You might have noticed I haven’t been posting as many writing updates as usual in the past few months. Three major things happened recently that have slowed down my progress, but hopefully things will get back to normal beginning of next year:

1) First, my computer broke

Completely. And because of some other events that happened at the same time, it was a few weeks before I could buy a new one. Computerless for weeks 😦

Also, I couldn’t use the computers at work for writing Throne of Blood because the work I do is theoretically “strictly confidential” so I can’t send files to external emails or use USBs or transfer data in any other way. Everything I write on the work computer stays on the work computer and is checked by numerous departments to ensure I am not leaking strictly confidential data. Needless to say, bad idea to write fantasy books on the work computer

What’s worse, the last two chapters of Throne of Blood were on my old computer, and I hadn’t backed them up, so I was panicking they were lost forever and I had to write them again from scratch. I checked some data recovery services around where I live, but they were all insanely expensive. In the end, I managed to recover all my data by myself, with the help of a screwdriver and a 2-Euro cable I got on ebay. Perhaps I should quit my day job and become a data recovery guy.

Oh wait… I did quit my day job.

But more on that later.

2) Next, I spontaneously went to Iceland

That’s a strange sentence to write. For normal people, things like going to Iceland require proper planning. But I was as surprised as anyone.

Here’s the background:

If you’ve solved my recent riddle, you already know that the first chapter of Throne of Blood is set in Iceland. I normally don’t like writing about places I haven’t visited as I might mess up essential details, so I really wanted to go there. Unfortunately, you can’t properly see Iceland without a car. Renting one by myself was not affordable, and I had no travel buddies in sight. And so I gave up and focused on reading books and watching documentaries about Iceland, hoping it would somehow be enough.

And then, out of nowhere, an old friend from high school to whom I haven’t talked to in years suddenly texted me, “I’m going to Iceland in 2 weeks, wanna join?”

I dropped everything else, prepared for the trip, reshuffled my planned holidays, and off I went! This happened just after I had bought a new computer, so I hadn’t managed to properly get back into writing. And while the trip was extremely inspiring and I took lots of notes, it slowed down my overall progress.

3) Finally, I spontaneously quit my day job to become a Viking

Okay, sadly it’s nowhere near as exciting. Long story short, my boss did something that made me really angry, and I realized I needed to quit. It wasn’t an easy decision, it’s the first and only full time job I had, and the company and colleagues had become like a family, but I knew it had to be done. Unfortunately, I couldn’t just quit without another offer and hope for the best.

I had just returned from Iceland, after enjoying an 8-hour layover in Copenhagen between my flights. The memory of how nice Copenhagen is was still fresh in my mind, and, without much thinking, I very very spontaneously submitted my CV for a job there.

Just one single job. I never expected anything to happen. I had visited Denmark many times before as part of my research for the Viking scenes in Men and Monsters, going to places such as The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. But I never imagined living there. In fact, a day before I applied, I was 100% sure Berlin would be my final destination.

But then, it all happened. A day after I sent out my CV, I got a call for an interview. Even during the interview, I thought I’m doing it for fun. I didn’t really plan to move. But then I got the offer and very spontaneously decided to accept. Drop everything and start a new adventure in a brand new country!

Unfortunately, while the move is super exciting, it’s also a lot of work. You’ll never believe how much bureaucracy is involved in leaving Germany. You’d think that after all the trouble the German state gave me to immigrate here, they’d be happy to see my back…

No such luck. Moving out of the country is no less complicated than moving in. And, while I normally use the evenings and weekends for writing, now my evenings and weekends are occupied with relocation-related stuff.

But, as I said, things should go back to normal next year. Then, if all goes well, I should be living in the land of Vikings, Snow Queens and Little Mermaids! And I should be ready to write!