Gengcheng: frightened, scared
The Chinese use lion dancing to celebrate many special holidays and festivities. Businessmen believe a lion will bring them prosperity, so they hang up a cheng (lit. green), a stalk of vegetable with a red envelope as a prize. With gongs and drums in the background , the lion dancers will reach for the cheng, sometimes with one man standing on the shoulders of the other. The expression gengcheng comes from the spectators being afraid that the dancers will fall.
For me, October 1st=gengcheng. Why? After much debating, I have decided to attend the Writer's Digest West Conference. (I'll be there on Saturday, October 20th.) The event offers multiple writing seminars, along with a talk given by guest speaker Jamie Ford.
It also hosts the Pitch Slam event (a.k.a. speed dating for literary agents), which scares me. Despite hearing that: 1) agents work for the writer, and 2) you just talk about your story, these statements don't alleviate my fear. Anyway, here are three stabs at my manuscript pitch for the conference:
Speaking of overcoming fears, another event starting up today is Khara House's Submit-O-Rama, a challenge to send out your work on a regular basis throughout the month. I'll be taking on the basic version of this challenge (submissions 3x a week). In November, I'll report back the results of my efforts.
Please drop a note about which pitch grabs you. If you're a writer, let me know whether you'll be participating in the Submit-O-Rama challenge. For everyone else, feel free to share any of your own fears.
The Chinese use lion dancing to celebrate many special holidays and festivities. Businessmen believe a lion will bring them prosperity, so they hang up a cheng (lit. green), a stalk of vegetable with a red envelope as a prize. With gongs and drums in the background , the lion dancers will reach for the cheng, sometimes with one man standing on the shoulders of the other. The expression gengcheng comes from the spectators being afraid that the dancers will fall.
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| Chinese New Year 2012, Los Angeles Chinatown |
It also hosts the Pitch Slam event (a.k.a. speed dating for literary agents), which scares me. Despite hearing that: 1) agents work for the writer, and 2) you just talk about your story, these statements don't alleviate my fear. Anyway, here are three stabs at my manuscript pitch for the conference:
1)
Three generations in an all-female Taiwanese family living
in Los Angeles in 1980 are all guarding their own personal secrets. Lisa loses her job, her mother Silk gets
diagnosed with breast cancer, and her own pre-teen daughter Abbey struggles
with a school bully. When Lisa uncovers
Silk’s never-talked-about past—her escape from Taiwan’s 228 Massacre, widowed
and pregnant—the truth forces the family to reconnect emotionally and battle
their problems together.
2)
Three generations in an all-female Taiwanese family living
in Los Angeles in 1980 are all guarding their own personal secrets. The grandmother Silk finds out that she has
breast cancer as her daughter loses her job, while her pre-teen granddaughter Abbey
struggles with a school bully. When Silk’s
never-talked-about past comes out—that she escaped Taiwan’s 228 Massacre widowed and
pregnant—the truth forces the family to reconnect emotionally and battle their
problems together.
3)
My story is set in Southern California
in 1980. When 32-year-old Lisa Lu
finally lands a job that she enjoys, she also finds a surrogate father figure to
replace her own never-discussed biological dad.
Then her mother Silk finds out, and haunted by memories of fleeing
Chinese soldiers during Taiwan’s
228 Massacre, she disowns Lisa. Lisa
then has to choose between these two important figures in her life.
Please drop a note about which pitch grabs you. If you're a writer, let me know whether you'll be participating in the Submit-O-Rama challenge. For everyone else, feel free to share any of your own fears.
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