Peninsula: I run a bed and breakfast on Jeju Island

A message came from KakaoTalk.

He picked it up and glanced at it.

It was sent by Choi Jin-ri.

[Was Brin well-behaved today?]

He glanced at Brin, who was sleeping on the cat bed, and looked back:

[Good girl. She's been sleeping the whole time. I'm almost envious of her carefree attitude.]

About two minutes later, she replied with a message:

"That puts my mind at ease. I was worried it would be sad. What are you doing now?"

Li Ran tapped her thumb lightly on the phone screen and then began typing.

[I'm thinking about starting a side hustle. I haven't decided on anything yet.]

[Aren't you running a bed and breakfast? Is business bad?]

[Didn't you realize that Choi Jin-ri was the first and only guest at the "Haven" guesthouse?]

[kkkk, I'll recommend your guesthouse to my friends in a while.]

Li Ran glanced at the screen and raised an eyebrow.

He looked up at the window and typed:

[How's the moon where you are?]

[So-so. It doesn't feel as clear as the ones from the guesthouses.]

Li Ran really wanted to say that the moon wasn't very bright at the guesthouse, but after thinking about it, she didn't send it.

Good night. I have an event tomorrow.

[Out of politeness, should I also say goodnight?]

[Otherwise what?]

I'd rather say goodnight in person.

After sending that message, Li Ran suddenly felt a little ashamed.

He was starting to consider withdrawing his decision.

[kkkkk, then wait for me a little longer.]

For some reason, Li Ran felt that she was bolder online than in real life.

He stared blankly at the message.

After a while, he turned off his phone screen and prepared to go to sleep.

The next morning, Li Ran got up and made a bowl of instant noodles.

He stood in the kitchen, watching the dough in the pan slowly separate.

He suddenly realized that he hadn't eaten instant noodles in a long time.

Since Choi Jin-ri moved in, he has been cooking for two people every day.

The ingredients were all carefully selected.

After seeing her take her medication, he specifically searched for dishes suitable for people with depression and then cooked them in different ways.

Now he's the only one left at the guesthouse, and he's back to making do with instant noodles.

At most, I put in two more eggs.

As long as we don't starve to death, that's fine.

He scooped the noodles into a bowl, then carried the bowl to the coffee table and sat down.

He picked up a noodle and took two bites.

It's alright, just a bit salty.

I don't think I was paying attention at the time, and I accidentally poured in too much salt.

Brin jumped onto the sofa, sat down next to him, and stared at the bowl of noodles.

"You can't eat this," he said.

Brin tilted his head.

"Slurp~"

Li Ran ate her instant noodles and casually turned on her phone.

He reread the "side hustle" entry from his memo from last night.

After a while, he searched for several mainstream online literature platforms in China on his browser.

He looked through the signing conditions and benefits of various platforms.

The barrier to entry for online literature is indeed not too high.

But he hasn't decided what to write yet.

Li Ran had read quite a few books in her previous life.

Fantasy, urban, xianxia, ​​light novel, historical...

He's read a little bit of all kinds of books.

But "having read" something doesn't necessarily mean you can "write it down".

Unless he has a photographic memory and simply copies it directly.

However, a novel that performs well usually has a million words.

Moreover, Li Ran might not have finished reading it.

Sometimes he would stop reading halfway through for various reasons.

He had mostly read books that had achieved excellent results.

It's just barely enough.

After finishing his instant noodles, he first put the bowl in the dishwasher, and then took a stroll in the yard.

The tomato seedlings in the greenhouse were watered yesterday, and the soil underneath is still very moist.

He squatted down, loosened the soil, and casually plucked the two yellowing leaves from the tomato seedling.

After tidying up, Li Ran looked up at the bird's nest in the corner of the greenhouse.

Both of those big spotted doves are here today.

One dove was incubating its eggs in the nest, while the other stood on the partition, lost in thought.

The baby doves haven't hatched yet.

He stood up, dusted off his hands, and went inside.

Once inside, he turned on his computer and created a new blank page in a document.

He placed the cursor on the first line.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes... ten minutes.

Not a single word was typed.

He pushed his chair back and stared blankly at the blank page.

He felt that writing was more difficult than he had imagined.

It's not that he has no ideas, it's just that he has too many ideas and they're too scattered, so he doesn't know where to start.

He sighed, pulled the chair back, and typed a few words:

"A Chinese man inherited a guesthouse on a peninsula..."

He looked at it for two seconds, selected all, and deleted it.

It's so much like writing about myself.

I feel like if I actually wrote his story into the book, he'd definitely be doomed to fail.

What author would write such a boring story?

I reckon it would be a flop if I wrote it.

He thought for a while, then changed direction and started typing:

"The protagonist is reborn into the past, holding a seven-year information advantage..."

Li Ran stopped, looked at it again, selected all again, and deleted it.

He had seen at least twenty of these online before.

He minimized the document and opened the browser.

He browsed the recent new book charts, picked out a few new books, and looked at the comments section.

It mainly depends on what readers are criticizing, and what they are criticizing the most.

He glanced at it and saw that many people were criticizing the clichéd plot, the slow pacing, and the male lead for being brainless.

Writing novels is so hard!

He rubbed his hair.

Li Ran spent about half an hour looking at the new book list, then reopened the document.

He started staring blankly at the document.

The sea breeze outside the window rang the wind chimes in the yard, as if issuing a start command to Li Ran.

He typed the first line on the blank document.

Chapter One |

The cursor is flashing.

He thought for a moment and then started typing.

He didn't expect to write much; he just wanted to get started.

As a result, I ended up writing until 2 p.m.

He stared at the screen, rubbed his eyes, scrolled down the document, and checked the word count.

Four thousand three hundred and three words.

He leaned back in his chair, stretched, and his back made a soft cracking sound.

He himself wasn't sure how well it was written.

After reading the whole thing, I felt that the pacing was off in some places and some dialogues were awkward, but overall it was at least in the right shape.

He saved the document, stood up, went to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water, and took a couple of sips by the window.

In the yard, Xiao Hei was lying on the steps sunbathing, its ears twitching occasionally.

Brin was curled up on the recliner, still asleep.

If he hadn't seen that it was still breathing, Li Ran would have thought it was going to die in its sleep.

He finished his water, put the cup back, and then sat down at the computer again.

He read through the 4,303 words from beginning to end, and frowned halfway through.

He crossed out one section and rewrote it, and then rearranged the order of another section.

After making the changes, he took another look and felt it was a little better than before, but not by much.

He saved the document again and then shut down his computer.

That's all for today, we'll talk about the rest tomorrow.

Time to cook.

He checked the refrigerator and found there were still some eggs, half a block of tofu, and a bunch of greens.

He washed himself quickly and then started chopping vegetables.

Halfway through cutting, he remembered something and wiped his hands on his apron.

He took out his phone, opened the notes app, and deleted the question mark after "Write an online article?".

Write online novels.

He put the phone back in his pocket and picked up the knife again.