If you’re going to do a weird thing, only do one weird thing at a time.

All I know is, each time I read a poem that seduces my senses—that moves me to catharsis or imparts its own unique brand of wisdom—I change a little. And this fills me with gratitude because, once I mark the page, I know exactly where to locate the feeling that poem roused when I need it.

The want to write about Tully is really about knowing so many vets and witnessing their suffering. I write about it by talking to the men who I am close to who have served.

To emerging writers wanting to read: Come to readings and introduce yourself to the host! Tell them you’re interested in reading!

Try to write one good sentence every day. (That sentence was not it, but it has been the most helpful thing for me so far.)

Yoojin talks with Epiphany EIC about writing during a pandemic, the similarities between working on a draft and being pregnant, and how our professional lives intertwine with our personal lives.

“I try to work out who would appreciate reading who and make recommendations. And I tell them to think of the reader, to be kind to the reader – by which of course I mean be kind to me.”

Once you throw out there, Hey, it’s like our world, except there are these sexy angels, and there’s this afterlife office! I felt pressure to close the loop and explain it all.

“I want to be true to the trouble of the traumas that people are going through without writing trauma stories, because the crucial thing is just who these people are. Not what happened to them, but who they are. I like the idea of aftermath stories. “