We speak with the author of Maotai, Mooncakes & Monks: Misadventures in Hong Kong & China, a collection of humorous observations about her first 30 months living in Hong Kong.

What is Maotai, Mooncakes & Monks about?
It is a collection of 57 vignettes about living and working as an expatriate in Hong Kong and China; detailing culture clashes with my colleagues and neighbors, dodging confetti cannons in China, out-drinking Communist Party officials, surviving The Great Wall Half Marathon, and meeting various celebrities. The book is a memoir, culture shock guide, travelogue, political commentary, and adventure rolled into one.

Describe your writing process.
I began writing weekly e-mails to my friends and family back in United States about my experiences abroad. For my first 100 weeks in Hong Kong, I emailed the story every Friday by noon. This self-imposed deadline was never compromised. I continued sending stories to my email listserve after the first 100 weeks, but these were on an ‘as inspired’ basis. After I had been living in Hong Kong for approximately one year, I enrolled in Nury Vittachi’s ‘Professional Writers’ Masterclass.’ I was very encouraged by Vittachi’s initial feedback that I had “a good eye for pointing out the absurdity in situations.” Vittachi agreed to serve as a mentor during the book's development and ultimately wrote the foreword for the book.

Why did you write it?
I have always loved to write. I discovered that the written word could stir quite a controversy while working as the editor on my high school newspaper. Although I seriously considered becoming a professional writer, I quickly observed that most writers do not earn enough to finance world travel or any of my other expensive hobbies. I ultimately pursued an engineering career. Over the years, I must admit that I have thought about ways to move towards jobs with less engineering and more writing. I have even been encouraged to pursue writing as a career by various work colleagues who have observed my flair for drama and my propensity to record it all. Like many wannabe writers, I never made the time to actually sit down and do it. I vowed to myself that I would make writing one of my top priorities when I moved to Hong Kong in early 2006.

What do you hope readers take away from the book?
I hope that people can laugh and learn at the same time when reading my book. It would be great if Hongkongers gained a fresh perspective on their city from reading the experiences of a foreigner. For expats who are already living in Hong Kong, I hope that it would be an entertaining read and might possibly help them adjust to their new surroundings. For readers living in another region, I hope that the book could provide a better understanding of Chinese culture or perhaps even inspire someone to move abroad. Most importantly, I hope that it inspires others to write their own book. It seems that just about everyone talks about their desire to write a book but few people actually do it. I am living proof that it can be done by just clearing a couple of hours on your calendar every week to focus on writing.

What's the next project?
I am getting ready to launch a focused and intense campaign to be invited to appear on the Oprah Winfrey show. I know that Oprah will love my book!

Maotai, Mooncakes & Monks is published by Tamco; www.tamcopublishing.com.