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Thoughts

2020 Writing Year in Review

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Those of you who have followed me for years will know that I initially tried the Write 1, Submit 1 challenge, where I tried to write and submit one story every week. That later changed to the 100 Rejections challenge, which was to aim for 100 rejections a year. While I never succeeded in either of those challenges, it did lead me to start a habit of tracking all my submissions and new writings, which I have managed to keep up for going on 7 years.

2020 has definitely been a unique year, both in the challenges and opportunities presented. A lot could be said, but I think I’ll just focus on the statistics as a way to sum up the year:

Writing submissions rolled over from 2019: 9
Writing submissions in 2020 (including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry): 32 (though I may sneak in one more today, if possible)
Non-writing creative submissions in 2020: 4 (all photography)

Total submissions tracked in 2020: 45

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Jeopardy!, and what new experiences bring to writing

When I became pregnant with my daughter, I realized that not only was I, in essence, giving life to another person, but I would also be giving this person their first however many firsts. There are a lot of things that we do so often, even unthinkingly, that we may forget that there was once a time that we were trying it for the first time. My first breath, my first experience of the sun, my first step, my first wound, my first haircut, and the list goes on and on.

The older I become, there seem to be fewer moments of experiencing things for the first time. So, I made a promise to myself that every year, I would deliberately set out to try at least one fun/good/interesting thing for the first time.

Since then, I have experienced my first rodeo, my first drive-through car wash, my first taste of Lebanese breakfast, among others. To be fair, I also experienced some not-so-fun firsts such as my first ride in an ambulance.

At the beginning of 2020, my husband and I both took the Jeopardy! online test. It was the last of their scheduled tests (right before they launched the Jeopardy! Anytime test). I only took it because my husband said he wouldn’t take it otherwise, and I really wanted him to be on Jeopardy. We’d been fans of the show for a very long time (my daughter loves the Jeopardy! final question music), so it was also something fun to do together, a date night of sorts.

Months later, I get an email inviting me back for an audition, and long story short, I was able to add “being a Jeopardy! contestant” to my list of firsts for 2020. The whole process was a really interesting experience (especially in the midst of the COVID pandemic).

What does any of this have to do with writing? It’s not like you’re only allowed to write what you know, right? Yes, however, instead of breadth, I would say that new experiences give more depth to my writing in the following ways:

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Reflections on the past 5 years

I started taking creative writing seriously at the beginning of 2012, which means I’ve passed the 5-year mark. I had planned on pulling together a whole host of statistics and making a fancy report, but life has a way of getting away from me (though I might still do so if I dredge up some spare time). Instead, I wanted to talk about 5 reflections from these past 5 years.

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Published: \’in-glish\ in Brevity Magazine

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I’m quite excited to have my piece, “\’iŋ-glish\” included in Brevity Magazine‘s special issue on race, racism, and racialization, along with many intriguing pieces written by a lot of talented people.

So many times, in discussions on race, I feel like the Asian perspective/experience is often relegated to the side. Nothing particular dramatic happens. It’s a strange place to be, where I feel as if I’m perceived differently because I’m Asian, but to say it out loud can seem silly and trivial.

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Thoughts Re: “The Power of Dark Stories, and Why We Are Not Always What We Write”

Sometimes people who know me are surprised by what I write. My writing can tend to the very melancholy. I like to write from both the viewpoints of male and female characters, many of them not the best paragons of virtue. I have characters who cuss with every breath. I’m still to shy to write truly shocking material, but I’ve written about serial killers and monsters and lots of death. I’ve written about middle-aged mothers, felons, robots, orphans, and emperors. I like exploring the idea of untraditional love and hate, and the fine line in-between.

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