Important Lesson Learned After My First Panel Event

Writing

Mar 3

Hello friends!

For those who have been wondering why it took me so long to write my second newsletter, I do have excuses legitimate reasons: pregnancy ( = I'm always tired), my trip to Korea to visit my parents, my line edits for THE SILENCE OF BONES arrived so I spent a few weeks working on that, and my scramble to get as much of my WIP done before my baby girl’s arrival. On a side note, can I just say that having a due date for a baby's birth (April 16) is the most intense writing deadline ever?

With the due date quickly approaching, this means Newsletter # 2 will probably be the last newsletter I send out for a while. But once I recover and adjust to my new lifestyle, I’m hoping to send out newsletters more regularly, so I'll see you all around then!

Anyway, I missed sharing my thoughts with you all. And I have SO. MANY. THOUGHTS to share after a very eventful Thursday, which I'll share more about down below.

My Very First Panel Event

On Thursday, I had the privilege of speaking to a crowd of 40+ at an event called “Finding a Literary agent” hosted by Hart House Literary and Library Committee at the University of Toronto. I was with two other panelists, literary agents Denise Bukowski and Leonicka Valcius.

I’ll be sharing more about what I learned through this experience in the next section, but for now, photos!

Before the event, I practiced what I felt was the most difficult thing ever: pitching my book. I wrote down what I wanted to say, recited the pitch while recording myself, then tweaked and tweaked and practiced again and again. But the more I practice, the more nervous I got.

Public speaking comes naturally to some, but I am definately not that person. It's something that is totally out of my comfort zone, but life has taught me, time and time again, that some of the most precious lessons and experiences are gained outside of that comfort zone.

So I was nervous, but also really excited about the event.

Of course, the moment I sat down with the panelists, all the great advice given to me flew out the window and I did everything they suggested I not do: I sat right next to the moderator, resulting in me blanking out when asked a question, and I talked way too fast.

Still, despite the mistakes, I just laugh it off. After a while, my heart no longer raced, I was no longer so tongue tied, I spoke slower, and the moderator was so charming I totally forgot to be shy.

Later on, I got to talk one-on-one with other writers about Twitter, the importance of a writing community, and my experience writing a Korean historical as a Korean diaspora author. So that was fun!

And it definately helped that, throughout the event, my husband was nearby, as were my dear friends Kerrie, Maybelle, and Kess. I realize now that one beautiful gift writing has brought me is the privilege of connecting with people so different from me -- people whom I might not have gotten to know, if not for our common interest in writing. But because of writing, these three writers are in my life, and are now some of the most supportive people I've been blessed to call friends.

Acknowledging our Accomplishments

Have you ever had someone ask you, “Oh, you wrote a book, that’s so cool! Tell me about it!” And your knee-jerk reaction is to belittle your accomplishment? You reply with a shrug, “Oh that book, it’s just a story about [a lackluster pitch meant to divert attention away from your book]. Yah… It’s nothing special.”

The truth is, this "nothing special" project is the book of your heart. Maybe it’s the first book you’ve ever completed after several failed attempts, and you’re damn proud of having something to call your own. Or maybe the truth is, this is the book that landed you an agent after everything you went through: months of waiting, trying to remain hopeful despite an inbox full of painful rejections. Or maybe the truth is, this is the book that landed a book deal, despite all the many hurdles.

So when we’re asked about our work, why do we just brush it aside as though it’s nothing special?

I became aware of this attitude of mine when I was asked to introduce myself and my work at the panel event. My answer was:

“Hi, my name is June, I work for the Toronto Public Library, and I’m represented by Amy Bishop of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret agency. Oh, and I wrote a YA historical mystery.”

I ignored the rest of my notes I’d planned on sharing—the name of my debut, the book’s pitch, and its publication date. I just didn’t want to put my book under the spotlight.

When I passed the mic to the next agent, she looked surprised that I’d kept my introduction so short and vague. “That’s it?” she whispered to me, and when I nodded, she power dove into pitching herself and her clients. Inspired by her, I later found a way to quickly squeeze my novel’s pitch and publication date into my answers, but the experience got my thoughts rolling.

I realized I do have the tendency to belittle the work I’ve accomplished.

And the reason behind this attitude is my struggle to understand the difference between marketing and bragging. The business side of publishing encourages us to market our books. To let our works be seen. To call attention to it. But how do I do this without feeling like an egotistical…flamingo?

I brooded over this question for a long, long time.

And I found myself at the heart of why I write books, and why others write books. I believe writing books (for most people) come from a good place: the longing to share. We want to share the world we created, or a message close to our heart, or something very important to us that we want to give to our readers.

So in a world of much noise and distractions, it's hard enough to get our works noticed even if we do talk about them. So shouldn’t we -- all the more -- be advocating for our works? Why belittle our accomplishment, the heart and effort we put into creating a story, and give anyone a reason not to read it?

Also, promoting our work is like sharing our resume. In a resume, we share our life’s accomplishments, and share this in the hopes of being taken seriously. And by acknowledging these accomplishments, we’re not lying or exaggerating. We're telling the truth. And we should feel no shame about sharing what is true.

So here is my truth:

I landed an agent after 8 years of querying unsuccessfully, and several months after, I landed a two-book deal with Feiwel & Friends / Macmillan. My debut, THE SILENCE OF BONES, is a YA historical mystery set in Korea in the 1800s, where a sixteen-year-old indentured to the police bureau takes a murder investigation into her own hands, delving deep into a restless city swirling with intrigue and secrets, where honor often comes before justice. You can find it on shelves April 21, 2020!!

And here's another truth about my book. This book was inspired by a tough moment in my life as a teen, when my parents (whom I love so much) lived on the other side of the world, working hard for us, and I found myself having to deal with things that felt too 'adult' for me: figuring out how to pay bills while also taking care of my two siblings. This book is also a celebration of those that invested in me and my writing: my CPs, beta readers, agent, editor, friends, and family.

So this book is not just a book. It's the book of my heart. It's the book that represents all my struggles as well as some of my happiest moments in life.

This is my truth, and the next time a stranger asks me, “You’re getting a book published? Tell me about it!” I’m not going to shrug, I'm not going to hide the truth, I'm not going to pretend I'm not proud of my book baby, and I'll definately not say, “Oh, it’s just a YA mystery set in Korea. But yah, it’s nothing really.”

Because a published book / a completed manuscript, agented or not / is not a ‘nothing really’.

Thank you all for reading! I now have to get back to work on my copyedits. The copyediting stage is way more time consuming than I thought it would be! I began reviewing the edits when the sun was up, and by the time I finished looking over Chapter 2...it was nighttime. My respect for my editor, my production editor and copyeditor has grown by 10000x. Like, holy smokes, so much work goes on behind the scene to make a book ready for publication. Ok, I really do need to get back to work.

Bye for now! 💖