I’ve written 3605 words so far for this story, the first one in the new book. It is certainly one of the most difficult pieces I’ve ever written. I should have noticed a red flag of warning when I began reading all those articles about the indescribability of God. Oh well. Anyway, today, I think I finally finished one of the really pivotal...
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Tom Cho 曹勵善 on X (formerly Twitter): “Sick of struggling with this short story but then… it’s really hard to describe God. At any rate, my mission today: to get closer to God. / X” Sick of struggling with this short story but then… it’s really hard to describe God. At any rate, my mission today: to get closer to God....
Read MoreI’m Chinese-Australian but…
Jose Borghino recently wrote a review of Wordlines, a new anthology of Australian writing edited by Hilary McPhee. I read this review today. Admittedly, I was reading the review with some self-interest because I have some pieces in this anthology (and, as it turns out, Borghino said something nice about them too: “Tom Cho’s surreal and...
Read MoreMy Yes function
Doing some research for this story I’m working on. This is from William James’ (1960) The Varieties of Religious Experience. James is discussing different mystical states of consciousness and he notes the intoxicating effects of alcohol: The sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its power to stimulate the mystical faculties of...
Read MoreFinding a way in
Beginnings are usually intimidating – in life and in the world of writing. When it comes to writing, the blankness of the screen or page can visually impress upon you that you are lacking – lacking words, lacking foresight into the nature of the outcome, lacking the gumption to even begin. Over the last few weeks, I’ve started writing the...
Read MoreSometimes writing has to make way for living
It’s been a sudden development but I’ll be moving house in a few weeks. And now I also have the flu. And my computer is sick too. In short, I’m not able to write fiction at present – and this comes at a time when I really want to, when the piece I’ve been working on has started to come good. Yep: sometimes writing has to make...
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