Thirdly, I thought it was the word flow problem. And it is said that one should do “morning ranting” to help the word flow. I did try it for one or two weeks, but then it became boring. The mindless rambling didn’t go anywhere and it felt like I was wasting the energy of my … Continue reading My Self Sabotaging Mind (Flash Fiction Continued)
Tag: writing
It Is A Mind Battle
I feel that every day I am wallowing in writing mistakes and can’t crawl out of it. Is this another trap? This feeling is punctuated by the thoughts that I am criticizing myself too much. The problem is that my brain seems to have a mind of its own. It doesn’t really follow my instructions. … Continue reading It Is A Mind Battle
The Beginning Of My Story
The first time I felt that there might be something wrong with my father was when I was eight-years-old, or probably nine-years-old, standing right outside of the three-story apartment building where we lived. The snowstorm of the night before was gone, bringing a brilliant morning of sunshine and cloudless sky. The wind had died down; … Continue reading The Beginning Of My Story
Beyond The Compliment (Flash Fiction)
Flash Fiction #176 Adi: I am glad the meeting is over. Now listen to me, Lulan. You have really improved. The way you describe the issue and present your thought. You are so different now from when I first knew you. San: I totally agree. Lulan, you’ve changed. I would say a totally different person … Continue reading Beyond The Compliment (Flash Fiction)
Describe the Indescribable Feeling
English is a strange language in many aspects, like spelling, pronunciation, grammar, but here I am going to talk about what I feel when I read English poetry. Actually I don’t even know how to describe it, but describing a thing that is difficult to describe is what I want to do to improve my … Continue reading Describe the Indescribable Feeling
Unblock the Natural Flow
I read several books on writing a long time ago. They were all books from serious or popular authors, literary or genre writers, but I couldn’t learn anything from them. So after three books, I stopped reading. It was useless to go through the motions if I couldn’t connect the content with my own problems. … Continue reading Unblock the Natural Flow
Freedom vs. Bigger Cage
“…freedom...my cage is simply getting bigger” is a quote from the book “All the Words I Kept Inside” by P. J. Gudpa. In one of the poems, she talked about seeking freedom and realizing she gets a bigger cage rather than true freedom. I think the freedom vs. bigger cage analogy can be used on … Continue reading Freedom vs. Bigger Cage
Romance Of The Steppe
I am trying to write a romance that is going to get rid of all the prevailing romance elements that I dislike, like the inevitable rescue scenes, rivalry, jealousy, frog to prince, love bombing etc. I want to write about two normal people who fall in love and talk their experiences and emotions in a … Continue reading Romance Of The Steppe
From Boring To Interesting
If I hear one more complaint, like "it's boring", I will explode and blast my fragile good girl image to pieces. I am not afraid of explosions, but I am wary of the consequences since I have to clean up the mess, rehabilitate my reputation, and extinguish the fire of self doubt. I think it … Continue reading From Boring To Interesting
Change The Habit
Make It Three Instead Of One I was trying to change my habit from writing one post at a time to writing three posts at a time in the past three weeks. And guess what? I felt so uncomfortable with the change that I was completely blocked for a whole week. However I was determined … Continue reading Change The Habit
Insomnia With No Somnia
Image by Deborah Hudson from Pixabay Last night, I had an insomnia. After counting a hundred sheep and lingering with the indecision of getting up or lying down, I searched for natural cures of sleeplessness online. As a non-native speaker, I am baffled with orphaned words. One of them is insomnia, which means sleeplessness. Where … Continue reading Insomnia With No Somnia
Quote Of The Day: Husband And Wife
Image by Annette Meyer from Pixabay Quote Of The Day #64 Joe Castleman is flying from New York to Helsinki with his wife Joan to receive the Helsinki Award for literature (imaginary. No such award exists). Joan was an aspiring writer once, and attended Smith College, but she quit and ran away with her professor … Continue reading Quote Of The Day: Husband And Wife
The One Thousandth
Image by Manfred Richter from Pixabay This is my 1000th post and I thought I would do something more interesting than my other posts, only to realize that the pressure of producing something better is a little too much to bear. At first I prepared two stories, one is "My Crazy Son-In-Law" and the other … Continue reading The One Thousandth
Thoughtless Day
Insomnia vs. Somnia
"Somnia" is not a word; "insomnia" is. That's just English. Non-native speakers (like me) beware. There are as many exceptions to the rules as those that follow the rules. Not only many words starting with "in" don't have corresponding antonyms that lose the prefix "in", but also some "in" and non-"in" pairs completely disregard the … Continue reading Insomnia vs. Somnia
Can’t Live With Or Without Impulse
I hate impulses, especially impulse purchase. I went to Trader Joe's today and bought a big bunch of things. Completely over my budget. Do I really need the "Tomato Basil Hummus"? No, but it is so good that I can finish the whole thing before I start my dinner. Do I really need the one … Continue reading Can’t Live With Or Without Impulse
Nothing And Everything
Have you ever had that feeling of dread that when you open your refrigerator, which is filled up nicely, but can't find anything to eat? Soy milk--I just drank it for the breakfast. Tomato soup--I had it yesterday. Vietnamese pizza with rice wrap underneath--I tried it twice already within 48 hours. Bean curd--too bland. My … Continue reading Nothing And Everything
Haoyan Do 