England + Spring

Spring has alighted over Taiwan; a few months later than I'd prefer it to, but I'll take what I can get. Up here in the mountains, a mist has settled over everything, just like before, but there's notable changes - the birds are starting to herald me in the morning. There's one bird in particular that's endemic only to Taiwan, called the Formosan Blue Magpie (Urocissa caerulea) It's one of the most beautiful birds I've seen, and I had the pleasure of seeing one on a hike a few weeks ago. They're called the blue-tailed faeries of the forest over here, and you can see why: 

 They're really quite lovely, aren't they? 

Now, onto the reasons I haven't posted in two months: 



- Going on a weeklong trip to London and Stratsford-upon-Avon with my theatre buddies
- Preparing for college stuff, IB exams, and getting up to par on my homework
- Revising and editing Spark.

First off: England. I got back about a week ago, and I'm still in awe from it. I've been to England and Scotland before on a family trip, but this time it was just me, my friends, and a very cool brownie-baking theatre teacher. I can still taste it. We saw a pack of musicals and plays, including Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King, Sister Act, The 39 Steps, Romeo and Juliet, and more. Not to mention the shopping. It's always a strange feeling, going somewhere that uses English as its predominant language. A foreign country. Living overseas turns everything around, I suppose. 

Now I'm back in Taiwan, rooted in my own geography. School's been going for a week, and I've found myself trapped beneath a mountain of makeup homework, projects, exams, and college prep. Writing is the only way I can breathe, and I've been hard-pressed to find any time to do that. Three or so weeks ago I sent in the first five chapters of Spark in to an international writing contest after some encouragement from the local writing teacher. It's a pretty big contest; about 500 novels are entered each year, and only one gets to the top, where there's the chance of publication. I should be notified of whether I've gotten into the first submission process soon. 

Spark: 116,000 words, currently editing

-Ari