Everyone needs a day off.  Today was one of those days for me.  My desk was as messy as ever.  The how-to manual close by.  My writing jacket was on the back of my chair.   I had no words.  They would not come.

I have to honor and respect them.  I will wait till they are ready to come back.  In the meantime, I am researching and studying plots, characters, timelines, conflict, etc.  There are so many parts that goes into writing a book besides the writing.  I have just discovered this in the process.

Things happen in mysterious ways.  It is wonderful but strange that I am writing a book at this time.  How opportune that I picked up a how-to book by Janet Evanovich.  She is one of my favorite mystery writers.  I love her character Stephanie Plum. Her how-to is very helpful and as much fun to read as her novels!

At the same time I came across a novel by a Chinese writer.  The novel is based in Shanghai, a city I have visited and where the author was born.  The main character lost his ability to speak Chinese due to a head injury.  But he is able to speak English.

The first page of the book is very riveting.  It grabbed me right away.  I thought:  Wow, what a good translation!   I was wrong.  It was written in English.  The author left Shanghai at age 10 and graduated from Brown University.  She has lost her written and spoken Chinese – much like myself.

I am learning much about the written word to bring events, pictures, emotions and actions alive in the mind.  The way someone uses words tells much about the culture we come from.  It is interesting how and what we identify with different writers.  The book is called The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Xu.

As you can see, my words are not coming easily.  But I am still having fun.