I suppose I've been hooked since I sat down to write my first blog back in 2011, and although I didn't know it at the time the decision to write the stories of my life for Zach and Sami have changed my life.
This past week marks a big milestone in my blogging career as I surpassed the 50,000 readers mark (a huge thank you to my loyal readership…yes, you know who you are!) That’s a pretty crazy milestone, especially since my intention was just to write the stories of my life for my kids, so that they could always look back and have a sense of who I was and what was important to me during my life. But that was more than a book ago, yeah, still shaking my head on that one as well…
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| Love the photo of the drop chandelier that I took in Hanoi |
As you can tell I've taken the “when in Rome” approach to my writing so it will come as no new surprise to you to learn that I've been dabbling in other writing ventures recently as well.
Upon my return from my adventures in Hong Kong and Vietnam I started writing a series of related micro story based on this part of the world but completely fictional. It includes a cast of characters that have been in my life at one time or another. I used the names of people I know, street names and somewhat accurate historical settings but that’s about it, the actual events, locale, character traits and general story line are completely fictional.
As well, the story is set in Hanoi in 1991 so a little distant from where we are today, you'll also remember that there was no internet, texting, cell phones or the like in those days…yes, this part was purposeful. J
The structure of my daily writing has been focused on a single page, which equates to between 350 – 450 words, and is close to the length of a scene in a movie, but its more the discipline of daily writing, which has me completely hooked. Surprisingly it’s far from onerous and something that I look forward to each day. Most days I'll write, then mull over the general thread of the story to work out the potential scene for the next day but it’s far from planned out. I sort of just let it flow to see what happens to the story and characters.
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| This seed pod looked like a red high heeled shoe when I got close up, so couldn't resist taking a photo. |
I also realize that this probably isn’t the normal approach to writing but for me it’s all about the creativity, the intrigue, the mix of personalities and emotions not to mention the twists and turns of the storyline that I'm enjoying writing most. So far I have a caste of six characters, and about half a dozen scene locations but this will evolve I’m sure with time.
You'll also notice that they are a departure from my blogs in that the story, which I'm calling “Hanoi Posting”, as it has an adult theme to it, so not for kids. More suggestive than graphic but I'll let you be the judge of that…
So, why now you ask? Great question! For some time now I've been feeling a tad itchy between my weekly blog writing sessions, to just sit and write. Sounds strange that I have such a strong impulse to write, as you can tell its gotten under my skin to the point of when someone asks me what I do for a living I almost universally say “I'm a writer and travel photographer”. Now, clearly the tricky bit is to make money at being both those things. J
The other question I just know you're itching to ask is why Hanoi? Well, it was the location where I first really put pen to paper to create this fictional story, and it just seemed like the right setting to begin a story. Steamy and mysterious…
I think my biggest fear is that the storyline and/or characters are non-dimensional and hard to relate to, or worse… find it downright boring!
To illustrate the point, when I was choosing which stories to use in my book I re-read all of my blogs. I evaluated each story against the readership of the particular blog and ranked them, and then looked at which stories were somehow related to these ones (if in fact, any were related) then I amalgamated and re-wrote the larger story from all the related blogs, this, then formed the stories that you see in the book.
However the interesting part in all of this was that I had re-read all of my blogs. This was extremely humbling because what I found was that the first blogs I wrote were pretty ordinary, even I was a little embarrassed with the style and structure of my writing in those early ones. Now, some may argue that nothings changed at all. J
Although I guess you become your own worst critic and I even found them a tad painful to read…so you may have to bear with me as I find my feet with this type of fictional writing.
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| Early morning humidity in Hanoi - yep it was steamy! |
Here is my the opening scene…
“It was very early and except for the ubiquitous scooters that still prowled these pre-dawn streets he was alone. He stood on the step momentarily and as he surveyed the deserted street but all he could see was the reflection of streetlights and the gathering dawn. Within seconds his shirt had begun to stick to the skin on his back, perspiration beads forming on his brow and tiny droplets of sweat appearing on the wrists.
The humidity and pungent smells of Hanoi’s Cát Linh Đống Đa has assailed him as soon as he stepped from the air-conditioned sanctuary that he now called home. The life of a foreign correspondent wasn't all what it was cracked up to be he thought to himself as his mind wandered back to that fateful day in John’s office, when he had begged to be posted to Hanoi. Memories of that conversation still haunted him, but that was another lifetime ago and so disconnected with his current reality.
It wasn't that he was a bad correspondent, no far from it. He'd been both diligent and meticulous in his work, but soon after arriving he realized that it was far from the exotic location he'd expected. He had literally thrust himself into a journalistic backwater.
He closed his eyes momentarily and sighed deeply to himself, the lack of sleep and overall exhaustion weighing heavily. God, how could I have been so naïve he chided himself as he groggily made his way along the street toward the Old Quarter. He felt the pre-dawn doom wrap itself around him like a comfortable companion.
If only I had that moment over again, he thought…”
This week the photos include a selection from Hanoi that I haven't shared to date, but I wanted to connect you with the environment from which "Hanoi Posting" is being created. Enjoy!
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| Amazing colors and reflection in the bridge across the lake from my hotel - both day and night! |
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| Overhead there are a birds nest of wires running every which way |
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| Accommodations are a little different in the Old Quarter |
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| A confusion of color and neon everywhere you look |
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| Over laden scooters were the norm... |
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| Enterprising entrepreneurs all through the market |
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| You definitely need to get comfortable with crowds pretty quickly, as you do with crossing the roads against enormous odds of survival J |
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| Street vendors cooker - its seen some meals! |
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| A family preparing the evening meal out front of their home in an alley in the Old Quarter |
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| Alleyway restaurants at dinner time - they were doing a roaring trade and the food was delicious |
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| The rail underpass between the two markets in the Old Quarter |
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| A scooter rider navigating the garbage pile in the central square near Cho Dong Xuan market. Clearly it was one of the locations to drop your refuse before being carted away each evening |
Congrats on your 50,000 and your photos that lead to a good read, Maureen
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