National Novel Writing Month Draws to a Close

As I’m sure some of you with access to social media have noticed, November is National Novel Writing Month. Its abbreviated form of NaNoWriMo might not be as snappy as Movember, but it still convinced over 300,000 participants to stick it out to the bitter end in 2013, which is an impressive number when you consider how difficult it is to actually write a novel.

But what’s next? Transmitting your novel from an idea in your head to a realised draft on the paper is the first and arguably the most difficult obstacle in your journey to becoming a novelist. Once that is overcome, you are, by definition, a novelist. However, the journey is not yet complete.

Now begins the editing process. Take a few days to cool down after completing your draft; enjoy a few festive glasses of port and open six or seven of the doors on your advent calendar, and then return to the project with fresh eyes.

The time has come to begin grappling with your Melville-esque white whale. Print the monster out – looking at your work on paper rather than on the same screen you’ve been punching characters into the for the last four weeks will enable you to think about it in a different light – and go at it with a red pen. This will also allow you to be ruthless without irrevocably deleting vast swathes of your beloved text.

All this might seem like a gargantuan task, but remember, the worst is over. You did what maybe you never thought you could do; you wrote a novel. That’s got to feel good, right? Let it sink in.

How did you get on in NaNoWriMo? Drop us a comment and let us know.

Click here for more information on National Novel Writing Month. 

Wen Zhenheng: Life, Tea and a Treatise on Superfluous Things

You might be a fan of Chinese tea but you may not have heard of Wen Zhenheng.

The man himself, possibly thinking about having a cuppa

Born in Jiangsu province in 1585, Lao Wen was something of a polymath, successfully turning his hand to writing, painting and even garden design during his 60 year life. But he is maybe best known for his ambitious work “A Treatise on Superflous Things” – known as Chang Wu Zhi in Chinese pinyin, or 长物志 in Mandarin script – written over seven years in the 1620s.

 It is in this work that Wen sets about itemising and cataloguing his wisdom on a variety of quotidian subjects, including food, clothing, interior design, art and – maybe most famously – tea. The final section of this twelve volume work is dedicated to incense and tea, two subjects intrinsic to the Chinese cultures of worship and manners. There are 24 chapters in this tome alone, which reflects the importance of incense and tea in Ming Dynasty China.

 [Note: although maybe not as important as “Utensils”, a subject to which Wen Zhenheng devotes 58 chapters] 

There is no complete translation of 长物志 in existence, but the Shandong Pictorial Publishing House published an abridged edition of the work back in 2004. You can take a look at excerpts from the last volume of Wen Zhenheng’s 长物志 by clicking here.

Different types of teas feature different health benefits. Click here for more information.