Yanyi .'s Blog, page 5

‘Someone Else Published My Idea. Now What?’

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Dear Yanyi,

How do you deal with the fact that a work you’ve been working on for years has just been published...by someone else?

It’s not just that it deals with similar themes, or has a similar setting, or whatever, but genuinely has an almost exact copy of characters and setting and themes. Like it’s been plucked directly out of my mind by the author.

It’s not plagiarism, because they can’t possibly know what they’ve done, it’s just the incredible random chance of the universe...

The Writing: On designing a writing life

[Photo by Yanyi: Cherry blossoms late in season. Already their petals begin to slump on the way to falling down, brilliant pink and delicate.]

Author’s Note: This is your last week to get Starting a Paid Newsletter for Independent Writers for half off! The launch code F21KICKSTART will expire on Friday. And if you have been wanting to work with me independently, you can do so until November in a limited run of mentorship sessions.

Finally, Writing Space continues this Sunday.

There’s a distinction ...

The Writing: Making the work visible

[Photo by Yanyi: Round and square mooncakes flank an apple tart fanned out in a rose design on a cooling rack that sits on a marble pastry stone.]

Author’s Note: This is your last week to get Starting a Paid Newsletter for Independent Writers for half off! The launch sale will end next Friday. And if you have been wanting to work with me independently, you can do so until November in limited run of mentorship sessions.

It is so, so hard to let go of control when I am writing. The moment I feel mom...

The Writing: Is this the beginning of a new book?

The Writing: A reflection on leaving social media

At the beginning of 2021, I decided to leave social media, following some close intimates of mine and watching, of course, The Social Dilemma. A few of you have written me to ask how it’s been. I’ve been thinking about it too, as recently I’ve decided to get back on.

Postscript: A prompt for paying attention

‘How Do You Write About Joy?’

Welcome back to The Reading. Last month and this month, paid subscribers received the following:

The postscript to today’s letter: A prompt for paying attention.The Writing: On finding one's own measures (part 2)The Writing: Vacation modeThe Writing: On writing where you areThe Writing: Between seasonsThe Writing: How did your summer writing go?Free access to Writing Space, our writers’ mukbang (schedule below)Access to The Reading’s community Discord serverBecome a paid subscriber

Hi there,

Welcom...

The Writing: How did your summer writing go?

Back in May, I did a check-in with myself on my yearly intentions and set some goals for summer. I also asked about yours. Now that September has arrived and many of you in academia are either back to teaching or studying, it’s a good time to reflect. How did your summer writing go? What surprised you? What did you do?

[Photo by Yanyi: The lake reflects a shoreline of trees and a blue sky onto itself. There is a slight haze over the near-perfect reflection.]

The Writing: Between seasons

(Scroll to the end for the paid subscribers' intel!)

Here in Vermont we’re coming up on a change of season. I can not only sense it in the air but also in the trees that are starting to fade into their tans and golds, having taken all the sunshine they want and now packing up for the season.

Photo by Yanyi: A roll of film begins with a jagged, brilliant line that bursts into a new exposure. This one is of apples fallen into the grass with a few scattered gold leaves.

The Writing: On writing where you are

Last week HK and I took an expected-unexpected vacation to Iceland. Expected because we had planned to take a vacation from approximately last week to this week. Unexpected because we had been planning to go to New Mexico, but our unnamed domestic airline decided to cancel all return flights on our intended return date and add two layovers in US cities that are currently Delta hotspots, making the trip not only longer but riskier. Long story short, I planned and booked a completely new vacation ...