Happy 2017!

Happy 2017!  Wishing you a healthy and happy new year!

Wham! - a music legend in China. RIP George Michael

Wham!  The first western band to perform in China in 1985.  A music legend in China.  They changed China forever. 

RIP George Michael 

Harbin Ice Festival

Harbin Ice Festival.  Where everything is made of ice.  On my list of places to visit soon.

Christmas in Beijing

A giant Christmas tree brings the holiday spirit to Wangfujing, one of Beijing’s best-known shopping areas. (Photo: VCG) #TrendingToday

Mongolia - the calf and its boy

Palace life

Researching Tang dynasty and the Silk Road.  Came across this beautiful photo of a woman if she were living a day of palace life.

Women at Work on The Beijing Family Book Series - to be released in 2017 on Amazon

All five books of The Beijing Family book series are now in the hands of my editor and copy illustrators. They include complete renovations of books 1-3 and new releases of 4 and 5. We are going to be plenty busy. Looking forward to its final release in 2017 on Amazon.

Happy Thanksgiving! - Gǎn'ēn jié kuàilè. Wishing you a safe and happy celebration.

Happy Thanksgiving! - Gǎn'ēn jié kuàilè.   Wishing you a safe and happy celebration.

No pain, no gain!

Working on publishing Book 4 - The Beijing Beauties - and at the same time completely renovating Books 1-3 with my editor and copy illustrator.  Up at 5am, bedtime at 11pm.  Working a full time job in between.  Brutal schedule, lots of caffeine, little sleep.  Perseverance, no gain, no gain!

The Beijing Family book series - under renovation

I am currently renovating the entire "The Beijing Family" book series to include new writing, new editing, new cover art, new story lines and a web series.  Good stuff coming ahead!  

Thanks for your patronage. 

Miss Beijing

In 'The Beijing Beauties", soon to be released Book 4 of The Beijing Family book series is Ling Hua, recently crowned Miss Beijing and studying at UCLA and having boy troubles.  (Photo credit Google) 

Just Write!

Somewhere along the Great Wall........

Somewhere along the Great Wall.........

Moon Bridge - Hunan, China

Moon Bridge - Hunan, China

Everyone needs an editor

Hired a good editor - long overdue!  Working on editing Book 4 - The Beijing Beauties, about 3 women from China looking for love in Los Angeles. 

Old Shanghai living amongst modern urbanization

Self made single Chinese female billionaire looking for love in the City of Angels

In "The Beijing Beauties", soon to be published Book 4 to the Beijing Family book series, is Jin - a self made single Chinese female billionaire looking for love in the City of Angels. I was thinking of Zhang Xin, the CEO of SOHO China, the largest commercial real estate developer in Beijing when I developed her character.

Read: 8 out of 10 self made women billionaires are from China 

Chinese Billionaire's Mistress or Modern Day Concubine Lives On

In "The Beijing Beauties", soon to be published Book 4 to the Beijing Family book series, is a billionaire's mistress looking for love in the City of Angels. Single and approaching 30, she's torn between staying a mistress or being single again.

Read Article: 

China's Concubine Cultural lives on in Mistresses

Writing while working a full time time career

It’s not easy juggling a demanding full time career and writing books at the same time.  Especially when thoughts of a blossoming writing career is a motivation.  I attended a writing seminar hosted by a publishing company and over 90% of the aspiring writers were in the retired age range.  In another words, it appears that they were working on their second career after having experienced a first one in varying degrees.  Undoubtedly, their age provides them a wealth of life experiences to inspire good writing in different genres.  But what about the rest of us that are still in our employment years and far away from retirement that want to write too?  How do we juggle this without compromising one or the other?  Let’s face it, I don’t want to be 95 years before I hit my first break.  So can we have it all?

So I decided in order to accomplish both, some things have to change or maybe perhaps rearranged since there are only 24 hours in a day.  Recently,  I’ve been adhering to a rather grueling schedule and I’m hoping it will stick.  I wake up at around 4AM on days that I need to work on my book which can be every day of the week or 3 days of the week depending on what needs to be done.  

  


I write and edit for about 2 hours before starting my day at my full time job as a real estate broker.  The house is dark and still and it gives me the peace and quiet I need to focus and let my creative juices flow. Since I write creative fiction, I need to tap into my imaginative wells.  At that stark early time in the morning, there’s an unleashing of my creative thoughts in quiet calmness that only gets masked or drowned from the insane stresses of my days. 

Currently, I’m working on the 4rth book of the Beijing Family book series – The Beijing Beauties.  It’s about 3 women from China looking for love in Los Angeles and in line with all the other books in the series, it’s filled with drama and comedy.  This morning, I spent over 2 hours editing a few chapters and will be continuing this process until it’s finished.  I find editing to be more tedious than writing in that the process requires not only editorial refining but the magic of literary magic unique to each writer.   To be in this mode, one needs to be focused and alert, diligent and in general peace and free of mental stresses  which the early morning hours provides for me in my schedule before the onset of my bustling menagerie also known as life. 

After a long day, I wind down by finishing up more editing.  Or sometimes I read which is a much easier task reserved for my later hours when I'm low on energy.  Currently, I’ve been marinating myself about the Silk Road from feeling inspired about this era for some time now and the nagging desire to write my next book increasing daily.  I’m slanting towards romance and drama spiced with tantalizing erotica for the Silk Road.  

It began with my first read about Marco Polo and his traverses through Central Asia.  What a fascinating book!  If Marco Polo had not been thrown in a Venice jail after his travels through Asia, he would never have met fellow jailmate and famous writer, Rustichello of Pisa, a favorite of King Edward I of England.  With an abundance of time on their hands now that they were imprisoned, the writer documented his travels and evolved into history today.  

Now, I'm reading Life Along the Silk Road. This book recounts life along the Silk Road from Samarkand to Chang'an through different individuals  - a merchant, a soldier, a horseman, a princess, a monk, a courtesan, a nun, a widow, an official and an artist. Another interesting read! 

With this arduous schedule, I find myself occasionally wafting between tired and sleepy on some days to keep up, but somehow I get through all three components – writing, working and reading, although I’ve caught myself falling asleep while reading at night here and there.   

My writing spawned in the middle of the Great Recession here in the US and as as real estate broker, I was struggling in a real estate industry that was imploding and melting.  At that time, I had less work and more time which allowed me to conceive The Beijing Family book series and its initial 3 books  – The Beijing Family, The Beijing Youths and The Beijing Ghosts.  I am currently renovating the entire book series to be republished at the end of 2017 with the addition of two more new books to the series - The Beijing Beauties and The Beijing Mummies. 

Mixed in were nubile efforts in marketing and the creation of this very blog but it didn’t last very long.  I began developing the concept of The Beijing Beauties and had begun writing it only to be sidestepped pleasantly in October of 2014 when I accepted a job offer with a nationwide builder and my work partner and I sold 37 homes in one year and I was awarded Sales Associate of the year in 2014.  Surely, the writing, reading, marketing and blogging were all put aside for over a year while I toiled away at work.  But in 2016, I was determined to finish Book 4 – The Beijing Beauties and get it published despite how busy I am now in comparison to before.  

Before I picked up my PC after some time lapse to write again, I wondered if I will be able to write like I did when I had more time and less work and the solace during the Great Recession now that I have an insidious schedule with a full time career.  I feared that my daily stresses would diminish my creativity.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it did not!  My creativity is always there.  I just needed to make time for it. It meant I had to carve out a time in my day that was calm and quiet and just simply write.  In doing just that, I finished the initial draft of The Beijing Beauties and am now working on further revisions.  So it can be done.  You just have to make time for it. Innate talents such as creativity are inherent and not situation specific.  Artistry will deliver when called upon, like dancing and singing whether it’s sunny or rainy, busy or alone.  It doesn't matter what time of day or where you are.  It doesn't matter if you're sitting in an airport with a room filled with people yacking away or in a corner by yourself in a library.  When you're creativity is called upon to deliver, let it sing, let it all out.  Get it all down, let it be you!    

Happy Writing! 

Old China in Modern Luxury

I helped two Chinese buyers purchase brand new luxury homes in the $1.5+ million price in Los Angeles recently. They are now planting bok choy and other Chinese produce in their backyard, just like Grandma Moh in The Beijing Family! Old China prevails in modern luxury

The "Leftover Woman" in The Beijing Beauties

In "The Beijing Beauties", soon to be published Book 4 to the Beijing Family book series, is a "leftover woman". Single, very successful, highly educated and past 30 years of age frowned on with social stigma in China, seeks love in the City of Angels.

Marco Polo - prisoner turned world historian

Finished reading Marco Polo - what a great read! Upon returning from Asia, Marco found Venice at war with Republic of Genoa and was thrown in jail. Fortuitously he met fellow prisoner and famous writer, Rustichello de Pisa, whom documented his travels into The Travels of Marco Polo, which ingrained Marco into world history.  If he had not been in jail, he might not have told his story!

Hangzhou - The City of Heaven

"It is the greatest city that may be found in the world, where so many pleasures may be found that one fancies himself to be in Paradise" - Marco Polo arriving in Hangzhou, a city he claims to be like Venice, but a more high evolved version of his native city. (Photos from my Hangzhou trip 2011)

My latest read about the Silk Road - Marco Polo! Very fascinating book. On my travel wish list - The Silk Road!

My latest read about the Silk Road - Marco Polo!  Very fascinating book.  On my travel wish list - The Silk Road!

The Beijing Beauties

I'm currently writing The Beijing Beauties, the 4rth book to The Beijing Family book series.  It's about 3 women looking for love in the City of Angels or Los Angeles.  It's a book I started over a year ago.  But I've been very busy with a new job and finally found the time and schedule to work my writing in and now it's work in progress.  Here is a beauty from China - Zhang Ziyi.  Famous actress in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Rush Hour 3, Hero and Memoirs of a Geisha.

Happy Chinese New Year! Wishing you a year of luck and prosperity

The perfect writing spot

I took a long break from writing.  I've been very busy with my day job as a real estate broker. But I found the inspiration to write again regardless of how hectic my schedule is.  I've decided to dedicate at least 30 minutes to an hour to write at least daily.  I'm working on my fourth book of  The Beijing Family Book Series - The Beijing Beauties.  After work today, I hoped to find a well-lit table and an outlet to do some writing at a café.  First place I visited, my wishes were fulfilled.  It was seamless.  I feel very grateful.