#I guess I live here now

[the-adventures-of-dave]

I was hanging out with the cats in the garage and my mom accidentally locked me in. SOS 😂😭

#she isn’t answering her phone #I think she’s in the shower #I guess I live here now #it’s kind of chilly

[books]

Writer Spotlight: Claire Ahn

Claire Ahn grew up in Seoul, Korea, which she still considers home. She moved to New York to attend university and now lives in Long Island City with her husband, newborn daughter, and their dog, Dante. Claire writes about transcultural experiences and the traditions, values, and legacies that shape who we are. I GUESS I LIVE HERE NOW is her debut novel. Click through to read about mouth-watering food and homesickness remedies, and for some really good writing advice.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you came to write I GUESS I LIVE HERE NOW?

I think most debut authors would probably divulge this, but the first novel is always a bit of a circuitous path. You can never really pinpoint the beginning of the first because it’s just this blurry idea you had years ago that somehow—through repetitive classes and workshopping and rejections—becomes a novel. I suppose this idea was conceived back in 2016, but it’s gone through many transitions, from a children’s book to a middle-grade book, then a young adult novel, and within it, about four to five full revisions. 

I started writing to release stress from a grueling job in public relations, where writing felt so formulaic and not at all creative. I’ve always loved storytelling, and was told PR is the world of storytelling as a profession, but it wasn’t enough to fill the creative well in me. So I took up course writing at Gotham Writers Workshop, which is how this all began for me. Plus, I got free wine every week. How could I have stopped attending? 

You’ve written your own experience in reverse, going from New York to Seoul, and made it YA. What were some challenges you faced in doing so? 

From a craft perspective, it was hard to write Seoul as if it was the first time. Everything there feels second nature to me, from the street foods to the lavish grocery stores and intensely beautiful cafe culture. It’s never a shock when I go back home, so having to write it fresh was hard. Hopefully, I somewhat successfully captured the newness of it from Melody’s eyes. From a personal experience perspective, my constant fear is that someone in my life will be convinced a flawed character was inspired by them! Woof. If you’re reading this, close friend or family member, this is not the case! 

Melody and her friends are all navigating parental expectations while trying to make their way in the world. What do you hope readers take away from seeing these character dynamics represented?

 Am I the only one feeling like I sometimes live my life intensely trying to please my parents? Oh God, I hope not. I hope readers feel seen and less alone in having dreams that may defy the wishes of parents or guardians or even of peers and the capitalistic society in which we live. I hope readers feel reminded that they can simply be. They can have lofty dreams like Melody, or they can want to dream of being comfortable and accepted in their skin, like Kimbeom, or they can just want to live in their present, and that is all okay and good. Let’s change the narrative of having to stamp influential footprints in this world. 

Seoul is your home, but you live in Long Island City. How do you approach writing about being in between two cultures, and what’s your favored remedy for homesickness?

I think I operate on a default state of longing and clinging. I’m always longing to visit Seoul any chance I get, and I live in a state of clinging onto my culture tighter than my high school banquet dress. I release myself from those states of being by writing stories where I get to pretend like I’m in Seoul again or where I imagine my life as a teen in New York, fresh from Korea. My favored remedy for homesickness is buying a plane ticket to Seoul and immediately texting my friends back home that I’ll be there soon. Then, every day until I’m on that plane, I dream of being surrounded by faces like mine, speaking in my native tongue, and stuffing my face with high-quality rice cakes (dduk). Does that sound sad? I swear I love my life in New York, too. 

The descriptions of food in IGILHN are incredible. What’s your favorite Korean dish, and can you make our mouths water describing it?

Thank you! You know, I didn’t know food was a theme in the book until people pointed it out. Food is such a deeply ingrained part of Korean culture that it wasn’t an intentional ploy, but as it turns out, it is impossible to write a book set in Seoul without a proper description of the bounty of food on offer. My favorite dish has got to be my mom’s homemade galbi jjim, braised short ribs. I can’t even eat ones from a restaurant because it tastes horrible compared to her concoction. It’s a common holiday dish for New Year’s or Chuseok, but for me, it was the dish my mom made every time I landed in Seoul from New York. An expression of love poured into a dish that takes hours to make. I always imagined her making it in the kitchen the night before I arrived, eagerly waiting for her younger daughter to come back home. It’s a thoughtful dish because it’s not something you can whip up at a moment’s notice, and if you try to, you will never mimic a galbi jjim that has been simmering for hours. It’s both a deliciously sweet and intensely aromatic and savory dish. When done right, the meat falls off the bones at the softest pull with chopsticks, and it’s generously coated with a sauce made from Korean radishes, jujubes, pears, chestnuts, and garlic. As my husband says, it’s a ‘flavor explosion.’ 

What made you want to be a writer? What advice can you give to budding writers working on transcultural narratives?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but growing up in an Asian household, I wasn’t made aware that writing was a chosen profession. I was sort of led to believe it was something you did on the side of your ‘real’ job, which just meant making a stable income with the goal of homeownership. As a daughter of immigrants, stability was highly valued in our household, so writing wasn’t really a ‘serious’ option. But I wrote my first play when I was in the second grade, a whopping eleven pages of some friends living on Mars, spying on Earth people.

My advice would be to find a writing community and celebrate small milestones. I couldn’t have gotten here without my group of writers that I met through Gotham Writers; equally, I might have given up if I wasn’t so damn good at celebrating even the stupidest things: Submitted a manuscript? Buy myself a typewriter! Read a book during a desolate book lull? Eat my favorite ice cream! The journey to finding an agent, revising, then selling your book, then revising again (and again and again and again), then finally seeing it hit shelves (which I haven’t yet) is LONG! So, unless you’re a total Grinch and happy to be one, celebrate; because you can’t go years without that celebratory joy to keep you motivated. 

What does Melody’s Tumblr look like? Obviously, she’s got some interior design in there, but what else does she post? What’s the vibe like?

The vibe is definitely a modern cafe look with a splash of pop, which is also her fashion style. Isn’t our Tumblr vibe just a digital reflection of our fashion? Mine definitely was. Mel’s Tumblr is probably like Comme des Garcons meets Alexander Wang. 

IGILHN is your debut novel—what’s next for you?

I’m working on my second book now, and it’s not set in Seoul! It’s set right here, in my second favorite city, New York. Everyone says book two is the worst. Surprisingly, I don’t want to rip my eyes out, and I’m thoroughly enjoying exploring my new fictional friends and their immigrant families and New York’s Asian food culture. Soup dumplings have already made their way into my pages multiple times. I can’t share too much yet, but I hope it stays as fun as it’s been so far and that it finds its people. 

Thanks so much for answering our questions, Claire! I GUESS I LIVE HERE NOW will be hitting shelves on May 24. That’s today in a week! 

#writer spotlight #claire ahn #I guess I live here now #aapi month #ya fiction #pre-release #seoul #korea #aapi fiction #booklr #aapi lit

[abysskeeper]

Wyll: I want to do this right, like the tales of old!

Fiona, local bard who has been performing these tales since she was a teen and dreaming of starring in one herself for even longer: Oh?! Okay~ <3

#don't mind me #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #wyll x tav #bg3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #wyll ravengard #bg3 wyll #bg3 tav #I've seen minimal content for his romance so...I'll supply more of it myself because wyll is just...hella sweet #and my tiny half-drow bard is just absolutely smitten with him #and now they're buzzing around my brain and I have too much lore for them #I guess I live here now #it's the soft smiles and shared interests though #every hero needs a bard and every bard needs a hero #the nightrose

[crimeronan]

napped in fitful agony then woke up in agony and was gonna take a low dose of amphetamines to be able to push past the pain enough to change my sheets and run the dishwasher but now the kitty is laying on my chest nuzzling my phone and refusing to move. so

#i guess i live here now #selena blogging #autoimmune tag

[detentiontrack]

CZ is currently on my lap and every time I try to move, he sinks his nails into my legs

#I guess I live here now #the beast

[stitchesthemouse]

i don’t understand why there is so much MCR content on my dash. im not following the MCR tag, i have never followed the MCR tag. i don’t know what’s going on but i guess im here for the ride

#MCR #my chemical romance #what's going on #i guess i live here now

[mookybear12404]

Sitting on the floor in my new house staring at the kitchen. Think it’s finally sinking in for me

#well #I guess I live here now #that's a thing that's happened #I think this will feel less surreal when my housemates finally get back

[changes-aint-changing-me]

Twitter my beloathed

#anyway #i guess i live here now #forcibly re-entering my tumblr era #assigned tumblr era by elon musk

[knifearo]

being aromantic is like. hey btw you're going to live a life that is the culmination of most of society's worst nightmares. sorry lol ✌️ but then you turn around and take a really good hard look at it and it turns out that living in that nightmare is fucking awesome and you get to wake up every day and take that fear that other people have and laugh and hold it close until it's a great joy for you instead. and being happy is a radical act that you define instead of someone else. and you're sexy as fuck that's just a fact of life i don't make the rules on that one

#aromantic people are just sexy i'm not making the decisions here it's just facts #course ur hot as fuck. it came free with the aromanticism #being sexy is just default settings for aromantic people 👍 #hope this all helps. anyway i'm on my 'i hope i die alone <3 i can't wait to die alone <3' kick rn #i think the existential fear that people have of Not Partnering specifically is so. well. #obviously that shit is strong and it is SO awesome to be free of it. #realizing you're aro and you don't Want a partner can be such a hit to the solar plexus #cause society says that's the only thing that'll make you happy. so either you go without that thing or you force yourself #into doing something you don't want which would make you unhappy anyway. #so you think it's a lose lose situation and you have to come to terms with what amatonormativity presents as the worst possible situation #but then! whoa! turns out personhood is inherently valuable in and of itself and romantic partnering is just a construct! #and that nightmare is now your life to do with as you please... define as you will... structure as you want... #best case scenario. is what i'm saying. #every day i wake up ready to spit all that amatonormative rhetoric back in life's teeth by being alone and being happy #and it's so fucking satisfying. every day. #fucking JUBILANT being by myself. and i love being a living breathing 'fuck you' to the romantic system #you need a partner to be happy? oh that's sooo fucking crazy guess i'll go be miserable then. in my perfect fucking dream life lmao #yeah obviously it's the worst possible outcome on earth to die without a partner. so terrible. can't wait for it :) #aromantic #aromanticism #aro positivity #aroace #arospec #sorry to bitches who are sad about not having a partner. i could not give a fuck though get better soon #you couldn't EVER pay me enough to go back to a mindset in which my inherent value wasn't enough by myself. #FUCK that shit. absolutely miserable and a bad life outlook in general. like genuinely do the work w/ amatonormativity and get better #life is something that can be so fulfilling whether someone wants to kiss you or whatever or not #i'm on antidepressants and i have people i care deeply about. what the fuck would i need a partner for lmao

[wolven-maw]

Twitter is almost fully unusable at this point. Hello tumblr

#i guess i live here now

[hellouniversehowareyou]

precious idiots

#opla #one piece live action #one piece #monkey d luffy #roronoa zoro #guys i was never much of a zolu shipper but this show is making me go feral for them #what's my poor poor heart gonna do when sanji enters the picture #the monster trio it is then #now i'm finding out how little fanfic there is on them like??? #i always though they were a popular ship #puts hands onto hips and huffs #do i have to do everything myself around here #guess i shall take this opportunity to dive back into one piece fanart it's been far too long a

[alfheimr]

hi. here is my oc who is a pathetic knock-off selkie. they cannot swim. i hope u like them.

#one piece #oc #buggy the clown #ftr i was team buggy before the live action but jeff wards eyes have bewitched me....... #this concept was rolling around in my head a while back and now. well here we are #it's so over for me as they say #clown cw. i guess #marmalade

[literary-lion]

*UF* I Guess I Live Here Now | Can't-Wait Wednesday

*UF* I Guess I Live Here Now | Can’t-Wait Wednesday

Why am I waiting on this title? Fiction focusing on KPOP and just Korea in general has been booming lately. There are so many books coming out that center around the fandom and general culture. My interest in KPOP itself ebbs and flows. However, I am ALWAYS thrilled to read about a country that isn’t America. It’s so nice to see other cultures and other places in the world through books. I like…

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#2022 #book #book blog #book blogger #book blogging #book blogs #books #Can&039;t-Wait Wednesday #cant wait wednesday #Claire Ahn #Contemporary #cww #I Guess I Live Here Now #reader #readers #reading #Viking #young adult fiction

[harpuiaa]

(person that has never seen saw but has read yugioh voice) yeah? so he traps people in evil puzzle rooms? sounds a lot like a guy i know

#yeah. im into drawing absurd crossovers now #feat. the stupid fuckign chess meme #ik the doll thing is just a doll but i keep seeing shitposts online that treat him as if hes not. i think it adds to it #no idea whats up with the formattign we'll see if it fixes itself after posing #(edit: it did not i had to re-add the second image) #i think yami yugi would survive a saw trap no problem. it's his natural environment #for that matter i also think he would survive squid game (ignoring the political messaging here. sorry.). he does that for a living #i've thought out how an evil chess shadow game would play out. even if it's not actually explained in the drawing #theres a time bomb on each side. you can prevent/regain time on yr side depending on the type of pieces you take. loser explodes #yami yugi would get a pawn across the board unnoticed turning it into a queen bc of course he would. prompting the opponent to cheat #getting themselves super penalty gamed #ygo #dm #s0 #yugioh #idr my tags help #saw #(i guess???????)

[publishedtoday]

I Guess I Live Here Now - Claire Ahn

Melody always wanted to get to know the Korean side of her Korean American heritage better, but not quite like this. Thanks to a tiny transgression after school one day, she's shocked to discover that her parents have decided to move her and her mom out of New York City to join her father in Seoul--immediately! Barely having the chance to say goodbye to her best friend before she's on a plane, Melody is resentful, angry, and homesick. But she soon finds herself settling into their super luxe home, meeting cool friends at school, and discovering the alluring aspects of living in Korea--trendsetting fashion, delectable food, her dad's black card, and a cute boy to hang out with. Life in Seoul is amazing...until cracks begin to form on its shiny surface. Troubling family secrets, broken friendships, and a lost passion are the prices Melody has to pay for her new life, but is it worth it?

#i guess i live here now #claire ahn #Viking BFYR #may 24 2022 #poc

[vesperscas]

"this is so stupid cant believe i got casbaited again" —person who has been casbaited regularly since 2020 and regularly casbaits themselves

#castiel #deancas #destiel #spn #supernatural #the winchesters #back in the fucking circus #guess what #i never left #i live here permanently now