I am taking another class from brilliant teacher and author Natalie Goldberg. She shared a teaching about enlightenment as seeing something through to the end. This is what I have always grappled with. When one thing isn’t working, the temptation to move on to something new is so palpable. But even listening to her talk all the way through, without stopping to eat or while scrolling Facebook, is hard. It got me thinking about the entire writing process and life itself. How do we see through all of it, even the difficult parts to its very end? I started writing…
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I dreamed of saying that one day because in that miraculous future, I would be talking about Long Covid in the past tense. Something I overcame, and hopefully would never have experienced again. I’m happy to say that day finally arrived. For anyone interested in reading about what three months stuck in my room did to me, I documented the experience in an untitled essay for The Missing Slate’s Homebound issue. You can read the full essay for free here. I also recently accepted a Climatebase Fellowship so will hopefully be learning more about climate and the ways I can use my…
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I spotted this book at my local library and was intrigued. What does love have to do with the library? Love in the Library written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illustrated by Yas Imamura and published by Candlewick Press is a picture book based on a true story about the author’s grandparents. It is a love story within a greater context of the Japanese incarceration camps after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. This hits home for me as a fifth generation Japanese American born and raised in Hawaii. My grandmother lived through gas mask drills and my Kauai grandparents wedding anniversary was on…
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I have a passion for writing essays. Maybe it started as my love for writing in diaries. I had a Hello Kitty one that came with a tiny padlock and key. As I got older, I began writing for a local newspaper in columns like, “The Goddess Speaks.” Anyone from Hawaii remember the Honolulu Star-Bulletin? Embarrassingly, I found one of my old essays here. Anyway, it’s admittedly my favorite genre because I’m a sensitive INFJ and I usually don’t get too many negative comments on essays. And I can publish them freely. Editors are kind when they reject me. And…
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A few months ago I attended a book signing for illustrator Gael Abary. Funny story-Gael lives in Kailua and she asked me to meet her IRL at her signing at Book Ends in Kailua. Another funny coincidence, I met author and editor Amy Novesky online when I queried her publishing company Cameron books. Amy has always been super encouraging and kind to me. It’s because of her that I kept pushing myself to write through the loads of rejection I received. I was happy to attend the event and purchase their beautiful book. I also brought home a few other…
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We read so many picture books at our home so when one is really good, my son and I really take notice. While our tastes may differ, books with heart seem to capture us both. Since my 8-year-old is quickly aging out of picture books, I really savor these moments. Why does the universe make us fall in love with our children only to wrench them from us so fast? But back to really good picture books. Our Kailua librarian is a genius at plucking unique picture books from piles and featuring them on the bookshelf. I’m not sure if…
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Kao Kalia Yang’s The Most Beautiful Thing illustrated by Khoa Le and published by Carolrhoda Books, is the most beautiful book. The illustrations are art worthy. The story like a beautifully stitched quilt layered with meaning and yet, so fitting for a children’s book. What makes this one special is how specific and detailed the story is. The way the author writes about the grandmother makes you feel like you know her, as if she is a real person. Listen to the first sentence: “My grandmother is so old, no one knows how old she is.” Isn’t that a perfect line? It…
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It’s near summer and I am finally on the mend. We still have sick people in our home, however. 2024 was definitely a year of multiple viruses passing through our doors. While I am sad that a quarter of the year is over and I’ve mostly been at home, I am super grateful to be recovering from long Covid, and for all the time I had and likely needed to rest. It also gave me many days of reflection, painting, and of course reading. I’m going to do a quick review of three picture books that left an impact on…
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Brigid Delaney’s book *Reasons Not to Worry: How to Be Stoic in Chaotic Times, hit all the right notes for me. It was an easy read. It offered personal gut-wrenching stories of the author’s experience. It broke down the how tos in easily digestible nuggets that stay and helped me get through particularly debilitating flares with long-Covid. First of all, if you are not familiar with stoicism, it is a way of being that was created by philosophers a very long time ago like BC times. Seneda, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius are three stoics from the late period of Stoicism. What…
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I started out the New Year with symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Long Covid (whichever one you believe in). At the same time, my picture book was finally announced in Publisher’s Weekly. 2024 has birth forth my greatest accomplishment and my lowest point health-wise. It’s a tenuous year-a back and forth switchboard of what’s going to happen next. I am also living in the place I’ve been dreaming of for a decade. So while my biggest unimaginable dreams have come to fruition, a few unexpected life changing setbacks as well. 2020s have really thrown me for a loop! I…