It’s the last Thursday of November, and I’ve signed up for Thanksgiving lunch at Maokong, the major tea-producing area of Taipei located in the rugged foothills southeast of the city. I stuff the direction sheet into my shoulder bag and start the ten-minute jaunt from the Taipei Royalty apartment building at 9:30 to the Liuzhangli […]
Thanksgiving at Maokong Read More »
People opposed to crass commercialism always complain about the combined Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas triumvirate of holidays that end every year. “Can’t we at least dig all the candy corn out of our teeth before the Butterball turkeys appear in the supermarket freezer section?” they ask. Or they say, “Can’t we at least finish all the Thanksgiving leftovers
The Ghosts of Thanksgivings Past Read More »
When a writer begins spending time with other writers, he learns that there’s a long and intimidating list of writing rules in need of memorization. It goes something like this: Don’t use adverbs, do avoid clichés, don’t switch points of view mid-scene, do only use “said” as a dialogue tag, and—most of all, folks—show, don’t
So You Want to Join a Writing Group Part III: Beware of Hobbyhorses Read More »
Here’s the scenario. Today is your day to be critiqued by your writing group. One by one, your peers provide you with thoughtful feedback, analyzing the ins and outs of your work. Everyone is tuned in to your writing, catching a few things you missed—okay, let’s say a lot of things, which is the way
So You Want to Join a Writing Group Part II: Don’t Make Excuses for Your Work Read More »
When I was in my MFA program, there were only two non-negotiable rules of the workshop. The first was that we should always begin a critique by saying something positive about the work under discussion. This was nothing new to me, and it made good sense. After all, it’s just as easy to find weakness in
So You Want to Join a Writing Group Part I: Not So Much with the Talking Read More »
One good thing that came out of the Gulf wars, maybe the only good thing, is a belated recognition of Vietnam veterans. Somewhere in all of the “Support the Troops” fervor that gripped much of the country came a wave of guilt over how veterans of Vietnam were treated. What M.A.S.H. did for Korean War
How to Thank Veterans for Their Service Read More »