tales of the summer

in all honesty, i'm giving myself a little break this summer in writing (although it completely goes against the logic of my life mantra "NEVER STOP WRITING"). after 6 all-nighters and tons of forced readings into literature i realized isn't all up my alley, i want to relax. clear my mind. rewire my brain with nothing. then i'll get back into my old ways and old words that give meaning to my writing.

in the meantime, class is over. and i am back home, leisurely and peacefully, and without any cares.

that's a lie. i've first off reread Tales of the City, one of the best damn books ever to hit the end of the 21st century. it spans over eight novels chronicling the many lives and loves of people in San Francisco. it's brilliant, it's perfect. a beautiful insight to what really goes out here. some plotlines may be a tad ridiculous, but don't doubt Armistead Maupin, the writer of these stories-- because any of it is surely bound to happen. anything can happen out in San Francisco!
(via sfuncovered.com)

i've had my share of tales of the City by the Bay. not as outrageous, but amusing and memorable all the same. i want more. that's why i've been looking for jobs and searching Craigslist nonstop looking for reasonable places in San Francisco to live close to USF's campus and right in the middle of things out there. in the meantime, i've brought San Francisco home to me. my uncle had a bunch of extra prints of paintings by local artist Peter Lee, from the poster and print store that went out of business and simply gave away most of their inventory. man, did we get so much! for myself, i kept the 4x6 prints, and they're soooo beautiful!

 Telegraph Hill from the top of Lombard Street

 The Castro

 Transamerica Pyramid

 Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park

The Embarcadero

even if i can't go out to San Francisco as often now in the summer as i did during school, at least these paintings and rerunning the miniseries of Tales will keep inspiring me to write and remember the magnificence of this place, so close to home!

disco dazed

falling in love all over again with 1970's San Francisco.

absolute favorite song of the 70's. Yvonne Elliman live, "If I Can't Have You"

life after a favorite class

for one, i do not want to give this book back.

as much as i look forward to summer i will miss my studies in fiction class, primarily for the effect it's had on my own writing. it was my first serious writing/ workshop-esque class where my work was seen, read, reviewed. it was so helpful. and with these stories-- all so quirky, quick, broad, vague, silly and horrid--i realized the potential i have in story writing and how not to waste any of it. i can do all sorts with imagination, take it back a step or bring it forward a million steps. i can't go wrong, because with fiction there's no limits. Scribner's anthology showed me this. finding out about sex with Barbie dolls and dead aunt's coming back to life to clean up your shenanigans and tiger moms and the sky falling down over a year's span and half-skinned steers stalking and and and...

there's just a mind-blowing variety of directions these authors took with their fictions. it's an incredible thing, the human mind, more so when we use it to look beyond logic, to create stories the human heart can relate to.

thank you so much, Professor Torres. it truly was the experience this authoress needed!




(sources via Google)

two weeks. then summer.

i really need this summer! it's going to be terrific, i know it. NOT going to London in the fall, if i didn't mentioned that already (then again you all didn't know i was planning for London then). if i did, i'd be behind on graduation, and as much as i love college, thanks to the right major i pursued, i wouldn't want to stick around longer than necessary. for consolation of missing out on London, i'm definitely looking into my own little place in San Francisco. my own place! the City! just as good as London i'd think, it's San Fran after all-- imagine the 24-7 sights and sounds i'd get from this lovely city compared to when i commute from the East Bay to classes. weekends will be exciting.

back to summer, there's three things to tackle here:

revise my novel, The Muse Land.


write my story, Break, before fall.


send in my story By Your Side to writing contests all over.

the third is where i get so pissy. i'd have sent out most of my stories for fair trial by writing contests, but there's the damn entry fees. i've always felt that's been a horrid part of the process of almost anything, particularly in contests and university applications. it makes sense to pay like mailing for sending in your work, but why should people pay others to read their work when there's also a high chance of the judges not even selecting their entry for a win? why do i have to pay to lose?

what i do to try and find little extra pocket cash is well, keep looking on Craigslist, looking in their writing gigs and writing/editing jobs sections. people think i'm picky, and they're right. i've never had a legit work experience anywhere-- retail, office, restaurant, nothing. but at least i know i'm good (as many have said, and i should believe it!) at writing. so writing jobs would do me well, even if i might not like all my options (ehem, freelance writing is NOT all as easy and fun as it might seem, i know from failing in that line of work). even so, i want to try and get experience and little cash to pay for necessary things to get my writing out there, from printing money for my books or stories to entry fees and envelopes to send in my stories for contests.

it's ridiculous, but everyone must do what they have to do. i'll have a great summer for sure, with friends being home and a fresh wardrobe to pick and choose from to go out and enjoy the lovely California weather, but then again i for one shall not loose track of anything that could get me to a higher place with my writing. you just never know-- so take those chances.

BY YOUR SIDE, a story by PARIS KIM

it's finally finished!! i've worked all spring semester to get this story out, after brewing in my mind around February and drafting with Pinterest images around March. it's everything i hoped it'd turn out to be.

cute, nostalgic, real, romantic, and truly Californian. i really hope you do enjoy "By Your Side" by me, now posted for easy access on its own page at the image to the right of the blog: