Writing update #4 - switching pen name

It has been a very long time since I wrote one of these but my "other" life has been crazy for several months getting a new job and moving, so had only little time for writing. But now I am back on track and I wanted to let you know what is going on.

I am still working on the translation of my novel, which is proving to be a much tougher task than I expected. Although I consider myself to be proficient in english, it is not my native tounge, which sometimes makes it tough to hit the tone I want to hit in my novel. However I am still convinced that translating it myself was the right choice because it gives me the unique possibility to explore a different language and to find expressions for concepts often alien to the other language. For example there is no term in spanish for "oversleeping" although of course we know the concept. My english is mostly considered "american" but I often use British and Australian terms as well, so I guess the tone will be quite unique. 

Once I am done with the translation I intend to hand it over to a british proof reader, as I would hate for people not to enjoy my novel due to grammar or punctuation errors. This is something I would recommend to all authors out there, especially if you are self-publishing. I have read some books of self-published writers and while some were absolutely stunning and brilliant others were incredibly bad, especially in the language department. 

I don't expect everyone to be perfect when it comes to grammar and spelling (I guess I have made already several errors in this post to prove that I am far from it myself!) but a blog post is something different than a book. If we writers want to prove to the world that self-publishing is to be taken seriously we need to make sure that the quality of what we publish is of high standard, otherwise the current attitude towards self-publishing, that we are all wannabe writers who couldn't get an agent will prevail. Also bear in mind: Don't you find it annoying to stumble over dozens of errors while reading a book? 

Well that is the present status of my novel. I also have been considering of posting a teaser here, but I haven't decided upon it yet. 

My next project to combine two of my passions: Writing and Acting! 

As some of you might know I have already been working on a play called "The Interview" for some time. It is developing nicely and working on it has made me realise how much I miss acting. Therefore I have decided to create a theatre group called "Los Bildungos" and also to switch my pen name to what used to be my stage name: 

Maria Lorca 

I have already acted in some short films under this name. I also co-wrote the story and the lyrics to the musical "Outremer" with Felicitas Rená  and together with  composer Vladimir Romanov we finished in 3rd place at the 2007 Frank Wildhorn Award for Musical Theatre in Graz. 

Subsequently I will make some altertations to this blog, as what started only as platform for my writing has become so much more, as I decided to make a statement addresing topics that matter to me. 

I hope you will enjoy the new direction and support me with my new and old projects.