Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou!
December 2022
Aloha kākou and e komo mai! This is my December newsletter! I don’t know about all of you, but 2022 has been a wild ride for me. This month’s newsletter is a little bit reflective, as I look back on one of the most eventful years of my life. Read on for:
What I’m currently reading/watching/listening to
What’s up with my writing (news and updates)
What I’ve been researching (and all the weird things I learn as an SF writer)
What I’ve been cooking (and if I succeeded or failed)
What my cats are up to (cat happenings)
HOWZIT? 🤙
I took the last two weeks in December off to unwind. I spent a lot of it catching up, particularly on housework and media (and using media to procrastinate on housework). One book I read over the break was THE RAKESS by Scarlett Peckham. I kept starting and stopping books, none of them particularly holding my attention, until I realized that the book I really wanted to read was on my TBR from years ago. Once I started it, I flew through it. I love the idea of turning the rake trope on its head, and I love the themes of empowerment and bucking oppression. Even if there were some dark turns in the narrative, I always come back to romance for the happily ever after. A great read!
So. I watched Andor. After the third episode, I turned to my wife and told them “I’m sorry, I’m about to make Andor my entire personality,” and I have kept that promise. It just hits so many of my buttons! I love rebels without a cause, I love peoples’ revolutions, I love personal stakes that feel just as heavy as the galactic ones. Because if anything, Andor is about the small people of the galaxy, and how all of our little rebellions can build together to destroy empires. Someone said that my writing has a hopepunk bent, and this type of story—gritty and harsh, that doesn’t shy away from the human cost of a happy ending, but is ultimately defiantly hopeful in envisioning a new world—is exactly my shit.
A video of Lady Gaga’s performance of Paparazzi at the 2009 VMAs passed my dash and it’s been stuck in my head for days. It made me revisit the album and let me tell you—the chokehold this song and album had on me in those early 2010’s.
Funny story, I once participated in the 24 Hour Shows (where a play is written, produced, and performed within 24 hours) and wrote a Lady Gaga meets Wizard of Oz mashup in a feverish 12 hours with three other sleep-deprived college students. It was a hot mess and will never see the light of day again, but I think of that time fondly.
(Blood CW in video)
WRITER KINE STUFF ✍️
It’s been a wild year.
I was about halfway through drafting HAMMAJANG LUCK in January.
I turned 30 in February.
The 2nd anniversary of the pandemic was in March.
I finished drafting HAMMAJANG LUCK in April.
I participated in #APIpit and got a like from Keir Alekseii in May. I got married a week later.
In June, I got an offer of representation from Keir. In July, I accepted their offer.
We spent the summer editing and polishing the manuscript, and in October we threw it into editors’ inboxes. We were on sub through December, and now here we are.
After a hellish 2021, I came into 2022 weary and wary. I didn’t know what this year had in store for me. Little did I know that some of the highest points in my life would come this year. I made it to 30 years old, which as a kid I never thought I’d do. I’m two years post-COVID, and while long COVID still makes my life difficult, I’m happy and healthy. I have an amazing agent who is a kind and supportive friend, savvy business partner, and fierce advocate. I married the love of my life, and I’m so incredibly lucky to spend the rest of my life with them. And I finished my second novel, one that I am so, so proud of and so, so excited to share with the world.
Looking back on everything that’s happened this year, I’m stunned at how far I’ve come. I know there’s a culture of humility to the point of self-deprecation in this industry, but I have to say: I’m so proud of myself. I’ve worked so hard and survived so much, and I’m finally watching everything I’ve worked for come to fruition. Even typing this out now, on the last Friday of 2022, it’s crazy to see it all on the page.
And that’s not even all of it.
RESEARCH FIND 🔍
Ever walk through a doorway and forget why you entered the room in the first place?
It’s called the “doorway effect,” and it refers to memory decline caused by lapses in episodic memory—the memories we carry of individual events or episodes. The theory goes that episodic memories become tied to external cues, and the room you were in when you thought, “oh, I left my keys in the other room,” becomes tied to that memory. When you leave the room and enter a new room, your brain shifts into a new episodic memory and the thought is lost. Hence, “why did I come in here again???”
In HAMMAJANG LUCK, the heist revolves around an experimental brain mod that can “read” episodic memories based on the cues they’re linked to. One implication being that if you change the cues… you might be able to change the memory.
Cool, eh?
THIS MONTH’S GRINDZ 🍽️
Another comfort food this month: Spam katsu. I usually eat it with rice and veg, but you can also eat it on ramen or Japanese curry!
I know Spam can be controversial on the Mainland, but in Hawaiʻi it’s a staple. I have converted many a person to be a Spam Appreciator, so maybe this recipe will change your mind too, Spam Doubters.
Ingredients:
Katsu:
1 (12 oz.) can Spam, sliced into 8 pieces
½ cup flour
1 egg, beaten
1 cup panko bread crumbs
Vegetable oil for frying
Sauce:
1 tbsp ketchup
2 ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ tsp oyster sauce
1 ⅛ tsp sugar (Add more sugar, if needed)
Steps:
In a large skillet or fryer; warm oil. In separate shallow dishes; place flour, beaten egg and panko.
Dust Spam lightly with flour. Dip into beaten egg and coat with panko and pat well.
L: Standard breading procedure of flour, egg, and panko. R: Breaded Spam. Deep-fry breaded Spam for a few minutes; until browned on both sides. Drain on paper towels.
L: Frying the Spam. R: Fried Spam. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together.
POPOKI PICS 🐈
Everybody say aloha to Steve and Olive! Steve and Olive are nine-year-old and six-year-old brown tabbies, respectively. I met Steve when I met my wife, and Olive we adopted to be Steve’s emotional support animal (he gets anxious when he’s alone). Steve loves to snuggle and eat trash, and Olive loves sitting in laps and committing acts of violence.
As you can see, Steve and Olive appreciated their Christmas gift (a bag that one of my wife’s presents came in) very very much.
SHOOTS! 🤙
That’s all for now! I KNOW I promised my “how I got my agent” story, but I forgot that this is my last newsletter of the year and I felt a little reflective. But I promise it’s coming!
Hopefully with some news that will make it worth the wait!
Until then, thank you for reading and I’ll talk to you again in the New Year! Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou!