Deadlines

Only two more days of work and I've got an entire month off in which I plan on doing loads of reading, writing, climbing a mountain or two and sadly some more working.

The Pumpkin and I will be enjoying the calm and serene atmosphere of the Lake District the first two weeks of August but before I can enjoy myself, I'll be spending the last two weeks of July meeting several deadlines: 8 book reviews, an exposé on eBooks in Belgium and an article on Belgian Chick Lit for which I'll be talking with Saskia de Coster who has recently written a novella entitled Oh Jackie O filled with art, fashion and Jackie Onassis. So you see, my adventures in chick lit have only just begun.

Naturally, I'll also try to squeeze a little more writing of my own in seeing as I've passed the 27000 word mark, so I'm almost halfway there. Applause please.

Great Expectations

I've taken some time off this week to get a little writing done, consult some more doctors and attend my very first Soupswap (yes, it's exactly what it sounds like).

I'm actually really looking forward to locking myself up in our dark little study, just me, gallons of coffee, Molly and a blank computerscreen. What could be better? I just hit the 25,000 word mark so I'm on a roll.

Articles by Rebecca Benoot

I had an epiphany on Tuesday while I was working on my articles namely, I really need a website / log with all of them on there. Not just for my own benefit, I do tend to forget what I've written about quite quickly, but also because I can finally show people what I've been writing about these past 2,5 years.

I already have a lovely website which the Pumpkin made for me but it hasn't been updated in over a year as I always have to bother my in-house designer whenever I get the need to change something, which is often.

So... I made a blog, (whoopie!) seeing as it's the easiest, although not really the most professional, way I can catalogue my articles. Low maintenance and easily adjustable. The only downside is that I now have to copy-paste several dozen articles which while probably take me a while.

Anyway, if you're curious what I've been scribbling the past years check out: http://rebeccabenoot.blogspot.com/ (updated daily)

A Day of Writing

I took the day off today to finally get some writing done and it was bliss. No interruption, no stress, just me and a blank page, heaven. If only I had some more time to get some “other” writing done… My word count has increased the past week but only slightly, did you notice?

Now, I had to interview Luc Herman last week about Nora en de Feiten which was kind of awkward seeing as I had to put on a major poker face because I didn’t particularly like his novel. It was also weird having to “judge” one of my former professors but I survived. Writing the article however, was quite a challenge seeing as I wanted to be objective, didn’t want to sugarcoat it but I also didn’t want to offend because I know a lot of my former teachers and ex-class mates will be reading it so I’ll be a little on edge next week when it’s published.

I have to admit that although I still don’t like the novel, he did shed a lot of light on it, luckily. His aim was to stay true to the genre code of crime fiction and create an old-fashioned whodunit that invites the reader to solves the puzzles which in a way he has succeeded in doing but the fact still remains that the novel is too analytical / academic to please the general crime fiction loving audience who are just looking for some light entertainment, which I supplied by writing 4 reviews today to accompany the article.

Needless to say, I drank a lot of coffee, did a lot of procrastinating but I eventually got the job done.

Whimsical Weekend

I attended several author interviews this weekend starting with Willy Vlautin who was at the store on Thursday night to promote his book Lean on Pete. I had no idea who he was or that he had written several novels or that he was the lead singer of country band Richmond Fontaine. For this I thank Google.

He was a really friendly guy, that's what struck me the most and the fact that songs don't necessarily need a chorus. Go figure!Seriously, he sang a song for us which was basically a story with a little music. At first it was really weird because he just kept on going no breaks no nothing but it really worked. He talked about the book and why he loves writing but that's about it. It was short but sweet.

We also saw Herman Koch on Saturday whom the pumpkin loves from his Jiskefet years, no comment. I haven't read his latest novel Zomerhuis met Zwembad yet but I really loved his last book Het Diner. If you want to read some edgy and contemporary Dutch fiction, Koch is definitely the way to go. During the interview he mainly talked about the medical world in the Netherlands seeing as his main character is a GP. It was interesting and illuminating but I couldn't get over the fact that not more people are interested in hearing / meeting great authors.

I've been to a lot of these things lately and that's what still makes the biggest impression: if you're a Dutch author, don't expect a fanbase.

Next up was Annelies Beck, who I interviewed myself a few weeks ago so nothing new there but the pumpkin wanted to see her in person so I indulged him.

The pleasures and pains of a live interview

Yesterday I did my first live interview in the store. It was nerve wrecking at first but ended up being lots of fun.

I interviewed Helen Grant about her novels (The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, The Glass Demon and Wish me Dead) and young adult fiction, a genre that is slowly breaking through in Belgium. The idea behind the interview was to introduce Helen and YA to the Belgian public.

I’ve known Helen for a while now and I’ve interviewed her before so I wasn’t particularly nervous about that but, while I was preparing my questions on Friday I started thinking about everything that could go wrong: what if we move too fast (we had an hour to fill), what if she answers multiple question at once and I am left with nothing to say, what if we start repeating ourselves and worst of all, what if it’s not interesting? Luckily, Helen is such a good storyteller that the latter could never be the case but, the other potential problems were all new to me because when you do a private one on one with somebody entertainment value, length and improvisation are never an issue.

In the end we easily filled that hour, I had to skip a few questions and improvise a little but fortunately nobody noticed. I am happy to say that Helen, myself and more importantly the audience had a great time, we had lots of interaction and more than half of them bought one of her novels so we must have done something right.


What I personally loved about doing a live interview was getting the response of the audience, something I hardly ever get with my written texts and interviews because there you are subordinate to your subject. People always remember what the text was about but never who has written it. Sure, occasionally someone will come up to me and say they read or liked my articles but seeing their reactions literaly unfold in front of you is quite something else.

Sadly, not a lot of people showed up. Maybe it’s because it’s the Easter holidays or because the weather is ridiculously good for this time of year or that just not many people are interested in YA in Belgium. Who knows? It was fun and that’s all that matters.