Woman. Warrior. Writer. 9-22
Natashia Deón Vol. 3. No. 12 September 1 2022
Aloha,
Meet Woman Warrior Writer Natashia Deón!
Natashia Deón is a two-time NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Literature, a practicing criminal attorney, and author of the critically acclaimed and widely-reviewed novels, The Perishing and GRACE, named a Best Book by The New York Times and awarded Best Debut Novel by the American Library Association’s Black Caucus. A PEN America Fellow, Deón has also been awarded fellowships and residencies at Prague’s Creative Writing Program, Dickinson House in Belgium, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Professor of creative writing at Yale, UCLA, and Antioch University, her essays have been featured in The New York Times, Harper’s, The Los Angeles Times, Buzzfeed and other places. Deón founded REDEEMED, a criminal record clearing and clemency project that pairs professional writers and lawyers with those who have been convicted of crimes.
How did you come to author your life?
I came to author my life first as a lawyer and then again as a PEN America Fellow while I was completing my first novel GRACE. As a Fellow, I began teaching creative writing for 826LA and in high schools throughout Los Angeles. That fellowship changed the course of my life immeasurably.
Follow her links & socials for updates on her writing, activism and life! www.natashiadeon.com@natashiadeon (IG, Twitter, FB)
Women’s Creative Writing Workshop THURSDAYS Sept 8-29 1-3PM (HST). This mixed-level generative writing workshop emphasizes voice and narrative. Be in community with women who will support your writing journey! Other dates in October and November.
FREE introductory workshop for BREAK: Write Your Divorce Story THURSDAY Sept 8 10-11AM (HST). This will be a monthly freebie! Check my website for the November 2022 FREE class. These will take place every other month.
BREAK: Write Your Divorce Workshop Saturday Sept 17 9AM-1PM (HST). Explore the meaning of your marriage/divorce and write your divorce story with a clear understanding of concepts such as Master Narratives, han, kintsugi, phoenix, and more.
Intersectionality: Manuscript Workshop TUESDAYS 1-3PM (HST) Sept 13-Nov 1. This workshop is for women working on a specific manuscript. Instructor permission only. Contact me through my website.
YEAH!
Swimming in Hong Kong made Honolulu Magazine’s Essential Hawai’i Books You Should Read list! I’m really honored to be on this list helmed by author and editor Don Wallace, founder of The Hawai’i Review of Books. Grateful always to call this place home.
Nonwhite and Woman an anthology edited by Darien Hsu Gee and Carla Crujido is out! My piece ‘Passing in the Middle Kingdom’ is included alongside my former students’ work: Iris (Yi Youn) Kim, Grace Hwang Lynch,Elizabeth Su, and Gabrielle Smith. It’s fun to be in the same anthology with these women as well as so many others I have connected with over the years!
This is a great book for American Studies, Literature, Creative Writing, Women’s Studies teachers! Add it to your syllabus!
Cynthia Lam’s play Love, Mum is available for live-streaming on vidzing.tv/love-mum to an overseas audience starting Sept 17 @4PM (New Zealand time) with a 48 hour replay. I first worked with Cynthia in Hong Kong and I have witnessed her literary evolution—she’s a fierce and lyrical writer. Check out her one woman show!
Sujatha Raman has a story in the anthology What We Inherit Growing Up Indian (Ethos Books).
Elizabeth Su is coming out with The Adventure Tarot Deck!
My mom Marie Ann Han Yoo hit ARTNEWS. Lessons to take from this:
1) You are never too old to debut.
2) We are often ahead of the curve and the world needs to catch up with how cool we are.
CREATIVITY HACK
Go to sleep thinking about a question, idea, or person. Put a notebook and pen by your bed. Wake up and scribble down key moments in your dream. There will be insights!
HEALTH HACKS
Find something you really like to do. Then figure out the eating part of your life.
I’m back surfing, but now I have a surf instructor as the first time I went out, I was anxious in the water. Memories of stiches and blood. Augh! Last week I went back to the spot where I smashed my foot. My adrenaline was running, I went under twice, got my head hit by my board, and then coughed water, but I’m glad I went. Admittedly, I went in a little early, but I went back to the spot! My instructor said, it’s about fear. It is! I didn’t have that level of anxiety prior to my foot accident, but I’m back in the water and looking forward to seeing friends there.
After the accident, I noticed after walking a few miles, I’d feel a pull in my hip. I had to go back to correcting my walk! Darin Kawazoe gave me the hint to imagine a backpack and something on top of my head. My posture looks great now.
Rewriting, restarting, doing it again. That’s life. Once you PICK what you really want (I want to be active, I want to surf, I want to hike) it can guide the next step.
THEN, I had a Come-To-Jesus diet conversation: Cue angels, harps, lyres, and trumpets:
Darin the Trainer: (diplomatically) Do you remember what you were doing right before your accident?
Me: No.
Darin: What were you eating?
Me: I don’t know. What was I eating?
Darin: You don’t remember?
Me: Uh..no…OH YEAH. I was just eating everything.
Darin: Right!
Me: OH NO. OMG. WAIT. A lot of sugar!
Darin: (nodding)
Me: WOW. Wait, oh god, I guess that might have affected my balance or whatever, right?
Darin: Yes.
Since I can no longer drink any alcohol (post-menopause I feel sick with one glass of wine), I enjoy sweets—cakes, pies, ice cream, but for a few months, I was going all in. I gained a few pounds. I didn’t care. A word about weight: when I got diagnosed with osteoperosis, any feelings I had about weight and appearance dramatically shifted. I want my body to work well. If it looks good to me, great, but mostly, I want it to be able to do what I want it to do.
The sugar affected my movement because I gained weight. I was moving differently. When I was younger, a few pounds of sugar and junk didn’t affect me. But now, I feel it. When I don’t eat a lot of sweets, I start craving them less. Sugar is addictive.
The last time I tried to drink was when I drank a glass of champagne to celebrate the Biden-Harris win. I felt ill. Alcohol is sugar. Now that I know that what I eat can affect me to the point where I get 12 stitches and crutches, it’s not worth it to me.
Because I want to surf, I can make different choices about food. Tonight I’ll have ice cream, but I don’t eat like that every night. Figure out what you like to do, then change your eating habits.
Woman. Warrior. Writer. T-shirts
I have MLXL sizes and will include a mask for $20. Contact me here! The swag funds class scholarships!
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