Of Idioms and Brooklyn

ust a quick update. I finished reading The Stories Behind 100 Chinese Idioms. Some favorites:

1) Tyranny is fiercer than a tiger.
2) All that is needed is an east wind.
3) Like a crane standing among chickens.

I've now moved on to John Patrick Shanley's screenplay of Moonstruck, a favorite movie, which does a nice job of bringing together the stories of several characters akin to what I try to do. I may try to hit the Strand to see what screenplays they have as the NYPL, for once, doesn't seem to have many (at least not circulating).

Back in the Groove

ow that a number of concerns are out of the way, I only have one distraction from writing: baseball. Every year I brace myself for a serious writing hiatus as my mind wanders to the playing field and every year I find a way to make progress nevertheless. Hopefully this year will yield more of the same.

To that end, I picked up The BFL the other day and put pen back to paper. It felt good. Very good. It didn't take long for the story to come back to me, nor for my interest and excitement for the story to do the same.

I have also restarted my research into Chinese language. I picked up The Stories Behind 100 Chinese Idioms at the library and should finish it in the next few days. I'll share some of my favorite idioms and the stories behind them in future posts.