Celebrating, Moderating, Line Editing, Oh My!

It’s April and National Poetry Month! March was filled with Women’s History highlights and a special event I moderated celebrating bestselling author, Alka Joshi. Here are more updates to my publication journey and a few fun pictures. Thank you for following along!

Press

I was excited to be featured in an article in the April edition of PVMagazine. The theme is Art in Focus: Five Local Artists Tell Their Stories.

Check me out on page 19!

Editing Progress

I met my mid-March deadline to submit line edits to Tiffany, my developmental editor, and just finished another set of “light” line edits with Carissa, my other editor at Lake Union. Line edits are focused at the sentence level, not big picture as in developmental edits where scenes, characters and even plot can be changed. My “light” line edits consisted of reducing repetition, reorganizing a few paragraphs for sequencing or flow, and querying whether the dialogue sounded appropriate.

I am so grateful for the deep level of editorial support I received over the last three months. Tiffany’s comments that I made “a very strong story so much stronger and more affecting” and this is “a beautiful story, beautifully told,” meant so much. I breathed a sigh of relief when Carissa said the manuscript was in great shape and invited us to “all take a moment to celebrate the successful conclusion of dev editing!” It was an intense, but immensely satisfying experience.

My manuscript is now with the copyeditor who will give it the fine-tooth comb treatment on things like the Chicago Manual of Style. I also received an extensive production schedule consisting of dates for when the cover, promotional text (copy for the cover, detail page and back cover), and other elements are due. These elements include the front matter (dedication text) and back matter (Author’s Note, Acknowledgements and Book Club questions). There’s still a lot to do!

I just received my first cover design concepts and they’re very interesting! Carissa said they are very rough–like the first draft of a manuscript after the outlining stage. I’ll let you know which one I pick!

Below is Gary, my son’s cat. He kept me company while I edited at my son’s place in Salt Lake City this past month. He is so curious and cute! My husband, son and I also did some great skiing nearby!

Moderating at the Library

I had a fantastic time moderating a conversation with the delightful Alka Joshi, author of THE HENNA ARTIST. She came to our library to help launch the PV Reads program to a packed lunch and evening crowd. During the day, Alka presented to a lively group at the Malaga Cove branch, which was transformed by festive Indian decor and delicious Indian food. For the evening portion, Alka spoke with passion about what inspired her to write her novel and discussed themes of sisterhood, class, and gender to a captivated audience (even in the balcony!).

Alka and I had a fun dinner together beforehand brainstorming questions. For example, I asked how libraries impacted her life, what it was like writing about a culture she didn’t grow up in, and how it felt being an older writer. These are all question I ask myself! Alka responded with great insight and vulnerability to my questions, as well those from the audience. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed listening to her.

A library patron I met at Alka’s event invited me to talk about my publishing journey to his Tuesday Writing Group. I was thrilled to address Doug’s group this week at the library. It’s a long-standing writing group that I also participated in years ago. Mary Jo, sitting to my right, is a dear friend who was in another one of my writing groups too. I’ve been in so many! One of the members asked if I would speak to his book club when my book is published. I was so honored and appreciated everyone’s interest and support!

Events

This month, I will be in conversation with acclaimed author and friend A.H. Kim about her new novel RELATIVE STRANGERS. I love this witty, humorous story of sisters, family and secrets set in Northern California. It is a modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, and is such a fun read. The event features Korean “royal court” cuisine in a private room at Michelin-recognized Yong Su San restaurant in Koreatown. Please join us for lunch on Friday, April 12th at noon if you’re in the area. You will not be disappointed! Ann even has some book-themed swag for you to take home. Buy your tickets here!

Last weekend, my own book club met to talk about THE FETISHIST, a “hilariously savage, poignant novel” about a grieving daughter’s revenge on the man she believes caused her mother’s death. It is also a book that examines racial and sexual politics, and has been described as “ahead of its time, and a mother’s dying gift.” The talented author, Katherine Min, died in 2019, and her daughter Kayla Min Andrews brought her mother’s novel to life. We were so happy to have Kayla join us via FaceTime to talk about her journey. She touched all of us with her story.

My book club started as a way to celebrate Asian American writers. We are seeing a growth of diasporic writers and want to support their books. Next, we are expanding our reading palette by exploring books in translation. We always have great food to go along with the themes of what we’re reading. Let me know if you want to join!

What I’m Reading

This part of my newsletter is dedicated to books that have inspired me to become a writer.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith is a classic American story of a young girl coming of age and one of my favorites. It’s about a poor, spirited Irish girl growing up in New York in the first part of the 20^th century, the same period my protagonist Miyoung grows up in Korea and Japan. I yearned for stories of strong Asian heroines like Miyoung growing up, but there was an absence of people who resembled her. That was the reason I decided to write my book and name it White Mulberry.

Picture of the Day

My friend Lydia gave me these flowers in a beautiful acrylic vase shaped like a book with the message: The Mystery of Growth. She said she’s seen me grow so much as a writer and thought of me when she saw it! Thank you Lydia!