Sui Writes

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  • Taking a Moment to Breathe

    Being part and parcel of what is now a terrorizing trio with a plus one (Sui’s thinking of getting hitched – he’s the plus one) we’re on a great bender this January.  During sober moments in the week leading up to the new year, you know, those moments when you wonder how much was really achieved during the year.  Then, comes the goals…no, no, no, not calling them goals anymore, they are now ideas. We came up with ideas that every month, we’ll do something amazing together.  Mostly to pull Sui out of writing slumps which have been plaguing her lately.  It happens.

    So, our first idea this January, included taking a trip to the beach, as a trio plus one, as we have never done that before…sigh…the plus one suggested this idea.

    morning diani

    A fantastic idea as this picture speaks all the best parts of taking a trip to hang out at the beach in the early morning.  There is something very religious about watching the sun rise over a mass of water.  Romantic moments are born and the day seems infinitely possible, which I appreciate in spades.

    Diani can be hot, so we spent the morning playing in the water, water skiing, and swimming with gorgeous dolphins.  When we had our fill of this, lunch hour came around and of course, seafood seemed to be the best choice.  Afternoons on a full stomach made lazy-bones out of us and sleep naturally came.

    Later, much later, when the sun slipped over the horizon, we sit around a small bonfire burning marshmallows, tossing a stick at the dog.  We look at each other, and start laughing because it feels like an achievement to simply have a full day spent doing nothing but us.  We are one idea into the year and what a great weekend it has been.
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    I share this story now because sometimes it’s not about doing something to do with work, a business, or even writing in the case of Sui.  She has a list of stories she wants to finish that could stagger a hardworking donkey.  Sometimes, it’s about taking a step back from the list, breathing in and enjoying the beautiful sunrise.  The Plus one has earned his spot in the crew.

    Scot.

  • Story Shorts – Little Stories that Make you Smile

    Happy New Year!

    I hope the year has started with good vibes for you.  I’m also sending you good vibes, right now.  2018 is here, 2 years to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Strange thing to remember, but I’m actually looking forward to that.

    January should be celebrated.  There are so many fresh new starts.  You can do anything in January.  For me, I’m greeting you with a Short Story, neatly compiled into an e-book for your enjoyment.  I hope you enjoy it!

    The title of this short story is ‘Do You Know?‘.  This is a story about Saki Masashi, a Tokyo University art student, in his final year.  His powerful older brother suddenly pulls him out of Tokyo Uni., and sends him to the U.S. to enroll into Alexander University.  Saki has had to deal with his older brother treating him this way all his life.  In response to his brother’s cold shoulder attitude, Saki decides to fill his life with warm, memorable moments.

    I loved writing this story because it was about seeking out those moments in life that make you happy.  Smiles can come from things, (nothing feels right unless I have coffee from my favorite chipped mug) activities, (I garden to find my smiles when they disappear), and people.  I’m sure there are those people who fill you up with warmth, just by them calling you or sending you a message to ask about soy sauce. (Hehehe)

    Do download it, it’s available for free here: Smashwords 

    Look out for more of these short stories this month.

     

     

  • A Haunted Love

    A Haunted Love

    Hideki ‘Hyde’ Takada’s life is in danger, but what else is new? He has learned to adapt to a-haunted-lovea life in constant danger. His heart closed off to all, including his best friend, Haru, who has been in love with Hideki for ages. When Hideki’s father reaches out to an old friend for help, Kazuma Daiko is tagged as the best bodyguard in the industry. Kazuma soon joins Hideki’s security detail, and the shell around Hideki’s heart starts to thaw.

    Kazuma Daiko tortures himself with guilt over the death of his last charge. He has refused any close contact assignments since, and is not sure he can take on the task of protecting Hideki. But when he sees Hideki Takada for the first time, the strong pull between them, keeps Kazuma holding on to the assignment. Can Kazuma protect Hideki when it matters most? Will his love for Hideki protect them both from a deeper betrayal?

    • This book is now available for download on Smashwords.  Get it Free!

     

  • Falling in love with Reading

    In a quiet, mundane moment this past week, I fell in love with reading, again.  You might find that statement strange coming from a writer, but it is true.  I was reading before, of course I was reading…books, stories, newspapers, magazines, and it all filled me up as good content often does.  But, what I’m referring to here is that falling into another world, peaceful and absolutely liberating feeling of holding a book and only finally looking up when the there are five pages left.  I look at the time, and the day has disappeared, and I don’t feel bad about it because the book in my hand made it all worth it.  In fact, I wanted to go back to the moment right before I cracked the spine and fall in again.  I didn’t want to finish the last five pages because it meant that I would have to give up the moment, merge back to the present.  Then I thought, all I need to do is find another book.

    I had forgotten this feeling.  Lost it between endless work-related meetings, obligations and commitments.  It is hard to lose yourself in a book when clients are calling your phone, constantly seeking your attention, reports are waiting on the desk, and everyone has a problem waiting for you to solve. I love the challenge the day job provides, and at times I absolutely find solace in it, but it has also taken away from some simple things like reading.

    Perhaps it was the book I was reading…I can’t quite express it.  Whatever it was, I fell in love again with reading.  The bug bit me so hard, I ran back to the bookstore and I now have a pile of books by my bedside table waiting for me.   The excitement of it makes me high.

    I’m currently deep in the grip of Maggie Steifvater’s The Raven Cycle, where kisses might mean the end.

    Gansey, Blue, Ronan and Adam are an absolute delight. 

    Over at the Daily Post, I found this quote:

    Writer Rebecca Solnit on stories:“Stories are compasses and architecture; we navigate by them, we build our sanctuaries and our prisons out of them, and to be without a story is to be lost in the vastness of a world that spreads in all directions like arctic tundra or sea ice.”

    I feel as though it might describe a bit of me before this rediscovery of reading.  While the writing part of my life is essential, absolutely needed that it can keep me up at night.  But the reading part too, the reading is essential.  Stories can truly liberate you in a way you can’t define.

  • Chuseok Love This Year

    You can’t say thanksgiving (chuseok) without mentioning family.  This year I find myself viewing the word family in a different perspective, a non-traditional way.  My friend, Moon, says that with each year we grow older, but also more clearer on things.   What I know today, will definitely change next year, or be more refined.  I’ve come to realize that the people who make me feel the most comfortable, the most myself, are now family to me.  At times blood family won’t always be where you can be comfortable, this has been hard to accept, but since I’m smiling as  I type this, it seems I have come to accept it.

    food
    Welcome to dinner

    Thanksgiving this year was having some alone time, being in an absolute quiet space. I value these moments because they’re a source of strength.  My old, old friends who are now staying with me made lunch, that ran into afternoon, and into dinner.  I’m amazingly grateful that I’m laughing easier having them around.  Gosh, a good laugh will truly put you in a great mood.  You don’t realize how lonely you are, until you have someone calling you to ask how your day is and when they don’t do it once, you miss it and wonder how you lived without that call before.

    I’m babbling now on the good fortune that has moved into my house.

    Happy Chuseok! (Korean Thanksgiving) and cheers to you!

    cheers
    Cheers!

     

  • A Trio Again – The Peanut Gallery

    And, we’re Back!

    I bet you have no idea who we are, but when Sui first started writing….four years ago?…No, I think it has been five years now, since 2012.  Hold on while I lose my marbles.  Five Years! Stupendous!  We are Sui’s peanut gallery, and would push her into writing and posting because she was so shy and unsure of her work.  I still remember reading, That Dog, Young Jae, and smiling because I thought she had a lot more to give, and it would be amazing.  Well, the We is Scot and Moon.  Sui’s original fans.

    We lived with her then for over a year or two…after she started writing and publishing it

    sms
    Some Idiot made a joke the other day.  Said our names are short for SMS – Short Messaging Services….I was stunned! Stunned! – Moon

    out.  Around 2014, we all had a displacement.  Our jobs are not easy to deal with, we’re constantly on the move, or setting out on adventures across different parts of this strange planet.  We separated, and Sui sort of moved from here to there, and here to there….okay, she moved a lot.  Now, we’re having an incredibly time as we’ve all managed to circle back to living in one house together.  Yass!  

    We’re older, stranger…definitely not wiser, just hurt and learned to hide it better, deal better.  Sui, my dear friend, has written so much, we’re amazed and stunned and awed, and of course teasing her silly for her dedication.  Hence, the Peanut Gallery has decided to join Sui’s blog, and basically, jump and down here and there, spilling on adventures, activities, and insane things Sui is always up to in between all the writing.  Hoping our time together takes us longer than two years this time.

    Scot: Should we talk about falling in love? All our mothers are worried about us still being single?

    Moon: I’m worried about still being single…

    Scot: laughing. (Moon input: he laughs like a mad man) I at least have a willing candidate.  Though dating is seriously the new-already-married.

    Moon: Rubbing your happiness on us, you’re evil you know.  Sui’s mother is the most frightening.  She thinks Sui is going to petrify from being single.

    Scot: (Immitating Sui’s softy voice) Yah! You crazy bastards, I’m a happy single woman, stop backstabbing me behind my back.

    Moon: More like a crazed woman who is married to her keyboard and the billions of characters swimming in her brain.  We still love her though. And you, who is reading this.

    This strange band will keep you posted on the new stories on Sui’s desk, and the fun activities we might get into living in our new spiffy home in Nairobi. An uber green place, a quiet place, but seriously…I miss the beach in Diani, so we might visit there often. And share pictures. Nothing is more healing than the sun rising over the sparkling blue ocean.  So,…Okay, we’re done with this introduction.  In case you see strange posts on Sui’s blog and wonder who has hacked this space, don’t worry, it’s just one of us (Scot or Moon), or both of us.

    Now, after this raging intro – We’re off to celebrate Chuseok! Happy Korean Thanksgiving! chuseok Lots of food and tasting Sui’s songpyeon. Will tell you if we got sick eating Sui’s cooking. Its a 50/50 with this one.  Meanwhile, we take three days off and pretend we don’t have jobs, and simply laze around.  Sui-noona you’re not allowed to edit this part out!

    ‘Til Next Time.

  • Words do turn into WMDs

    There are moments when a single word is more powerful than an action.  One word can send you catapulting into the ether, throwing off events in a day, ruining a perfectly harmonious dinner party, cracking a heart into pieces…

    No thinking too much, just Smell the Cherry Blossoms

    One word, it seems, can make or destroy.

    This I’ve come to experience of late, and it has turned into a humbling? Or should I say educative moment in life.

    Do you know there are people in your life, no matter what they say, you find yourself analyzing their every word.  Why did he/she say that?  What is she/he thinking?  How does it relate to me?  Goodness is this self-centered or what? But seriously, what did they mean?  This is the endless cycle of questions that leads to insanity.  Perhaps, the education here is to take statements at face value.  Not to overthink what is not stated, but…truthfully, this is really hard to do.

    So, is this overthinking situations, words, and over analyzing people a woman thing? Or is it the result of having an over-creative mind? Could be both, in which case, this writer continues to learn the hard way.

    All I have managed to realize is that I need to check my thoughts, my own words, because I might be over judging scenarios and turning them into mountains when they’re only pebbles on a path.

    Works – in – Progress

    Good news is, I’ve been writing, challenging news is that I have yet to turn completed work into downloadable e-books.  Will work on that this coming June as free time is on my way.  Look forward to these WiPs.

    Always You, Only You

    A Haunted Love

    And a short Anthology of stories.

     

  • Sunday Fun- Friends & Lovers

    Sundays are beautiful and bittersweet.  Sunday morning hours are always the best part of the week.  Our morning was rainy today, and I say ‘our’ because the house is  full of people.  Friends and Lovers, staying the weekend, looking for adventure in my corner of the world.

    Spent most of my morning reading, enjoying the sun coming up, with rain mixed in.  The blankets felt warm and the cat snuggled up right in there, it was perfect.  Then the horde woke up, and suddenly it’s a frenzy of making breakfast, brewing coffee, slicing fruits…randy jokes from the Lovers.  Gotta love the lovers, they spice up the morning with kisses.  The rest of us tease them, but they don’t seem to mind it. I love that they’re all in the kitchen, making my day.

    Then it’s out in the garden for all of us.  After a busy week, just sitting outside, enjoying the sun after a refreshing rain and arguing over who is going to cook the turnips for lunch, I feel like this is heaven.

  • Magic Hour

    It’s a Thursday morning, sitting at my desk, looking at a work day spent writing. Some four to five hours.  I often work with music on, and as I’m on a great One Ok Rock binge, their song Hard to Love comes on and nostalgia sets in.

    You know they hit the lyrics right when they have your mind wandering on a trip.  This song has me thinking of my Dad.  My Dad remains this great mysterious man in my memory.  I can only imagine what he thought of me, as he died when I was too young to comprehend much about life.  I often imagine he’d have given me advice like in this song when I think of him.

    A hard-working man, who loved his family and did what he could to create a future for us.  This picture is different depending with who you talk to, but for me, it really never changes.  In my memory, he is firmly a super hero who I know I will always look up to.

    Full of nostalgia feels, magic hour takes over as I plan the next part of a story taking shape.  The beauty of fiction is that it can take you places you never expected to be.

  • A Haunted Love

     

    a-haunted-love

    Hideki Takada’s life is in danger. Kazuma Daiko tortures himself with guilt over the death of his last charge.  Can Kazuma protect Hideki when it matters most?

    Coming soon.