2023 wrapped
recommending my favorite media of the year and recapping accomplishments
It’s a weird feeling writing this post. This has been a good year for me personally. I got engaged! I traveled abroad for the first time in four years! I nailed my Poppies revisions! But I’ve also been struggling with envy and the fear I’ll never be published.
Most importantly, it’s impossible to feel at peace. The genocide of Palestine has surpassed its 75th day—it’s 75th year—and there is no ceasefire in sight. More atrocities are ongoing in Sudan, in Congo, in Armenia, in Kashmir, in Tigray, and more, that have received far less coverage. So, before continuing on, please check out these sources and donate if you have the means to:
Palestine: Books for Palestine has collected great resources. Trusted places to donate to include: Palestinian’s Children Relief Fund, Islamic Relief, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Care for Gaza
Sudan: The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces has led to more than 10,000 dead in 6 months and 5.6 million displaced. (Keep Eyes on Sudan, Al Jazeera: How to donate to the Sudan refugee response)
Congo: Decades of violence between armed groups, for instance the Congolese army vs the M23 rebels, have displaced 6 million. 40,000 children are essentially enslaved in cobalt mines. (Amnesty International Article, “humans” article)
Armenia: Azerbaijan is conducting ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, with 120,000 ethnic Armenians displaced. (Armenian Relief Society, “We Are No One”, Council on Foreign Relations Article)
Kashmir: After being illegally occupied, annexed, and colonized, Indian occupation forces have killed 100,000 people, disappeared 8000, and raped countless women in Kashmir. (Stand with Kashmir)
Tigray: Since 2020, the Ethiopian government has conducted ethnic cleansing through crimes against humanity and war crimes in Western Tigray, displacing more than 2 million people. (Human Rights Watch Article, UNICEF)
My most important hope for 2024 is for these horrors to come to an end. I hope to never grow numb to atrocity, and continue to do what I can to help.
None of us are free until all of us are free.
reading recap & media recommendation
Thanks to starting to get into audiobooks and also kicking my habit of watching shows with my meals and reading instead, I surpassed my reading goal for the first time in years: 31 books when my goal was 20.
(This was also aided by my continuous rereading of The Locked Tomb, though I stopped counting those after the second reread, since that felt like cheating.)
Here are some Storygraph stats:
(This year I switched from Goodreads to Storygraph, mostly for the buddy read function. I love that it generates stats and how it’s cleaner and more convenient for logging reads. However, it definitely runs slower and reviews feel less accessible.)
I’m glad to have finally caught up on an essential series, Legendborn, entered the literary sphere (This is How You Lose the Time War), and hopped on the Emily Henry romance train (Book Lovers, Beach Read).
A couple of books I want to highlight:
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow (Zoulfa Katouh) is set in the Syrian civil war, where an 18-year-old pharmacy student struggles between the decision to stay and fight or leave her home behind. It was a difficult read, but an essential one.
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth (Andrew Joseph White) is a YA horror featuring an austic trans boy Silas trapped in a finishing school for Victorian wives-to-be, where the ghosts of murdered girls reach out to him for help. Again, a difficult read full of both physical and mental agony; visceral and heartfelt.
And while I’m recommending things:
TV shows: I adored Lockwood & co. and will forever begrudge Netflix for cancelling it. The present timeline of Yellowjackets was meh, but the past timeline with the girls surviving in the wild and becoming cannibals had me riveted. And Interview With the Vampire is simply a must-watch masterpiece.
Movies: I loved Glass Onion, Across the Spiderverse, The Shape of Water, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Barbie, Red White & Royal Blue, and Bottoms.
Music: This year I was in the top 0.01% of listeners of Bear’s Den. Their songs Red Earth & the Pouring Rain, The Love We Stole, Blue Hours, Berlin, and Auld Wives always make me drop whatever I’m doing to listen and cry.
In 2023 I got to go to my first book event: the Taiwan launch of Babel, where RF Kuang spoke about dark academia, Asian fantasy, and the complexity of learning/relearning one’s native language as diaspora. (It was incredible.)
I also met my literary agent in person for the first time—as well as some amazing writer friends: Liana (@itsliana_iguess), Maddie (@maddiesmartinez), Wen (@wenyilee_), and Cath (@solaceinstories)!
writing & beta reading wrap-up
In 2023, my writing goal was to put Poppies on sub and write the first draft of the next thing. I didn’t quite manage that, since I meant the next “novel,” but I did a lot of work I’m really proud of on Poppies and did complete some first drafts.
🌸 I took Poppies through 4 drafts 🌸, which included two near-rewrites. Yes, it did burn me out, so the rest of my writing achievements of 2023 were fairly modest:
I did a final brush-up of my middle grade fantasy (really light revisions).
I participated in the 24-hour novel challenge and smashed out 🏪 the first act of family mart horror 🏪, amounting to 19.7k words. (The words are Not Good, but they helped me realize I need to do some re-thinking of my outline.)
I didn’t do Nanowrimo, but I gave myself a nano lite challenge to write every day. Which I didn’t do. But it motivated me to finish 🌕 my first short story, A River of Moons 🌕, a surreal story of a girl searching for her lost moon. After revisions, I’ve begun submitting to magazines!
I also worked on another literary short and completed the first draft in December: 🗡 Where the Sword Met the Willow🗡, a sapphic retelling of a Chinese general revered for being a genius tactician and abhorred for his cruelty.
Moons and Warlord have really revealed to me the delight of short stories—wdym I don’t need to anguish over a draft for months to reach the end? wdym it doesn’t take months to revise it to a readable state? Additionally, I’ve allowed myself to be experimental and weird with these stories, and love the freedom.
For those who enjoy numbers, here are the total amount of words I wrote this year, if I count the drafts of Poppies that were mostly rewritten:
🌸 (92.2k + 91.3k) + 🏪 19.7k + 🌕 3.4k + 🗡7.4k = 214k words
I’m also happy to have done more critiquing for friends than I have in any year previously, plus donated query/query package critiques to DVpit, Books for Maui, and Books for Palestine.
Here are some stats:
Full manuscript critiques: 12
Age range: adult (7), YA (5)
Genre: fantasy (9), contemporary (2), literary (1)Short story/flash fiction critiques: 4
Query/synopsis/1st chapter critiques: 18
Age range: adult (10), YA (7), MG (1)
Genre: fantasy (10), contemporary (4), literary (3), sci-fi (1)Positivity passes: 3
it’s getting personal
Here are some nice things that happened to me or that I did in 2023:
In February, I got my second tattoo from @flower.and.nina, who was so sweet and did an incredible job!! After that, I went on my first trip abroad since 2019. We drove down the US east coast from Boston to DC/Virginia—where I got proposed to (!!) while a couple watched in awkward silence, neither leaving to give us privacy or clapping. (I don’t mind, it makes for a fun story.)
Continuing on, I entered the beginning of my final residency year in August, then presented at an international conference in San Diego in October, followed by a road trip to Yosemite, where I was treated to the most gorgeous views.
Apart from doing things, though, I’m proud that this year I finally learned to set aside time to rest. I didn’t go about it in the most healthy way—I tackled my weekly tasks and writing goals with extra vehemence to rest up over the weekend. No work and no writing, just a lot of reading and TV. 10/10 recommend.
looking forward to 2024 (not)
It’s resolution time and I’m trying to keep my goals to essentials while categorizing things out of my control as dreams.
2024 is going to be difficult: a tough work rotation in April-May, wedding in June then honeymoon…and my board examination in October. I expect to be hermit-ing from April to mid-October, so my writing and reading goals are scarce.
On the bright side, this will be my most difficult year for a while. Or at least I hope that the universe doesn’t throw a combo as trying at me anytime soon.
my goals:
Writing: Honestly, I’ll be satisfied if I prep my next novel and write some shorts.
Reading: I’ll be glad to read 15 new books. (Emphasizing new because at this point it feels like cheating to count my Locked Tomb rereads.)
Work: Pass my board examination and get at least one research article accepted for publication. I’d like to be done with my residency, thanks!
Personal: Survive wedding planning + have a smashing wedding & honeymoon!!
my dreams:
November 2024 will mark a decade since I penned the first words of my first book so…a book deal in 2024 seems fitting!! Or, at the very least, I’d love to have a short story accepted for publication and get to see my words in print.