for one, i do not want to give this book back.

as much as i look forward to summer i will miss my studies in fiction class, primarily for the effect it’s had on my own writing. it was my first serious writing/ workshop-esque class where my work was seen, read, reviewed. it was so helpful. and with these stories— all so quirky, quick, broad, vague, silly and horrid—i realized the potential i have in story writing and how not to waste any of it. i can do all sorts with imagination, take it back a step or bring it forward a million steps. i can’t go wrong, because with fiction there’s no limits. Scribner’s anthology showed me this. finding out about sex with Barbie dolls and dead aunt’s coming back to life to clean up your shenanigans and tiger moms and the sky falling down over a year’s span and half-skinned steers stalking and and and…

there’s just a mind-blowing variety of directions these authors took with their fictions. it’s an incredible thing, the human mind, more so when we use it to look beyond logic, to create stories the human heart can relate to.

thank you so much, Professor Torres. it truly was the experience this authoress needed!




(sources via Google)

i really need this summer! it’s going to be terrific, i know it. NOT going to London in the fall, if i didn’t mentioned that already (then again you all didn’t know i was planning for London then). if i did, i’d be behind on graduation, and as much as i love college, thanks to the right major i pursued, i wouldn’t want to stick around longer than necessary. for consolation of missing out on London, i’m definitely looking into my own little place in San Francisco. my own place! the City! just as good as London i’d think, it’s San Fran after all— imagine the 24-7 sights and sounds i’d get from this lovely city compared to when i commute from the East Bay to classes. weekends will be exciting.

back to summer, there’s three things to tackle here:

revise my novel, The Muse Land.


write my story, Break, before fall.


send in my story By Your Side to writing contests all over.

the third is where i get so pissy. i’d have sent out most of my stories for fair trial by writing contests, but there’s the damn entry fees. i’ve always felt that’s been a horrid part of the process of almost anything, particularly in contests and university applications. it makes sense to pay like mailing for sending in your work, but why should people pay others to read their work when there’s also a high chance of the judges not even selecting their entry for a win? why do i have to pay to lose?

what i do to try and find little extra pocket cash is well, keep looking on Craigslist, looking in their writing gigs and writing/editing jobs sections. people think i’m picky, and they’re right. i’ve never had a legit work experience anywhere— retail, office, restaurant, nothing. but at least i know i’m good (as many have said, and i should believe it!) at writing. so writing jobs would do me well, even if i might not like all my options (ehem, freelance writing is NOT all as easy and fun as it might seem, i know from failing in that line of work). even so, i want to try and get experience and little cash to pay for necessary things to get my writing out there, from printing money for my books or stories to entry fees and envelopes to send in my stories for contests.

it’s ridiculous, but everyone must do what they have to do. i’ll have a great summer for sure, with friends being home and a fresh wardrobe to pick and choose from to go out and enjoy the lovely California weather, but then again i for one shall not loose track of anything that could get me to a higher place with my writing. you just never know— so take those chances.

THIS BOOK IS GENIUS. at least the first volume was, actually this whole concept is so unique, simple, and just perfect.

first off Joseph Gordon-Levitt is perfect. thank goodness for his love of art and getting people engaged with it. his project, hitRECord, has produced a finely-crafted book called The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, consisting of all sorts of amateur writers or not to contribute to the book. there are words, four sentences, and mostly pictures, all little stories that really are delightful to read and are self-explanatory. most of these are extraordinarily clever, too!

and now, they are calling for submissions to Volume 2 now! this will be an exciting challenge for me. if i  can
think of something exceptional for this, and if it EVEN makes it into the next collection, it sure will be a defining moment in my becoming a writer. not only that, it will help me focus directly onto the minimalism that seems to work the best for me.

here from the article i’ve noted two spots i have written about in my novel: The Claremont Hotel Club and Spa and The Cheeseboard Pizza. they’re long-standing monuments of this city, from the elegant roaring 20’s facade of the grand Claremont which you can see right from the freeway nestled in the green Berkeley Hills, to the always crowded and quirky pizza-menu Cheeseboard with few seating so that most diners have to illegally take to the grassy island in the middle of Shattuck Ave to have a mass picnic with friends or strangers. both are places i clearly identify in my story, and once i’ve finished revising and you all get the chance to read it, i hope that they, along with other parts of the city (such as the Berkeley Marina above) really move you and make you see not just the beauty in San Francisco, but all around the Bay Area, too.

you can pretty much guess i got the idea from after attending Monday’s Kasabian concert at The Fillmore.

i’ll gladly be sharing notes make from my mind about this whole new mess right here. it’s a simple concept, and it’s sure not brand new. find the new Pinterest Board for the story here.

Gale Ridgelee of the band Vernon.

The Fox Theater, Oakland, and around the Bay Area.

Candice and Clarence. their night out on the town

The Octopus
Coral and Bloom