Peg Cheng

Author + Teacher

Peg Cheng

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SEVEN DUDES: Chapter 2

Hamish_Linklater

I  hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my work-in-progress, SEVEN DUDES, last week. Here’s chapter two.

SEVEN DUDES

A novel by Peg Cheng, Draft 1

Chapter 2: Robbie

The man crouched behind the row of old beater cars wore nut-brown wing-tip oxfords shined to within an inch of their lives. His thighs ached. The grit of the blacktop etched into his fingertips like tiny shards of glass. But he did not move. He did not breathe. Minute after minute, he watched a woman sweep the front porch of a yellow house with weathered, peeling paint.

Though sunrise was just an hour before, the Fresno air was already rising in temperature and the man could tell it was going to be another scorcher, even in October. He was grateful that his car had air conditioning. He could stay cool wherever his wife decided to go.

He could see how even after nearly ten years, she was still his blushing bride. In today’s morning light, even just doing something as mundane as sweeping, she was absolutely striking. Still able to still his heart or make it beat faster with a shy smile or a brush of her hand.

When she finished sweeping, the woman went inside the house and closed the front door. Only then did he sit back on his haunches. His fingertips were dappled with little indentions. He brushed his hands together then wiped them against his pants, removing the grit, but not all the dirt. That would take soap. For a second he was mad about this–he hated being dirty–but let it pass. He needed to stay focused. He needed to stay invisible.

While he waited, the man twisted the wedding band around his left ring finger round and round. He had been a post-doc from Michigan. She was just a sophomore at UCLA. He spied her across the student union lobby balancing a teetering stack of books, her purse, and a commuter mug. Dewy skin, long, black hair, and big eyes the color of liquid pools of espresso. It was only a matter of time before some fool wouldn’t see where he was going and would crash into her. When her books tumbled, he rushed over to help her pick them up. He insisted on carrying them for her to the library. By the time they got there, he’d insisted again on taking her out for pizza that night. She agreed but only if she was allowed to bring her roommate. He told her to bring all her girlfriends if she wanted. She blushed and looked away, but she did meet him that night. Seven months later, they were married.

The man started when the front door of the house opened and his wife walked out. She carried a purse and a duffel bag. He watched her lock the front door, walk down the front drive, and onto the sidewalk. He waited until he could barely see her and then crept out from behind the row of cars. She was headed to the bus stop a few blocks away. He’d follow the bus in his car. Wherever she went, he’d go too.

He wasn’t going to lose track of her this time. This time, he was going to talk to her–calmly and collectedly–and he’d show her how he’d changed. He’d show her the man she married. The one who made her laugh. The one who brought her pistachio baklava on her birthdays. The one who knew her better than anyone else.

He’d show her and she wouldn’t be able to say no this time. He was her husband after all. And she was his wife. This time she’d say yes and go back home with him. He was sure of it.

Their vows said, ’til death do you part. If she said no this time, well, then, that would be it. She’d still be his wife.

He would just have to be a widower.

Peg Cheng is the author of The Contenders, a middle-grade novel centered on the question, can enemies become friends? She is currently writing another novel that is a re-imagining of the Snow White fairy tale set in 1980s Seattle. Peg is also the founder of Prelaw Guru, a law school application consulting company, and the author of The No B.S. Guides for prelaw students.

Photo of Hamish Linklater from IMDb

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SEVEN DUDES: Chapter 1

I’ve been working on my suspense novel, SEVEN DUDES, for a little over two months, but really, this story has been at the back of my brain for the last 11 years. It’s gone through many, many reiterations in my head and in my journal, and I decided this year I needed to write it.

To keep myself motivated to write, revise some, and then move on, I’m going to start posting one chapter per week.

How many chapters will I post? In honor of the title, I’m committed to posting the first seven chapters.

Keep in mind this is the first draft and everything is still in flux. Here goes!

SEVEN DUDES

A novel by Peg Cheng, Draft 1

Chapter 1: Doc

He was running and pulling his mother’s hand. He pumped his legs as hard as he could but it felt like he was moving through a trough of hardening cement. The harder he tried, the slower he became. He was only fifteen but still, he should have been able to run faster.

Damn legs. Run. Run!

The hand holding his mother’s hand was sweaty and it started to slip. Suddenly, her hand was jerked out of his. He looked back and a man wearing a plaid shirt had grabbed his mother from behind. “No!” he screamed and started back for her.

She called to him, “Don’t stop, Doc! Go!”

Then the Plaid Man covered her mouth with his hand and pulled her back into the darkness. Doc ran in slow-motion towards her departing figure, screaming, “Mom!”

He jerked up in bed, both arms outstretched. His eyelids flew open.

Light was just starting to peek through the drapes on the windows. Doc rubbed his eyes. He touched his face and felt the sweat pouring from his brow and the rough stubble of his beard. He fell back onto his pillow.

He wasn’t fifteen. He was thirty.

Mom wasn’t lost. Mom was dead.

Peg Cheng is the author of The Contenders, a middle-grade novel centered on the question, can enemies become friends? She is currently writing another novel that is a re-imagining of the Snow White fairy tale set in 1980s Seattle. Peg is also the founder of Prelaw Guru, a law school application consulting company, and the author of The No B.S. Guides for prelaw students.

Photo of Martin Starr by Larry Busacca, Getty Images

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How Batch Cooking Helps My Writing

BaconWhen I’m writing and creating, the last thing I want to do is stop to cook or or even decide what I’m going to eat. And I’m a major foodie! So, even though I love all kinds of food, I don’t want to have to make lots of small decisions when I’m trying to make lots of big decisions with my writing.

To complicate matters, I have two chronic health conditions: SIBO and IBS, and numerous food intolerances. So, choosing what to eat on a daily basis can cause me a lot of stress and anxiety. It’s hard for me to eat out, and I don’t buy frozen meals because of all the ingredients that I can’t digest.

So, what’s a starving artist with a sensitive gut to do?

BATCH COOKING.

Marcus and I are now prepping and cooking large quantities of food twice a week so that we can easily put together tasty and healthy meals the other days of the week. Here’s what we did this week.

PattiesPan fried a bunch of beef burgers (80% lean and 20% fat is a great combo) and homemade pork sausage patties (ground pork with salt and herbs).

Greens-BraisedBraised greens (rainbow chard) for an easy side dish. Braising is just cooking something on low with liquid (I used water) for a long time (40-45 minutes).

Lettuce-bagsWashed, dried, and tore up lettuce (and arugula) for easy-to-make salads.

Veggies-preppedWashed, dried, and chopped vegetables to go with salads (cucumbers and mixed cherry tomatoes).

Grapes-bagsWashed, dried, and packaged grapes in little bags for quick snacks. This week, we prepped red grapes and muscat grapes.

And as you can see in the first photo, we also fried up a batch of bacon. Bacon is awesome. Your brain needs fat to fully function and I think bacon is one of the best ways to get it. We also pan-fried two pounds of cod fish. Fish is great for the brain.

Sure, it does take time to prep and cook this much food all at once. It took Marcus and I about 2.5 hours to do all this. Later in the week, on Wednesday, we also de-boned a rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods and did a huge stir-fry of rainbow carrots and yellow sqaush. If you can, try to batch cook with someone else. It makes the whole thing more fun and a lot less work.

Ever since we started batch cooking, it gives me so much relief to wake up every day and know that I have a fridge full of tasty and healthy meals waiting for me. The benefits of batch cooking are endless. Healthy Food. Safe Food (for someone like me). Saves money. Less stress. Less decisions. More creativity!

Try it and let me know what you think. And if you discover some new recipes, please share them!

APRIL 2017 UPDATE: One year later, I’ve discovered that many of the foods listed in this post no longer work for my SIBO and IBS, and actually cause more problems. Ack! After testing positive for fructose-intolerance, I no longer eat fruit or honey. After not eating raw foods for a week, I discovered I felt WAY better. Out goes the salad. After only eating cooked foods for a while, my digestion has massively improved. Also, I found that chard was hard for me to digest so I don’t eat it anymore. Trying to find good, easy things to cook, eat, and digest is an ongoing challenge for me, but I’m not giving up. Health is my #1 priority. Just like my writing, I’ll keep trying.

Peg Cheng is the author of The Contenders, a middle-grade novel centered on the question, can enemies become friends? She is also the founder of Prelaw Guru, a law school application consulting company, and the author of The No B.S. Guides for prelaw students.

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Less Decisions, More Creativity

lightbulbsThe first time I read about decision fatigue, a light bulb went off above my head. I couldn’t believe I didn’t know about it before! It’s basically the idea that people tend to make worse decisions after they’ve made a lot of decisions.

So that’s why I often make bad decisions at the end of the day. That’s why if I do too many activities before sitting down to write, I often don’t have any energy left to actually write. Writing is FULL of decisions. There have been many days when I not only don’t want to write, I can’t even get up the energy to write.

I’m totally fatigued, dead dog tired, of making decisions.

With this in mind, after deciding to solider up and be a writer, I decided to also do all I could to lessen my everyday decisions.

The first thing I did was clean out my closet.

Now, truth be told, my closet is already pretty tidy, but it wasn’t organized to help me avoid decision fatigue. The clothes that I wore every day–pants and tops–were all in drawers, while the clothes that I barely wore–mostly dresses–were all hanging up.

First, I dumped out my drawers of everyday clothes and hung these clothes up.

Next, I took all my dresses off their hangers, folded them, and placed them in the drawers.

Then, I took a hard look at all my jackets and sweaters that were hanging up and asked myself if I had worn that item in the last month. If I hadn’t, I took it and hung it in the guest room closet. At the end of the month, if I still haven’t worn those items, they’re going to the Goodwill. (Two exceptions that I’m keeping are my tailored leather jacket and velvet blazer for those times when I have to dress up.)

Now, when I get dressed in the morning, it takes only a minute to pick out a top, a pair of pants, and a sweater or jacket to wear because the only things hanging on the rod are clothes that I wear all the time. It’s made my mornings a lot easier. Someday, I might even switch to wearing a uniform like art director Matilda Day. It’s tempting.

Next week I’m working on simplifying my meals, something that seems to take the most time from my day and can also causes me the most stress. Onward!

Peg Cheng is the author of The Contenders, a middle-grade novel centered on the question, can enemies become friends? She is also the founder of Prelaw Guru, a law school application consulting company, and the author of The No B.S. Guides for prelaw students.

Photo Credit: SnapperAaron via Compfight cc

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Time to Soldier Up & Be a Writer

Female_RangersIra Glass, Host of This American Life, says at the end of his How I Work interview with LifeHacker to “Begin now. Be a f**king soldier about it and be tough.”

I read this interview a few years ago and I loved that last line.

So, when I had yet another disappointing day of serious self-doubt where I started looking for jobs again and thinking that I just don’t have what it takes to be a writer, I remembered that piece of advice from Ira.

I woke up early today and decided things were going to be different, starting now.

I’m rearranging my schedule and my attitude to make writing and learning about writing my main goal.

I want to be a successful writer.

I want to write the best novels that I can possibly write.

I want to share stories that let people know they aren’t alone.

I want to feel proud of my work.

When I die, I want to die knowing that I did what I wanted to do.

Over the coming months, I’m putting into practice a routine for myself that includes regular exercise, healthy food, reading, writing, and even time to socialize. I’ve realized over the last two months that trying to be a writing monk doesn’t work for me. I have to balance the solitary nature of writing with my extroverted need to talk with people.

I have the time and resources this year to delve deep into my writing and to improve my craft. It’s time to take advantage of this gift.

Future blog posts will be about the new habits, practices, and techniques I’ve put into place and how it’s working out.

No more excuses.

No more whining.

Time to solider up and do it.

Peg Cheng is the author of The Contenders, a middle-grade novel centered on the question, can enemies become friends? She is also the founder of Prelaw Guru, a law school application consulting company, and the author of The No B.S. Guides for prelaw students.

Photo by Paul Abell / AP Images of U.S. Army Reserve Major Lisa Jaster, center, the third woman to graduate from the elite Ranger School. Jaster, 37, joins just two other women, Capt. Kristen Griest, 26, left, and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver, 25, right, in gaining the coveted Ranger tab.