The beginning of Spring and Summer started off to be wonderful here in Belgium. We had wonderful warm weather, sun, and everyone sitting out in cafe's drinking coffee and eating ice cream. Well, it seems as if our luck has turned. Since then, we have been bombarded with rain storms, grey clouds, and cold weather...in July!! I hate to think what's in store for us in August! Germany had an awful storm with winds up to and over 100mph. This was mainly in the Berlin area and you could see tables, people, chairs, and signs flying everywhere.
Well, I guess this would be the season to stay indoors and do some more writing!
--Books--
This month has truly been a busy one! I am still working on Dating in Silicon Valley II and gathering interviews. Many thanks to those who have continued to submit stories! It seems that more people are relaxed and open when telling stories now that the first book has come out.
It was a bumpy start from this book's release. Even though my book's ISBN number has been registered, it has been a slow process to get it updated and listed on Amazon. It has been very frustrating but only several online stores carry my book such as www.booksurge.com. After several emails to my publisher, they are in the process of getting this corrected. I learned many things about how to go about promoting your book and most importantly, what not to do. It looks like I did all the things wrong! For the release of the second book, I will definintely do things differently and avoid some of the pitfalls I endured this past time.
I am continuing my journalism courses and hope to graduate this year if I can just keep still!
--Music--
Finding a music studio here in Brussels has been a bit of a hard task I have found. Either they are quite glitzy and charge 2000.00 per song to produce or a small dank studio where no one speaks English and I would have to take a train and automobile to get there. The hunt is still on until I get my own equipment.
I have been working on two songs and hope to make them a reality by the end of the year in addition to new material for an album. Everytime I write a song, it comes out different that what I expected. I guess that could be a good thing - at least I wouldn't have the same sound everytime.
I try to listen to the music channels here to get a grip on the new instruments, keyboards, and sound techniques as they develop. I really loved MTV-Germany since they had all the cutting edge songs and new releases first. Things here are different in Belgium where the MTV channel is not releasing new groups and singers as quickly. I have however, grown fond of French rap songs though!
Well, keep your fingers crossed for a productive summer and hopefully more sun!
--Roni