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Breaking Through: My Journey to Getting Published

Our dreams are often pieces of us that have been a part of our lives for a long time. Some lucky people reach their goals so quickly that they make it look easy. Others spend years chasing their vision. I’ve been writing since second grade. I carried a notebook and pen everywhere I went. I had spent my whole life creating stories, and perhaps part of that was due to trying to escape a turbulent…

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My Snarky Take On Embracing The Birthday Blues

We don’t have to fight the birthday blues. We can accept how we feel and conquer our goals despite our emotions.

October 10th was my birthday, and I’ll admit that each year, I’ve experienced the birthday blues. Everyone thinks they want to stay young forever, and when you are a Gen Z fresh out of college, there is an invincibility factor that you go through. You know what I mean. We’ve all felt it at one point in our lives. When we’re at our peak youthful age, a power comes over us. We think we’re…

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Why Sometimes Being In Editing Mode Can Lead To Writer’s Block

It’s wise to try and complete editorial tasks firsts and get them out of the way so that it frees up your calendar to write a new manuscript. This can significantly reduce writer's block because you have the mental space to create something new.

Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com Sometimes being in the left-brain editing trenches can zap your energy enough to where you’re unable to switch back to the right-brain creative tasks of writing something new. At least the switch isn’t as easy as you might’ve thought it would. I didn’t actually know that editing-induced writer’s block was an actual thing until I experienced it first-hand. As you…

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What Learned Editing 1st Ten Pages Of #WIP Via Nationwide Writing Conferences

Had a great experience as an editor via @writingdaywksp last season. Thnx to @BrianKlems for the opportunity. The conference rotates editors, so I’ll be sitting the upcoming ones out. #WritingCommunity: How to avoid common issues in opening pages.👇🏽

It’s been a real learning lesson being a former faculty member of the Writing Day Workshops. It’s a hub that manages virtual and in-person writing conferences from all over the United States. Because they like to switch things up to provide writers a variety of perspectives, they select editors and agents to be featured in their workshops seasonally. I was privileged to have worked with them…

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Writing Despite Setbacks: Redirecting Personal Challenges Into Our Stories

In an ideal world, only positive things happen to us. In reality, it's the challenges we face that can be channeled & breathe authenticity into our stories. Personal setbacks keep us humble & make us better writers. #WritingCommunity #WritersLift

In an ideal world, only positive things happen to us. We have all the time to write and are in the best psychological mindset. We’re free of stress, always in a zen-like state, can jump into our WIP, and immediately get into a flow. We never let anything get us down, have never experienced writer’s block, and are always in a perpetually creative mood. The truth is most of us have bad days. We…

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How Almost Losing My Son In 2022 Helped Me To Define 2023 Goals

Personal life experience, good or bad, is never wasted. In aiming for our 2023 #writingcommunity goals, it's often the challenges we've faced that can be rechanneled into our goals, fuel our vision & improve our storytelling. #WritersLift

September 18, 2022, was like any other late summer Southern California day. The weather was nice, and my family and I were excited to use our Disneyland annual passes. As we prepared to leave, we noticed our then 15-month-old son was extra clingy and kept wanting to be held, which wasn’t unusual. But soon, clingy behavior turned into favoring one leg, and then he wasn’t willing to walk. At…

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The ending of a #novel can be the hardest to complete. Readers can tell when the author impatiently tried to wrap up the ending too swiftly. It's better to work through the hardest parts of our #WIP vs. making reading laborious for our audience. #WritingCommunity #WritersLift • • • #writingtips #amwriting #amrevising #amediting #fridayfeeling #tgif #worksmarternotharder #womenwriters #writersupportingwriters #writersofig #womenwritersofig #womenwritersofcolor #POCwriters #WOCwriters #writersnetwork #writersblock #problemsolving #writers #writersclub #writersjourney #authorsjourney #aspiringauthors #aspiringauthor #writingjourney #books #readersofinstagram

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Breaking Writing Rules: Why It’s OKAY To Revise As You Write!

#WritingCommunity #WritersLift of the Day: Many #writers are told to write blindly & edit last. But it's crucial to have some direction & beneficial to #edit while writing for busy writers w/ day jobs having to frequently jump in & out of their #WIP.👇🏽

There’s an old writing rule that seems to supersede all rules, even Stephen King’s infamous quote on why he feels, “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” Yes, despite King’s aversion to adverbs, the biggest writing rule every writer constantly gets lectured about is that we should never be concerned about revising while we’re writing. We’ve been made to feel that if we don’t write, write,…

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Subjectivity & Why #CreativeProfessionals Should Leave Their Egos Behind

Any #creativeprofessional should understand that the #creativeworld, #writing, & any #art is highly subjective. So, it's good practice to leave our egos behind & learn to embrace rejection as a tool for personal growth. #WritingCommunity #WritersLift

The one thing I’ve learned as a creative professional, having worked for companies in addition to pursuing personal aspirations as an aspiring author, is that everything within the content creation space is subjective. This means that we must be conscious of the lengthy process to get to a final revision on anything and be willing to leave our egos at the door. This is especially true now that…

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#AAPIHeritageMonth: Why We Should Stop Asking #POC Where They’re From

#AAPIHeritageMonth is a time to bring awareness to subtle nuances of #modernracism. Many #nonPOC are unaware of how a simple question can be debasing. Read why asking a #POC where they’re from segregates into inclusion/exclusion stratification. #Diversity

All my life, I’ve been asked ethnically probing questions, and often times people aren’t even correct in how they pose them. They’ll often ask things like, “Where are you from?” I often ask my own question for clarity sake. You mean, which state was I born in? You mean, how long have I lived in California? Or do you really mean, since I’m a Person of Color, what ethnic origin made me a brown…

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Why Writers Should Consider Revising Slower To Improve Manuscript Quality

It's better to take our time vs. crank out a bad first draft we have to scrap 90% of during the #amediting process. Likewise, taking our time during the #revisions can improve the quality of our #WIP. #WritingCommunity #WritersJourney

There are plenty of fast writers out there that can rival Stephen King’s ability to complete any manuscript length in three months. Many aspiring authors, debut novelists, and those trying to land book deals get inspired by King and other fast writers. The one thing we all forget is that the man’s been writing since 1967!   Fifty-five years is longer than some of us have been alive. I mention…

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International Women’s Day Should Be More Than A Diversity Marketing Ploy

To properly celebrate #InternationalWomensDay, society must admit to a systemic problem on a global scale. Cultural diversity + inclusion requires all industries willing to employ not just more non-POC women, but more #WOC in leadership roles. #IWD2022

March 8th marks International Women’s Day, designed to reflect on our values as a society and honor multicultural women globally. As an aspiring author, creative professional, and multi-ethnic Asian-Hispanic woman, I see the call for diversity as a major focus in the publishing world as it seems to be throughout all businesses. While wanting diversity is an important step, as a woman of color…

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Don’t Talk About It, Be About It

In the #socialmedia age of sharing everything, sometimes you jinx yourself prematurely talking too much about your aspirations. It's much better to be a doer. Read why you should let your actions do the talking. #WritingCommunity #WednesdayWisdom

We’re in the age of sharing…everything. Whether it’s checking in to Yelp to report what we’ve eaten for lunch to posting our sweaty workout pictures on Instagram just to show off our abs. After all, we worked hard on them, didn’t we? Oversharing is more than what we post on our social media platforms. Have you ever been in a situation where you’re compelled to discuss your project or goals?…

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Don’t Break Down, Break Through

Many things break down: communication, relationships, focus, & more. #WritingCommunity: Rather than breaking down, we can #breakthrough2022. Small changes = lasting impact which can improve communication, productivity, #writersblock, & all life areas.

When we hear the words “break down,” we automatically think of a nervous breakdown, a mental collapse, or a slump in our life where we reach our lowest point. But breaking down isn’t always so melodramatic. In fact, it can be a simple breakdown in communication, having to relearn how we remotely work with others. The pandemic has changed our lives and the way many of us work. Companies have had…

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True Leaders Adapt, Revise, & Welcome Change

Being open to personal improvement can benefit #writers & #creativeprofessionals. Leadership is recognizing strengths & opportunities for growth. It's realizing that, like our #WIP, we're all rough drafts needing revision. #WritingCommunity #WritersLift

We go to college, get our degrees, and expect to be done learning. We can be subject matter experts and leaders in our respective fields. But true leadership comes from personal knowledge of self and having the understanding that we’re never done growing. As aspiring authors, we can relate to the long journey through our #WIP. We could’ve read our manuscript a dozen times and revised it to the…