Category: Writing Inspirations

  • Seeking Inspiration

    Sometimes my mind goes blank. All ideas abandon me, and I sit, staring miserably at the cursor on an empty document. It’s a writer’s worst nightmare, but I’ve come to believe that it happens when the eagerness to write becomes obsession. Is there a remedy? A good question, but not easily answered. First of all,…

  • Golden moments in Danish History

    An overview of Danish expansions and reductions At the end of the last glacial period, which was about 11,700 years ago people slowly moved into what we now know as Demark. That doesn’t mean that Denmark emerged as a fully-fledged country: there’s no mention of the Danes until 500 AD. In the 8th – to…

  • Snippets of Norse Mythology: The Creation and The World Tree, Yggdrasil

    In the beginning there was nothing but a void. Then two regions appeared. The southern was Muspelheim, full of fire, light, and heat. In the north Nifelheim came to be. It was made of arctic waters, mists, and cold. In between the two realms stretched a yawning emptiness, Ginungagap. Sparks and smoke from Muspelheim spilled…

  • Eating Habits in Old Copenhagen

    1: Festive Occasions In the ‘season’ from October to March, wealthy burghers and upper classes spend a large amount of time giving dinners and balls, and accepting invitations to similar events. The housewife would perform a full-time job to control a household’s festivities but, obviously, she’d look after the general household too. She wouldn’t do…

  • Master’s Right

    In Denmark, according to the Servants’ Statutes of 1854, anyone, seeking employment or wanting to leave his or her birthplace, should be able to prove he or she had been confirmed. All servants had to present a servant’s conduct book, which should be authorized by the local clergy or, in Copenhagen, by the police. In…

  • The Little Old Table

    My great grandmother had a sewing table, a real beauty. I remember it from my granny’s flat when I was a child. Later it came to me. It stands in my home now and has followed me from Denmark to England, and later to Bremerhaven. I think I’d bring it with me, wherever I might…