The 2023 Writing & Storytelling Life

First off: I will be on the PBS & World Channel Show Stories From The Stage, broadcast on TV and streaming online, this coming Monday 3/20 at 9:30pm ET / 6:30pm PT! You can check out the trailer for the show here. I, Elena, and Michelle filmed this in November at WGBH Studios in Boston, and I am so excited for you all to hear our stories. When I told my parents about the airing yesterday, they asked for me to figure out how to configure Channel 13 on their television (and I failed, boo!).

Today I got to speak to some high school students about my family story. Nothing is as inspiring as watching youth be completely engaged with and ask great questions about the legacy of Vincent Chin in general and on my family. In my time away from teaching, I’ve been able to lead multiple workshops with high school students about writing and telling their family stories, and that has been an honor.

I am very close to finishing a first draft of my book: I hope to finish by next week. That will give me a few weeks before a monthlong Vermont Studio Center writing residency from April 9th- May 6th, where I hope to revise the complete manuscript! This comes after two wonderful workshops I was able to take part in 2023 so far: the VONA Winter Writing Intensive with Michael Thomas, and the Tin House Winter Workshop under Sasha LaPointe! I found out two days ago I got into a competitive summer writing workshop, wahoo! I’m super excited to continue the journey toward a completed revised manuscript to send out to agents.

Much love to all the artists and creatives out in the world (and congratulations to Everything Everywhere All At Once, which is a movie that means a lot to me and taught me a lot about what it means to write for a specific audience). I am able to write this academic year because of savings and the health insurance/income coming from my husband, who I married just a little over a year ago. I decided I won’t be returning to teaching elementary special education next year, but I imagine that, at some point in the future, I will return to teaching. I’m not sure yet what’s in store job-wise for the future, but I know this writing journey was the right choice. After I’m done with enough of this memoir, I would like to turn this manuscript into a one-woman show somewhere in NYC; more updates to come! Keep dreaming, everyone, and keep writing.