I am writing characters, these days, who are…incredibly lonely…and possibly misled in their tactics to achieve their desires. They are lost in the world. One character has lost his mother and trying to find home and companionship. Another seeks friendship and questions her own ability to capture love. And yet another [...]
I was driving down Shattuck Avenue today when my husband remarked, “Barnes and Noble looks out of business.” I looked right, and saw it: a shuttered Barnes and Noble bookstore, windows covered with brown paper.
I suddenly freaked–was Pegasus books, the independent bookstore across the street, okay? I looked left. The bookstore [...]
DAMMIT. I’m sick. I have SO much writing to do, with a deadline. And I’m sick.
This is sort of how my world is split: high tech software company (hey, I live in the SF/Bay Area) and MFA program.
Yes, there’s home, and individual friendships–but the two biggest chunks of social interaction come from work and school.
And here is how it plays out…let’s say we bring up the Apple logo (prominently [...]
It’s contest season time in the world of short stories: Glimmertrain’s Contest (due today), Story Quarterly’s Contest (due today), Boston Review’s Contest (due Oct. 1), and Zoetrope’s Contest (due Oct. 1) are just a few that pop into my head.
What is it about this time of year?
Meanwhile, I’m getting sick (no I’m not, no [...]
I am kind of sucky at driving stickshift–I learned from a guy I knew freshman year in college, on his beat up decade old Ford Ranger that smelled like sweat and motor oil. About halfway through the lesson, which was situated on a hill, with expensive luxury cars behind us, he said, “Oh, and [...]
I think this anonymity thing is contagious. I want anonymity in real life, too–I don’t want to know a ton of people at a social gathering, or walking down the halls. I just want to be left alone.
Chuseok, or Chusok (a sort of “Korean Thanksgiving,” but also a sort of Sukkot, a celebration of the Harvest) begins! Sometimes I wonder what it’s like on the streets of Seoul and in the countrysides of Korea this time of year on the eve of such a great holiday. People flying home to [...]
I’m eating my words.
I’m writing a short story with characters of another race. My ethnicity is Korean. They’re Japanese.
(This, after writing a post last year, questioning the whole endeavor of writers writing characters of another race).
Still, it’s an experiment on my part, a challenge to myself. I heard enough protest and debate along [...]
Okay. Yom Kippur is over. We’ve eaten our dinner, filled our bellies, after a 25 hour fast during which we said our prayers and reflected on the year past (and on the year going forward). Another year has begun.
And this year–I feel more pessimistic than in years past. The things I want to fix cannot [...]
I’m still pretty pissed about the retarded workshop feedback. Retarded as in, I got a few sentences from nearly half the workshop that qualifies as “written feedback”–retarded as in, it must have taken them 2 minutes to write (tops)…retarded as in, they must have only hurriedly read my manuscript.
WTF am I paying my MFA [...]
Check out the sales figures for this year’s Man Booker prize nominated books. It’s astounding. On more than one dimension.
I’ve always known that a literary novel is considered a “best seller” if it sells 5,000 copies. The numbers are even lower for short story collections (at about 2,000 copies) and poetry (I don’t [...]
