Category Archives: Writing

These are posts where I share myself as a writer.

A review for “A Spy’s Daughter” by an acclaimed author

February 4, 2016Books I write, Reviews, Writingvica

Réal Laplaine, author of “The Buffalo Kid: Everyone Deserves a Second Chance”, “Twilight Visitor”, “Finding Agnetha: Despite the odds ~ dreams DO come true” — which I read and highly recommend —, and many other well received books has given the following 4-star review for “A Spy’s Daughter”:

“A Spy’s Daughter, by Victoria Ichizli-Bartels, was a surprisingly thoughtful novel. At first I couldn’t tell where this novel was heading – the story seemed so simple, but as it progressed, one starts to live the world of Hannah, the spy’s daughter, and begins to feel her frustration living, if not even stranded, between two worlds, one of them largely hidden from her view. The twists come later in the story – when the ball of thread starts to unravel. The writing style is very nicely done – often touched with descriptive phraseology and metaphors. I enjoyed it and recommend the book.”

I am thrilled to get such a review from an experienced author and I am very motivated to continue my writing adventure.

Here are the descriptions and links at Amazon and CreateSpace for “A Spy’s Daughter” and “Seven Broken Pieces”, where the latter is the prequel to the series “A Life Upside Down” kicked off by “A Spy’s Daughter”.

A Spy’s Daughter: A Novella
(Book 1 in series “A Life Upside Down”)

Description:

Hannah doesn’t have a husband or a boyfriend. She doesn’t have a mother either. Her mother died long ago. But Hannah still thinks of herself as a happy person. Mostly due to her family — her father, sister and her two uncles — who love and support her. And because she has an exciting job, with great colleagues. Which is not that common in the post-Soviet Moldova. Soon their lab will have a state-of-the-art high-resolution microscope to take their research to a new level.

And she, Hannah (who thinks her name is Victoria) must go to collect this microscope from Germany. All she needs is a visa. Which could be a challenge. But she has prepared all the necessary documents to convince the authorities to issue one to her.

The day before her appointment at the German embassy, she finds out that she won’t have any issues with a travel visa, because she doesn’t need one. To her utter surprise, Hannah learns from her father that she has dual citizenship, Moldovan and American. And more surprising still is one tiny additional detail he now reveals about her mother.

That she had been an American spy.

Available at:

Amazon.com,
Amazon.de,
Amazon.co.uk, and
other Amazon sites,
as well as at CreateSpace.

Seven Broken Pieces: A Short Story
(Prequel to series “A Life Upside Down”)

Description:

Young and resolute, still suffering from her sister’s death in Vietnam, Sasha Leroy Palmer decided in the 1960’s to fight the enemy on the other side of the Iron Curtain from within. Even if this meant becoming a spy.

She convinced herself that her sister’s death was the only reason she came here. To help her home country, the one that was truly free, to fight one that wasn’t (even if it proclaimed otherwise). It was the duty of every true American citizen to resist Soviet propaganda and help weaken the force of evil. Especially since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

So why then did every letter from home, secretly passed to her by colleagues in the cause, make her feel that this hadn’t been the reason? That there was an even bigger one for her coming here.

Hadn’t she made peace and accepted her father’s decision? Was she really running away from her responsibilities, as her parents insisted? And if she was, what could make her stop running?

Surely not the man who caught her as she stumbled on a shaky trolley-bus in the capital of Soviet Moldova. Or could he?

Available at:

Amazon.com,
Amazon.de,
Amazon.co.uk, and
other Amazon sites,
as well as at CreateSpace.

“Nothing is As it Seems” Chapter 11

February 3, 2016Books I write, Free books and stories, Writing, Writing exercisesvica

Elizabeth shuffled on her feet. There, in front of her was her mother, of whom she, all her conscious life, thought was dead. And she looked almost dead now, as she sat there motionless in her chair, her face muscles atrophied after many years of not being used. Smooth and even with not trace of a wrinkle. Neither those of sadness, nor those of merriness.

Only her eyes, full of tears now, showed that she was alive. And her heavy breath, as Elizabeth started noticing. And her trembling hands.

Elizabeth searched for the pockets in her tight jeans and hooked her thumbs in them. “Um.” What should I say? Slowly and with trepidation she raised her gaze to her mother’s eyes.

Claire blinked several times. Her tears fell on her cheeks and ran down heading to her motionless neck supporting only the tiny for an adult head leaning on the headrest behind it.

Elizabeth panicked. She felt her hands raising to her waist. Shall I wipe the tears?

Claire’s eyes gazed in front of her.

Elizabeth followed her gaze, looked at the brightly lit spot on the wall, and read. “No, you don’t have to.” What? Did I say those words out loud?

Claire typed, “Yes you did. :-)”

Elizabeth turned to Claire. “Oh. I’m sorry. I just—” Then as she saw her mother typing, Elizabeth turned back to read.

“Look here at my right.” Claire’s fingers flew across the keyboard. “There is another keyboard. We can chat together. It might make things easier for you.”

Elizabeth looked and saw the second white keyboard with several brightly coloured smiley-stickers grinning in all directions from its perimeter. She noticed Claire typing again and turned to the wall to read.

“Alice, Ingrid and most visitors who make it up here find chatting with me in writing easier. Only children and Patrick talk to me directly.”

“How do they do it?” Elizabeth was surprised about her own question. She turned to Claire thinking that it was unthinkable to talk to the screen instead of her mother. Claire’s eyes smiled without producing wrinkles around them. Then they guided Elizabeth’s back to the wall.

“They do it, just like you did. They look at the screen on the wall when they talk to me. But…they sit close to me…when they do this.”

“Oh.”

“Let’s start with chatting, shall we? :-))))) Will the chair below the keyboard suit you?”

Elizabeth shook her head sideways. She needed to shake this confusion away. She turned hurriedly to her mother. “Yes, yes.” Then she walked to the chair, lifted the wireless keyboard, sat and put it on her knees. Big red sticker with words “Push here”, which she didn’t notice before directed her to the “ON” button. She pressed it and stopped. What shall I ask? Should I maybe say, no, write, something, I don’t know…nice maybe, before asking? But what?

Words on the wall appeared. “It’s OK. Let’s take it slow. I don’t think I will fall asleep for another hour. I am too excited to see you. Would you like me to tell you what happened?…To you…here?”

Elizabeth drew a deep breath and typed. “Yes, please. But before that…Before that, please tell me what happened to you…I…I don’t remember, I’m afraid. I don’t remember…you.” Tears clouded Elizabeth’s eyes and hindered her to delete what she had just typed.

Picture: Barborky cut by my son, husband and father-in-law during past winter holidays and blooming now in my parents-in-law’s living room.

P.S. Chapter 12 will be written and posted latest in two weeks time.

P.P.S. You can find the complete story written so far at “Free Online Books”.

P.P.P.S. If you think your friends might enjoy this story, then let them know about it and forward it to them.

Sharing secrets: Prequel to series “A Life Upside Down” is out, and we are going to celebrate it

January 31, 2016Books I write, Special Offers, Writingvica

A secret surprise. I’ve pressed “Submit for Publishing” twice today. Once with Kindle Direct Publishing (e-book) and once with CreateSpace (paperback).

Both for the prequel to the series “A Life Upside Down”. It is a short story and its title is “Seven Broken Pieces”.

You can find its description here or directly on Amazon.com.

The first book in the series “A Spy’s Daughter” was published shortly before Christmas.

How it feels. I’ve published “The Truth About Family” during the night and “A Spy’s Daughter” during the day. It is three o’clock in the morning as I write this, which is less than half an hour after pressing the button “Publish” or the second time today for the “Seven Broken Pieces”.

So I’ve published again during the night.

It does feel special and somehow very intimate. Just me and my book. I’d say this feels like celebrating a New Year’s Eve in an empty house or flat, alone with one’s sweetheart.

The two of us here, the rest of the world out there.

Or sleeping. Like the three sweetest people in my home right now. I’m smiling as I think about telling my family that I sent my third book for publication.

How we are going to celebrate. The digital launches are quiet, without clinking of glasses with Champaign, sharing chocolate and cake, and readings in a bookstore. But they are still very special. Particularly for the authors. So there is a wish to celebrate, to offer more surprises.

This is what I have planned already for quite some time and glad that I can finally tell you about it.

The e-book price for the “Seven Broken Pieces” will be (and remain most of the time) 0.99 $ at Amazon.com.

This was of course not the part of the celebration I meant.

Here it is: I have arranged that from February 10 to February 17 the price for “The Truth About Family” and “A Spy’s Daughter” will be set down to 0.99 $ each.

It means that in this time-frame you will be able to buy (currently) all of my three e-books (”The Truth About Family”, “A Spy’s Daughter”, and “Seven Broken Pieces”) for 2.97 $, which is less than the regular e-book price for “The Truth About Family” or “A Spy’s Daughter”, which is currently 2.99 $ each.

Right before this promotion starts, I will notify you again on this, so that you can purchase one or another of my e-books at a discounted price, if you didn’t purchase it (or them) yet, but would like to.

What I am up to now. The next project, which will see the light soon, is also a short story, which I will offer as a free e-book on my site. It is called “Between Grace and Abyss”. And of course there are few other projects in writing. But this news will come in another letter.

In the meanwhile, here is the e-book cover for my new short story

P.S. Great thanks to my brilliant cover designer, Alice Jago, for another wonderful creation for my books.

January 2016 News on writing from the Optimist Writer

January 25, 2016Books I write, Newsletters, Writingvica

Dear friends,

The time since the last newsletter (mid December) was one of the busiest I ever had in my professional life. And not only due to the holidays. Or rather less because of the holidays. They were as wonderful and recharging as always when we celebrate it with the family.

The busy side comes neither from external projects, since just like my family and me, most people took a break from work.

I did take a break from work (that is business side of my work), but I continued writing (and publishing), which helped me finish and start several projects in January.

You’ve heard already about the launch of “A Spy’s Daughter” a few days before Christmas. The freshest additional news here is that I have already received the edits on the prequel and my cover designer, Alice Jago, is working on the cover this week. So the prequel to the series “A Life Upside Down” called “Seven Broken Pieces” will see the light in February.

The free story “Nothing is As it Seems” is also well on the way and its end is near. I am very curious how exactly it will be.

I have also re-worked my very first short story and after that sent it to my editor. And I got the edits back this past weekend. This story was already published on my blog, but I have adjusted and edited it heavily. So it improved a lot and I will offer to download it free on my site soon.

My motivational resource for writers, “Cheerleading for Writers” is also taking shape. The three introductory and the first of the twenty-six alphabetically ordered posts are published and receive positive wave of likes and retweets on Twitter.com. If I write it in similar pace as now (one post a week or most every two weeks) I might finish it this year. I am very excited to see how it will develop.

Besides continuing writing my works-in-progress and preparing those finished for publication, I learn a lot about promotion and marketing. I am working with BooksGoSocial to promote my first book “The Truth About Family” on various social media. It is very exciting to see many tweets about my book and see how the whole community there is supporting each member. I became a member of their two groups on Facebook and started supporting other writers there and on Twitter as well. I still got to look into other Social media they advertise at. There is so much to learn and find out. I am very excited because this is truly a new world to me. Here is the link this service created for my book. Apart from the description you can also read the first page of the book there.

And then there are many extremely exciting things awaiting me in February. Writing and publishing are two of them. But I am also thrilled about my collaboration with the South Gate Society (SGS) School of Creative Writing here in Aalborg. On the one hand, I’ll be involved into their teaching process. Last year I have given an introductory course on Creative Nonfiction for their students and this year I’ll teach several courses on various topics. On the other hand, LeAnne Kline Chistiansen, the CEO and founder of the SGS, offered to organize an author evening for me, at which I will read from my books and share stories of my life as a writer. This is so extremely exciting! (How many times write I say exciting or excited in this post already? ;)) It will be the very first reading from my published books. I’ll report in the newsletter next month how it went.

In the meanwhile have a wonderful second month of the year 2016, enjoy reading, writing, your families, dear and loved ones, your work and any other passion you have in your lives!

Picture: A guest in our garden.

“Nothing is As it Seems” Chapter 10

January 19, 2016Books I write, Free books and stories, Writing, Writing exercisesvica

Elizabeth’s arms fell to her sides. She gasped for air and whispered. “My mother? She…she hasn’t died?… Is she really my mother? I…thought my mother’s name was—”

“Klara,” Patrick said. His voice low and powerless. “That’s how papa used to call her.” He shook his head as if refusing to say more. Then suddenly he raised his head and looked at Alice. “How did she find out? Did you tell her?” There was no anger in his voice. It seemed to be just a question.

Alice shook her head. “No. I think this is none of my business. It was only up to you to do so.”

Patrick’s face colour returned and deepened immediately.

Alice let Patrick’s arm go and turned her hand revealing an open palm. With a shrug she said, “It was Lily who told her Liza was here. And before that Claire saw Liza sleeping outside the other day and recognized her.”

Elizabeth’s jaw dropped. She noticed it, pulled it up and said, “She recognized me? After all these years? But why…” Why didn’t she try to find me? Elizabeth couldn’t pronounce her thought out loud.

Patrick shook his head without raising his head.

“I think you better go to Claire and find out for yourself,” Alice said.

Elizabeth nodded. She stood up and looked at Patrick. She hoped he wouldn’t come with her.

He kept on shaking his head, looking on the floor. What was wrong with him?

“You can speak to Patrick afterwards, if you like,” said Alice.

I don’t! Elizabeth hoped that this thought wasn’t too obvious.

“If you like,” said Patrick.

This started Elizabeth. Was this an offer to talk? After he almost threw her out of the house?! “Are you sure?” She couldn’t take her eyes off Patrick, even if looking at him still sent chills to her spine.

“No, I’m not. And I don’t want to.” He glanced at her, his eyes red and tired. “But probably we should.”

“Liza,” said Alice. “You should go now and talk to Claire. She becomes tired very fast. So you better talk to her before she takes her next nap.”

“Is she ill?” Then for the first time of their acquaintance she saw something close to restlessness in Alice’s eyes, so she added, “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to be so pushy. Where should I go?”

“You are not at all pushy. Don’t worry,” Alice said. “Claire’s room is on the second floor. I’ll show you.” With this she went out of the kitchen.

Elizabeth followed Alice up the stairs. She recalled how the handrail felt many years ago. Further then that should couldn’t tell what she saw or felt as she climbed the stairs. She tried to remember how her mother looked like when she, Elizabeth, was small and simultaneously to imagine how her mother looked like now.

Her vain attempt to see her mother in her memories and now was stopped by Alice’s back, into which Elizabeth almost bumped. She managed to stop one inch behind it. “Oh sorry, I—”

“Wait a second here, OK?” Alice smiled as she took a step away and turned to face Elizabeth.

“Yes, yes.” Elizabeth backed a step too.

Alice left the door open. Elizabeth heard Alice saying, “Claire, Liza is here. Shall I call her in?”

Silence followed.

In the next moment Alice appeared in the gap of the opened door. “You can go in now.” Then she ran down the stairs without making a sound.

Elizabeth turned to the door and knocked. I should knock, right? Even if allowed to come in?

Again, silence.

Elizabeth entered the room and in the first moment she thought it was empty. In the next she heard a quiet sound of typing on a keyboard at her right.

Elizabeth turned and saw a woman in a wheelchair. The typing stopped. The corner of the room, where she sat was dark, but Elizabeth still could see her features clearly. Either the darkness or something else made Claire’s face soft.

She had grey hair, Patrick’s eyes, and a smile. A frozen smile. After she stopped typing, not a single muscle of her body seemed to move.

Her gaze darted somewhere and then back to meet Elizabeth’s eyes. Elizabeth frowned. Claire repeated the movement. Looking somewhere away then back at Elizabeth.

As Claire was about to make the same movement again, Elizabeth decided to follow her gaze. She looked at her left and discovered a white wall with a brightly lit spot. On it, the words were projected, and started to multiply, “Hello Liza. I am so glad you found your way here.”

Elizabeth turned to the woman in the wheelchair. She had tears in her eyes.

Picture: At a bus stop in the centre of Aalborg.

P.S. Chapter 11 will be written and posted latest in two weeks time.

P.P.S. You can find the complete story written so far at “Free Online Books”.

P.P.P.S. If you think your friends might this story, then let them know about it and forward it to them.