Kris Chen - Author

The Break - by KT Chen

1/6/2020

I spent three of my four weeks of winter break writing a paper. The good news is that the paper got an A. The better news is that I earned an A for the class. The downside is that I don't feel rested nor ready for this fast approaching fourth semester of grad school.

I was hopeful that I would get some creative writing done. I have not. I was hopeful that I'd get to catch up on reading for fun. I have not. At the very least, I wanted to get a new pair of shoes. Well, I didn't do that either.

I did, however, get an email just today from a professor who wants us to read for next week. So, there's that.

And that was the break.

Go forth and write!

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Resolutions - by KT Chen

12/30/2019

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This post is about writing. I promise.

I'll get back to that.

I have never been big on New Year's Resolutions. Mostly because I can disappoint myself just fine without having a goal that sets me up for it.

Still, just over two years ago, I decided to get into shape. And I didn't wait for a New Year to do it ... I started in September. September 17, to be exact. I know this because I started a workout journal where I recorded my routine each time I worked out.

Last year at this time, I was a year and some change into regularly working out and I decided I would set a goal to work out at least half the days of the year.

This was not a far stretch for me. After all, I was *already* working out pretty consistently. The only difference was that now I had an exact number to reach (183 for the inquisitive among us).

This number, as odd as it sounds, transformed my workouts. Not that I worked out harder or longer, though, in some cases I did, but, instead, it made me think more about my workouts -- plan more; be more strategic if I were going to miss any. Mostly, it made me more deliberate in my workouts.

I'd like to report that I met said goal. -- At one day shy of the end of the year, I have worked out 185 days of the past 364, including this morning. (I also plan to work out tomorrow, so I should beat my goal by a full 3 days).

Now, the writing part ...

As I was working out this morning I was thinking about how proud I was that I made my goal. And how disappointed I was that I didn't do more writing this past year.

So, I've decided to attempt another New Year's Resolution. Two, actually. The first, is, again, to work out at least half the days of the year. The second, and this is going to be the harder one, is to write something at least half the days of the year.

As I mulled that second one over, I also thought about what constitutes "writing." After all, for the past two weeks that I've been on "break," I've actually be working on a research paper. I haven't written every day, but most days I have cranked out at least two or three paragraphs. Does that count?

I decided it does.

So, my rules for the writing resolution are: 1) to write at least half the days of the year, and 2) writing can be academic or story related (fiction, creative nonfiction), but it has to be at least 250 words to count. (Writing and deleting the same sentence, or, for that matter, the same comma, doesn't count - no matter how many times I may do it).

I've also decided to start a new journal on January 1. It will have notes about writing on one side, and notes about my work outs on the other. I am hopeful that this will make me as deliberate with my writing as I have become with my workouts.

I also hope that a year from now, I can report favorably on this resolution.

Go forth and write!

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Hiatus - by KT Chen

12/16/2019

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This semester has been one for the books. Literally.

I didn't realize it was going to make me question all of life and my place within it, but here we are.

That said, I have met some truly amazing people, received instruction from professors with impressive breadth and depth of knowledge in their subject matter, and learned way more than anticipated for someone who taught the subject for 13 years.

As an added bonus, I now have several new story ideas.

I needed the hiatus from the blog, though, just to be able to keep up with the workload.

My next semester shouldn't be as intense. Honestly, I don't think I could take another semester like this one.

With any luck, I'll get some writing done over the break. I want to get back to The Book of Death. It was more or less finished before my father passed away, and I think I'm ready to second draft it now. This is a big step for me, but I think its time. I think I'm ready.

Go forth and write!

My books / articles for this semester.

Yes. I read them all.

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Enlightened - by KT Chen

11/4/2019

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Last week I met with my English advisor about my English masters and my History advisor about my History masters and the two conversations were strikingly different, but very enlightening.

I haven't been able to definitively decide about which PhD, if any, to pursue.

Those conversations may have answered the question for me. Or, at least, determined what tact I will take should I decide to pursue a PhD.

I am grateful for their candor.

Go Forth and Write!

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Finishing - by KT Chen

10/28/2019

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If my fiction workshop this semester has been about anything, it has pushed me to work on finishing a book. I have generated about 100 pages over the course of the workshop towards that endeavor, and now I'm just ready to finish it.

So, that's something.

I'm also looking at how to finish my first maters in English. The Spring classes are not the right combination, so it'll be Fall before I can pick up the last remaining class needed, but I'm okay with that. To be honest, I'm considering not applying to graduate until Spring 2021 anyway, just so I can finish both masters degrees the same year.

I haven't decided about that one yet.

And there's six weeks of classes left, with three major papers coming at me. I've started one, but not the other two.

Right now, I'm all about finishing. Finishing the semester. Finishing one of my masters. And, most important, finishing a book.

Go forth and write!

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Way Behind - by KT Chen

10/21/2019

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I made an executive decision last week that put me behind. Not just a little behind - way behind.

But I didn't start out that way.

In fact, as of last Tuesday, I was ahead. I was reading ahead for one of my classes. I was writing for my next workshop. I was even doing some scout work on the upcoming bear of an essay-come-final that is fast approaching.

And I did all that while ignoring my reading for Monday. And by Monday, I mean today.

So, last night, I dutifully wrapped up the other coursework and started reading. For today.

I'm not going to get finished.

Not even close.

I wish I could say that I felt bad about my decisions. I don't.

I wish I could say I knew I'd catch up and everything'll be okay. I don't know that either.

What I do know is that I will go to class tonight and take good notes, I will turn in my workshop stuff tomorrow night, I will have my weekly Wednesday essay done in record time because I'm not reading as I'm writing. And I'll just have to write the next thematic essay strategically, so as not to expose the holes of my reading.

The only good part of any of this is that I got some actual fiction writing done. I'm not sure it's good fiction, but it's done fiction, and right now, that's the best kind.

Go forth and write!

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The Slump - by KT Chen

10/14/2019

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I'm halfway through one masters program and starting a second one.

I don't know what I was thinking.

Right now, I feel buried with all the work that I need to be doing on my degrees. And it feels like I'll never finish. And I think I'm crazy for even trying it at this point in my life.

Still, here I am.

Writing through slumps, reading through slumps, working through slumps.

Persistence, even through the slumps.

Go forth and write!

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A New Approach - by KT Chen

10/7/2019

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Last week, I was on the "hot seat" during the fiction workshop. Usually, I enjoy the experience. I learn a lot. I get great advice on how to improve my work. But last week was different.

I left workshop feeling defeated. I felt I should give up writing and do something else, anything else, really.

And I've thought a lot about the experience and what made it different this time. Part of it is that I'm trying something new. Something outside my wheelhouse, so to speak. And it isn't so much that it is going badly, it's more like it isn't going as well as I think it should.

My writing feels a bit off because I'm not writing the way that comes naturally to me.

So, I'm going to try a different approach to what I'm doing. It may not work. Or it might. I won't know until I write it, but I believe in the project enough to give it a really hard go.

Go forth and write!

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Writing in Hind Sight -- by KT Chen

9/23/2019

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I should be working on a paper for one of my history classes. It needs to be 2,000 words, and I'm stalled out at about 300.

Not because I don't know what to say, but because I have so much to say that I can't seem to condense it into a coherent train of thought, much less essay.

But that's just one of my problems.

What I should have been doing, and will do for the next two papers like this, is writing a synopsis for each book as we cover it. -- I've taken great notes, I just need more of a coherent scheme that I can put interrelated themes together so that I don't have to work so hard to remember what we talked about four weeks ago in class.

So, I'll get better. I'll do it better next time. I'll write it better as I go along.

Go forth and write!

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deaf Stories - by KT Chen

9/9/2019

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I volunteered to be one of the first submissions for my writer's workshop this semester. I had been toying with two very different pieces over the summer: one was a creepy story about a stalker and the other was a series of stories about being deaf in the hearing world.

My stalker story was well received, but it has some internal problems that need to be fixed. I am forever grateful for workshop because I wouldn't have seen the problems otherwise.

However, I'm not sure how to fix said problems. Which means those stories are back on the shelf, for now, while mull over how to best make the story work.

What surprised me was how much my deaf stories made an impression. The workshop had a few suggestions for clarification, but otherwise, they were moved by the stories. And clamoring for more, which I'm now working on as my writing time allows.

The one comment from the workshop that stuck with me is how the deaf stories made them see and feel an experience so very different from their own.

Maybe that's what all good stories do.

Go forth and write!

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