OMG my first byline! 🤩
It’s amazing how a silly childhood memory can manifest into something so much bigger.
If this sounds vaguely familiar, I also talked about it in June’s newsletter. Then I asked my friend and author Ly Tran, who was kind enough to give me a crash course in memoir writing. And I’m proud to share that six months later, The Vietnamese Madonna is now available to read on diaCRITICS!
| Read the essay on diaCRITICS |
If you’re not familiar with diaCRITICS, it’s an online publication founded by Viet Thanh Nguyen, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer. This issue focuses on music of the Southeast Asia diaspora, and I may have screamed bloody murder when Eric Nguyen, their editor-in-chief (and author of one of my favorite books, Things We Lost to The Water) emailed for permission to publish the piece.
Moral of the story Reader?
- Get yourself some friends who will entertain your random streams of consciousness via text message.
- Ideas take time to develop. Even reading through it with fresh eyes, there are details I want to eliminate; themes I want to strengthen. I’ll be adapting parts of this work into a personal statement for a writer’s retreat in March, so keep your fingers crossed Lynda Trang Dai can work her magic again 🤞
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Things I ❤️ For October
What I’m reading 📚: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Everything I could ever want in a book: An original plot; vivid imagery; and well-developed characters. I raced through the chapters in a little over a day, wondering if childhood friends and business partners Sam and Sadie would ever take their relationship to the next level. A reminder that love is so much more than romance—in this case, the love that two people share for making video games and challenging each other as creatives. Even though the following quote is about making games, I can relate so hard to this statement as a writer:
What I’m streaming ⏯: This hilarious scene from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which I discovered when trying to nail down the meaning behind Backstreet Boys’ "I Want It That Way" for a scene I was writing. (Spoiler: There is none, it’s just Swedish producers trying to write in English.) Personally, I prefer "Shape of My Heart" a little more, but even the Washington Post knows there’s something magical about this song.
What I’m cooking👩🏻‍🍳: This pumpkin soup from the Monster Foodies. The directions are a little vague, so I recommend roasting a quartered half-onion alongside the pumpkin. My daughter spit it out on the first bite but was so proud of mashing the pumpkin, she kept telling people, “I made soup for my mom!” A reminder that the journey is just as valuable as the destination. Of course, you’re welcome to add spices (Curry powder or garam masala would be awesome) but it’s tasty as is.
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Wishing you a cozy October,
Sophia :)
Sophia Le
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Last month, I learned you should not, under any circumstances, give your manuscript to just anyone to read. I wouldn’t be a very good writer if I flat out rejected someone’s negative feedback—I truly believe that if I can glean as little as 1% of value from someone’s opinion, it was worth going through the experience. What I take issue with is how some people deliver feedback. And that’s what takes me back to the year I spent in Toastmasters under the tutelage of a man named Richard Ripley....
11 years ago, I married my college sweetheart. I forgot how much I love that bouquet. Yay for family friends who happen to be florists. For someone who writes romance-themed books, it’s funny to think of our courtship outlined in plot points: The meet-cute, getting to know each other, falling in love, the obstacles we overcame to get to our happy ending. But getting married is only the beginning. Google anything about staying married and you'll get a mishmash of advice involving dinner...
There is nothing more Vietnamese-American than a Madonna cover sung by Lynda Trang Dai. Image credit: Amino Apps For a kid who only heard American pop music through bootleg VHS tapes of Paris by Night, Lynda Trang Dai’s raspy alto voice was a breath of fresh air from opera-trained singers in ao dais (The traditional Vietnamese dress) about war, loss, and missing the homeland. One of my earliest childhood memories is of her performing “Material Girl” in a gold lamé minidress and I thought to...