Firstly: Happy Filipino Heritage Month! 🇵🇭 There’s an old-school style of Filipino restaurant called “turo-turo1.” The name is an example of classic Filipino word reduplicating, and stems from the word for pointing at something. They're often located in strip malls, and the typical feature is their cafeteria-style presentation, all food…
One of my favourite conversations with my editor for The Quiet is Loud went something like this: Me: So, we’re not italicizing the Filipino words, right? Amazing Editor Bryan Ibeas of Invisible Publishing: Fuck no we’re not. I know that the conversation would have gone the same way if anyone…
To celebrate crossing the midpoint in my science-fantasy novella, I'm sharing the Filipino & Finnish mythology & folklore I've incorporated in my work so far. This includes The Quiet is Loud, Seeker of the Lost Song, and Seeker's sequel as well as the novella. Folklore/mythology from the Philippines: ✦ Nuno…
Say hello to the German-language edition of The Quiet is Loud, published by Piper Verlag and translated by Diana Bürgel! As I've mentioned before, I have family in Germany and so this is very special to me. I'm excited for the opportunity for Freya's story to reach German speakers. You…
Since 2008, I’ve taken myself on three DIY writing retreats. I'm sharing the things I’ve learned about DIY writing retreats, and what I’d do differently next time. Or, will there be a next time? Writing retreat #1: 2008 The idea for my first DIY writing retreat came to me out…
"She should have been more mature for a 40-year-old." That's a paraphrasing of a book review I read recently. It made me wonder if this person actually knew any 40-year-olds. Sure, there are people who should know better no matter how old they are, but why would a protagonist that…
Filipino Heritage Month follows Asian Heritage Month/AAPI Heritage Month. May and June kinda knock my mixed-race brain around. I sometimes feel like I don't belong in these conversations - especially as a writer - but at the same time I feel like I deserve to celebrate my heritage as much…
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Eden Boudreau on the Dear Lonely Writer podcast. The time really flew by as we talked about writing journeys, character-driven fiction, identity and belonging, small presses, and connecting with your people. You can listen to my episode here, and after you're done…
I'm having a lot of fun with my newsletter. It's been nice to return to slightly longer forms of expression considering, you know, *gestures vaguely at the state of social media*. I realize that this blog/journal can count as a longer form of expression, but honestly I'm still not sure…
I did a Q&A with Susan Sanford Blades in the January edition of her Girls to the Front newsletter! Thank you, Susan. It was fun to talk about the timeline of writing The Quiet is Loud, worldbuilding, its themes, and of course - its food. I didn’t consciously draw on…
