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Writing the Other
I grew up reading Louise May Alcott. I still have copies of all her books: dog-eared, broken-backed, and beloved. On the rare occasions when I get sick, it’s a toss-up between Alcott and Jane Austen as comfort reading. One of Alcott’s books, Eight Cousins, features a white character (Annabel) who marries the “highly satisfactory Chinaman”,…
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A Style Manual
When I think of a style manual, I think about punctuation. To use or not to use the Oxford comma. To write a number in letters or in Roman numerals. The purpose of a style manual is to create consistency in the writing, formatting, and design of a publication. So, every now and again, I…
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Green Thumbs
Gardening is not my superpower. As a young adult, I was known for the speed with which I killed my houseplants. When my husband and I moved from Washington, DC to Amsterdam, 30 years ago, I saw it as a welcome opportunity to rid myself of all those sad specimens lurking in the corners of…
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Seoul
A year ago today, I was in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. This was month 2 of a round-the-world trip that lasted 7 months. My husband and I were following an itinerary I had crafted using novels I had read and upended by whatever happened to cross our path. That trip feels like a…
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Max Lazerich
Max Lazerich is the star of the final volume of my Shanghai Quartet. And yet, so far, he’s played a relatively minor role. In The Dancing Girl and Turtle, Max is Kang’s workmate and improbable friend. He’s an even more unlikely love interest for the cook Jin. By the time Peace Court and Laogai, the…
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Moon Cake
On the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, Asia celebrates the Harvest Moon Festival. Lions dance in China, Taiwan and Singapore. Japanese and Korean children make paper lanterns while in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines, the older generation gazes ardently at the full moon. In all these countries, in one form or another, people…
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Eucatastrophe
In the 10 days since I arrived in Los Angeles, I’ve experienced fire, earthquake and the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This comes on top of COVID-19, extreme weather and the face mask wars. A friend recently asked, when do the rivers of blood begin? In fact, blood is already on the streets of America,…
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Getting to Know You
When I write fiction, I have no idea where the story will end. Something sparks my imagination ⏤ an overheard conversation or an image glimpsed from a train window. Maybe I can sense already the character I want to portray. I might have a general direction of where that character will go. Or not. By…
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Memory
A writer friend recently asked me to recommend books about memory. I ran into my basement to pore through my collection. Some books I can remember by title or author, some by their memorable characters, all of them by the look of a cover. Memory is a sensory act. For me, visual clues evoke memories.…
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Dinner Time!
Dinner is often on my mind. Well, food in general. But it’s become an obsession now that I’ve endured a 14 day quarantine while in Los Angeles and another 10 days following my return to Amsterdam. It’s time to party! Don’t worry, though. We’ll be entertaining dinner guests in a COVID conform fashion only. That…