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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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!

I'm looking forward to the weekend so much, even if there is housework to be done. The last half of this week somehow dragged its feet instead of rushing by like second halves of weeks usually do for me.

I'm still working on the flyer and on the paper, and don't have time for much else. And after those two, there are already two other things-with-deadline looming overhead. (I'm in need of a writing flash, does anybody have one to spare?) So in case you are looking forward to the next parts of the Kruseler blog post, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to post the follow-up yet. I know what I want to write about, and it will probably be enough for two posts, but I am still lacking the photos needed (and the time and photographer to make them).

It will come up as soon as I can manage, but it will have to wait until both flyer and paper are further along the way. And thank you for your patience.

I have a huge To-Do-List today, looming beside me on my blackboard. I hope the amount of chalk white will be reduced significantly by tonight.

At least I have made good progress during the last two days, with finally an idea for a catchy advertisement phrase (that will go on the flyer/brochure thing) and an amount of writing done. Furthermore, I had the pleasure of reading a very old print (from 1573) in the library, which is always something special.

Word count in Current Writing Project today is 5.021 words. I wrote a bit more yesterday, but most of that is lying in a different file, as notes, and waiting to be edited into text and transferred. Rest of yesterday's work was mostly reading and thinking. The outline and the thoughts relevant to it are finished, and I have a pretty good idea what can be achieved with this book and where it can go.

Somehow, that nasty paperwork stuff has a tendency to agglomerate on my desk. I have a stack of urgent, semi-urgent and non-urgent paperwork stuff to occupy myself with, and I really feel like I should tackle it today. If not yesterday.

Well, usually I am glad about any pronounced drive to do paperwork. The problem is that I have dedicated this week to work on Current Writing Project, and I want to stick with that decision. I have given myself an incentive to get a chunk of work done, shaping the project and doing the groundwork, and that is what I want and need to do. Current Writing Project is coming along nicely, by the way, sporting 3412 words at the moment.

Still, those urgent paperwork things nag me and nibble at the back of my conscience daily. Do you know that situation? Do you have a fail-safe, fool-proof, wonderful way of dealing with that? If so, please tell me about it!

It's about 10°C below zero outside, the coldest it has been in this otherwise mild region for ages. There's snow outside, covering most of the bike paths and some of the streets, and for once it has not turned to mud and slush. People are bundled up in thick, warm jackets, wearing gloves and scarves and hats; bicyclists slow down while their wheels dig forward through the snow.

I'm sitting in my cosily heated study again and pondering the near future. Two of my projects have ground to a halt, one lying on ice for the next four months, the other tagged with "take it easy, go slowly, evaluate thoroughly" and thus not on speed either. So this is the time to occupy myself with number three, going on with building the concept and figuring out things - mostly reading and brainstorming work. And with that phase come the worries - is it enough? is it too much? is the concept good? how long will it take? how much good, useful material can I get?

So the next week will see me stockpiling books from the library, reading, researching and brainstorming. I am confident that by the end of next week, I will have a nice concept and a better overview over the topic, since I have already done some preliminary work on this a few months ago. And probably I'll be all excited about it again and raring to write. While the phase of doubts and worries can be stressful, I'm still glad about it - after all, it is a good thing to re-evaluate and re-think a concept after a while. And a little doubt can help a lot at the right place and time.

Today's blog is later than usual, but it fits into the spirit of the last two days.

I have already learned that waiting is a very important part in the writing and publishing business, but I have yet to learn more patience. There's a wait for decisions, a wait until things can be evaluated properly, a delay because of this or that. It all takes a bit longer than planned initially, on both sides, the writing and the editing or publishing side - and I can relate so much better after having been part of the editing and proofing process for a journal once.

I know that it is necessary to wait. Still, sometimes it is hard - and at the moment, I have just found out that at least one really long one has come upon me. So it is time for me to take a deep breath, have some comfort chocolate and then accept it - and get on with some other exciting project. There was a wonderful post about the Waiting Game on Kristi Holl's blog a few weeks back, and I will try to wait productively and patiently.

But not yet. Tonight, I'm allowed to pity myself a bit. And to eat that extra piece of chocolate. And tomorrow, I'll tackle these things that lurk on the back of my desk - let's see how long it takes to get them into the Waiting Game stage!