This newsletter includes affiliate links. If you click on them, It doesn’t affect what you pay and helps me cover costs of this newsletter and my sites.
I know it’s a super cliché trope of parenthood to say “the days are long but the years are short,” but truly, nothing can better sum up my life.
Every week, I look back and wonder: what the hell happened? Why does anyone even read this newsletter? How is this my life?
Honestly, I don’t know if it was any different before I had children, but nothing demarks time quite like seeing your firstborn go from 21 inches long, 7 pounds 14 ounces to 5 foot 11.5 inches and 120 pounds soaking wet. He’s a giant—but a gangly, goofy, awkward one.
Cookie Monster (15) took the AP Chinese exam last week, and it feels surreal to me. While I did not start teaching my children Chinese so that they could pass this exam, it was definitely a far off benchmark that I thought would never arrive—and now it’s done.
It’s also weird to compare my kids to myself at that age, and man, times sure are different. Cookie Monster is finishing the 9th grade, but when I was his age, I was two grades ahead of him. I was off to UCLA by myself at 17, and even before that, I felt way more grown than I think any of my children feel.
I remember champing at the bit, impatient to get my driver’s license (I was the last of all my friends to get it because I was the youngest). But Cookie Monster doesn’t seem interested at all, and I’m the one signing him up for everything because WE ARE TIRED OF DRIVING.
As with last week, you will find the following in today’s newsletter (feel free to skip to those parts):
- Personal note
- What brought me joy this week!
- What challenged me
- What else?
- Support and love our community
- Tell me more
Personal note
Despite my younger brother telling me constantly that medication doesn’t fix everything magically, I don’t think I believed him. Mostly because I saw such marked differences in my pre- and post-medicated ADHD life, I thought that I just became a new person—or at least, the best version of myself.
Well, it looks like the best version of myself also goes through fertile and fallow periods, and that just might be my own creative rhythm.
It sounds incredibly obvious when I write it out.
Like, duh, of course I’m not a machine. But, um, I’d like to be a machine sometimes? I have so much I want to write or create that it boggles my mind. But right now, my brain is in a listen to podcasts, watch dramas, read books phase. (Mostly listen to podcasts while playing mobile games phase.)
I don’t know how to harness this cycle or rhythm, and part of me really wants to reject any attempts to understand it in the aid of productivity. Because why? Why should everything I do be in service to productivity and capitalism? Especially when our family doesn’t need my income (meager as it is)?
Except—except—except.
I still have to do work during this fallow (or rather, wallow) period, and it seems like a really unwise use of my resources when everything I do grinds to a halt to accommodate my need to retreat into a corner and consume ideas and stuff.
So, yeah. That’s where I’m at right now.
What brought me joy
I had several moments where I felt true connection with either friends, or just people on the internet, and their interactions with the stuff I make.
Whether it’s discussing episodes of Brazn Azn, my latest article at Mochi Magazine, or going on in depth about my characters in my books (in particular, Katie Wu in the Her Multiverse series), it fills my greedy little heart with so much joy and fulfillment.
Something about hearing how my work goes beyond just my brain—how my words affect people and their understanding of the world, how they interact with art, or what insights they get into me as a person—it’s deeply vulnerable and beautiful. I create because I want to create, but I also love talking about the ideas embedded in what I create with others, and that’s only possible when people are generous with their time and attention and consume what I make.
That was a really long-winded way to say “I like it when other people read my stuff and talk to me about reading my stuff.”
Speaking of my stuff, my new book has been out a week!
You can order my steamy, cozy fantasy novella “Love As Soft As a Distant Star” now from Amazon (both e-book and paperback) and Bookshop.org (paperback only). The e-book is only $2.99 or if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, it’s on there for free.
Side note: it’s super fun to see people reading my novels on Kindle Unlimited—and especially cool when I can tell people are tearing through the pages.
Also, if you happen to have read my books, please consider leaving a rating and/or a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or Storygraph.
What challenged me
Remember when I said medication helped me with tolerating toddler wiggling? Welp, it’s no longer helping.
This is unfortunate because Kitsune (2) really, really loves me. She also really, really loves me as chair and body pillow. She’s also really, really wiggly.
Dear Reader, I want to die. I feel like ants are crawling under my skin and I just want to scream and scream and scream.
Also, I have so much story I want to cram into Book 3, but the word count is so high already, I’m just like, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME—HOW MUCH MORE SHIT CAN I THROW AT KATIE LIKE WHAT IS MY PROBLEM?
Here’s my not-so-secret secret: it’s fun to torture my characters because it’s a safe way to explore pain and suffering, and also, I know it will all end happily.
What else
I have two recent articles out at Mochi this week. My interview with director Hur Jin-ho and his new movie, “A Normal Family,” and my piece on director Ting Poo and her latest documentary on Prime Video about the king of K-pop, Lee Soo-man.
“A Normal Family” asks us what we would do if we discovered our children committed a horrific crime. (My answer: um, time machine. Like, please, just have never happened. Ugh.) And the Lee Soo-man documentary is definitely worth watching if you like K-pop or are curious about it in general.
Also, I’ll be at the Bay Area Book Festival Outdoor Fair on Sunday, June 1 from 11am to 6pm. If you’re going, please drop my booth with fellow friend and independent author Jessica Rosenberg. She writes cozy magic mid-life romances, so definitely check her out, too.
I’ll also be at the Sports Basement in San Francisco for a local author book fair (also with Jessica) the week after on Saturday, June 7 from 1pm to 4pm. I will have all three of my books for sale, some candy, and can personalize reader messages, too.
I can’t wait for both events!!
Support and love our community
As it is AANHPI Heritage Month, this week, I’d like to highlight the East West Players (EWP). According to their site, EWP is the US’s “longest-running Asian American theater and the largest producer of Asian American theatrical works.”
Thanks to Trump and his current administration’s attack on everything DEI (which, I guess to them means anything not white male-centered), the National Endowment for the Arts is rescinding grants that they’ve already approved. A lot of smaller theaters depend on these grants, and EWP was recently stripped of its funding.
More than 75% of all AAPI union performers living in LA have worked at EWP—and they’ve provided the necessary training and opportunities to emerging AAPI artists. Many of them have gone on to win Tony, Obie, Emmy, LA Stage Alliance Ovation, and Academy Awards.
You might recognize some of their alumni or faculty: Pat Morita, Yuki Shimoda, BD Wong, John Cho, Kal Penn, Daniel Dae Kim, Tamlyn Tomita, and George Takei.
Please consider donating to East West Players and help them continue providing opportunities to AAPI performers.
Tell me more
As always, don’t be a stranger! DM me! Reply to this email! SPILL THE TEA! Your comments really are some of the brighter moments in my daily rhythms, and I truly appreciate you and your time.
May you have a week full of chaotic joy!
Comments are closed.