The latest in my writerly shenanigans.
Cha: Asian Journal
I first heard about Cha through a Twitter friend who had a lovely essay in an issue that had just come out. I read another beautiful and moving piece, and was hooked.
My essay, Home Sick, is in the September issue. It’s about a terrible New Year’s Eve I had in China, the strange experience of being considered a foreigner in a place where everyone looks like you, and just missing home.
The Frisky
It wasn’t enough for my to rant – twice – on my blog about a couple of inane articles about interracial dating. I had to rant on The Frisky too.
Wordnik
As always lots of blogging for work!
Punctuation Soup, September 24, 2012
Atomic Bombs, Time Machines, and Lurve: Words from H.G. Wells, September 21, 2012
O. Henry: The Gift of Words, September 11, 2012
Breaking Bad Words: Thieves, Drugs, and Special Sauce, August 29, 2012
True Blood: Some Fangtastic Words, August 22, 2012
Favorite Food Words: Celebrating Julia Child’s 100th Birthday, August 15, 2012
Shark Week: Sharkings and Loan, August 9, 2012
It’s always interesting to see which posts will be popular. For instance, I thought more people would be into the True Blood one, but it was only moderately popular. On the other hand, I didn’t expect the Julia Child post to be as popular as it was but then it got some heavy-duty retweets.
My personal favorite was the Breaking Bad post. When I first started collecting words from the show, I was kinda meh. But as it all came together, I found the lingo to be quite noir-ish with a dash of fast food.
For TV shows, we usually post the Wednesday before the season finale. Then I noticed an interesting phrase – queen for a day – in the Breaking Bad season finale, and added it as an update. Well, I guess a lot of people were wondering what that meant because the post ended up on Reddit.
It only got 14 upvotes (last I checked) and a lot of obnoxious comments. I guess Reddit commenters are known to be sort of dickish. But I didn’t really care because that post had over 1,000 hits that day, which is a lot for us.
Book Soup Reading
Lastly, I’ll be participating in a reading with other Beautiful Anthology authors in Los Angeles on October 17, 7 PM. Here’s more info from the Book Soup site:
A group event featuring readings from Angela Tung, Rich Ferguson, Rachel Pollon and Brad Listi
What is beauty? Why do women usually think they are not beautiful, and what do women (and men) find truly beautiful in life? These important questions are answered in “THE BEAUTIFUL ANTHOLOGY: Essays, Poems & Art,” the new book from the acclaimed literary site The Nervous Breakdown (TNB Books). The answers will surprise you, shock you, amuse you, and make you think. Contributors to “THE BEAUTIFUL ANTHOLOGY” include best-selling authors Jessica Anya Blau, Melissa Febos, Robin Antalek, Greg Olear, and many more, for an eclectic, international combination of established and emerging writers and artists all riffing entertainingly on the theme of beauty. Declared a stunning, unforgettable collection by author Diana Spechler (“Who By Fire” and “Skinny”), this groundbreaking anthology is not to be missed. (Tnb Books)
I haven’t done a reading in many years and I’m a bit nervous. Then again, just reading is better than having to give a memorized talk.
If you’re in Los Angeles, you should come by!