In Collaboration with This Asian American Life: The Making of “My Journey with Journals”

So as I had mentioned last week, I have never written a comic book or a graphic novel before… but as of this week, I can say that I have written a web comic. I teased this project back in February, but for those who missed it, on Thursday, my collaboration with This Asian American Life (TAAL) was released, in the form of a comic commemorating 20 years of journaling called “My Journey with Journals.”

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How Playwriting and Screenwriting is Making Me a Better Writer

Nearly five years ago now, shortly after releasing my second novel, I started making the journey towards writing for both the stage and the screen. A Christmas gift of the word-processing program, Scrivener, jump-started my expansion into other creative writing mediums. Within that time, I have since written multiple stage plays, a few spec scripts, a few pilots, a few short films, and even a feature-length screenplay. Oh, I also upgraded to Final Draft earlier this year, because I felt that it was time to up the ante.

Stop Asian Hate: Required Action

I took last week off from blogging to deal with the grief, stress, anger, and fear I’ve been following the hate crime in Atlanta. Yes, unlike the police department that has failed in so many ways with handling the crime, I’m referring to it as what it is: a hate crime.

History and How It’s Told

In the Filipino American community, there is a saying that many are familiar with: “No history, no self. Know history, know self.” It seems appropriate that this phrase comes to mind today, on the last day of Filipino American History Month. At the same time, it also feels well-timed in the matters of the election that’s now a mere three days away.

Thoughts About Acknowledging and Supporting Filipino American History Month

One week remains of the month of October, which means one week remains of Filipino American History Month. This month recognizes and acknowledges historical events, people, and experiences that have helped shape what Filipino America is today. It has also become one of the busiest months of the year for me, aside from May.

Filipino American History Month both acknowledges the accomplishments of those who came before us and those who are making their mark in the present day. Book lists, film recommendations, concerts and more are suddenly popping up and scheduled all over, all involving Filipino American voices.

When Writing in Other People’s Universes

Do you know what a spec script is? For those who don’t know, a spec (short for speculative script) is a non-commissioned script, written with the intent of either having it optioned by a production company or give light to an up-and-coming screenwriter and what they’re capable of. When you’re writing a spec for TV, it’s usually for a show that is currently on the air.

In the past, I’ve talked about my thoughts and aspirations to write for already established universes. Since then, I’ve actually gotten to do so in the form of specs, and I can assure you that it has been quite an education for me.

Racism is a Virus: REQUIRED Analyzing

In this world right now, there are two viruses being spread, and only one of them is making national headlines. The other virus that I speak of is racism. While I’ve spoken of racism in the past in this corner of the Internet, this is really the ugliest it has gotten towards the Asian American community in quite some time.

“Thank you for coming to my TED talk.”

I’ve done quite a few public events in the past that are typical for an author. I’ve done readings and I’ve also participated in a few book fairs. However, never have I done a presentation about my work as a writer before, in the format of a guest lecture for a college class.

What Did I Miss?: November 2018

Hey everyone!

I hope you’ve all been doing well this month. It’s hard to believe my hiatus is almost up, but as I have observed, I’m itching to get back into the routine of weekly blog posts on all and everything related to the subject of storytelling. So this coming Saturday, get ready, for I will, at last, be back.

In the mean time, here is what you missed for the month of November:

What Did I Miss?: October 2018

Hey everyone!

I hope you’ve all been doing well since I announced my hiatus. While you’re receiving this message now, I’m actually writing it out a few weeks in advance, and I can imagine that I’m really benefiting from this time away from the blog.

In any case, as mentioned in my hiatus announcement, starting this month and going forward, I’m having these “What Did I Miss?” posts appear on a monthly basis rather than a weekly basis. While I think I was wise in starting these series of posts last year, I’m not sure if a weekly basis is really the best schedule for it, for there are times where the list is very short – like, one item short. So I think releasing them all in one post covering an entire month will be a lot more sufficient going forward, and I hope you think so too.

In which case, here is what you missed for the month of October: