Woman. Warrior. Writer. 10-2022

Kate Murayama Vol. 3. No. 13 October 1 2022

Aloha,

Meet Woman Warrior Writer Kate Murayama!

Kate Maruyama’s novel, Harrowgate was published by 47North. Her novella Family Solstice named Best Fiction Book of 2021 by Rue Morgue Magazine is out from Omnium Gatherum. Her novella Halloween Beyond: The Gentleman’s Suit is out this October from Crystal Lake, and her literary novel Alterations is upcoming from Running Wild Press.

How did you come to author your life?

I have always written, from novel to screenplay to novel to stories to novels. But it seems every time I sit down to write, I’m writing toward the question of love in all its human varieties. The questions keep me going: What do we do when our beloved dies but doesn’t leave? How far will we go to keep them with us? (Harrowgate) How can ancestral greed come before familial love and what does a loving innocent child do, caught in the crosshairs? (Family Solstice) How do we make peace when a friend slips away? (Halloween Beyond) Alterations examines how going against love can have repercussions through three generations of a family. Lifelong friendship is the question my next work is pushing toward.

Kate Murayama’s website provides resources and articles on allyship, whiteness, and privilege.

This is an excellent resource and a solid demonstration of how we might try to share and learn from each other.  Intersectionality as put forth by scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw is a key to changing the lives of women as a collective.

REGISTER

BREAK: Write Your Divorce Story Workshop Saturday 3 December 7-10AM (HST). Learn the Divorce Story Structure suitable for your legal/personal file and better understand your marriage/divorce as you explore concepts such as Master Narratives, han, kintsugi, phoenix, and more. Private divorce story writing sessions available see below and contact writer@drstephaniehan.com

OCTOBER Tuesday Accountability Zoom Sessions 10AM-12PM (HST) open to women newsletter subscribers and former workshop attendees!

Open gender WRITING COACHING private sessions are available. Please email me directly writer@drstephaniehan.com Students have worked on manuscripts, applications, teaching strategies/syllabi, divorce stories, and more. I have a strong writing and teaching background across the genres. If you are keen, drop a line so we can jump on a 15 minute call. If I believe that I can help you to reach your writing goals—let’s make a plan!

New sections of Women’s Creative Writing Workshop, Intersectionality: Writing Workshop, and Asian/Asian American Women’s Creative Writing Workshop will start in 2023.

NEWS

Nonwhite and Woman an anthology edited by Darien Hsu Gee and Carla Crujido is out! Instructors: why reinvent the wheel? Don’t you need a break? This book includes pedagogical strategies and lesson ideas. A great text for General Education, American Studies, Literature, Creative Writing, Multicultural Studies, Women’s Studies teachers and more! Add it to your syllabus! I gotta brag that many of my students are in this anthology. I’m really excited!

Hawai’I Public Radio

I’ve joined a great team and am now producing for The Conversation at HPR! Woman. Warrior. Writer. subscribers contact me for stories you feel deserve a conversation that involve the lives of people in Hawai’i nei.

CREATIVITY HACK

Failure is a part of creativity and experimentation. Stuck? Sleep on it. Walk away from it. Ask around. move the creative problem into your body—meaning, think about the problem kinetically. What do you want the reader to feel? What do you want to evoke in a body? Then figure out how to create that feeling. When we feel it, we can know it and solve the problem.

HEALTH HACKS

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Below is the wheel of power and control as developed by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project in Duluth, Minnesota in 1984 to help describe the experience of victims of violence and the tactics that abusers use.

A friend emailed me this wheel to me when my divorce was kicking off. It blew my mind because I had to ask myself some hard questions: How do I navigate this world and what was my agency in life? What was my personal truth?

Angelina Mercado, a writer and head of HI State Coalition Against Domestic Violence informed me that there have been many updates on the wheel of power and control and many tailored to specific communities. I advise further investigation if you find yourself identifying with any of the quadrants.

In a world where most have arranged marriages, where many women are denied reproductive freedom, where women overall make lower wages than men, where our bodies and lives and priorities are not centered in law, culture, tradition, history, religion, art, or business—this wheel of power and control plays out in many situations. According to the World Economic Forum the economic gap alone will take 151 years to close. On that note, we might all try to copy Iceland, the nation that rules all others when it comes to gender equity.

We CAN shift this. One story at a time. With words. Label it. Define it.

If women’s lives and experiences have been denied by stories, women’s lives and experiences can be changed by stories. When we are centered in stories that speak truthfully to our existence and bodies, we can disrupt a patriarchal narrative, and change laws, policy, stories, traditions, ideologies, and beliefs.

Change the story. Change society.

Author your life. The Yoda of Tucson aka Betty Lee says: The Truth is Compelling. Emotional truth brings us to our power.

Once I realized how much I was living everyone else’s truth and failing my own, the ground shifted. To get off the crazy carousel of power and control, you have to believe that you have the right to ask for help, that you have the right to live your best life. The decision to leave was the hardest one I ever made, but once I did, the world opened. The quadrants suggested a life driven by fear. Yet I learned this: fear does not exist alongside love and honesty.

Years ago, after multiple accidents and totaling my car, a driving instructor told me this: Proceed With Confidence. Such wisdom can be applied to many situations.

Writing heals and changes your life. Sign up for BREAK: Write Your Divorce Story Workshop Saturday 3 December 7-10AM (HST).

We Create The Story Of Our Lives.

Woman. Warrior. Writer. T-shirts

Making room for my fall (in time for holiday) online store and so I am moving merchandise. I have MLXL sizes $20/ mask $20 (free postage). Bundled $30.

Contact me here! The swag funds class scholarships!

Forward the Woman. Warrior. Writer. newsletter to a friend! For questions about coaching, class, creativity, or writing writer@drstephaniehan.com

Please add drstephaniehan@substack.com to your contact list!