88 Cups of Tea Podcast

I am thrilled to have been a part of the 88 Cups of Tea 88th Milestone Episode! For those of you who aren't familiar with 88 Cups of Tea, it's a wonderful, inspiring podcast that interviews amazing writers like Leigh Bardugo, Renee Ahdieh, Kody Keplinger, Jeff Zentner, Sabaa Tahir (just to name a few), as well …

CARAVAL Book Event

  Caraval has been on my radar since BEA 2016 when it was named a YA Editors’ Buzz book. I unfortunately didn’t get my hands on an ARC and have been waiting impatiently for it since. Synopsis from Goodreads: Whatever you’ve heard about Caraval, it doesn’t compare to the reality. It’s more than just a game …

Happy Lunar New Year!

Happy Year of the Rooster!   In lieu of the lunar holiday and working on the final edits of American Panda, I wanted to take a moment to talk about how grateful I am for this book. It brought me closer to my mother and led to my hearing previously unshared stories about her, her upbringing, …

Favorites of 2016

As the year is wrapping up, I thought it would be fun to do a round-up of my favorite moments and favorite reads. Favorite Moments: Signing with my literary agent and landing my book deal for American Panda! Meeting so many new virtual friends! Thank you to my followers—I'm so happy we connected! Meeting ChiYA and …

Hanging Out with David Arnold & Adam Silvera + Mosquitoland Review

I was extremely fortunate to have met and hung out with (!!!) David Arnold and Adam Silvera last night. David was in town on tour for his latest release, Kids of Appetite, which sounds AMAZING. I can't wait to dive into my copy (signed, with the best inscription ever): I wrote this review for Mosquitoland …

I dream of writing…

I fell in love with this when I saw it at the National Gallery in London 2 years ago. The quote from Vincent Van Gogh reads: I dream of painting ... and then I paint my dream. I started writing because of a dream I had, which turned into my first novel. Now, a second book, …

My Novel Has Found Not Just A Publishing House But A Home

I'm beyond delighted, beyond thrilled, beyond ecstatic to share that my YA contemporary novel about a Taiwanese-American teen has sold to Jennifer Ung at Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster! I am so impressed with Jen and the Simon Pulse team already, and I can't wait to work with them. I cried when I read Jen's letter that …

Subjectivity

With the Pitch Wars picks being announced this week, I thought it might be helpful to talk about subjectivity, a word thrown around so often it risks losing meaning. Recently, I've begun reading multiple books at the same time (no, not literally :D). At one point in time, I'll often be a good chunk into 2 …

Writing Process

Note: The featured image above is what my desk looks like during revisions: tea or matcha latte in a Disney mug + papers everywhere. Through Aerogramme Studio's blog, I saw The West Wing and The Social Network writer Aaron Sorkin discuss his writing process (the full discussion can be found on Reddit): I write a lot of drafts of screenplays and …

Moving Forward

Happy July 4th everyone! Hope you have a great day full of family, love, relaxation, and BBQ! I recently had to rearrange my bookshelf to make room for all my shiny new BEA ARCs as well as the books on books on books I bought after the synopses turned me into Gollum. Books are my weakness. …