Said the sly and conniving Mary Crawford to Fanny Price, and so I say to you, dear readers, forgive my long silence. Mary went on to say, "for you are so good, that I depend upon being treated better than I deserve."
And so say I to you, dear readers, thank you for treating me better than I deserve. And just as Mary broke her long silence because of self-interest, candour compels me to admit that I want to tell you something!
I have just published my debut novel, A Contrary Wind: a variation on Mansfield Park. More about that in a moment.
And so say I to you, dear readers, thank you for treating me better than I deserve. And just as Mary broke her long silence because of self-interest, candour compels me to admit that I want to tell you something!
I have just published my debut novel, A Contrary Wind: a variation on Mansfield Park. More about that in a moment.
So I am on vacation in Vietnam with my husband. Right now we're in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and it's Tet, or New Year. The locals have closed most of their shops and restaurants and are enjoying family activities like strolling along Flower Street in their New Year finery and taking pictures. This is our first trip to Vietnam and we're enjoying the people. country and culture very much.
To recap events with me since my last blog post, I spent five months in Canada from late spring to August, then I was able to return to China in September to resume my teaching job at Zibo Vocational Institute. This semester is my 7th (!) semester at ZBVI. Sorry that I didn't resume blogging through the summer or fall, but I was busy writing a 130,000 plus word novel during the summer and, during the fall, I was feeling exhausted most of the time. When I wasn't teaching class or preparing for class, I was sleeping. I think I caught a bug on my return to China. So a lot of what I could say about China these past few months would not be exactly positive. And yet I'm happy to be back, and glad to be with my Chinese friends and students again.
To recap events with me since my last blog post, I spent five months in Canada from late spring to August, then I was able to return to China in September to resume my teaching job at Zibo Vocational Institute. This semester is my 7th (!) semester at ZBVI. Sorry that I didn't resume blogging through the summer or fall, but I was busy writing a 130,000 plus word novel during the summer and, during the fall, I was feeling exhausted most of the time. When I wasn't teaching class or preparing for class, I was sleeping. I think I caught a bug on my return to China. So a lot of what I could say about China these past few months would not be exactly positive. And yet I'm happy to be back, and glad to be with my Chinese friends and students again.
Just like last year's winter vacation, unfortunately. I brought my end-of-semester cold-which-turned-into-bronchitis with me and Ross and I have spent a lot of time resting (coughing, hacking, wheezing) in our various hotel rooms and taking short excursions to see Hanoi, Hoi An and now, Saigon. I don't want to complain; it is what it is. However, I have got to think that the winter pollution has played a part in the way we're feeling now. It was so bad for a few weeks in December, I hesitate to even show you a picture. This is the way it looked, walking to class. I tried wearing a mask, but they always made my glasses fog over and I couldn't see where I was going!
But I've had something diverting to think about while resting in my hotel room, blowing my nose, and that was -- publishing my novel! Whilst walking the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, I am agreeably diverted by seeing signs that say "Fanny" and I can remind myself that I now have a book with my name on it, which has been a goal or dream or, rather, an expectation of mine, since I was seven years old! It is now available on Amazon and through Smashwords. If you like Jane Austen, I think you'll like this. If you read Mansfield Park and didn't like the heroine Fanny Price, why not give my variation a try. She's got a little bit more of a backbone. Download the free sample for your Kindle reader or read it online.
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