Shi Min Xie School for Good and Evil — A Review
I was looking for fantasy books for my students to read, and stumbled upon this while I was browsing through GoodReads. Basically, the story revolves around two girls, Sophie and…
I’m not doing Nanowrimo this year.
Nanowrimo. The very competition that got me into writing my first full length novel. And it was full of rubbish. Not Nanowrimo. My novel, I mean. Back in 2006, when…
Shui Gui — A Seventh Month Ghost Story
I am often inspired by Chinese festivals, and this story is no different. Although we have just celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Ghost Month is now over, I thought…
How to Sign Books for Children
Many of the people who buy my book are people I know, and some of the people I know come from where I work. Parents and children who support me…
How Much of Xin Long’s Chinese New Year Mirrors My Own?
One very common question I get is whether Xin Long is based on me. The short answer is no. We’re very different people. However, since Dragonhearted is based on Chinese…
The best Christmas present, ever.
It is the new year and this post is long overdue. For me Christmas doesn’t have that much meaning since I don’t quite celebrate it the so-called Christian way, but…
Hollywood has no original ideas
As the holidays are coming up, I’ve seen many movie trailers that are re-tellings of stories that we know and love. The Beauty and the Beast trailer came out yesterday,…
I Don’t Want to Write as a Girl! and Other Gender Related Problems at Work
said all the boys I teach. I teach young children to write picture compositions, and sometimes, the image shows that the main character is a girl. I always ask them…
Kubo and the Two Strings is such a beautiful movie!
I recently had the pleasure of watching Kubo and the Two Strings in a quiet movie theatre, and boy, was I blown away. When I watched the trailer (it wasn’t…
What I don’t understand about Pokemon
I am playing Pokemon Sun. I would like to write that this is the fist time I’ve touched the franchise since the 90’s, but that’s not true. I played Pokemmo,…