English, Motherfucker, do you speak it

We're nearly at the end of term four, and my afternoon class ALWAYS speak in Vietnamese instead of English. I couldn't help but say this (modified as the picture of course) so then with a moment in paint, I had to of course make it.

Its nearly holidays, yay! We're just slacking off around here, so I'm planning on doing a bunch of writing then (honest!)

Confessions of a Penmonkey

Earlier last week I got Chuck Wendig's Confessions of a Freelance Penmonkey, and read it over the weekend while in Dong Anh. I was a bit nervous, not because of the book, but because it was the first time I'd taken the kindle there, and I was worried what our niece and nephew would to do it. They're both around 3, and love technology, as the way only a hamfisted baby can. They've killed a iphone a laptop twice, and countless other phones, cameras and other pricey electronics.

But the kindle passed with flying colours... probably because they're used to colour displays, touch screens, pictures, vibrations and sounds. 

The writing was great, too. His website updates daily, so it was nice being able to read his style of writing on the weekend where I had no internet connection.

The three main things I took away from it - apart from a large dose of his profanity laced humour which I love - were:

• That you should finish stuff, not just flit from shiny topic to new idea to the next great idea - something I have been particularly susceptible to recently.
• Outline so you know where you're going, you will end up with a stronger story in the long run.
• Leave your work for a while, like a month or so, and come back and edit it then. To be honest, I haven't done much editing of my stories at all, but it will be something that I will have to start doing - and not just by pulling out wayward commas.

So I'll shelve writing a story to do some more outlining, and then get back onto it. If I feel bogged down, I'll swap to a fable or New Hanoian review. Plus, I have 2 or 3 of his flash fiction challenges that stalled due to work or holidays or just petering out.

But soon it'll be time for that great bit of creative writing - End of Year reports.