About Me

I am writer and  I work in a bookstore.  How awesome is that?

I have a degree in Anthropology.  Cultural topics peak my interests and I love ancient history, mythology and folklore.  I find inspiration in all of these areas for my own fiction.

Writing fantasy is part of my life, like breathing.  Writing is part of my life and I am better when doing it. So why not write about my life as well?

I am in the process of reshaping Don-Yin and in the process of reshaping myself.  These are two inexorably connected facets of my life.  So what's driving them?

There's a reaction to environment: college graduation at the worst time ever and an inability to promote (and perhaps even identify?) my strengths outside of writing.  Finally think I'm beginning to understand the second, and understand what I like to do. (Customer service--can you believe it?  I like it.)

A challenge to all my expectations of myself:  life hasn't gone according to plan.  Wait, why was there a plan?  Plans and expectations depend on a few things: cultural environment, for one, and a presumed understanding of oneself.  But people (like characters) change.  So if I have changed, then expectations that are 5 yrs old would not hold for the current me or the life I wish to lead now.

A reformed concept of success: I, like many Americans equated success with fiscal stability for the longest time.  I had a comfortable time in college and now, I look back on the life that I led then and can't believe the naivete.  I was continuing along my expected cultural norms.  Shopping for clothes and shoes as a young woman is expected to.  Saving money at record paces, which is good, of course, but which masked the fact that my lifestyle was not something that could be supported in a recession.

What I consider important and worth my time and energy has taken a radical shift.

I am gardening yearly now.  I am working to purge packaged foods from my life.  I am dedicated to Real Food, developing a lasting healthy lifestyle and...leaving California.  Because while I love living in the Farm to Fork capitol of America, there has been this overwhelming need for a fresh start.

So what is success?

A self-sufficient lifestyle, publication -- traditional or self-published, TBD when the draft is ready-- and enough of an income to own a home, have a family.  Possibly owning my own business, though I think it's too early to commit to that one.   

I think opening up here will help me develop content for the blog, because it will allow me to talk about my other interests.  If some work into non-fiction articles, hey, that's more writing to find a home for.  Besides, allowing the blog to evolve with me is probably what is really needed.