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A One-Hour Winter… and Some Unexpected Houseguests

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We had a brief encounter with snow this week. Too bad it only lasted about an hour before it turned back into rain.
And you’d probably think all of Norway is buried under a thick layer of snow by now, right?

Wrong.

What we got was barely 1 cm—just enough to turn the roads into a thin sheet of ice. Not fun at all when you can’t even go sledging. It simply creates the perfect conditions for breaking bones you’d much rather keep intact.

And despite the cold weather outside, I’ve somehow ended up with plant lice on the pepper plants in my kitchen. In winter. I genuinely did not see that one coming.

So now I’m debating whether to kick the plants outside. Only I’m not sure who would die first:
The pepper plant or the lice.

Probably the plant—knowing my luck.

But of course, for the sake of scientific experimentation, one of them will have to be sacrificed. (Or maybe it’s just my evil side that delights in the thought of sending the plant lice out into the frost.)

It all feels minor, though. I’ve been reading an Icelandic book about the volcanic eruptions on Vestmannaeyjar, where homes and livelihoods were destroyed when lava and ash swallowed entire neighbourhoods.

Puts our little weather inconveniences into perspective, doesn’t it?
I’m suddenly very grateful I don’t live near a volcano.

Still, the cold does have one clear advantage: it’s the perfect excuse to curl up in my favourite chair with a good book. Even if that book happens to be about Icelandic eruptions. Fortunately the author slipped in a murder mystery or two, which makes it almost impossible to put down. So that’s where I plan to remain until the temperature climbs above 10 degrees again. Or maybe 5 degrees is more realistic. (Celsius, of course.)

(And if you’re wondering which book I’m talking about—it’s Ashes to Dust by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir.)

The Truth About Being a Writer

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Whenever I tell someone I’m a writer, I always get the same question:

“Isn’t it hard to come up with new ideas?”

Honestly? No. Writing is the easy part—at least when it comes to the first draft.

It’s the second, third, and fourth drafts where I start hating everything I’m doing.

But even that stage is a walk in the park compared to everything else you have to do as a self-published author.

Like what? Let’s make a list:

  • Finding the perfect cover image (and wondering if it screams “amateur” or not).
  • Figuring out a title that actually fits the content.
  • Writing a back-cover blurb that makes readers want to read it —because if no one reads it, what’s the point?

All part of the job, right? 

Welcome to self-publishing: where you’re not just a writer, you’re a designer, marketer, tech support rep, and (occasionally) a problem-solving superwoman (I wish).

And trust me—it’s a lot to learn. The good news? It gets easier after a while. Uhm, well, kind of…

But here’s what really drains me:

  • Trying to create a Facebook account to automate Instagram posting… only to have it shut down by Meta. No explanation. No appeal. Just silence. (Unless you call a lawyer, I guess?)
  • Waking up to discover that Eden Books changed their homepage from edenbookstore.com to edenbooks.com—which broke seventy-two of my shortlinks. Yep, newsletter links, homepage buttons, Instagram posts… all useless now. I could spend a week fixing it—or scream into a pillow.
  • Getting an email from Smashwords saying they found “pseudo-incest” in one of my titles. Excuse me, what? Where? (Still looking.) Now it’s banned from Apple and other platforms.
  • Getting flagged by Google because my book “isn’t kid-friendly.” Yes, Google, that’s why I checked the “Adult Content” box. Thanks for removing the preview and killing my sales. Much appreciated.

So yeah—writing the book? That’s the fun part.
Everything else? That’s business.
That’s clutter.
That’s what it’s like to be a solo creative juggling a dozen jobs and putting out fires before breakfast.

Still… 

What can you do? Nothing, except take a deep breath and get back to my next book. Maybe a crime novel where a character accidentally bankrupts a giant tech company. Therapeutic, right?

Sometimes I wonder if I should just keep writing books and stop publishing them altogether.
But then again—where’s the fun in that?

Maybe I just need that lawyer after all (pondering…) 

Or maybe… I’ll just include all the backlashes in my next newsletter or book.

Sure, at least that means they are good for something. 

Just like pests, snails and fires…lol.

Brain fog

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Ever wondered if your holiday was just a little too long? Like… maybe you should’ve come back sooner, just to avoid the post-vacation brain fog?

Yeah, me too.

Not that it would’ve helped. My brain seems to clock out after four hours anyway (just like the fog outside my window this morning).

And the next four hours? Pure uphill battle. Imagine “walking through mud”, but with spreadsheets.

Luckily, everyone else is also moving in slow motion right now. Workloads are light, the vibe is lazy, and honestly? It feels almost acceptable to slack a little.

But luckily, the fog is finally lifting.

How do I know? I spotted an error in a table I’ve looked at at least twenty times. An error that had been hiding in plain sight… for four years.

Auditors didn’t catch it. My colleagues didn’t catch it. Apparently, everyone just assumed I don’t make mistakes. (Sorry to ruin the illusion, folks.)

Was it thrilling to find the mistake? Sure.

But honestly, I was more relieved than thrilled. Because this means:

  1. My brain still works.
  2. Even if it works differently after my holiday.

Maybe extended holidays unlock creativity? (Or maybe they just fix your internal “stupid mistakes” detector?)

Still, I’m going to take full advantage of it and hopefully pour this energy into my latest book project.

Unless, of course, writing is excluded from this so-called “creativity bonus package.” In that case, you will probably find me doomscrolling on my phone while I pretend to brainstorm brilliant ideas.

In the meantime, the fog outside my window has lifted. Only to be replaced by horizontal rain. Yay!

It’s kind of cool to watch as long as you don’t have to go out in it.

Oh well, that’s western Norway in a nutshell. It is always raining.

But… I bet they never tell you that in the tourist brochures, eh?

That time of year, again

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Just ignore the image. It only shows what I should be doing, but instead I’m ignoring all the dust and focusing on writing this blog post instead, lol. Maybe that’s the solution to having a better life: do what you want to do and try to ignore some of the tasks that keep filling your lists.

Actually, just yesterday, we reached an important deadline (in my day job). So after three months of hard work, we could finally go home without worrying about any more questions and tasks ruining our weekends. So, today I’m just enjoying my newfound freedom and trying to remember what I was working on in my other job, lol. So far, my brain is quite empty.

Maybe it’s better to just enjoy the emptiness before I locate my task list, lol.

And maybe you should do the same: Take some time off and just relax, eh? Maybe read a book?

If so, you should check out the list of Taboo authors that tangledintaboo has created. I just can’t work out why she included me among all those brilliant authors. Anyway, now you know what I will do so that I don’t have to tackle the dust or whatever I should be doing, lol.