Writers’ Rough Drafts – Episode #35 With Yi Shun Lai

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Yi Shun Lai is an author, a copy and content writer, an editor, and a writing coach and teacher based out of Southern California. Her debut novel, Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu, was a Semi-Finalist, Thurber Prize for American Humor. Through her own site, The Good Dirt, she chronicles her day-to-day writing life, and has recently been live-blogging her thoughts and experiences reading through Jane Friedman’s book The Business of Being a Writer.

In addition to her writing work, she teaches at various colleges and learning events throughout the United States, and works as a writing coach for budding authors and entrepreneurs working on their first books. In her spare professional time, she is the co-owner and editor for the Tahoma Literary Review, which publishes vetted poetry, fiction, and non-fiction submissions three times a year. When she isn’t doing all that work to make the world more creative, she is making it a better place by volunteering with ShelterBox, an organization that provides emergency services and supplies to areas affected by natural disasters or conflict.

What You’ll Learn About Writing This Week:

• Intentionally creating a physical and mental creative space wherever you are
• Spending some serious time on kindness in your creative life
• Adding an origin story to inanimate objects to write better copy
• Finding your best writing “in the weeds”
• Writing for (and with) publications other than your own blog
• Demystifying what editors do for writers

Mentioned in This Episode (Links and Resources!):

• Bewitched
• J. Peterman
• Seinfeld
• The “Hi” Project
• Animal-shaped correction tape (Note: The ducks aren’t available online, but this is the shop she bought hers from!)
• Rachel Howzell Hall
• Hips & Curves
• “Birthright,” an essay by Yi Shun Lai
• Cheez-Its
• Chex Mix
• Tahoma Literary Review (open for submissions until the end of July 2018!)
• ShelterBox

You Can Find More of Yi Shun and Her Writing On:

• Twitter, @gooddirt and @TahomaReview
• Her website, The Good Dirt
• Tahoma Literary Review’s website
• Amazon. Check out her book, Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu

If you enjoyed this episode and love listening to people geek out about writing, please leave us a review so others can enjoy it too. Thanks so much!

Thanks to our Season 3 sponsor: Coworker.com