Well. you knew it was coming, didn’t you? One of the daffodils is open already. Such a great color to look at while outside it’s dreary and dark!
I have even more daffodils in the house now, because I got some as a thank you gift from the library today. I was a member of the jury for the regional reading-aloud-contest. Such fun to do! But also a little hard to make the right decisions.
The other two members of the jury and I were unanimous on which two children were the winners (out of eleven), but it was hard for some of them to accept it. Truth was, we thought they all were very good, and some of them were even very good. But the two we choose just stood out. One of them managed to read a piece of a book written as a diary, which is very hard to read aloud, since there is no dialogue or real tension in the story tiself. But she did very well! There also was an 11 year old who read from the Hobbit (in dutch). She did nice too, but she did so many funny voices it was a bit confusing. We did compliment her on reading such a difficult book however.
This was also my first appearance as a writer. I didn’t do very well on that. I never realized I was supposed to introduce myself, so when they handed me the microphone I nervously babbled about the book they most likely wouldn’t want to read, since it is meant for adults. Ahum! Oh well, on to the next event, I guess.
One of the other jury members is a writer of childrens books. I had met her before (as a reporter) and we chatted about how scary I find it to do these public things. She reassured me and told me it will become easier. I hope so! Also she promised to try and be at my book presentation, which would be great. She is the kind of person that calms you down by just being there.
She also told me one thing I really need to remember these days: Writing should be fun and it only is when you still feel like it’s a hobby.
I so needed to hear that (she has published a lot!). I feel a bit obligated to be able to tell people I’m working on my next book which will be out on….. So I was kind of stressed out when inspiration struck two weeks ago and I really wanted to finish this book before the presentation. Which is nuts and probably the reason for the headaches.
Writing is a hobby. And fun. Yes, thank you!

Today I finally got around to doing some household chores. I’m still having headaches, but I managed to do quite a lot. And to celebrate that my house looks like a home again I bought myself some flowers.
I love these small hortensia’s and I can’t wait for the daffodils to open up!