I think what keeps most new writers from starting to write is the fear of writing the same thing that other writers have already written.
Despite what I said in my post “my greatest weakness as a writer,” I’ve found the most important part of writing, especially to not get writer’s block, is to not get caught up in the details.
We’ve all been there, either in the room with an interviewer or filling out a job application form, when the interviewer asks: what is your greatest weakness?
Imagine you find yourself in Shanghai with free time on a Saturday. You decide to take the metro to the Jiashan road metro station in the French concession.
Today I’ll be doing a double post. One will be the regular post on a subject linked to writing. The other will be a nonfiction article I wrote about an event in Shanghai. I will occasionally be posting articles about Shanghai, it is half of the name after all. Feel free to skip them if you are not interested. I will be posting new articles on Monday and Thursday every week.
I know it’s often said that Americans sue all the time but I feel China is ahead on that score.
Remember that scene in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the Gestapo officer sits across from Marion and asks “What shall we talk about?”
I remember getting my first writing assignment when I was eight years old, living in Chiangmai, Thailand. My Language Arts teacher wanted us to write a story about a circus. As I recall, my story had something vague about visiting a circus tacked on at the end. It was mainly about a group of friends biking around and going to a video store to rent movies then taking them back home to watch. Read More…