Love of words and battle scenes

I guess it seems natural that an avid reader and writer would love words. I do. Not only that, but I want to understand where these words come from and how they all connect to one another.

Many scholars have studied the connections between Sanskrit and languages of the western world (Latin, English, Spanish, etc.), but what I find fascinating is the connections from all over the world.

Here are my examples:

Appa in Korean means daddy, but not in a childish sense. It's a more intimate way of saying dad. I still call my dad "appa."

Abba in Hebrew, from what I understand, is like the Korean use of appa.

Baba in Chinese is the same.

Appa has the same meaning in Hindi as in Korean (my neighbor told me).

Oppa in Dutch means...grandfather.

Oppa in Korean means older brother (from a younger sister to an older brother).

Umma/omma in Korean means mommy, but not in a childish sense. Again, it's a more intimate way to say mom. I still call my mom "umma."

Om is Egyptian language (Arabic) is mother.

Umma has the same meaning in Hindi as in Korean.

Aren't these connections just wonderful to think about? Korean to Chinese to Hindi, I can sort of explain away. But to go on to Hebrew, Dutch, and Arabic? I would love to have enough time to follow this thread, but I don't. If any of you know of anything regarding this, please let me know.

In some broader sense, this does make sense to me. Mommy and Daddy are the two people we all learn, very quickly, to rely on and call for help. So, it does make sense to me that they should be based on the easiest sounds we could make as infants.

Current book update:

Took me two days to write one chapter (7 pages long). I had expected more, but I just couldn't do it. Maybe it's because I don't write that kind of books, but it was incredibly difficult to write a sequence of battle scenes. I thought, heck, there are history books where I could get the facts from. How difficult could it be to write a chapter about Pusan Perimeter? Well, I applaud all those writers who write this stuff everyday.

To write this chapter, I had to read a lot about the Korean war, battle for Korea, Pusan Perimeter, etc. One thing I have to say is that I came away with a profound sense of gratitude for all those who gave their lives to save Republic of Korea. Maybe that's why it was so hard to write it.... Every picture I saw, I was thinking - you were someone's beloved son, husband, brother, uncle, etc. Thank you.

Ugh! I gotta start all over again.

I spent last two days writing a chapter. A difficult chapter that details the beginnings of the Korean War. After two days of working on it and having only 5 pages to show for it, I came to a horrible conclusion - I need to scrap this and start all over again. Even though I'm emotionally attached to this and like every word in the chapter (yes, because I wrote it), my book would be better WITHOUT it. The horror!

My first draft is almost done, except for the last 1/5 of the book which deals with the Korean War. I've done enough research (I think...) and I'm ready to write, but I want to make this section dynamic. I mean, how can a war, any war be boring and static? But the engineer (the analytical geek) in me wants to cover it from the beginning and that's what I've done. But I know, in my heart, that's the boring part that my editor will tell me to cut it. I can see the conversation in my head (this is the editor who challenged me to cut 50 pages to 3 pages. I did it. I wasn't happy about having to do it. But she was right. It made the book better).

"Jennifer, you can do this. You can cut this to...0 pages!"

"Uh...uh, but it tells a beautiful story of the beginnings of the Korean War."

"But it doesn't add anything to the story. In fact, it SLOWS down the story. Cut it. It won't make any difference to your book."

That's the sad truth. It won't make any difference to my book. So, I'm saving her the time to tell me to cut it when I eventually hire her to do a final read through. I guess I'm learning something, or remembering something my editor's been trying to teach me for a long time.

1. Make every sentence earn the right the occupy the valuable space in my book.

2. Make a dynamic start by starting in the middle of the action (this is a real challenge for me because I love 1200+ page books where you get gnats ass detail about everything. But I know most readers out there don't want that. So, I'm saving my special edition of gnats ass detail of this book for myself and a very select friends who appreciate that sort of thing).

Moments of Laughter

I'm trying, once again (nth time, I stopped counting after my 5th attempt a while back), to schedule a book signing at a Borders store in my own town. Because my book doesn't have a BINC#, it's hard to find, even on their own computer data base (although it shows up on their online store). I haven't figured out how to get a BINC# because I haven't had the opportunity to speak to a real live person about it. So, here I am. Doing my own search to 1)make sure it's on there, and 2) more importantly, they can find it. Don't get me wrong. People I spoke to were very nice and trying to be helpful, but it's the process that's cumbersome and confusing. So, I'm waiting, once again, but I am determined to win this battle.

As I was waiting, I thought I'd check Barnes and Noble and Amazon. On Amazon, now only could you buy my book for $13.50, but you can also buy a signed copy of my book from between $19.98 and $25.00. That gets me laughing out loud because I can't believe there's someone (two people) out there charging extra for my signature. It's flattering, but very funny and uplifting (in some weird sense). So, I guess my signature, at this point, is worth at least $6.48. But since these have been there for months now, it could be the same two books languishing in someone's garage. So, it's higly likely that my signature, at this point, is worth nothing. I'm still laughing about this.

Updates from my current book:

I've never been really interested in Korean history. I've read all I could on Irish, English, Egyptian, Mayan, Incan, Sumerian, etc. histories. With this current book, I'm looking more into Korean history and I'm proud to say that I'm Korean. We've been through so much. I didn't know this, but after the Korean War, Korea and Kenya had the same GDP in the early 1950's. It's amazing where Korea is now today, but I credit much of that with the Cold War and the incredible amount of aid America had given Korea (thanks to Russia, China, and North Korea). I wonder if Korea and Kenya had switched places, would it languish in third world status today?

A New Beginning

I haven't blogged since May to early June because I was in "depth of despair" as Anne Shirley would put it. I'm not prone to melodramatics, but when I want to, I can really get into it. I crashed into this wall called reality and learned that what I hoped for will take much longer to happen, if at all.

I spent a carefree summer with my kids and family, on vacation or just busy at home. But one thing I didn't stop was writing. I'm actually quite happy with what I have so far and I can't wait to start querying (but this will probably happen next year).

Here are my Waiting for Appa update:

1. I had a nice article written in a Korean-American parenting magazine. It was really nicely done. I need to make a copy of that and post it on the web somewhere.

2. I'm talking with an ESL teacher to go and speak to her class about my book and myself sometime in September. I'm also hoping to schedule something with a high school in Hayward, CA for a book talk as well.

3. I'm talking with a former high school friend of mine to help me figure out what I need for a decent website. What I have right now is not even pathetic (that's how bad it is).

4. I'm going to start scheduling book talks at bookstores again. I need to get going on this or this year will be all booked.

I started looking for a job in earnest today. My average ~$30/quarter royalties just isn't going to cut it for retirement and college for my kids. I don't know what I wish for anymore. I need to be true to myself and be the best writer I can be for this next one.

A good friend just send me an email about why I haven't blogged. I had planned to start this week and what a coincidence! I'm going to try to blog at least a couple of times a week.

I'm an avid reader. A friend of mine described me as a voracious reader. Mind you, who'd eat books? So little nutritious value. I'm actually thinking about creating a blog about my book reviews. I'd only write about ones I love. I don't know. I want to keep up with this one more regularly first.

I love Goodreads.com. You can find me there.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

$300 press release

Here's the press release I paid $300 for (along with a long list of email addresses to "editors" and "contacts" that were completely useless. I actually feel somewhat misled by iUniverse on the effectiveness of the email campaign).


**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
EDITORS: For review copies or interview requests, contact:
Promotional Services Department
Tel: 1-800-AUTHORS
Fax: 812-355-4078
Email: promotions@iuniverse.com
(When requesting a review copy, please provide a street address.)

Waiting for Appa
Will young girl find the father she so desperately longs for?

MILPITAS, CA - When Eunhae is 9 years old, she says a tearful farewell to her father, an ex-Korean Navy captain, as he leaves for America. He promises to come back for her and her mother in three years, but fear grips her as time passes and it becomes difficult to remember his face.

Two years later, she and her mother receive visas to immigrate to America. Eunhae’s heart pounds with the great expectation of seeing her father as she lands at San Francisco, but Auntie Soona instead greets her and her mother, and they discover that he is in a coma after an accident on the job. At the hospital, Eunhae and her mother meet Sunwoo, who was her father’s roommate. There is puzzling hostility from Uncle Chul toward Sunwoo, but Eunhae finds him a kindred spirit as she spies him crying over her father.

In Waiting for Appa, (published by iUniverse) author Jennifer R. Kim traces the pain and confusion of Eunhae, who continues to clutch to her dead father's memory like the ashes she refuses to toss into the sea during his memorial. When she catches Sunwoo and her mother in an embrace she withdraws from everyone who seeks to love her, and as she grows to womanhood, her confusion over her feelings and the actions of her relatives deepens. On a return trip home to Korea, she discovers that she herself holds a secret, and finding the answer to it will eventually unlock her heart.

About the Author
Jennifer R. Kim was born in 1968 in Chinhae, Korea, and immigrated with her family to the United States in 1978, settling in Newark, Calif. In 1985, she participated in NASA Ames Summer High School Apprentice Research Program working on the Space Station program. In 1986, she was at Lockheed’s research and development office in Palo Alto working on the Gravity Probe B program. Kim graduated from UC Berkeley with a mechanical engineering degree and went to work for Bechtel in San Francisco, and later in Silicon Valley, working in the semiconductor industry. An acclaimed writer during high school and college, she had an essay published in the San Francisco Chronicle and a short story published in The Literary Realm. This is her first book.

Waiting for Appa

Available from: www.iUniverse.com, www.bn.com, and www.amazon.com

###


So, save your $300 and use it for something else, like buying books you'd like to read.

Publishing packages

I've been very busy with some other things and I haven't been able to blog as often as I'd hoped. I'm sorry about the long gaps. I'll try to be more diligent in updating the blog.

All the self-publishing info below pertains to my experience with iUniverse only.

Self-Publishing Timeline:

I called iUniverse on 2/3/09. My book didn't get "published" until 6/29/09 and I didn't get a review copy until the end of July'09. But I really didn't get much sales activity going until November'09 because my books weren't returnable until late October'09.

In between 02/09 and 06/09, I had to edit and proof my manuscript one more time and I thought I couldn't handle this "one more time." It's very difficult to capture mistakes on a manuscript which you've read over a hundred times in the last several years.

Things to keep in mind from the beginning:

1. Returnability. Without this, you can't get the books into the stores. Do this early. It takes almost 8 weeks to get this set up if you miss the monthly window of opportunity. ($599 for a year. $300 for each additional years)

2. Copy Right. Just get it when you get the package. You can definitely get discounts at that time, but not very likely later. (was included in $999 package I purchased. I think it was additional $100 or something like that.)

3. Library of Congress #. I didn't get this one, but I regret it. I would get it next time. (I think this was additional $100 or something like that).

4. Cover Copy Polish. I bought this, but I'm not sure how useful it was to me. The cover copy came back very close to what I had already. I'm not sure I'd do that again. OK. I wouldn't do it again. ($199)

5. Press Release/Email Marketing campaign. I bought the cheapest package and it didn't work at all. I think cheap had nothing to do with it. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS OPTION. It was nice to get a copy of a press release a publishing house like iUniverse would write for their authors, but I would definitely not do this again. You can do it on your own. ($300)

6. "Customized" editing package. They wanted to charge $2400 for this. I turned it down. I had enough confidence in my writing/grammar/etc. to just go without it. You may go with one of the cheapest packages if you're confident about your material. I think that's what Lisa Genova did through iUniverse. If you don't know about her, you might want to google her name or Still Alice. That's her book. Her story will inspire you.

I know you can copy right your book and get the library of congress # on your own, but with a POD, I wasn't sure how I can time it so that my book would be published with those #s (I think you have to submit two copies of your book with each request).

I was utterly disappointed with the press release/email marketing campaign. It was completely useless in that it's basically a SPAM when it gets sent out like that. I've contacted some of the editors on my own and they've told me to contact them when I've sold ~1000 books, at least.

THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION - would I go with iUniverse again?

I would if I was going the POD (print-on-demand) way. It's amazingly easy to have your books available on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. With Borders.com, it took a little work. This is incredibly valuable. So, this alone would make me go back to iUniverse.

I still can't schedule book signings at Borders. And as much as people talk about supporting independent booksellers, Barnes and Noble makes it so easy to schedule book signings at multiple locations. I tried to schedule events at independent booksellers, but I was discouraged by the sellers themselves. Maybe I need to try again with them at a different location. The bottom line - I am so grateful to Barnes and Noble for giving me a fair shake in this arena.

In the next blog, I'll post the $300 press release I've purchased along with the list of email contacts.

My audience

From the beginning, agents, editors, and publishers have asked me who my "reader" would be. They told me to visualize and write for that person.

Well, I learned, almost every time I have a book signing, that there is a flaw to approaching it like this. Because there are always one or two people who are so far away from that reader profile that you'd never think this person would read a book like mine. Now, one or two people out of 3 to 14 is a lot.

So, I'd like to concentrate on just writing well. Write what I love. Write what I find interesting. And I pray and hope that my reader will find me. It's such a pleasant surprise and a learning experience to encounter these outliers.


I had a book signing today. And I sold out! But before I get too excited, I sold out three books. Between employee transitions and a book order glitch, no one noticed that my books weren't there until...this morning. However, they were able to gather three books from surrounding stores and I signed those. I handed out my business cards, but I don't know how many of those would convert to book orders.

A flip side to this is that they are holding two book fairs with local high schools, and the community relations manager is trying to tie me in with those book fairs (I'm in the process of scheduling book talks at a high school in Hayward and a couple of ESL classes in the same area). So, it was ying yang kind of day, but aren't all our days like that?

I think it's all a matter of perspective. Half full or half empty. I'd like to think mine is always half full. I overwhelmingly choose to be happy (on most days when I'm not confronted with the dismal realities of trying to make money writing).

I guess I am digging myself out of my funk, at least a little.