Be sure to check out the posts on other genres from Nicole’s series.

The good news is that if you write young adult fiction, there is large audience reading YA. The bad news is that people have caught on and everybody and his Cocker Spaniel is writing YA. Big names in adult fiction have come out with their own young adult works, such as James Patterson, Ridley Pearson, Candace Bushnell, John Grisham, and Harlan Coben. These are only a few of the crossover authors dipping their big toes into the YA pond. Moreover, there is a vast sea of young adult writers publishing or attempting to get published, so it can be hard to get attention in this crowd.

So what does a YA author need to know to get ahead, get published, get noticed, get read? Since I misplaced my fancy turban and crystal ball, I can’t answer this question with accuracy. But those things that make you a good author will make you a good YA author:

• Read and know your genre.
• Know your audience.
• Have an interesting story idea.
• Learn your craft.
• Deliver quality content.
•  Be nice.
• Rename yourself J.K. Rowling or Suzanne Collins.

Okay, not that last one, though it wouldn’t hurt to partner up with James Patterson.

Another benefit of writing YA? There are many supportive writers groups for this genre. Tool around online or check out your local writers group chapter to see if they have a specialty group. Just like the teen years themselves, it’s easier to walk the writing path with good friends around who encourage you and have your back.

As a city girl from the Lone Star State, Julie Glover owns both go-go boots and cowboy boots; has been to Broadway shows and rodeos; enjoys chateau briand and rattlesnake sausage; and likes Led Zeppelin and Rascal Flatts. Most importantly, she likes her man in a suit and in boots – sometimes worn together. When she isn’t daydreaming about a personal chef or wrestling the family’s laundry, Julie pens mysteries and young adult fiction. She writes on her blog about the wonders of language on Amaze-ing Words Wednesdays and about various pop culture topics on Deep-Fried Fridays. She is currently working on a young adult contemporary romance titled SHARING HUNTER.

I finished the first draft of my first novel – ROW80 check in

I was tempted just to write one sentence for this week’s ROW80 check in: I finished the first draft of my first novel this week!

But I was assuming that the ROW80 crew might want a little more than this sentence for an update. So I did some happy dancing at #row80 with #teamsprinty to celebrate AND I took the week of writing sort of. I wrote a blog post on a book review and did some reading.

I also had a special guest, Piper Bayard, this week who wrote a great guest post on “Everything I need to know about writing Sci Fi, I learned from Star Trek” as part of my Genre Blog Series.

On the agenda for this week is to pick up a writing craft book again and to examine my three ideas for book 2. Hopefully I can choose one of the ideas in the next week to start plotting!

What did you do to celebrate finishing your first novel?