writing

writing — 27 Comments
02
Apr 11

Memoir covers! Pick your fave, win fabulous prizes!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am self-publishing and selling my memoir, Black Fish: Memoir of a Bad Luck Girl, on Lulu this spring. Yes, it’s true, I posted Black Fish in its entirety last year, but I expanded a lot of it so there’s even more drama to read, if drama is your thing (and I know it is). Plus maybe I’ll make a few (very few, I imagine) bucks off it.

I’m finally done with revisions, and now’s the fun part: cover design! And my friend Eva, a talented letterpress card guru, is in charge.

The only problem is she drafted so many covers I like, I’m having a hard time deciding. That’s where you all come in (all half a dozen of you): in the comments, point out your favorite cover(s), and from these, I’ll randomly pick one person to win a free copy of my book as well this box set of Eva’s adorable French bulldog cards.

Who doesn’t love Frenchies?

And now finally, drumroll please, here are the covers.

Of course we can mix and match the images and fonts.

Now go comment! You have till next Friday, April 8.

los angeles / travel / work / writing — Comments Off
26
Mar 11

Too scattered for a decent post

Somehow this week became very busy.

Work. My job has been more hectic than usual. Lots of activities, meetings, presentations, and getting food. We also had a college student “externing” with us, and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t bored and that he was able to make his way through the wilds of San Francisco without getting mugged by a meth head.

And oh yeah actual writerly work! I was pooped by the end the end of the week.

Travel. MB will be teaching a one-day class in L.A. in a couple of weeks. Normally he does all his own travel, but since I’m joining him – and wanted to fly in and out at non-crazy times and not stay at a random hotel (and I have control issues, apparently) – I made the flight and hotel reservations.

I’m excited! I’ll be missing my brother, who won’t be around that weekend, but our hotel should be nice. I paid eight more dollars a night to get a corner room, and put us on the “upgrade standby” list, meaning if upon check-in a better room is available, we get it for just five more dollars a night, as opposed to $20.

There’s not much in the area except a mall, but I imagine while MB is teaching I’ll have a leisurely day, work on my writing, work out, do a little shopping. It’s just nice to go someplace different.

Fall anthology. Last week I turned in revisions for a piece that’s in an anthology coming out in the fall. The editors had awesome feedback, and it took me a while to figure out how to do the revisions. I’m happy with the changes though.

And this morning I just handed in copyedits for a piece that’s coming out in a literary magazine May.

Memoir. Remember my memoir? I’ve still been working on it all this time, and to remind everyone, I plan on selling it on Lulu this spring!

Recently I entered the LAST revisions, and have been in talks with my pal Eva about cover designs. She’s a talented letterpress card designer – check out her cards! they are adorable – and I’ve been so excited to see her draft designs for my memoir cover. You’ll get a sneak peek (and perhaps a chance to vote on your favorite) early next week!

I’ve also decided to liven up the title pages for each section of my memoir, of which there are five:

The Rat and the Horse
The Rat and the Monkey
The Rat and the Rat
Rat, Horse, Rat
Rat

The section titles refer to the Chinese horoscopes of the main characters, and I thought it would be cool to include drawings of the animals on the mostly blank title pages. Eva liked that idea too, and made the great suggestion of putting some action in the section titles, both to help her with the art and to give the reader a preview of what’s going on in that section.

Then I thought, What if I put pseudo-horoscopes instead? Just a few short sentences pretending to be a Chinese horoscope but really giving a subtle hint to the reader of what’s to come.

This has been much more difficult than I anticipated. I’ve been combing the web for the right descriptions of both animals and how they get along. Now I need to boil all that down in a few sentences.

MB thinks I should go even shorter with three words. For example, for The Rat and the Horse section, A complete disaster. I’m not sure about that. I’m toying with the idea of a six-word subtitle, in the tradition of six-word memoirs and novels, supposedly started when Ernest Hemingway was asked to write a novel in six words:

For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.

How incredibly sad is that? Just those six words.

The Nervous Breakdown. Oh, and I’ve so been running around like a headless chicken, it took my bud Gloria to nudge me to check out The Nervous Breakdown – where I’m the featured author this week!

And of course I need to actually catch up on TNB reading, as well as post a piece before the month is out.

And now, the gym!

goals / writing — Comments Off
01
Mar 11

Writing and goals update

In case you missed it, here’s my latest post over at The Nervous Breakdown:

What I Think About When I Should Be Thinking About Nothing During Yoga

If you like it, go make a comment over there. If you hate it, tell me. I don’t care, I’m a comment whore!

Now for the monthly goals check-in:

Blog at least 8 times – CHECK!
Work out at least 12 times – CHECK! The thing is, however, I know I’m not doing enough cardio. I’ll have to adjust my goals for next month.
Get taxes done – CHECK! And I get a nice refund. I thought for sure I’d have to pay since no taxes were taken out of my freelance writing money, but the refund outweighed what I owed.
Have annual check-up – Just did this today, technically not February, but who cares. CHECK!
Copy edit and enter changes into memoir – INCOMPLETE! I did finish copyediting it, but will need much of March to enter the changes.
Submit to at least one magazine – CHECK!
Submit to at least one contest – CHECK! I actually submitted to three.
Pitch at least once to a magazine – CHECK!
Post to TNB at least once – CHECK!
Go to at least one social activity – CHECK! Having a drink with co-workers counts right? And actually imbibing alcohol (a hot toddy, which did NOT give me a hangover or headache, though I did get plenty red, as usual).

Two incompletes. Not bad.

While I’ve been doing well with meeting my writing and TCOB (that’s takin’ care of business, in case you don’t know) goals, I’ve been terrible about my working out enough. I’ve fallen into the habit of not doing any cardio, except brisk walking, on the weekends, though I manage to do yoga on my own at least once. It’s mostly because I’d rather hang out with MB than go to the gym.

Going more than twice during the week would be tough since I work three days, and if I were to work out AND make it to work on time, I’d have to get up at five, which I could do when I was going to sleep before 10, but now I stay up later.

Ah well, I’ll have to think of some sort of solution.

goals / writing — 3 Comments
30
Jan 11

Writing news + goals update

In case you missed it, here’s my one publication for the month:

My War With Rats, The Nervous Breakdown, January 20

Plus, some adorable Frisky readers give me some love. You like me, you really like me!

In terms of this month’s goals, here’s how I fared.

January Goals

Submit to at least two contests – CHECK!
Copyedit my memoir and enter the changes – INCOMPLETE but in progress
Talk to my friend about memoir cover ideas – CHECK! (briefly)
Post one piece to TNB – CHECK!
Make my annual check-up appointment – POSTPONED due to insurance issues
Make whatever phone calls I have to about my health insurance – CHECK! Got my card in the mail late last week, along with my card for dental. Yay, I’m a real person!
Print W2 form – CHECK
Work out at least three times a week – CHECK! (for the most part)
Blog at least twice a week – CHECK!

I was hoping to make my tax appointment before the month was out, but out of the three 1099 forms I need, I’ve only gotten one so far.

And next month’s goals:

February Goals

Blog at least 8 times (ie, at least twice a week)
Work out at least 12 times (ie, at least three times a week)
Get taxes done
Have annual check-up
Finishing copyediting memoir; enter changes
Email friend PDF of memoir plus details re: cover
Submit to at least two publications
Make at least one pitch – CHECK! (I was inspired and pitched late last week.)
Enter at least one contest
Post to TNB at least once

I haven’t included some things, which at this point are automatic or have become a habit.

Going to yoga. My body craves it so I make sure to go at least once a week.
Reading. I’m an addict now and can’t be without a book. Just a few years ago, I had fallen out of the habit of reading books and had to set up the goal of at least a book a month. Now it’s no problem.
Saving money. I set up an automatic monthly transfer. It will be a challenge for a little while, but hopefully I won’t be tempted to transfer money back.
Being more social. I haven’t included this in my goals but maybe I should. Something like, “Go to at least one social activity without MB.” I have an opportunity next week, which I have been waffling on, but if it’s a “goal,” I might just be OCD enough to do it so I can check it off.

Okay, additional February goal:

Go to at least one social activity without MB

And yoga doesn’t count.

body / family / tcob / writing — 2 Comments
17
Jan 11

This will be one of the babbling posts

I have the day off today for Martin Luther King, though I dreamed last night that I went to work, and there were all these people there whom neither I nor my co-workers knew.

Finished a couple of drafts this week, a short story and an essay. It was pretty painful. I’ll take another look at them later this week. Now I’m working on one for The Nervous Breakdown, which should be more straightforward (hopefully).

MB and I saw True Grit last weekend. We both enjoyed it very much, despite the fire alarm that went off just at the start of the exciting third act. Luckily, they let us back in almost immediately, and didn’t have to wait too long for the film to start again. Plus we got free passes, woohoo!

The girl in the movie was excellent. The whole time I kept picturing her as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games movie.

Had a burger for the first time in six months. At Fish & Farm. It was worth it.

I finally straightened out my health insurance. I signed up online. It was surprisingly easy. Now just waiting for my little card.

I talked to my mom and found out even more stuff about my grandmother. I think I’ve written about how she sold her dumplings, potstickers, and scallion pancakes out of her house in Berkeley for 25 cents each, and how people would come from all the Bay Area to buy them. Well, she used that dumpling money to pay off the mortgage of that Berkeley house (true, that was just a few hundred dollars a month, but still), and was able to save up enough to buy ANOTHER house in San Jose (with my aunt as a co-signer). I had no idea about that San Jose house, and just love the idea of Puo-puo as this entrepreneur.

There is a story here. I even have a title. But it’s a secret!

Watching cartoons. MB and I watch a lot of animated shows. Family Guy, American Dad, Archer, whatever anime that happens to strike our fancy and which is not too weird or crazy (currently, Ghost Hound), and new fave, Bob’s Burgers.

Lately we’ve been catching up on Metalocalypse. Last night MB said, “You’re not into metal and you’re not that into cartoons, but even you love Metalocalypse.”

I’m definitely not into heavy metal music, but not into cartoons?!?! Hey buddy, I was watching them WAY before I met you, and I’m not talking about Tom & Jerry or Bugs Bunny. Then I started trying to remember all the cartoons I’ve watched regularly as an adult, pre-MB, post-childhood:

The Simpsons
Beevis & Butthead
King of the Hill
Aeon Flux (when it was on late night MTV, not the Charlize Theron movie)
South Park
Dr. Katz
Doug
The Rugrats
Hey, Arnold!
Nick at Night (back when it was like a Robot Chicken that made sense)
Arthur
Angelina Ballerina
Chibi Maruko-chan (a Japanese cartoon I first saw in China, would love to see it again)

Not into cartoons – ha!

writing — Comments Off
07
Jan 11

Writing update

In case you missed it, I had just one publication last month:

Paying a Visit to Bittertown, The Nervous Breakdown, December 29, 2010

In this essay, I write about how rewriting and revising my memoir dredged up those old feelings of bitterness and resentment, especially regarding my ex-brother-in-law’s wife (Gee thanks for telling me I should wear more makeup!), as well as some new jealousy about a writer who seems to have had overnight success without really trying. (Fuck you!)

In other writing news, my piece from March, “I’m Glad My Husband Cheated,” made The Frisky’s Top Ten Favorite and Most Talked About Girl Talk Columns of 2010! Woohoo!

This month I’ve been concentrating on entering a few contests. I’d also like to post again to The Nervous Breakdown, though what I’m not sure. I have an essay that I’ve been working on for ages, but I think it’s too long.

After I enter the contests with January 31/February 1 deadlines, I plan on giving my memoir – which I “published” again on Lulu – one more once-through. My goal is to have it available for sale in March.

tcob / writing — 3 Comments
03
Jan 11

Goals and Pseudo-Resolutions

I’m not much for making New Year resolutions. Stuff like “lose weight” or “be more adventurous” is too general and easy to give up. I used to make year-long goals, but I decided those were too “big” as well. Inspired by my pal Simon Smithson over at The Nervous Breakdown, I’ve instead decided to tackle goals over two-month increments. From those two months, I break the goals down into weeks.

I like this approach because it breaks goals into much smaller, more concrete and specific tasks (“get published more” becomes “enter at least two contests, submit at least one piece, post at least twice to The Nervous Breakdown,” while “get in shape” becomes “work out at least three times a week”). But not too specific. I don’t write down tasks day by day – too many details and too much pressure.

Here’s a slightly abbreviated version of this week’s tasks (my week starts on a Sunday):

Week of January 2, 2011
Blog post 1 (you’re reading it!)
Blog post 2
BONUS: blog post 3
Workout 1 (Ran 4 miles)
Workout 2
Workout 3
BONUS: workout 4
Turn in piece for contest due this week
Finish up draft of short story
Think of idea for contest due at end of month and start draft

It doesn’t matter when I do these things, as long as I do them this week. And I give myself a little pat on the back when I do more than the minimum. This also helps keep straight all the upcoming contest and submission deadlines. Sometimes I get caught up in what I’m doing at present, and don’t look ahead to see what deadlines are coming up till the day before. Planning for two months helps me keep looking ahead – but not too ahead. It also remind me to keep submitting to publications.

HOWEVER, there are a few broader changes I want to make. I don’t really want to call them resolutions, which implies, “From now on, I’ll do this thing and will be forever perfect.” Maybe New Year tweaks is better.

Stop arguing with myself. At my old job, every day I would wonder aloud if I should go to the gym. Finally, one of my co-workers said, “You spend more time arguing with yourself about whether or not to go to the gym, than actually going to the gym.” After that I said, Fuck it, I’m just always going to the gym.

Chocolate cake or not? Sandwich now for a second breakfast or for lunch, as planned? Get up now or in 20 minutes? And most of all, gym or not? Time to stop hemming and hawing over simple decisions and make the healthier/cheaper/more efficient choice.

Don’t put off till tomorrow what I can do today. Last week I had the whole week off. Lots of opportunities to work out right? Yes! Did I take them? No.

Don’t get me wrong. I made my goals. I hit the gym Monday and Tuesday. But I skipped Wednesday because I thought, I’ll work out Thursday and Friday. I went Thursday, but skipped Friday, thinking, I can go on Saturday. Guess what? I skipped Saturday. If I had just gone on Wednesday, I wouldn’t have felt all blah and guilty by Saturday.

If there’s something I can do TODAY – go to the gym, run an errand, work on some piece of writing – don’t “plan” to do it later because later something might come up, which I could use as an excuse not to do it.

Stop worrying. This will be the toughest one. Basically, I need to:

discern “real” worries from fake ones (real worry: untangling my health insurance; fake: wondering if MB will unexpectedly leave me for someone else)
if it’s fake, remind myself the worry is all in my head and remind myself of something I know (eg, MB’s obvious love, affection, and devotion to me)
if it’s a real worry, decide if I can do anything about the worry now
if I can’t, make a plan (see bi-monthy goals)
remind myself that worrying does nothing to change anything, that my situation didn’t change from the moment before I started worrying to the moment after – except that I started worrying

It seems to be working, at least so far.

holidays / rant and/or rave / tcob / what i've been watching / writing — 2 Comments
25
Dec 10

Away from home for Christmas

This is my second Christmas now away from home. Last year we were a bit more festive: Christmas Eve MB made a yummy past dish, and on Christmas Day, he prepared some lovely cornish game hens with stuffing and a salad. This year we’ve been very lazy.

Yesterday morning was like any other. I worked a bit in the morning, then hit the gym. Five miles, woohoo! For lunch and dinner, we ate random leftovers and at whichever restaurants were open (Mel’s for a late lunch, a Thai place for a late dinner). We hung out the New People cafe in Japantown for a while. (Vegan donuts for half price after 5 PM!) I brought my writing but didn’t feel like working so I – dangerously – ended up shopping instead.

All I bought was a $45 super soft sweater. It’s dark gray and the material is unbelievably soft and cozy and not scratchy.

In the evening caught we caught Tron: Legacy, which wasn’t as bad as the reviews make it out to be. I mean, a lot of the dialogue was dumb and boring, but there was plenty of action and the special effects were amazing. Plus the music was super-cool.

There were a surprising number of people at the theater. Lots of Asians, as I predicted, and at least one person who wanted to get away from her relatives.

“My family is so dysfunctional!” she said to someone on her cell phone. “I don’t want to hang out with them on Christmas Eve.”

We got home around 11, had our late Thai dinner, and watched an episode of Boardwalk Empire. We would have liked to have gone to sleep shortly after, but we had trouble with our noisy neighbor yet again. This time it was her television, which she apparently moved into her bedroom (which of course is right under ours). It was probably regular volume, but at two, three, four in the morning, regular volume directly under us seems very loud. MB even stomped on the floor really hard (all 180 pounds of him jumping up and down three times). The neighbor gave a little screech, then turned the volume down a tiny smidge.

Made no difference. By 3:30 we decided to give up on sleep and got up for a while. Finally, at 4:30 she turned off the TV, and we were able to go to bed. So annoying that we have to schedule our sleep around the habits of a big fucking loser who happens to live below us.

I slept till about 9:30, and got up only because I had a huge craving for coffee and the vegan donuts from New People. It was so bad, I couldn’t even wait to make new coffee. I zapped yesterday’s leftover while a new pot percolated. Still delish and highly effective.

I called my parents to wish them a merry Christmas. My mother told me that apparently my father is now a huge fan of shopping online. He hates shopping in real life, but loves ordering things like toasters and water heaters off the internet. So the Amazon gift card I got him will be put to good use.

Since this morning I’ve been working on a draft of an essay for a travel writing contest due in early January, and jotting down some weekly goals, to help keep them all straight but also so I can cross them off as I complete them. Check! Or strikethrough! I should say.

Today is gray and rainy. All we have planned is possibly checking out this Chinese restaurant we’ve been meaning to try. Hopefully it’ll be open.

Merry Christmas everyone!

writing — Comments Off
21
Dec 10

I keep thinking I have to do something

Last Tuesday I had to get my mom’s present. Last Thursday I had to send my parents’ Christmas package and get out of the apartment because it was being cleaned that afternoon. Today I keep thinking there is some errand I need to run, some place I need to be. But there’s not! Aside from yoga at noon.

Yesterday I started working on something that wasn’t my memoir. Scary! Oh yeah, I finally finished rewriting my memoir this weekend. Spent Sunday laying it out in book template, which was fun.

Who knew all the little details that go into a book layout? The right and left headers, making sure each section title page is on the right and that there’s a blank page after it. Making sure the paragraph breaks are correct. I ordered a copy, which should arrive in two weeks. That will give me a long enough break before I go in and copy edit it one more time. And also see if the material I added makes sense.

Today I’m working on an essay. Next month there are two contests I want to enter. I also want to submit to a couple of magazines.

One of my TNB friends wrote about having a series of up to 20 goals over 12 weeks. I thought about doing it but am thinking maybe 12 weeks is too long, that maybe month by month would work for me. Like before December is out: catch up on reading The Nervous Breakdown and post an essay for TNB. Then for January: enter those two contests and copy edit my book. February: submit articles to two places and post another TNB essay.

And those are just writing goals. I also need to unsnarl my health insurance mess (January), make an appointment for an annual check-up (January), sort through my tax stuff (February), talk to my friend about cover ideas for my memoir (January).

Hmm, maybe two months works, or eight weeks. I can’t even fathom March right now.

Okay, here’s the breakdown, month by month:

December

Catch up on The Nervous Breakdown reading
Post one TNB essay
Blog at least twice a week
Re-start regular work outs (at least three times a week for three weeks without deviation)
Re-start low-fat diet habit (at least three weeks without deviation)
At least look at my health insurance information

January

Submit to two contests
Copy edit my memoir and enter the changes
Talk to my friend about memoir cover ideas
Post one piece to TNB
Make my annual check-up appointment
Make whatever phone calls I have to about my health insurance
Work out at least three times a week
Blog at least twice a week

February

Submit articles to two places
Organize my tax stuff
Make tax appointment
Post one piece to TNB
Blog at least twice a week

There! Now let’s see what happens.

awareness / photography / writing — 3 Comments
02
Dec 10

Writing update, reflection on marriage

First off, here are my November publications in case you missed them:

Forget Sisters, It’s My Brother Who Keeps Me Sane

The Frisky

Luck of the Chinese

View From the Pier

I found these fish drawings on Post Street not far from my apartment. I thought they might be inspiration for the cover of my memoir.

See the whole set.

An interesting tidbit I just discovered is that black goldfish are not considered unlucky in terms of feng shui. A lone black goldfish is often included amid some goldfish in order to absorb negative energy and to act as a protector against bad luck.

So I started to think maybe it’s just Koreans who think that black fish and other animals are bad luck, and not that the internet is the end all, be all of all information, but I couldn’t find a thing. You’d think that if it were true, it’d at least be mentioned somewhere.

So did my ex-MIL make the whole thing up? Did she think, Well, a black cat is bad luck so a black fish must be too? Or was it just a lame excuse to blame all bad stuff on me?

As I rewrite/revise my memoir (yet again), I’ve realized that marriage with my ex was so hard because his expectations changed after we married. Before we got hitched, it was okay that I didn’t cook much, that I didn’t like to drive, that I was “only” a secretary who wanted to be a writer, that I might never make much money. We said “I do” and suddenly I was expected to change: to cook, to drive, to make more money, to give up my writing if need be.

The cooking was the most minor of points, but his attitude about it was annoying. As though I was somehow supposed to know, without him telling me, that this was what I should have been doing. It’s not like with MB, who just happens to like certain things I make, who will ask me nicely to make him a bowl of tricked out instant noodles or oatmeal. That makes me want to cook for him. And he doesn’t take my not cooking as some kind of secret insult.

I realize that too: my ex saw significance in everything, from superstitious bad/good luck symbols, to everything I said and did. He never took my words and actions at face value, but would think I had some ulterior motive against him.

Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.