You’ve heard this: You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince. The same mindset holds true for writing. You have to submit to a lot of literary journals before you find the perfect fit for your story or essay. You have to query a lot of agents before you find … Read More
Bridging the Gap Between Aspiration and Talent
My first quarter in UC Riverside’s Palm Desert Low-Residency MFA program, I studied fiction with Mary Yukari Waters. Mary said something once that was mind-blowing to me, a real lightbulb moment. Mary actually said many mind-blowing things over the course of our time working together, but this one in particular has stuck with me. Mary … Read More
We’re on This Journey Alone Together
I sometimes see writers post on social media congratulating another writer’s success but then pivoting to compare their own progress—usually self-deprecatingly, often from a place of despair. They do so as if there is suddenly less space for them. They are sincerely happy for the other writer but seem to feel as if their own … Read More
Rainy Days and Sundays
I wrote recently about my struggle with setting goals for the new year. Well, I didn’t really struggle with setting the goals—I set about a billion of them. What I struggled with was getting excited about my goals because I had done my usual thing where I get carried away and overwhelm myself. I took … Read More
Late Bloomer
I consider myself a professional writer now, but it took me a long time to get there. And it took me a long time to decide what being a “professional writer” meant or what it looked like to earn the right to call myself a writer at all. In another lifetime, I studied English Literature … Read More