on Feb 12th, 2010Tiger Writers Roar
I know Sunday is Valentine’s Day, but it also marks the start of a new Chinese Year — the Year of the Tiger. Seems fitting that I should want to do well this year, doesn’t it?
I’m actually an Ox, at least according to Chinese lore. Does birth date really influence who you are and what you do?
The Chinese believe those born in the year of the Ox are:
- alert
- strong leaders
- demanding
- stubborn
- methodical
- dislike failure, and
- make good parents.
Hum…I’ll admit to stubborn, methodical, and disliking failure, but that’s as far as I go.
Just for kicks, I looked up several writers to see where they fell in the Chinese system. Agatha Christie was a Tiger; Edgar Allan Poe, a Snake; Charlotte Bronte, Truman Capote and Shakespeare were all Rats; Pearl Buck, a Dragon; and both Mark Twain and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were Sheep. Keigo Higashino is a Dog; James Patterson, a Boar; Robert Parker was, and PD James is, a Monkey; and Ruth Rendell, a Horse. Apparently, almost any year was/is a good year for writers. Good news for us.
What about months? From all I’ve read, the best Zodiac signs for writers are Gemini and Virgo. Fortunately for me, I’m a Virgo. And I’m in good company. Other Virgo writers include Agatha Christie, James Fenimore Cooper, William Golding, Samuel Johnson, D.H. Lawrence, J.L. Mencken, O. Henry and Leo Tolstoy.
So, as you sit eating your way through a heart-shape box of chocolates, think about this: Were you destined to be a writer by birth or are you simply lucky to be good at what you love – writing.