A few years ago, I had a weekly column in China Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s English Language newspaper, in which I gently poked fun at a number of things that I saw in everyday life here in Tianjin. At …
The Writer Laid Bare
Seven Effective Ways to Kill Your Novel
Six years ago, after several years of working on a novel I’d provisionally titled The Russian Book of Lost Love, I discovered that it is possible to kill your own book. If you, too, contemplate murder, here are some …
The enemy in my hallway
December for me has always been the month of retrospection, soul-searching, summaries.
This year has been my first year of living the tricky life of a writer-mother.
I delayed motherhood until I reached the ripe age of 39 for several …
That damn first draft
Now that the year is coming to a close, I am at work on my writing plans for 2014. I always need lots of plans to produce a little something. Making plans is one of my favourite activities. Plans make