About Me

 

If things had gone according to plan, I would have been in my second year of vet school, not working in a cubicle and writing in my free time with dreams of publication.

But, life never goes according to plan.

The only member of my family born on U.S. soil, I was afforded many opportunities that my sisters were not. Education at a young age, proficiency in English, the ability to adjust to the country, for it was all that I knew. From a young age I exceled in academics, leadership roles, sports, and music. With most Asian American families, success equated with professions in the medical field and sciences.

I didn’t want to disappoint, with a love for animals, I’d thought I’d be a veterinarian one day.

But there was another side to me. One with a wild imagination, a need to lose myself in words, and a childish dream to be an author.

Yet, I pushed that aside, making it a goal to attend that best school for Veterinary Medicine, even if it was just for an undergraduate degree. University of California, Davis.

But a few things happened along the way. I had a wonderful Honor’s English teacher my junior year of high school who suggested I apply for an English major instead. In the end I didn’t. I checked the ‘Animal Biology’ box instead, but her suggestion always stayed with me.

The many years between high school and college had many twists and turns of realizations, heartbreak, and growth. As a young adult, I experienced more in a short amount of years than the whole of my life. Deep down, I always knew I wanted to write YA. This period of life that was so volatile, so surprising, so full of raw emotion, it was one I’d never forget and was something I yearned to put on the page.

I finally did what my teacher had suggested four years ago. I switched my major to English Literature with an Emphasis in Creative Writing. A year and a half later, I graduated as the commencement speaker of my graduating class.

Things didn’t go according to plan, but there were clues that this was the path I’d always meant to take. My love for books. My journals, now numbering over twenty. Poems that I would scribble into my science notebooks. And short stories I’d tucked away, never thinking of them more than passing time.

In my blog you will find me. Posts of my life, posts of books I’ve read, posts about my writing progress, all contributing to my dreams of being a YA writer.

Originally from Sacramento, California, I now reside in Seattle, Washington. In my time here, I’ve participated in Hugo House’s YA Workshop Course, am a member of SCBWI, and am currently typing away at my stories while working full-time.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I hope you continue to follow me on my journey as I write, revise, edit, love, laugh, cry, and make my way through life.