Shocked Beyond Words (Luckily, I can still type)
Just heard that at some point in the last year, Obama — to placate China — refused to meet with the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama!For…CHINA??? Words fail me.
A Twofer!
Last night, Ping-Ping’s new tutor visited. Afterwards, Ping-Ping wanted to work on her English. I realized that one of her main problems is not knowing the proper sounds for the letters–she knows the Pinyin souns of the Chinese Arabic alphabet, but they are different from ours. So, I got out the boys Hooked On Phonics…
Ping-Ping Post
A friend has asked for news on Ping-Ping, so here goes: Our daughter is doing very well. She has settled into her routine. She plays nicely with her brothers (though they feel she’s a bit rough). She looks after Roland. (John worries that we should have named him something that didn’t have two letters she has…
Alternate Worlds
This is the third time I’ve written this…keep losing it somehow: Still reading Red China Blues. Very few people left the West to go China in the first few decades of Communism there. Very few. At one point, there were maybe two dozen Westerners in China (or at least in the Beijing area.) Among those…
Wright’s Writing Corner: The Foil
Next in our series of examining my Writing Tips in more detail is The Foil. The Foil: Use other characters to showcase the strengths of your main characters and to make them seem extraordinary. The best example of the idea of a “foil”, in fact the place that the term comes from, is Hal from Shakespeare’s King…
Writer’s Block: Rotten tomatoes
This Japanese horror movie where…aliens affect a human to make him super strong. He walks through flame into the house to attack the good guys. Then, on the roof, the main alien leader: hits himself over the head with two bottles of alcohol, pulls up a wire, electrocutes himself to set himself on fire, and jumps…
Nobody works hard under Communism
A friend told me about a book that sounds just fascinating. It’s called A Comrade Lost and Found. It’s about a Canadian woman who was one of the first two Westerners invited to study in China, back in the 70s, when they began to open the country a bit more. A classmate came to her…
Wright’s Writing Corner: Excerpt from: How Can I Have A Life And Still Write?
Still spending too much time recovering from our computer outage, so it’s been hard to write something new this week. I did try yesterday, but what I wrote came out…dumb. So, today what we have is the begining of How Can I Have A Life And Still Write, an article I wrote for: The Complete Guide To Writing Fantasy Volume Three.…
Wright’s Writing Corner not forgotten
Hopefully, I’ll have a new post tomorrow, a day late. In the meantime, I’ve discovered that, unlike most rather unpleasant tasting organic stuff, the Horizon’s Organic Egg Nog is the best eggnog I’ve tasted since we used to make it ourselves (something my mom won’t let us do any more because she’s worried about the safety of…
Chinese Paladin 3 — Finished
Last night, we finally reached Episode 37, the final episode of Chinese Paladin 3. This picture does not give you a good sense off the show.for a better one, go here While there are a few things I would have changed in Episodes 36 and 37, it remained up to it’s extraordinary level of entertainment right from…