Christina With An A

Outside of my few close friends and family, I don’t talk much to anyone about dropping out of the MFA Program. I think part of that is because I’m afraid some people will think I didn’t have “what it takes” to stick it out, or they will think that I’m just bad-mouthing the Program. On the contrary, I left the Program after much contemplation and, honestly, praying. It was not an easy or flighty choice. It was one I made to better myself as a writer. It probably wasn’t until my final year in undergrad that I decided I would apply to the MFA Program. It took me close to ten years to get my undergrad degree because I took a few years off from school to save money. Then when I got close to the end, I swore up and down I would never go back for more school. One day, that just changed. I applied and was accepted to a Program. Receiving that acceptance email was probably one of the greatest moments of my life. I had a hard time fitting in with most of the other students in my first year,

So when I was publishing The Dragonlord's Heir, I created a Facebook "author" page. I've since disabled it, but I can still go back and read the things I posted. Turns out I posted quite often, from sharing inspirational quotes, to sharing helpful links, to writing my own stuff.  At the moment it has retained 132 page likes. That's not very much, but at the time, I was pleased with it. It was a small audience, and they followed me regularly. That's something to be proud of, even if it is small! As I read through these old posts, I realize how my attitude has changed, and not necessarily for the better. Back then, I felt like I had the world at my feet. I believed the future was mine. The optimism and genuine passion in my words almost brings me to tears. Where is that ambitious, driven twenty-something-year-old? Where did she go? I'm glad I stumbled across these old posts. I needed it. I needed to be reminded of the passion I once had for this g

I’ve read Death of a Salesman many, many times in many, many different literary classes. I’ve written at least three papers on it, all with different theses. I just love this play. I think what captivates me most about Salesman is the pursuit of success within the story, and how each characters comes to an epiphany of what success really is by the end of his or her part in the play. The play challenges its readers to ask a number of questions about success. What exactly is it? How does one achieve it? And are we all phony little fakes? For those who haven’t read it, be aware that it is dark and depressing, but it also isn’t entirely dark and depressing. It depends on how you interpret the ending (I personally like to read the ending with optimism). In spite of this darkness, I still encourage everyone to pick it up at least once, but preferably a handful of times in their lives. I like to think of Salesman as a litmus test for our own definition of success and what we are willin

It is so difficult for me to stay committed to one story idea. Does anyone else have that problem? For me, it stems from the fear of time running out to find the one . I suppose I’m afraid that I only get one shot at writing something successful that has the potential to be traditionally published. I constantly second-guess myself and my writing, wondering if I’m wasting my time because I could do better with something else. In fact, I'm writing this blog post right now instead of working on my novel because I'm experiencing this exact feeling at this exact moment (ironically, I am wasting more time by not sitting down and just finishing the damn thing). In hindsight, I know that’s ridiculous. One of my favorite quotes about writing comes from the great Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of Tarzan of the Apes : “If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.” And it’s totally true because we as writers have a hundred—nay, a

I should mention that I originally wrote this post probably over a year ago. I did not post it right away because — well, for the reasons listed below. I felt like now would be a good time to finally share my thoughts given how I've been struggling lately to feel like I'm doing anything of value with my skills and talents. This is the most honest thing I've written, probably ever. So to channel Usher, these are my confessions. First, I feel like I owe an apology to several people. Namely to the people who read my first self-published book, The Dragonlord's Heir . Yes, I self-published a book under the pen name, Christina Kenway, after Edward Kenway, the protagonist of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag . Dorky, I know. I published my book four years and three months ago, to be exact. It was a middle grade novel about a young boy who discovered he was a modern-day dragon slayer à la Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson. I wasn’t proud of my book after a while, but about

After recently dropping out of an MFA Program for personal and financial reasons, I realized that if anyone else was going to take my writing seriously, I had to first take my writing seriously. That means that I have to discipline myself to read, write, and network regularly. Most, if not all, MFA Programs have a required reading list for the students to read over the course of the program. My program list was made up of 30 books, 20 of which were determined by the fiction faculty, and 10 of which I chose myself. The 20 required books on the reading list neither interested me nor suited my writing tastes. I’m all for branching out in craft and subject matter, but I struggled to find any personal value in the few books on the list that I did read. Which got me thinking: If all MFA reading lists are fairly generalized (except of course for the books the student chooses), how is that really helping the student and his or her specific writing style? You can learn just as much from thi

Once upon a time, I wrote a bunch of fanfiction. Oh, who am I kidding? I still write fanfiction. I think the last one I wrote was a Final Fantasy X fanfiction a few years ago about Yuna’s father and his pilgrimage with Auron and Jecht. But anyway. I wrote fanfiction before I even knew what it was. When I was eleven years old, I wrote a twenty-something-page story about a woman named Jessica Weller who was basically a Lara Croft rip-off. I became obsessed with Tomb Raider at the ripe age of six. I thought I would become the youngest published writer ever known to mankind. I sent that masterpiece off to a handful of publishing houses in the U.S. and awaited the inevitable flood of acceptance letters. Surely, publishers would be vying for my literary work of genius. It was just a matter of time. While I waited for those letters to come in, I bought myself a handy-dandy professional leather briefcase and stored my stories, my (terrible) illustrations, and my publishing notes

I’ve been a little baffled by the reaction to Pixar’s newest short film, “Bao.” Based on internet comments, it seems there have only been a handful of people who liked or appreciated it. The majority found it weird and “didn’t get it.” What’s not to get? Sure, it’s a little unusual compared to some of the other Pixar shorts like “For the Birds,” which Pixar itself calls “deceptively simple” in terms of its plot and humor. Maybe that’s where viewers got lost with “Bao”: it is neither simple nor light, which one would expect for children’s entertainment. For those who haven’t yet seen “Bao,” the short film preceding The Incredibles 2 , let me give you a rundown of the story. Like most (all?) Pixar shorts, there is no dialogue, which I find quite impressive. The short opens with an older Chinese-Canadian woman preparing dumplings and an extravagant meal for her husband, who gobbles up some of the food before leaving for work abruptly. The mother begins to clean up the mess when one o

I just finished playing The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit last night, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Most of the games announced at E3 that really captured me were the small indie games like Unravel 2 and Sea of Solitude . The moment I saw the trailer for Captain Spirit , I knew I was headed for a new emotional breakdown. Developed by DontNod, the makers of Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Before the Storm , Captain Spirit is also set within the same universe. It follows the same gameplay mechanics of its predecessors, but unlike Max’s rewind power in LiS and Chloe’s smack talk challenges in BtS , nine-year-old Chris possesses the imaginary superpowers of his alter ego, Captain Spirit, which allow him to manipulate inanimate objects and enemies. I think what drew me to this game was this world of imagination in which Chris is immersed. Maybe it’s partly due to the fact that I grew up in the rising era of video game consoles, before every American household ha

I have re-watched the entire series of The Office many times. I still laugh just as hard as I did the first time at Jan’s erratic behavior. I still cry when Michael proposes to Holly. I still enjoy the banter between Kelly and Ryan. In spite of all this, however, one thing doesn’t remain the same, and that is my opinion on PB&J. No, not the sandwich. That’s Pam and Jim (thank you, Kevin Malone). While every character in the cast is unique, has unique relationships, and does unique and interesting things, it is clear that Pam and Jim were intentionally written as the strongest supporting members in the show. They are often portrayed as the only competent characters in the Scranton branch. With an unorthodox and inappropriate boss like Michael Scott, a gun-slinging beet farmer like Dwight Schrute, and an “alcoholic” and a “floozy” like Meredith Palmer (her words, not mine), the bar isn’t set high for Pam and Jim to be “normal.” Their starting points in the show make them e