Flash Fortnightly #8

Welcome to Flash Fortnightly! 

My name is Laura Besley and I’m an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher. Over the years I’ve met thousands of students of all ages from many different countries in the world. This job really suits me as I love meeting people and learning about different languages and cultures. After working in England for a couple of years, I moved to Düsseldorf, Germany, where I taught Business English for two years and now I’m living in Hong Kong. This small pocket of Asia is a perfect blend of East meets West and is rich in colour, noise and inspiration.

That brings me nicely onto writing. I’ve been writing on and off since childhood and did my degree in English Literature and Film Studies. When I was in Germany I started writing a bit more regularly and in Hong Kong I’ve really had the time to dedicate to my writing. In 2011 I joined the Hong Kong Writers Circle and a critique group which allowed me to start looking at my work with a more critical eye. On 4th May 2012 I embarked on a project to write one piece of flash fiction a day. I’ve always seen myself as a novelist, but actually I’ve found that I really love writing short pieces as it gives you plenty of room to experiment with style, voice, characters and settings. And each day I can write something new.

I hope you enjoy this ‘Flash Fortnightly’ entry and I’ll be back on Wednesday 6th March 2013 with some more…

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Confessions of an Ageing Tourist

I had never stolen anything in my life until I met Jonny and now it’s how I make my living. Whoever draws the short straw goes into the shop, chats to the store owner, pretends to buy something. The other goes in and steals. This is definitely the fun bit. Anything that will sell: bags, shirts, jewellery, you name it, we’re into it. Chatting to the store owner is boring and fake.

After a couple of hours work, we set up camp and flog the stuff to gullible tourists. I see myself in some of them and can’t believe how much I’ve changed since I caught that first flight over four years ago.

There have been run-ins with the local police, sure, but a British passport always goes a long way in such circumstances. I’ve only had to get Dad to wire me bail twice. Not bad going.

As I sit on the back of my buddy’s scooter, I wonder if I’m not getting a bit too old for this life.

 

Laura Besley

If you’d like to check out more of my writing, flash fiction and non-fiction, check out my  blog: Living Loving and Writing. Or you can follow me on twitter @laurabesley or connect on facebook Laura Besley Writer