1 - How did your first book or chapbook change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
There are more things to think about and to juggle. A lot more emails. A lot more things to schedule. It’s a lot of extra work when your first book comes out when you don’t have a booking agent or literary agent. I had to create my own promotional materials, I had to schedule all my readings, I had to make sure bookstores hold my books, and I also had to edit proofs.
Because I am still in school, in a creative writing PhD program, the book stuff feels like a reprieve from the stress of school. I am glad that my book tour is all during the winter break— I was able to focus on my schoolwork during the fall semester, and then during the winter break, I can stay present with my book and the people I am reading with.
It does bring me a lot of happiness when I see people holding my book. For a while, it didn’t feel real. Now, it feels as real as ever with the physical object of the book in the world. I’m not nervous about what people will say about it, I am more nervous about what they don’t say. I want to know the poems that people like and don't like! That’s probably because I cringe at positive reinforcement— ask all my friends, they know it’s hard for me to take a compliment.
2 - How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
I actually fell in love with short stories first. It was Flannery O’ Connor and Poe. But I came to love poetry when I tried out for the Houston Youth Poetry Team called Meta-Four Houston. Writing workshops and practices were held at the Houston Downtown Library and I had to compete to get on the team— they were taking the top 6 of the competition. I actually got 8th place first, but then someone actually got a time penalty, and another person couldn’t do the time commitment, so I got the final 6th spot! This was when I was 14 years old— and I have been writing poetry ever since.
3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?
Because of being in consistent writing workshops, three - four days a week, during my high school summer years— I can churn out a poem (though it’s a bad draft) in 5 minutes or less. The editing process takes me a while. Editing and revising can take me like 2 weeks.
Typically, I come up with loads of ideas for poems for a particular project, and put them in one note on my phone. I spend half of the year coming up with ideas and projects. Then I’ll usually spend two months (the summer or winter break) writing first drafts of these poems. Then I spend any free time I have editing the project up until it gets picked up somewhere.
4 - Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?
I like starting with the project first because it funnels my pen. I work best with constraint— which is why I tend to turn to form. The idea of the project works as a form so that I can stay focused and not go everywhere.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
I love readings! Open mics are instant editing workshops. If you read your poem allowed, you’ll hear things you don’t like. You can also gauge the audience and see which parts of the poem they respond to.
6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?
I’m invested in caesura. In my book, Come Clean, I use the enclosed bracket throughout the book as a caesura, as acrots (acot?), and as place-markers. I’m fascinated by it because it can be seen as something as an aside, but what if the aside is what’s trying to be unhidden? I also think you can show breath with your caesuras and enjambments, but what happens if you enclose the breath?
7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Do they even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
The writer, if they choose so, can be a voice in trying to express the inexpressible. At best, they can unlock something in a reader— that something can be emotional, mental, or physical.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
I think it’s essential— as long as you find an editor that you mesh with.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
My dad always taught me to be content yet always be ambitious. He taught me to be grateful for where I am at and what I have in the present, but to not be afraid to want more.
10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (text to more performance-driven work)? What do you see as the appeal?
I think I went the opposite route. I went from performance-driven work to text. But either way, I think it shouldn’t matter. A good poem should be good while read on the page. And that same poem should be good if read on a stage.
11 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?
I don’t have a particular routine. Which is why I got an MFA and why I am in a creative writing PhD program. The fact that I have to write poems for workshop, and eventually for a dissertation, requires me to learn to create a writing routine. I have a writing pattern for the year (refer to question #3).
12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
I read read read. Sometimes I’ll pick up a book, and then not be able to finish it, because something in the book inspires me to write. I also like watching movie analysis videos on YouTube.
13 - What fragrance reminds you of home?
Probably the smell of white rice and coffee.
14 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
Music and music videos help me get weird in my writing. If you open up Come Clean, you’ll see that Mitski is a huge influence on that book. When I was writing a lot of these poems, Mitski was the soundtrack for a lot of the sadness I was feeling. I am such a huge fan. When I first saw her in concert, I teared up when she slowly walked out onto the stage. I bought the rights to use lyrics from one of her songs (“Last Words of a Shooting Star”) for Come Clean.
15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
I am indebted to all the writers who are, or have been, a mentor to me. I think Patricia Smith is always in the top 5 for me. Blood Dazzler is a big one I turn to often when I want to study how to put together an entire book. I also look to that book when thinking about persona. I turn to Duy Doan’s We Play a Game because it delightfully plays with both the English language and the Vietnamese language.
16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
I would like to visit Austria. I would also love to work in a writers room. I would be good for a sitcom or animated series where wordplay is part of the humor.
17 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
I could’ve been a dentist. I was on track to be a dentist up until 2016. I did a biochemistry degree in undergrad, I studied for the DAT (Dental Admissions Test), submitted to multiple dental schools, and then got one dental school interview.
18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
I guess this could continue on from question 17. After I got that first dental school interview, I had a gut feeling that it wasn’t the right path. I didn’t feel joy. I went to Waffle House with my best friend, Tony, and I asked him what he learned in undergrad. He said, “Do not lie to yourself.” At the same time, I was listening to Mitski’s song, “Because Dreaming Costs Money, My Dear”, which has this idea of following your dreams even though it might hurt.
And the third thing that happened all within the same time, was that my friend, Julian Randall, posted on Facebook about the University of Mississippi MFA program. I reached out to ask him questions about it and then I applied. I had two weeks. I drove to Dallas to hunker down at my friend's apartment, worked on my personal statement and my writing sample, and then I got in.
19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
Last great book — Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward blew me away, made me tear up.
Last great film — Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was gorgeous. I also loved Jojo Rabbit.
20 - What are you currently working on?
I have two poetry projects that I am working on. One incorporates asexuality studies and the other is a love letter to Houston’s perseverance.
I have a short story collection that I am editing and submitting to contests soon.
I have a novel that I want to publish in the future and a collection of essays about the Asian-American experience.
12 or 20 (second series) questions;
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