Feature Friday- The Peking Stitch

Several years ago, I wrote a book about my grandmother. Her story is a fascinating story and I enjoyed researching and writing it. When I finished the project, I was left with bins and bins of research. Newspaper articles, history notes and scribbles about life in China during the first part of the 1900's. 

As I flipped through the research, it occurred to me this material could be used to write a fictional story.  This is when Mei Ling introduced herself to me...she rose up from the crinkled pages of my research and pranced through my brain. She teased me from the old photographs I held.  She prodded me day and night until, The Peking Stitch was conceived.

I sat with my daughters and we discussed Mei Ling and her life. We met her father and her mother. We followed her into her society parties and felt her heart breaks.  


I only regretted I was not a fictional writer- I've never pretended to be. Non-fiction has been a medium I'm more comfortable with. The moment I try my hand at fiction, the characters move robotic-ally across the page. So after chapter four of The Peking Stitch, I shoved the manuscript into a drawer and forgot all about it.

Lately, Mei Ling has been calling me. She wants to get out of the drawer. She feels stifled in there. She seems to be saying, "Okay you might not be the best person to introduce me to others, but at least let me meet them!" 

So....I've agreed...I released her....On the 21st of  Jan, 2012...I allowed Mei Ling to emerge ever so slowly. A bit of a chapter in one post, another little bit in another post....you can meet Mei Ling at The Peking Stitch. Be sure to start at the beginning and remember, this will be an ongoing project....I'd love to have you join me on this endeavor.

Feature Friday - Eric Liddell

Most people have seen the movie, "Chariots of Fire"...and so they know about Eric Liddell...but the movie only shows a glimpse of this man and his inspiring life. I've read a few biographies about his life and I must say, each one has never disappointed me.

I guess another reason I am drawn to Eric Liddell's life story is because his last years were spent in the same Japanese Internment camp in China where my mother was. Reading through the research done for a book about my grandmother, I came across many references to Eric Liddell and his exemplary life, while in the internment camp.

Some people have insinuated that the books about Eric Liddell attempt to idolize him or make him out to be more of a saint than he really was. I think this is not the case, he was a man of great integrity and from what I've read in books and accounts written by his fellow internees, he was an honorable man. 

The best biography about him seems to be out of print at this time- Running for a Higher Prize by Renee Taft Meloche. There are a lot of other biographies about Eric Liddell which are still in print. I highly recommend any biography written about this man.