Recently, I’ve read Born a Crime and One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter. Both collections of very personal essays. Both very resonant with me, personally. Both with very strong themes about belonging in a society where the authors are seen as Other. I used to want nothing more than to belong….
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Emotional Autobiographical Writing
I just started reading One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul. It’s a brilliant book, a collection of personal essays by the Canadian daughter of Indian immigrants. Obviously, in many ways I can relate. But it struck me that Koul’s ability to take her own life and…
Why I Vote Now—And Why I Didn’t in the Past
This is not going to be a sermon on why we should all vote. I want this to be clear from the get-go. As I state in the title, I haven’t voted in the past, despite being eligible to do so. I don’t regret that decision in any way—nor do I regret the choice I…
Trapped in My Mind: Big Picture, Little Picture
I’ve always felt a little bit trapped in my own mind. It frustrates me endlessly that while I can flip a switch in my brain to understand any perspective, I can only view one perspective in depth at a time. Generally, since I must be at least a little biased, I let my bias be…
Why WANTING to Exercise is Necessary (For Me)
As you may know from interacting with me or from earlier posts, I am not an athletic person, and generally have had trouble keeping up an exercise routine. Sometimes, I can mitigate this by having an “easy fallback exercise,” but not always. I often grow bored, or I have “more urgent things to do,” or…
The Time Conundrum, a.k.a. TLTLBU Chapter 39
When someone advises you to make a major change to your manuscript, how do you know if it’s the right decision or not? In my case, it’s simply a question of time. Time to try to implement it. Time to process the changes that brings to the manuscript as a whole. Time to decide whether…
Why I Write
I believe that stories can set the mind free. The largest portion of each of our minds is tightly constrained by the realities that it has experienced, and the beliefs of the cultures and societies that have surrounded it. This necessarily limits our ability to understand, and therefore accept, the experiences and beliefs of those…
These Lies That Live Between Us: Book Trailer
Three sisters: the heir, the airhead and the dead. Parting in anger, each attempts to confront the looming threat of invaders practicing forbidden magic in her own way. However, they soon learn that history is not so simple—much like their bond to one another. This is the start of a fantasy epic about family, adventure,…
Indie Publishing: A Summary of the Pros and Cons
…as I have experienced them in publishing my novel through Gatekeeper Press. Let’s jump right in. Pro 1: Achieving a professional look while retaining complete (or as near as I could tell) creative freedom. The fonts, the cover art, and everything were all up to me to choose. Pro 1.5 That said, I didn’t have to…
Beginning My Journey in the World of Indie Publishing: Why Indie Publish?
As you may be aware, my first novel, These Lies That Live Between Us, came out today. It’s thrilling and exciting, but also frightening. One of the reasons it’s frightening is because I chose to go the route of indie publishing. I’d like to share some of the lessons I’ve learned over the course of…