Day 4: Write a letter to an agent telling her how wonderful you are.

Dear Agent,

As an aspiring writer, I'm here to tell you a little about myself and include some random fun pictures and drawings.

Recently, I've been able to select several values that represent who I am. In no particular order...

Loyalty - I believe that being loyal comes from suffering great disappointment in life. When people you trust and love let you down, you don't ever want anyone else you care about to experience that same helplessness and loneliness. I know we've all had our share of disappointment, and it has shaped how we develop and maintain our relationships. Once I care about someone, I am a great source of support and have an abundance of silver linings.

Diversity - I've been a minority as a youth as well as an adult. When I was a child, I didn't know any better. All I knew was that I didn't ever feel like I belonged or fit in until I was in an environment that had other kids like me, second generation Asian American. I'm incredibly empathetic. Sometimes I wish I could stop myself at the sympathetic line, but more often than not, I cross it. I like to find similarities with people and celebrate all the ways we are also unique.

Collaboration - I'm a people person, most of the time. If given the chance to work with a great team with amazing people, I'll take that any day over working alone. (If the team sucks, call me a hermit and leave me be...) I gain energy from people and enjoy trying to understand their points of view.

Relationships - People are important to me. If I were a parent, I'm sure this would word would have been "parenting". I chose this instead of "love" or "partner" because I really appreciate the bonds that I have with my family, my friends, my friends' kids, and even random adorable friendly puppies or dogs.

Persistence - I have very little inherent talent. But I am sure as heck persistent. While it is true that social media has made it easier to keep in touch with people, most of my good friends don't have Facebook accounts, can't tell you if you twit or tweet on twitter and most definitely don't share pictures on instagram. I maintain these relationships because I care about these people and make sure that I check in on them every so often, even if I don't always get a reply.

Authenticity - What you see if mostly what you get. I can't always disclose everything I'm thinking because if I did, in a very candid way, I wouldn't have any friends. That would make me one sad person. I don't need a ton of friends. I just need a few really good ones. I'm lucky, though. I have more than just a few good friends. Most of my good friends, I consider family.  I appreciate people are who real and can be vulnerable enough to show me who they really are. None of us are perfect, and as long as I believe they have a good heart, a few mistakes or episodes of bad judgment will not deter me from maintaining relationships with them. (If it's more than a few, then that might be a different story.)

As I continue to write, I'm sure many of these themes will arise. After all this is what I know and what I strive for in life.

I'm excited about my journey, and I hope that you'll take a chance on me and be a part of it.

Best regards,

Kim

Day 3: Write a setting based on the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen.

After several hours of driving, I decided to pull over.  

The coastal drive was already just spectacular. But this place took my breath away. 

Colorful houses hugged the sides of the mountains, covering the full spectrum of the rainbow. There were vibrant blue houses, next to yellow abodes, with leafy trees that separated them. Red abodes, bordering green ones, that neighbored purple ones. The cove was deep, very deep. My guess is that if I followed the road that would lead to the beach, it could easily take 30 to 45 minutes of slow driving. I couldn't see the path, but at the height from which I was standing, I knew it would be a steep and windy one, with no shortage of tight hairpin turns. 

Although there were houses built all the way down to the ocean, the area was largely untouched. The community had a vast amount of trees and plants, and only because the colors of the houses were so bright, could you easily distinguish them from their surroundings. Everything looked perfectly spaced and it looked like an area where the natives would be very protective of ensuring that it would maintain a small town feel to it. 

It was an overcast afternoon, and there was a light drizzle that misted on my face. Just as I was about to climb back into the car and continue on my way, the clouds parted slightly, allowing light to descend from above. I stood there mesmerized as the clouds parted a little bit more. The rays of light kissed the ocean and the view was so serene that a sense of peace washed over me. I took a few pictures before the clouds swallowed up the light and I climbed back into the car to continue on my way. 

Day 2: Create a character with personality traits of someone you love, but the physical characteristics of someone you don’t care for.

I wrote this based on the idea that I was catching up with my high school friend over brunch.

"Hey, do you remember Smith Kim?" I asked Alex as he sipped on his piping hot tea.  I always loved our monthly ritual of having brunch and catching up.

"Smith Black... sounds familiar. Did we go to high school with him or something?"

"Yeah! He's the one that people voted as 'Most Likely to Be on Reality TV'. He's the taller stocky Korean guy that dressed like a hipster."

"Uh, we had a few of those... any more details?"

"Hmm... Well, he wore these thick rimmed glasses that were actually somewhat stylish, as opposed to nerdy. Sometimes he'd like to wear hats but the teachers always made him take them off."

"Oh yeah, I remember him! I don't think I had any classes with him."

"I had Spanish with him," I replied. "He was such a brilliant guy; so charismatic and had so many cool ideas. He was really sweet, too. I remember he used to take Julia home from school because she lived down the street from him. And he used to help his grandma bake cookies in her shop after school."

"What about him?" Alex asked.

"I've been getting all these Facebook requests since our reunion is coming up and I got one from him. We didn't talk much in high school, but we've been catching up over the last few weeks."

"Anything good since we graduated?"

"Seems like he's been doing well. He's married now with a few kids. He turned a few of his ideas into commercial products. You ever hear of 'OnTap'? It's an app that lets you log all the different beers you've had and rate them. Bars are able to buy the information to see what their customers like and make sure they have good stuff handy."

"Why am I not surprised? From what I remember, I knew he'd be a drinker." Alex chuckled.

"Yeah, he was a bit of a partier, but at least it looks like he was able to cultivate it into something that works! I hear he's working on a few other things and has several backers too! He and his wife have also been volunteering at the homeless shelters."

A simple plan...

I found out not too long ago that I have a fellow inspiring writer in the midsts of all the craziness at work. :)

I have a few friends that are quite creative, and I constantly draw inspiration from them.

I think all of us have a creative side, with stories filled with imaginary friends and adventures that we might fondly remember from our childhood and maybe into adulthood. I know for me, as the years have passed, my thinking has become linear and anchored in my perception of reality. (How dull!)

I have fond memories of writing ridiculously long "plays" that had an abundance of princesses and princes, dragons and what not. (Yet still I had a strong aversion to the color pink...)

Some of my inspirations

Lately, I have found that I have a ton of half written stories, but nothing "blog ready" yet.

After talking to my colleague, we discovered that we are bursting from the seems about the idea of writing, but are always in planning mode. So much thinking, but not enough writing!

To help motivate me, she sent me a simple writing exercises from Writer's Digest. It's a 12-day plan to help get the creative juices going. I'll post the exercises and my responses to them, for better or worse.

So, here I go!

Day 1: Write 10 potential book titles you'd like to write.

I'm  a bit vulnerable here... I usually hate my ideas, and don't share anything I'm concerned about being judged on, but nothing great ever came out of staying in your comfort zone...

1. Wanderlust
2. All the Me's I have been
3. The Art of Falling
4. A Life Less Ordinary (yeah, I know, it's a movie...)
5. The Dreambox
6.  One More 
7. The Guild
8. Follow that lemming!
9. The OtherSide
10. The Journey

Ok, So nothing Earth shattering, but for me... this has been thought provoking. These are vague for a reason, but as I thought through this exercise, I attached short summaries of what some of these might become (in my head, not sharing that! Too soon!).

Doodles on the whiteboard

Just having some fun on the whiteboard...

Minion Gallery

Batminion (quick sketch)

Wonder Wominion

Wolverinion and Capt'n Minionmerica

IronMinion

Minions in Black

Black Widow

Green Lantern

Random cartoon fun 

Snoopy & Woodstock

eeyore

Benny the Ball

Gargamel

Heat Miser

For my boss, who is going into retirement...

Gizmo duck

Tigger

#SantaBarbara #Pictures #Scenery

Recently, I found that I'll be leaving Santa Barbara in the not-so-distant future.

It's truly a beautiful place and even though it took more time than I'd like to admit, it has started to grow on me.

Scenes from East Beach:

Evening shot of the Pier on the 4th of July

Love these clouds

One of the few rainy days

Walking back from the Farmer's Market

East Beach

Mountain View

On the Pier

Funk Zone Art:

A cool version of Mickey the Mouse

Beautiful chalk art from the I'Madonnari Festival at the Mission

Sneaky sneaky now...

Your workplace has a "X days since last accident" sign. One day, it gets reset, and nobody will tell you why.

Writing Prompt #9 Your workplace has a "X days since last accident" sign. One day, it gets reset, and nobody will tell you why.

Today started out like pretty much any other day. 

I woke up 2 minutes before my alarm, got dressed, had my breakfast and went to work.

When I arrived, I methodically punched my timecard and went to my work station. I put on my gear and started hand painting my portion of the zagets, like I do 6 days a week, like I've done for the last 14 months. 

Each day, I pass by the sign, "X days since last accident". Last I checked it read "443 days" and was pretty happy that nothing had happened since even before I started working there. 

Zaget assembly was a tough and tedious job. There were 24 stations, most manned by 4 people. Most of the big parts were assembled by robotic arms, but my job was to hand paint the logo and a few other details as the zaget passed on the assembly line. There were only 2 people at my station. Me and Taylor. 

I have to admit, I wasn't too liked here. I have always been a little socially awkward and when I tried to befriend people, it just wouldn't work out. I didn't mind too much. I enjoyed solitude and preferred to stay away from company gossip. Who cared who was dating who anyway? 

Taylor was pretty and popular. She already had a boyfriend and was always really nice when she had to turn down all her potential suitors.   People always came around to talk to her. She tried to include me, but no one else wanted to talk to me. Sometimes she and I would have pleasant conversations about our favorite superhero movie when no one else was around, but it wasn't too often. 

For the most part, the assembly line never stopped. We all took shifts and someone was always working. I was a little sad because I was hoping she and I could take a break together every once in a while since she was the only person who would talk to me.

It was time for lunch. I had my usual: turkey and cheese sandwich on rye with a little bit of mustard and green lettuce, a medium sized fuji apple and cran-grape juice. 

After my lunch break, I clocked back in. I glanced up at the sign again and saw that it now read "0 days since last accident". 

I don't care for drama, but I was very curious about what had happened. I headed back to my station and noticed that the assembly line stopped and everyone gathered in my area. 

"Taylor!" I thought. I hope she's ok!

I hurried over and tried to force my way through the crowd. I caught bits and pieces of conversation and tried to ask a few people what happened. 

"One of the robot arms went haywire..."

"...never saw it coming..."

Frantically, I continued to make my way to my station. Everyone was too wrapped up in themselves to even notice me.

"...died instantly..."

I finally got to my area.

There Taylor was, sitting in her usual spot, softly crying. I went up to her and touched her arm. My touch didn't register. It was like she couldn't feel it.

"Taylor, what's wrong? What happened?"

I looked up. The medics were placing a body on the stretcher.

"How odd," I thought, "those pants look like mine."

Then I realized... those were my pants. I was getting zipped up in that body bag.