Blogroll

When I'm not here, you may find me wandering the pages below. (If I'm a regular visitor to your site and I've left your link off or mislinked to you, please let me know! And likewise, if you've blogrolled me, please check that my link is updated: thisroamanticlife.blogspot.com. The extra (a) makes all the difference!)

Archives

For posts sorted by date or label, see the links below.

For posts on frequently referenced topics, click the buttons to the right.

To search this blog, type in the field at the top left of the page and hit enter.

Body: in sickness and in health

I won't lie; this body and I have had our issues with each other for many years. Body image -- sure. Physical and mental overextension -- comes with being a Type A kind of girl. I still struggle with these things, so they show up from time to time in my writing.

More recently, illness, pure but not simple, has added itself to the mix in a multi-system sort of way. And the challenges in figuring out exactly what's gone wrong are many. As problems have revealed themselves in the last few years, beginning with reactive hypoglycemia in late 2008, I've documented them here, partly to gain a little clarity on managing complex conditions but mostly to give voice to vulnerabilities I feel but don't normally share with anyone face to face. Better out than in, they say, right? (Oh yes, humor is one way I deal.)

The links below cover the different angles I've examined (and from which I've been examined) within that experience.

Travel: neither here nor there

When the person you're married to lives two time zones away, you log a fair number of frequent flier miles. And if you blog about commuter relationships, you log quite a few posts en route too.

Since we're no longer in separate places, I blog less often from airports. But we do travel -- together now! -- which is much more fun to write about. So in addition to thoughts on our years of commuting, the links below cover the places we've been as a pair and, in some cases, the adventures that have happened on the way.

Writing: the long and short of it

Why do I do it? Good question. Maybe it's not so much that I like to write but that I have to write, even when the words refuse to stick to the page. Believe me, I've tried doing other things like majoring in biochemistry (freshman fall, many semesters ago). Within a year, I'd switched to English with a concentration in creative writing and wasn't looking back.

After graduating, I taught English for a few years and then worked as an editor, which I still do freelance. In 2007, I applied and got into an MFA program at a place I like to call Little U. on the Prairie. I finished my degree in 2011 and have been balancing tutoring and writing on my own ever since.

The following links cover the writing I've done about writing: process, content, obstacles, you name it. It's not always pretty. But some part of me loves it, even when it's hard. And this is the result.

Heart: family and friends

I'd have a hard time explaining who I am without being able to talk about the family I grew up in as well as the people I've met beyond its bounds. But even with such context, it's not easy! In the simplest terms, I'm a first-generation Asian-American who has spent most of this life caught between cultures. That, of course, doesn't even begin to describe what I mean to, but there's my first stab at the heart of it all.

That's what this group of posts is reserved for -- heart. The essential parts of my life whose influences I carry with me, for better or worse. The links below cover what I've written as I've learned how these forces work within me, for me, against me, in spite of me. They anchor me even as they change me, and they keep life interesting.

Recommended reading

What do I do when there's too much on my mind and my words won't stick to the page? I escape into someone else's thoughts. Below is a collection of books and articles that have been sources of information, inspiration, and occasional insight for my own work.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

A tour, as promised

By now, you've seen the front page here -- thank you to everyone for the nice things you've said or e-mailed as you've stopped by. Hopefully everything is actually working (no missing images or other obvious errors), but if you run into a problem, do let me know. I've tested and tested things, but Blogger still has its mysteries.

So what's new around here? Stand-alone pages! Thank you, Blogger, for creating these. This blog was beginning to feel a bit all over the place in the last few months -- since D and I had finally finished commuting, that initial topic running through the blog was no longer the primary reason I was coming here to write. But there were other themes that had been showing up, so I decided to group posts accordingly under some new headings, which are at the top of the sidebar at right. Yep, it's my filing gene at work again.

All the clutter in my former sidebar was driving me slightly nuts too, so that's been given its own space as well. If you haven't already checked out my blogroll, it's hanging out behind the button with the little mouse on it in the new sidebar. If I'm a regular visitor to your site and I've left your link off or mislinked to you, please let me know! And likewise, if you've blogrolled me, please check that my link is updated: thisroamanticlife.blogspot.com. The extra (a) makes all the difference.

I've been reading (mostly for my thesis) even though I haven't written recently about it -- those resources, along with other stuff I've found worthy of note on my bookshelves (real and virtual), are now behind their own sidebar button too. More to be added to the list soon. The library's been keeping me well-stocked in the last few months.

So there you go! That's the short and sweet version of the tour. Again, feel free to explore, and thanks, as always, for reading.
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,

5 comments:

TKW said...

I love the new look! It's so clean and shiny! Can't wait to see what you have in store for us.

October 31, 2010 at 8:18 AM
French Fancy... said...

This is the most sophisticated blog I've ever seen - superb design and feel.

October 31, 2010 at 11:05 AM
Privilege of Parenting said...

I've just arrive for the new look—something a bit perfect and surreal about that, maybe some quest to live, read and create free of memory and desire.

Namaste either way

November 1, 2010 at 12:34 AM
Anonymous said...

Welcome to your new space. It looks great! I've just updated your address in my blogroll and look forward to visiting again and again.

November 1, 2010 at 2:59 PM
This Ro(a)mantic Life said...

TKW -- thank you! You totally inspired me to take the leap when you went for it with your site in June. (HOW is it November already?)

FF -- oh my, now I'm blushing. Sophisticated! You make me smile, sweet friend. Thanks for reading for as long as you have. I think you were my first regular visitor, il était une fois.

Bruce -- welcome and thanks for visiting! (Enjoyed your post over at Kitch's, by the way.) Mmm, to live, read and create, yes. But free of memory? Do explain. I'm interested in what you mean, especially as I'm someone who works with memory a good deal in writing :)

Kristen -- thanks! I'm smiling at your update on the update. You're so on top of things.

November 1, 2010 at 6:11 PM

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Saturday, October 30, 2010

A tour, as promised

By now, you've seen the front page here -- thank you to everyone for the nice things you've said or e-mailed as you've stopped by. Hopefully everything is actually working (no missing images or other obvious errors), but if you run into a problem, do let me know. I've tested and tested things, but Blogger still has its mysteries.

So what's new around here? Stand-alone pages! Thank you, Blogger, for creating these. This blog was beginning to feel a bit all over the place in the last few months -- since D and I had finally finished commuting, that initial topic running through the blog was no longer the primary reason I was coming here to write. But there were other themes that had been showing up, so I decided to group posts accordingly under some new headings, which are at the top of the sidebar at right. Yep, it's my filing gene at work again.

All the clutter in my former sidebar was driving me slightly nuts too, so that's been given its own space as well. If you haven't already checked out my blogroll, it's hanging out behind the button with the little mouse on it in the new sidebar. If I'm a regular visitor to your site and I've left your link off or mislinked to you, please let me know! And likewise, if you've blogrolled me, please check that my link is updated: thisroamanticlife.blogspot.com. The extra (a) makes all the difference.

I've been reading (mostly for my thesis) even though I haven't written recently about it -- those resources, along with other stuff I've found worthy of note on my bookshelves (real and virtual), are now behind their own sidebar button too. More to be added to the list soon. The library's been keeping me well-stocked in the last few months.

So there you go! That's the short and sweet version of the tour. Again, feel free to explore, and thanks, as always, for reading.
Posted by This Ro(a)mantic Life at 8:03 PM
Labels: , , , , ,

5 comments:

TKW said...

I love the new look! It's so clean and shiny! Can't wait to see what you have in store for us.

October 31, 2010 at 8:18 AM
French Fancy... said...

This is the most sophisticated blog I've ever seen - superb design and feel.

October 31, 2010 at 11:05 AM
Privilege of Parenting said...

I've just arrive for the new look—something a bit perfect and surreal about that, maybe some quest to live, read and create free of memory and desire.

Namaste either way

November 1, 2010 at 12:34 AM
Anonymous said...

Welcome to your new space. It looks great! I've just updated your address in my blogroll and look forward to visiting again and again.

November 1, 2010 at 2:59 PM
This Ro(a)mantic Life said...

TKW -- thank you! You totally inspired me to take the leap when you went for it with your site in June. (HOW is it November already?)

FF -- oh my, now I'm blushing. Sophisticated! You make me smile, sweet friend. Thanks for reading for as long as you have. I think you were my first regular visitor, il était une fois.

Bruce -- welcome and thanks for visiting! (Enjoyed your post over at Kitch's, by the way.) Mmm, to live, read and create, yes. But free of memory? Do explain. I'm interested in what you mean, especially as I'm someone who works with memory a good deal in writing :)

Kristen -- thanks! I'm smiling at your update on the update. You're so on top of things.

November 1, 2010 at 6:11 PM

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