I've been wondering a long time now about the differences in the writing guidelines in Germany versus those in other (English language) countries.

Did it ever strike you as curious that in the English language, the length of texts (maximum or minimum) is given in words - as in "this novel is complete at 100,000 words", while German regulations for submission are given in characters - as in "no more than 40,000 characters"*.

And so I find myself writing a short and a long text with character count "not more than" in both cases and I wonder why there is that difference. After all, there are long and short words in both languages, and I'd suspect that when the difficulty level of the text rises, so does the average word length. So why count words? Is this better possible in English than in German? Or is it some "historical reason"? Or do the Germans just want it that much more exact?** And why does MS Word include a character count, but not a (complete) word count when that is needed much more often (since there are much more English language writers than German)?***


And, the most important question of them all: Why did I not manage to get my characters counted properly yesterday, in spite of having used "Extras - Word Count" so often before?



*I'm not using the proper German 40.000 here, to avoid confusion - but I think it is funny that 40.000 and 40,000 mean different things in English and German. Talk about confusing.

** Yes, I know, that is so cliché. But did you know that because listing these huge numbers of characters for a text can be daunting, there's a conversion into "Normseiten", standard pages, that are usually worth about 1.500 characters. Which makes those figures much, much smaller.

*** You can of course download and install an add-in for MS Word. It might be useful for you (I only have it for fun - well, mostly). You can find "Complete WordCount" at Shauna Kelly's site - together with a lot of hints for using Word efficiently.

I am spending way too much time staring at my newsletter program (it's Birdigee's Newsletter Manager, by the way). The newsletter campaign I started exactly one week ago is coming along extremely well, and my webpage has never before seen so many people - you are all really amazing!

I have received additional mails with helpful hints, and I have also gotten requests for the table of contents. I'm looking into all of them, and I am happy to announce that I have just uploaded not only the "Inhaltsverzeichnis" (TOC), but also a snippet of the text as preview. So if you would like to have a peek into my (German language) book about medieval garments and tailoring techniques, click over to my webpage and see for yourself if you might want a copy once it is out. And if you do so, please subscribe to the newsletter to let me know!

Now as promised, the problems I have with this version.

First of all, the kruseler. It consists of multiple layers (I think eight layers) of fine silk fabric, woven in tabby. It's the thin quality you can buy for painting scarves, Pongé 05. The "ruflles" consists of the selvedges of the fabric. All cut edges are sealed with beeswax.
The ruffle, to me, does not look voluminous enough. This might be due to not enough layers, or it could be possible to seal/impregnate the edges in the ruffle with (bleached) beeswax and form it, still warm, into the characteristic wavy form. The next one will be better, I hope.

Then, the hairdo. I am pretty content with how it looks on the photos (though the right "horn" has uncoiled slightly), and it is actually comfortable to wear once it is arranged symmetrically and fixed securely. And that is the snag. I find it enormously difficult to do the two lumps of hair, both securely, both similarly tight and starting from the right spot. Then these two horns have to be pinned to the head. I have a lot of experience nowadays with the simple, u-shaped pins that have been used in the middle ages (and are still available today, thanks to the powers that be), but while the first one is always more or less agreeable, the second horn invariably droops. Or wanders. Or uncoils, if it is really cross.

So while putting up the hair in this way is technically no problem for me - the motions for making the horns are easy, and the single-roll-on-back-of-the-head version of the updo is one of my staples (and I wear my hair up all days, all the time, with only a handful of exceptions a year) - it is still a problem to get it symmetrical, and both twin horns secured firmly. That is probably something to come with practice, but the updo without the veil looks pretty... hmm... let us settle for weird, and the same is true for modern eyes when worn with the veil. And that is the reason why I am not running around with this updo every day. (Plus it won't fit under a bicycle helmet.)

And last of all problems, the pinning. Kruselers worn on the pictures are shown either with a rounded look or with an angular look (the one I'm aiming for). While both can be achieved with changing the hairdo, I haven't yet found any pins shown on the kruseler paintings. Some way of holding the veil to the head must have been used, and I'll assume it was not hot glue straight out of the glue gun. So the big question is: Where and how was the veil fixed (pinned, probably) to the hair? Or was there some other solution? I have had lots of problems, and I always need several tries, to find the right place and right angle for the (bronze) pins to really hold the veil, and for more than some seconds. And it's not only holding it down: the veil should cover the hairline on the forehead, show some of the hair bump beneath and then fall down in a nice, straight line.

I'll happily try out suggestions the next time I wear this, so please shoot!

Finally, I have those photos I promised to you, wearing the kruseler. Here it is:


And another one, with the demure looking-down-look:


There are a few problems left to tackle in one of the next tries - business as usual, you could say. I have listed the issues I have, but will not post them before tomorrow, to give you the chance of looking without getting biased by my evaluation first. Please feel free to comment!

Yesterday evening was very pleasantly spent at a friend's apartment, where he took photos of two medieval outfits, for the flyer and for other promotional purposes. Now I have about 250 photos to sift through: I have to choose the best pictures for the flyer and related things and then wield the photo tools necessary to get them printable.

Which means today is also the time for me to find out how I can best handle raw photo data files. Which is what will fill the next bit of the day - and I hope I can find a good program for me fast.

Today is set apart for Current Writing Project - I need to make a little progress on that, plus three of the books I checked out of the library are due back next week, so I need to finish reading them. Since the alternative to writing on CWP is "sorting through paperwork and filing", I'm really keen on getting my nose into these books.

On an unrelated note, thanks to all of you who subscribed to the newsletter from yesterday's post!

I have fulfilled a dream by continuing research after my master's degree at Uni Bamberg. And, of course, I chose medieval garments as my topic. It took me a while, but I am very happy with the outcome (and eternally grateful to my parents, who were incredibly helpful when any obstacles turned up).

I have since successfully finished and defended my phd thesis "Konstruktion und Nähtechnik mittelalterlicher weltlicher Kleidung" (Construction and sewing techniques of secular medieval garments) in Summer 2008. The thesis is a comprehensive survey of extant medieval garments with analysis of cutting, construction development and sewing techniques.

It is written in German with an English summary; you can get more information (in German too) about the volume and the topics covered on my website. I have already found a wonderful publisher for the book, and publication is being prepared. However, two obstacles are left to overcome: Get funding for the costs of the print run, and determining the right number of copies to print.

Since it will take at least eight months until the book can be released - a long wait for you and me - and it is very hard to evaluate how many people will be interested - a problem for the publishing house and me - I am offering subscription to a newsletter that will hopefully help us all (and me even twice):
I will be sending a short newsflash whenever a step in the publishing process is finished, keeping you up to date.
You will know at once when the book can be pre-ordered, which means no delay for you in getting the book delivered.

In return, having a number of seriously interested people on the newsletter list will help me negotiating with the publishing house and my editor and me in determining the number of copies to print. We are aiming for the price range 60-80 Euro for the book (hardcover with b/w illustration and coloured plates).

If you are interested in getting this book, please subscribe to my newsletter by sending an e-mail with the subject "subscribe" to Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein..

And if you are not interested in the book, but know somebody who might be, you can do me a huge favor by telling them!