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Yeah! I did it!

Andrew

The author is the person giving the lectures, doing the interviews, and presenting his work to the public.

The narrator is the person in the book, telling the story. He lives forever between the covers. He is the person most loved and known–by the readers.

The writer is the private person, rarely known even to his friends and family. He agonizes over sentences, makes ridiculous sacrifices for his craft, and is often his own worse critic.

Here are some points I’ve pondered about for a long time.

1.  Write for yourself, edit for your audience.

2.  Write as though it’s your last page and today is your last day. The mind becomes very clear at this edge where one’s fears and inhibitions fall away.

3. Enjoy the “aspiring” part of being a writer. Once you published, it feels like work.

4. It’s all about the journey. The most bittersweet moment for every voyager is when the end is sight.

It took me a decade to write these few sentences which I very recently added to A Theory of Flight:

“Then life interceded: Stephanie and I broke up—the girl I thought was my soulmate, the girl I wanted to marry. She had slept with a whole slew of guys, two of them our mutual friends. I tried forgiveness, I tried forgetfulness. I tried to be the better man, but my heart had turned black. Nothing seemed important anymore.”

I had written around our dissolution, gave her aliases, protected the memories of the good parts, turned away from my shame. We had both long moved on with our lives. My misplaced sense of loyalty remained even when the last of my feelings about her and that period had faded to nothingness. I wanted to bury it. I wanted it obliterated by time. She was a manic-depressive with a history of abuse. There were many components to her behaviors.

But the words, these words that matter to no one else–not even her–matter to me.

We are who we are and what we have done. Just lay it on the table, plain and simple, without malice. There is no need for accounting. No need for explanation. No need to carry the weight of unspoken words. This is life.

I guess A Theory of Flight is close to being done at last.

This is the first requirement of memoir, the hardest and the most important.

Without this, a memoir is merely self-marketing fluff. Fulfilling the requirement might cost the author more than he is prepared to lose.

If he is fortunate, he might live long enough to know that honesty is worth the cost. One man can not be held responsible for the whole universe, but he can be held responsible for his cowardice.

If you could send a message back in time, what would you say to your younger self?

Senior year. A girl named Autumn. I held her hand twice. We never kissed, but I would have dug a hole to China for her.

It’s all hazy now. But the song opens a portal …

WE DID IT!

A HUGE “THANK YOU!!!” to all my backers. You’ve made this project possible.

The stars have, indeed, aligned, and the project is a “GO!”

I believe I have personally emailed each and every one you and thank you for your support. If I have missed you somehow, please forgive me. It was not intentional. It is my firm belief that if a person doesn’t know how to say “thank you”, he shouldn’t ask for help.

I promise that someday I will tell the story of how I went from a jungle hermit to a social media fiend and a Kickstarter Projecteer in 60 days. But, for now, I will say that it was done under great duress and against nearly insurmountable odds.

I could not have done it without the generous help of family and friends, specifically my brothers Curt and Tim, my mother, my aunts Hang and Dung, my uncle Hung Le, my friends Daniel, Thanh Tran, and Idoia Mezo. And, not to forget, the goodwill of strangers. And all of your support.

Please know that you all have an important part in bringing this project into the world.

The self-publication of this book is my statement that as artists, however impoverished or beleaguered, we are still masters of our artistic destiny, and that now, in this new age, more than ever, we have the opportunity and the power of self-determination.

I hereby publicly acknowledge my debt and gratitude to all of you for your support and good cheer.

In the generous spirit that all of you have shown me, I would like to announce that I will be donating $1,000 to Dragonfly, “a non-profit, non-political, and non-confessional association” that focuses on “educating and encouraging orphans, with the aim to give these young people a safe and independent future” through a restaurant project called HAVEN.*

The donation will be made on the behalf of all of you, the backers of A Culinary Odyssey!

I have good people on my team and we will work harder to produce the book with a smaller budget. Hopefully, the donation will give the good people and orphans of Dragonfly a fresh start in the New Year and bring more attention to their worthy efforts.

Again, thank you all!

Here’s to a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Cheers,

Andrew X. Pham

*My friend, consulting chef & backer of this project, Thanh Tran has recently brought Dragonfly to my attention. I am in the process of fact checking their project (donation pending result). If things go smoothly, donation will be made as soon as CO is funded by Amazon, which should be around Jan. 7-10th of 2012.

This interview was done over email. Thanks to Viet Nguyen & Isabelle Pelaud for setting this up just to help promote my project.

They all have the same theme: the view from my writing desk.

I’ve tried to write in as many inspiring places as possible. One of the few perks of being a writer.