Amy Tan's "Where the Past Begins" Book Discussion

***This event occurred on October 25, 2017, from 7:00pm-8:15pm in the Seattle Public Library in Seattle, WA***

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• Amy Tan builds her credibility as a writer from the very beginning (on page 3) of the novel by writing in the novel that the things she may remember may be inaccurate.
• This may seem like we shouldn't read it because it may not be completely true, but she follows what she has written with the fact that we revise how we see things as we get older and change. This is simply a matter of perception and perspective vs. reality.
• To continue to the idea of perception and perspective vs. reality, Tan continues to talk about how photographs also do the same thing. A photograph is indisputable and simply a snapshot of time, but there is no context to the photo. Questions come up: What happened to the photo? Why is the photo really taken? Who requested the photo? If it's posted, what were the feelings of the subjects before and after the picture was taken?
• Amy Tan primarily writes fiction, but Where the Past Begins is her first nonfiction or memoir.
• When asked whether the memoir was easier or harder to write she responds, "Writing this memoir is the hardest thing I have ever written but eventually became natural...it came pouring out of me."
• "This book I started out feeling insane but eventually I went on to enjoy the ride."
• Amy talks about how there is no set Asian American culture because every family is different especially as a different generation of Asian Americans live. She is a first-generation Asian American and remembers how her parents really wanted the best for her by expecting a great future. They wanted her to become a concert pianist or a neurosurgeon. Amy admitted that she didn't measure up in intelligence for being a neurosurgeon and didn't have the skill or passion to be a concert pianist. Her failure to live up to her parents' expectations has followed her in every little failure, even as a writer. I completely understand where Amy Tan is coming from.
• She gives advice to struggling writers:
• "Novelists need to lose their consciousness and write off the top of their heads. Then, they can revise it or toss it."
• Writers have to give 15-30 pages a week of their new work and must arc. The arc means a beginning that leads to a climax eventually ending with a resolution to that chapter or section of what you're writing.

Here are some pictures from the night.

My seat which is a row above the VIP section. I saw a seat empty next to an older couple and asked if it was taken. The man's response was perfect, "Yes, it's yours." Don't be afraid to ask for something like this for a popular event. I've definitely learned that after today.

I am next in line! She looks so happy to be seeing such a large turnout. I think Amy Tan was the perfect author to be my first meet and signing.

She is signing my book. I told her I finished it on Tuesday and thought it was really great. Her response was, "Thank you and that was fast."

Isn't it great?1 It says "Joy and Luck" which is a reference to her book The Joy Luck Club.

I am one happy reader and writer!

Life Update from the Past Year (Summer 2016-Summer 2017)

I am really sorry my blog posts have been really sporadic and sparse. I have had a lot of life changes happen and I am finally getting back on my feet. My life is an adventure all the time and sometimes it is very difficult to figure out when is the best time to write. Writing is an art and it doesn't come easily sometimes.

School
A lot has changed when it comes to school. Since I have given my last update, I finished my senior thesis (which I have posted on here already) and I got an A on it, which is a blessing. Because that semester was really brutal from working overtime and a heavy school load, my GPA suffered a little bit. I still managed a 3.0 but I knew I had to do a little extra work to figure out how to make the overall GPA stay at a 3.5

Unfortunately, my plan to finish school in 2.5 years was foiled since a class got scheduled to the semester after I planned to finish. I was at a dilemma since I only had 4 classes to finish my English Literature major and Writing minor. It was going to cost me more money to finish so I added a Business minor because you can never go wrong with the pursuing anything in business. I graduated with my degree on May 20, 2017 with a 3.5 overall GPA. In my last year, I decided to take it easier on myself because the semester of my senior thesis has really run me down and I'm still trying to get back the energy I once had.

Home
I have been living on my own for over a year now. I moved out of my parents house a few days after my 21st birthday and started living with my boyfriend since it became harder to share a room with a 9-year old sister while working early in the morning. It was also nice to have him move closer so it didn't feel like we had to really make the relationship work long distance with busy schedules. It's a fairly good fit. I live in the stone ages according to some people since I have no cable or internet. That's one of the reasons why my writing has suffered. I have an easier time writing in my own home rather than public places.

A few months after I graduated, my boyfriend and I moved cross country from Scranton, Pennsylvania to Seattle, Washington because he was stationed there in the military and loved it and I always wanted to travel to the west. I have only been here for about 3 weeks and I am enjoying myself. It's just really hard starting from nothing again. The move has been hard for me because I have never been so far away from my family but I am trying to take it one step at a time.

Work
I did finally get my manager shirt in October 2016 through a lot of extra hard work that I shouldn't have had to do compared to the other managers. I didn't stay much longer after that because I was treated poorly even though I really put myself out there and didn't give any issues.

I wanted to work in a more sophisticated job setting where I can wear my own nice clothes and not wear uniforms that eventually smell like fries. Before Christmas, I put in my 2 weeks without a promise of a job (something that is extremely ballsy of me) and I put in applications. Thankfully, I found a job through Penn East Federal Credit Union as a part-time teller.

I really liked working there and I felt like an asset rather than an annoyance or useless. I proved myself capable and worth changing to full-time. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible since there wasn't any full-time positions available. That was until I put in my 2 weeks since I was moving out of the state.

That brings me to today. Since I live near Seattle, Washington, I have been hunting for a job for almost 3 weeks. After a frustrating time of job searching, I finally have a job at Columbia Bank as a traveling teller/member service worker. I am in the process of paperwork and waiting for my credentials to be approved. My training starts in mid-October. I'm looking forward to be working and I hate not being as productive as I usually have been in the past.

Traveling
I have done more traveling this past year than I have my entire life. Since my boyfriend loves to travel, it has really been effortless to see the United States. I have traveled as far down as Virginia and Maryland and all the way north to Maine. I have been to every single state in the northeastern part of the United States now. Since I have traveled cross country by driving our cars, I have stopped at all the states that are in the northern part as I got closer to Washington. I have been to half of the United States while my boyfriend only has 5 left.

Writing
My writing has suffered a little bit with the lack of internet at home since I have been living on my own and that I can't really afford the internet yet. I plan to get internet in the near future.

I also plan to write my own book because my job doesn't entail writing so I plan to write more and make it more in my new routine once I start a routine. I am going to be studying many books that involve writing in one way or another. I want to write my own book, but I don't know what that'll be like or entail. I want to come into writing my first book with a clean slate. My first book I read for it was On Writing: A Memoir of Craft by Stephen King, which was such an excellent read. I've learned so much about what writing entails and that I'm not alone as a struggling writer.

Thank you for reading this post. My life is so crazy and I'm just hoping for some normalcy in the near future. Since I only have to worry about working like an adult (Hallelujah!), it should be very soon.