Literary Rebels!

Come check us out! I'll be on at 5pm at the Storytelling and Readings Stage. More here.

More on the Libraries

It still burns me how LA libraries are being closed down twice a week. As this LA Weekly article discusses, it's a "black eye" to our city.
Read here.

Interviewing Rick Moody

My First Painting--EVER!!!

I noticed that when the writing gets tough, I start to do other creative things. When I had a hard time writing Letters to Montgomery Clift, I began to sew. With Talking to the Moon I started to cook and engage in martial arts. Now, I picked up a paint brush.

All of this I know is just another means of expressing myself. If I don't write, I just feel awful, but if I'm doing something--anything--creative I feel I've accomplished something.

Yesterday, I just started painting. It was fun and relaxing, and I look forward to doing more of it.

Women Vs. Men

There's an interesting article on how men seem to get the focus when writing about literary fiction. Jonathan Franzen has--again--stolen the spotlight. Read here.

The Perfect Storm: Mysterious Skin in LA

It is rare for me to experience the coming together of some of my favorite things. Scott Heim's Mysterious Skin is one of my favorite novels; East West Players is one of my favorite theatres; Director Tim Dang and Playwright Prince Gomovilas are two of my favorite people. And on September 9, they will be all coming together!

The LA premiere of Mysterious Skin, adapted for the stage by Prince Gomolvilas, directed by Tim Dang, will be at East West Players!

Read more here.

Deadline for Emerging Voice Fast Approaching

AAJA Aftermath

1. I'd been thinking about the Asian American Journalist Conference, especially going to the closing reception and hearing the stories of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the journalists who were imprisoned for crossing the border from China into North Korea. AAJA lobbied for their release because they believed that reporting the news shouldn't be a crime.

I was moved to hear how Laura Ling got out of North Korea with Bill Clinton's help. Ling admits that crossing the border from China to North Korea was a "big mistake." But to get sentenced to 12 years of hard labor?

Bill Clinton's visit made a big impact on Ling's release. Kim Jong Il wanted to meet Clinton for some time. You see, when Kim Jong Il's father passed away, Clinton was the first to call and give condolences. Apparently this act of diplomacy, of kindness stayed with Kim Jong Il and influenced the release of Laura Ling and fellow writer Euna Lee. Good deeds can go far!

2. I was thrilled to meet Emil Gueillermo. I'd been reading his columns for years. Read about him here. When I was thinking of a Filipino journalist who gets kidnapped in the Philippines for my novel Letters to Montgomery Clift, I was influeced by Emil Guillermo and named the character after him.

3. The most electrifying time of the conference was when 82 year old editor KW Lee recalled the reportage of the 1992 Riots in Los Angeles. He cussed out AAJA for their lact of action during the riots. "We're chicken shit Asians," he said, referring to Asian journalists and our inaction on reporting on social issues. (Ur, I didn't take it personally. Most of my journalism was reporting on AIDS for God's sake.)

Ouch!

I love a good literary fued and this writer is starting a war. He lists 15 of America's Overrated Writers. Click here.

Your thoughts?

Asian American Journalist Association--AAJA

I'd been attending the AAJA conference this week, learning all the neat things that journalists need to know to get by. I went to a workhop on "search tools" and got caught up on this OPENBOOK thing. Click here.

Essentially, it shows how unprivate Facebook is. Unless you have privacy settings in place, anyone can search your profile--even if they're not one of your "friends." Try it out. Plug in a topic of interest like "Prop 8" or "Obama" or "Lady Gaga" and it shows you what people (you) are saying about the subject.

Um...

I had a good discussion with my agent. He gave me feedback on the first 50 pages of my new novel. In a word to describe the first 50 pages: useless. Well, maybe I'm being too harsh, but he didn't think those first 50 pages should start the novel. He said it was all exposition. Start with action, action, action!

The funny thing is I know this. This was the same note I got with my last novel. These are "throat-clearing" pages. Now, that it's clear, maybe I could start anew. Here is the first paragraph that I wrote this morning.

Chapter One

"It was never my intention to be a father, let alone be a father to a sick child. My wife wanted a baby and I’d do anything for her. Through my ups and downs as a writer, she’d stuck by me. Now, she wanted this. She wanted to be a mother. We adopted because we can’t have any of our own. If I’d known our son would be sick, I wouldn’t have done it. Frankly, I wanted to give him back."

Kind Rejection

I got my first rejection for my short story collection this week. It was truly the kindest rejection I'd ever gotten. The editor said he was familiar with my work and he enjoyed my last book, but he chose to pass on this project.

Libraries in the News!

(Writer Naomi Hirahara speaking her mind)

I hosted a press conference on the library cuts in Los Angeles. The LA Weekly covered it. Read here.

It also made the news. Here's the video (with me getting a little ticked).

Un-Slam

Un-Slam The Doors-Keep Our Library Open: A Protest Rally at Central Library

Where: Central Library Fifth Street Entrance When: Monday, July 19th at 9:30 AM

On Monday, July 19, for the first time in our library's history, the Los Angeles Public Library is ordered to shut its doors on Mondays to our patrons, including our city's children. Because of the Mayor's budget cuts and layoffs, a two year hiring freeze, and retirements, our library is now reduced to five days a week service (Tuesday thru Saturday).

This Monday closure is a historical, unprecedented cut to the library and is the first sign of the Mayor and City Council's sweeping blow to the rest of our city services.

In protest, city workers and library supporters of all ages are staging a rally, demonstration and program at Central Library on the first closed Monday of the budget cuts. Distinguished speakers and local slam poets will be featured. We are united in our call to city leaders: Restore our library's hours! Restore our library's services! Restore our library's programs!

I'm hosting this baby! I'll be there with D'Lo, Imani Tolliver, Naomi Hirahara and more!

It Begins...

My agent started sending out my manuscript to publishers. Breathe in...out.

Linda!

I had the pleasure of visiting Linda Smith's studio. Her work is colorful, overwhelming, loud. It is both a ballad and a scream. "Breathtaking" is on overused descriptor, but I finally understood the meaning of that word when I saw her art. I walked through her studio, a place that held canvasses from the 1980's, and felt a sense of awe.

It is always a pleasure hearing how an aritst creates and why. The above video is only a glimpse of the two hours that we shared eating, talking and laughing.

Check out her website here.

Look at what I found...

This hobby is really making me happy...and broke. Seriously, I'm really seeing all of the beautiful things in the world and how people just give them up. Or get tired of them.

I found one lovely painting and on the back read, "For my honey, Happy Birthday, I Love you!!!"

Perhaps there was a break-up and this source of beauty became a source of pain. It was discarded, and now I have it. I have their moment, when times were good. I framed it.

I have another painting that reads: "To: My 'Precious' friend Vicky. Love Always Holden." It's dated 1920. Decades later, I wonder about Holden and how he still loves Vicky. Always, he wrote. That's a very long time.

Done!

Made revisions. Sent another draft to my agent. Let's see what happens.

Recent Art Saves

These amazing paintings were "saved." My apartment is getting stacked with art. What to do?

John and Me