Story title: "The Metamorphosis of Nova."
1. How did you hear about Blood Is Thicker, and what convinced you to spend days (weeks? months?) crafting a story about the attempted murder of a character by a member of their family on leap day?
I heard about the anthology from the horrortree.com website. Prior to this I had been writing and querying a number of magazines and anthologies with my quirky short stories (three were accepted for publication, including the one in this anthology). The writing prompt with a date was what caught my attention for this anthology because my husband and I frequently have tiffs about celebrating everything twice in my family due to different calendars (Gregorian solar calendar versus lunar calendar).
2. What was the writing process like? Did your story come out with a bang, or did you struggle to make something of the premise?
The story came out with a bang; I was thinking about why family members would want to hurt someone and usually it has to do with money. My father had passed away recently and lots of people were telling me about their struggles about dealing with siblings over estate disputes. In my case my mom is still alive, so my siblings don’t have to kill me yet (maybe a bit later)! For family to hurt family, it must be over something really important.
3. How long have you been writing, and what are some of your writing goals and/or successes so far?
I’ve been writing since high school, but didn’t have the courage to show anyone anything until 2012. I finished a multicultural vampire book (The Undead Sorceress) and couldn’t find an agent or publisher. Since self-publishing was becoming popular, I ran a Kickstarter, raised some money and opened up a micro press called Dark Helix Press in 2014 with a mandate to publish diverse stories. In 2017 I was recruited by Ricepaper Magazine as a writer, marketing strategist, and conference planner. In 2018 the Dark Helix Ezine was created to help indie writers. It’s similar to a Costco magazine with writing samples for authors to attract new readers. My big goals right now is to finish up my Creative Writing certificate from Ryerson University and the sequel to my vampire book, which I keep putting off! I hope over time I will build a collection of diverse works and help others find their voices along the way.
4. What’s your favourite line or passage in your submission, and why?
My favorite passage in my story is: “An image of my father speaking his last words on his deathbed came to me: 'Take care of them at all costs.' To the others, he had spoken of love and life.”
This shows the truth of how the main character, Nova, is perceived. Although she is part of the family, her life’s purpose is to serve others and not to live her own life. This is something that is expected of the eldest child and of females in many families, and carrying this burden is a thankless job.
5. What’s your writing routine?
I am an inconsistent writer. Usually when I’m struck by an idea for a scene or have a great idea, I write madly and then burn out. After I recover I do the same thing again! I try to write at least once a week, although my goal is to write every day. While writing is a high priority, as a sandwich generation, my caregiving duties for my toddler and my 102 year old grandmother do take precedent.
Usually I have a vague outline for a scene and as I write, things take on a life of their own. Ideally, I love writing on my laptop with videogame orchestral music on, since it seems to make me think better. However, these days I’m travelling on the subway to the nursing home a lot, so I write on the notepad app on my phone and then email myself the text. One short story is about ten emails in which I compile for a first draft and edit on my laptop.
6. What do you do for a living (or if you’re retired, what did you do), and what do you do for fun?
I have a healthcare background in Nuclear Medicine and I work on health capital infrastructure projects. This is a very technical job with lots of big spreadsheets to calculate financial stuff, so writing is what I do for fun! Every year I attend Japanese animation, comic, or speculative fiction literary conventions to participate in panels and to take pictures of awesome cosplay. I’m a big film buff and try to see movies whenever I can and write film reviews for Ricepaper Magazine. Although my husband hates Disney, I will spend the next few years convincing him to go to the new Toy Story Land with our toddler one day because I love Toy Story.
7. If you could have a lunch date with any person living or dead, who would it be and why?
My boring answer would be to see my dead dad again, as I really miss him. My non-boring answer would be to meet Stephen King as I admire him very much as a writer and I think he would have wonderful tips to share on the craft of writing. He has written a book about this, but there is nothing comparable to an in-person meeting.
8. What’s a favourite book that you’ve read in the past five years? Notice we didn’t ask you to name your ultimate favourite. We’re not monsters!
Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties by Ajahn Brahm is something I read recently which contains wonderful tales on taking a step back from problems and re-evaluating everything. This was recommended to me by a travelling monk who I met through a co-worker. One of the chapters is called “two bad bricks” in which the head monk focuses only on two damaged bricks on a wall and complains that the wall is not perfect. However, a visitor comments that the wall is fine, functional and no one will notice the bad bricks unless they are pointed out. This story made me understand that sometimes obsessing over one detail is a waste of energy and time. When writing, I tend to get caught up on details and know that I need to stop endlessly editing one thing that no one will notice!
9. What else should readers know about you?
I used to paint and think of writing as painting with words. I am always trying to do better, so my style from one project to the next may be slightly different as I absorb more experiences. I’m always trying new things, so don’t be surprised if I show up in the most unexpected places!