Between Work and Fun
Last month, as we were packing for a family trip to Mexico, my younger child cheekily suggested that I leave behind my trusty laptop. “Why should you use vacation time for work?” he asked.
“Because writing is Mom’s kind of fun,” explained my older son.
Okay, so—they’re both right. Whenever I’m traveling, I like to make time to disappear inside of my writing. I enjoy how an unfamiliar space becomes the backdrop to the story I’m working on. I get excited by the sense that my writing is also stealth-scrapbooking this experience. It might not be until a revise or copyedits that I’ll see a phrase or a passage that feels specific to the moment and the location where it originated—and I always get so hyped and happy when I’m reminded. I love how the writing process is also a journey, and how going somewhere new can highlight an intricate connection between setting and creativity.
My older son also came prepared with his own laptop. If we weren’t out and about sightseeing in San Miguel de Allende, or Guanajuato, or Mexico City, we’d find a tranquil space for the work-fun blend that he loves, too.
December was also my time to read books for this month’s (count ’em, four) book clubs.
Drumroll:
Erasure by Percival Everett: Okay, so not as easy a read as watching the movie adaptation, American Fiction (so good, so good!) but the writing is deep and witty and the story is a different kind of unpredictably devastating.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles: I thought I’d enjoy this return to what I’d thought was an old fave. So the light stakes and heavy allegory surprised me—it’s not how I remembered it. But I am probably not how I remember me in the 80s. Maybe I was just in love with Finny.
Fledgling by Octavia Butler: I’m not a huge sci-fi fan but Butler layered enough plot points to jump-scare me through it. Also, vampires! Also, 53-year-old heroine! In all, all-in.
Biting the Hand: Growing Up Asian in Black and White America by Julia Lee: This is an intense memoir with a lot to say about race and identity, and a book like this is my best reason to be in a book club, and at a great big round table of other readers’ perspectives and opinions.
Finally, here’s a cake because there’s always cake. Cheers to a sweet 2024!
