Into the home stretch...

Here's a picture from my talk at the FCC (stolen from Suvi Lampila).

There are five days remaining in National Novel Writing Month. So far I've written 43,042 words of the prequel to my post-apocalyptic series-in-progress. I hope to get another 3,000 down at my usual Tuesday night writing session, so it's safe to say I'll hit the goal by Saturday (famous last words?). Last year I managed 58,000 words by the end of the month, but in all fairness I had to spend part of this month polishing The Art of Escalator Jumping in preparation for my self-publishing demonstration. The good news is that the book has already sold enough copies to recoup my costs and has garnered a lovely review from Susan Blumberg-Kason.

In addition to writing hijinks, the end of this November will mark another personal milestone. I will pay off my last student loan. I'm just starting to get my head around what it will mean to be 100% debt free. I plan to write more about that in the near future. In the meantime, I'm trying to decide how to celebrate. Buy some new boots? Cut off all my hair? Apply for a master's program? Do you have any suggestions?

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving and may you reach the home stretch on all your goals!

The Art of Escalator Jumping

Cover by James at GoOnWrite.com

As promised, here is the novel I formatted and uploaded to Amazon in front of a live audience last night. The talk was a great success. I hope that today there are a few extra empowered writers around Hong Kong.

This is my first novel, which I wrote last spring to get over my fear of fiction. I'm quite proud of the writing, but it's too short and too niche to submit to a traditional publisher (unless love stories on escalators become a thing). Here it is for $2.99 if you want to read it.

THE ART OF ESCALATOR JUMPING

A chance encounter on the Mid-levels Escalator in Hong Kong tips a young woman into an unexpected romance…

Octavia Chan is a reserved Eurasian woman who has a hard time standing up to her mother. Joan is driven, controlling and—for a 26-year-old back under her mother’s roof—incredibly frustrating. Octavia has recently returned to Hong Kong to reconnect with her mother when she meets Cal, an impulsive American with enthusiasm to burn.

The Escalator brings Cal and Octavia together like a mechanical sprite.

Then Joan’s tight control begins to unravel. Rather than working for a better relationship with her mother, Octavia finds herself fighting for Joan’s sanity. Enlisting the aid of a tough psychologist-turned-lawyer, a Hong Kong socialite, and a helper with a secret, Octavia must use her own kind of strength to help her mother.

But a storm is brewing in Hong Kong, and Joan has a secret too.

I'm giving a talk/demonstration tomorrow...

...on how to make an e-book. I'll format a manuscript (in a Word doc) and upload it to Amazon for the HK Women in Publishing Society--live. I've done this multiple times now because I've been writing a series of tongue-in-cheek essays under a secret pen name. Perhaps I'll tell you about them one day, but right now I'm enjoying the anonymity. My mom doesn't even know about this ;).

Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the internet and projector will work properly and that KDP won't go on the fritz while I'm speaking to a packed house.

The book I'll be uploading is a short novel (almost a novella) I wrote for the HKWiPS Saphira competition. It's wildly niche (almost all the action takes place on and around the Mid-levels Escalator in Hong Kong), so I probably wouldn't submit it to a traditional publisher anyway. I was either going to retire it to a digital drawer or have to add another 30,000 words. I'm more excited about writing new projects at the moment, but this way a few people can read it--and hopefully enjoy it. I won't be doing a lot of promotion, but I'll post the link when the e-book goes live.

Wish me luck!

Here's the event link if you want to attend

Just a quick update on Nanowrimo: in addition to polishing the aforementioned manuscript, I've written 22,000 words this November! If you have been waiting for an email from me this is why... I'll be back in touch with everyone next week.

Bookspotting and Nanowrimo

Over the weekend, I spotted a friend reading Philippa Gregory's The White Queen (I think it was the white one). Yesterday, a woman got on the train at Kowloon Bay with a battered copy of The Great Gatsby. I also spotted a schoolboy with Murakami's 1Q84. At a glance, it looked like a Chinese translation, but it could have been the original Japanese version. As usual, I spotted a smattering of Chinese books and e-readers around town. What are people reading in your general vicinity?

I'm about 10,000 words into National Novel Writing Month. I'm working on a prequel to my post-apocalyptic series-in-progress. I've had a chance to meet up with groups of writers from around HK and even had some of them over to my place for a write-in after party. Are you participating in Nano? How is it going so far?

Apocalyptic Bookspotting

It may have been a while since my last bookspotting post (no excuses here), but I have been keeping track. Each time I see someone reading on the train or in a coffee shop while I'm writing, I note it in a document on my phone. To get you up to speed: I've seen school kids reading The Last Olympian, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I've spotted textbooks on psychology, math and English. Fellow commuters have been reading Girl with a Dragon Tattoo and My Sister's Keeper. I saw a girl with a Kindle and a boy reading Frindle. I have one note on my phone that simply says north, and to be honest I have no idea what book that's referring to. Just yesterday I saw a man reading Thinking Fast and Slow while he rode an escalator in Central station--not an hour after I'd downloaded the same book on my Kindle. I spotted The Alchemists on the train and Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats in Mong Kok station. In short, reading is alive and well in Hong Kong.

For my part, I've been binging on apocalyptic fiction in preparation for National Novel Writing Month. As a direct result, I now find myself buying extra gallons of water at the grocery store and assessing my neighborhood for possible fortified locations. I have decent visibility from our apartment and there's only one entrance to the building. However, the best spot has to be the old police complex on Hollywood Road. In the event of zombies, look for me there ;).

My Nano novel will be a prequel to the series I started last year. It doesn't have any zombies. The series takes place sixteen years after the apocalyptic event, so the prequel will happen right in the middle of the disaster. Oh, and the whole thing is set at sea! I'm really enjoying the research process and looking forward to meeting up with fellow HK-based writers.

What are you reading? How about the people around you? Are you doing Nanowrimo this year?

UNSAVORY ELEMENTS edited by Tom Carter

THE GIST:

An anthology of non-fiction by foreigners living in China.

THE VERDICT:

Unsavory Elements features a diverse selection of stories about what it's like to live in China as a foreigner. All sorts of people move to China, though the balance of this particular collection tipped toward young, unattached males (at least when their unsavory adventures took place). The writers illustrate moments that will likely resonate with many: being offered large amounts of money to write someone's college admissions essay; finding unexpected camaraderie with locals through sports, drinks and food; getting lost; finding love. In truth, most of the writers are not especially unsavory. This collection could actually debunk a myth or two about expats in China. Most of them are just normal people navigating normal life issues in somewhat abnormal circumstances.

Naturally, some of the stories are better than others--or at least I connect with some more than others. Particular standouts for me were the contributions by Aminta Arrington, Michael Levy and, of course, Peter Hessler. The collection includes stories by two writers, Jocelyn Eikenburg and Kaitlin Solimine, who will also appear in the forthcoming expat women in Asia anthology I am editing for Signal 8 Press. Most of the writers have books out or in the works. Unsavory Elements is a terrific way to sample their writing style so you'll know what to buy next time you're in the China section of your local bookstore/Amazon.

I read Unsavory Elements while I was compiling the final manuscript of my own anthology. It was useful to see how editor Tom Carter (of China: Portrait of a People fame) decided to organize the stories. The collection progresses much like the life cycle of an expat, from arrivals and first impressions to deciding to go home--or stay. I particularly appreciated how he'd often pair stories, so that one tale would be met with a contrasting impression of a related event. For example, one person receives special treatment as a foreigner in one story, whereas the next experiences negative discrimination. The give-and-take of the structure reminded me of the constant search for balance that expats experience, both in China and abroad.

THE LINK:

Unsavory Elements has an active Facebook page.

THE COST:

I bought the paperback at the Hong Kong launch event (I tried to insert a picture from the launch, but Blogger isn't cooperating; here are some random pictures from Shanghai instead). The Kindle edition is $14.40, making it only slightly cheaper than the paperback.

THE QUESTION:

What do you think about collections that deal with the "foreigner's experience" in China and other expat hotbeds? Do you think they reinforce division and stereotypes? Enhance understanding? Both?

Bookspotting and Moving

This is before we moved in. We're not quite that neat.

My husband and I spent last weekend moving into our new apartment. Naturally, my books were the first things I carried up from the old place on Hollywood Road. I'm still rearranging my bookshelves and trying to decide how to organize everything. Books by people I know together? Travel memoirs together? Hong Kong books together? What about Hong Kong travel memoirs by people I know?! I do have a prominent spot for books that I haven't read yet, including Elegance of a Hedgehog, Love in the Time of Cholera, About a Boy and Petals from the Sky. My goal is to work through them and then move them to the appropriate shelf. Of course that would be easier if I would quit buying books faster than I can read them on my Kindle...

Speaking of Kindles, I spotted a man reading a 2nd generation white Kindle on the train this morning. Yesterday, a woman was reading a Chinese book with an eagle on one side and traditional red stamp on the other. I spotted a schoolgirl with Shopoholic Abroad by Sophie Kinsella and a Western woman with an Amy Tan novel. Best of all, I saw a young woman on the MTR with a tattoo of an open book on her shoulder. She was reading Mr. Palomar by Italo Calvino.

What are people reading in your town this week? How do you organize your bookshelves?