christopher ming lee

I find myself angry with my work more often than usual. I get angry with the direction I’ve led my life these last couple of months, which leads to anger towards the people around me.
When it gets to this point, I read the following below (sent over by Annie) which brings me back to an [...]

I feel I have three more essays in me, and I’ll be done with the book - aside from their edits, of course. For these last three pieces, I’m brought back to the depressing realm of first drafts. I wrote earlier about trusting the process, and I’ve forgotten how hard that is when every sentence [...]

A few months ago, I read about one person’s experiences writing his book. I won’t go into specifics, but their description was a bit odd: “When I woke up, I started writing. When I got hungry, I stopped to eat. When I got tired, I slept. Otherwise, I kept writing. It was a blast.”
I really [...]

If I’m not having fun with it, then I won’t do it.
Sometime here at CTY I realized this is the mantra I want my lifestyle to reflect.
At CTY, I’m working hard, but having a blast doing it. The work consists of planning activities for the students, running those activities (creative writing workshop and extreme [...]

I know travel writing can be the Holy Grail for a lot of writers. And if not the Holy Grail, then maybe a free sundae at Dairy Queen - I don’t really know, I’ve never been to a Dairy Queen. For me, it’s akin to burning to ashes the overpriced Mobile Station around the corner [...]

I put off writing anything about graduation and my ultimate end to higher education - mostly because I didn’t know what to say. I spent the last two weeks settling in at home. I went to all my medical appointments (physician, dentist, orthodontist, dermatologist, podiatrist, whew!) in a span of three days.
Good news, by the [...]

As I wrote about before, learn from people who did it before. It’s the best way to acclimate yourself to certain skill sets - whether you want to be a judo master, a race car driver, or an astronaut.
I had the opportunity to speak with Deborah Bailey, owner of Writing Services Central (and Rutgers alumni) [...]

Two freelancers I spoke to are Diana Mimon and Elena Rover. Both have been very helpful about answering my questions on freelancing, and I thought it’d be a good idea to include their advice in a post:
On Cold Querying: Elena says she hasn’t cold queried in years, but to write a good one - you [...]

As this pursuit is still young, I’m constantly exploring new ways to pick up more freelancing gigs. There is one ideal, absolute best way to do it:
1. Make use of contacts in the business: people you know who work in publishing, the media, or small businesses that use freelance writers. For me personally, this avenue [...]

“How much do you charge for each project?”
I put off thinking about this question for as long as possible. I figured when someone was finally interested in my work, I’d come up with some sort of rate. Then, the day comes - I reply to someone’s craigslist ad, and actually get a response back. [...]