Thank you for Catastrophes

How trials bring positive things to light

A Fresh Start on Substack

Over summer, my Facebook got hacked. It was my own dumb fault, falling for a scam. Since FB and Instagram are both owned by Meta, I almost lost my IG and followers. For that reason, I vowed to create a newsletter. However, I kept procrastinating. Blog posts and me are hard to come by since I’m also a busy kindergarten teacher, author, mom, and wife. But here it is Thanksgiving break, and I feel inspired to actually start.

pencil sugar cookies from the book launch of my novel

Be Thankful for Catastrophes

Going through catastrophes isn’t pleasant. But once you’re on the other side, you can look back and learn from them and your mistakes. I don’t want to lose any of my readers, fellow writers, and friends. So I hope you’ll subscribe to this Substack. Oh, and make sure you have turned on double security on your social media accounts! (getting alerts and codes sent to your phone)

One catastrophe/trial I’m thankful for is—back in 2010, we moved to South Korea so my husband could work with his father in his business. Sure, I did NOT want to move. Our kids were little at the time, and I had just started writing. Living in California and being involved in a Korean community at church was great. Little did I know the plans God had for my life.

Seoul, South Korea

Fast forward to today. None of the books I’ve written would be here if we hadn’t moved. Each story has a Korean theme. Here are some of them.

Rice from Heaven: The Secret Mission to Feed North Koreans—came about because of an event I helped with, sending rice over the border to North Korea

Korean Celebrations: Festivals, Holidays & Traditions—came about from wanting to teach my own kids about all the Korean holidays. Seemed like there was one every month.

My Breakfast with Jesus: Worshipping God Around the World—came about when my agent suggested writing a story based on John 21, plus teaching at an international school opened my eyes to all the different foods my students had in their lunchboxes.

The Ocean Calls: A Haenyeo Mermaid Story—came about from a tweet I had seen on Twitter. This eventually led to two family vacations to Jeju Island to watch haenyeo, diving women of South Korea who don’t use any breathing apparatus. Most are 50-80 years old.

The Other Side of Tomorrow—my most recent book, a lyrical middle grade graphic novel about two North Korean refugee children who escape along the Asian Underground Railroad. If I hadn’t lived in the Seoul area, I would never would have heard about them.

At the beginning, living in a new country was hard. Language, culture, in-laws, food, daily life and doing things. But I persevered.

Whatever you’re going through, I hope you persevere and are able to see the light at the end.

Lists

I don’t know about you, but I find myself accomplishing more if I make lists. Especially when my weekends seem so short. This Thanksgiving, my list was:

1. Clean desk

2. Put up Christmas tree

3. Start a newsletter

4. Marinate food for next week

You’ll be happy to know I accomplished it all except the last one, which I’ll do tomorrow, the day before I go back to school. I won’t be able to breathe until Christmas/Winter break. Sigh.

my cleaned-off desk at home

Do you keep memorable things on your desk? You can see a pencil vase, crayons, & glue sticks b/c I’m a kindergarten teacher. My daughter painted a favorite Bible verse and the taekwondo statue represents both my son & daughter who got their black belts when we lived in Korea. A photo mug of hubby & I from SeoulLand long long ago. And my mess of notebooks. Whenever I start a new project, I get a new notebook. And most importantly, inspiration from the Bible and devotion books.

News & Notes

My newest book: The Other Side of Tomorrow, a middle grade lyrical graphic novel, illustrated by Deb JJ Lee is now out in the world. This makes me extremely happy, because I started this story back in 2012, in Deokso, South Korea! You can read about the writing process here. And a guest post I wrote about North Koreans here on School Library Journal. And a guest post for Harper Stacks about my why. It’s a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and has received 4 starred reviews (Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, & School Library Journal), plus more accolades to come.

There wasn’t room in the back for the acknowledgments & other back matter, so please read that on my website. An educator’s guide is also available on my website.

Thank you, readers!

Writers wouldn’t exist if there weren’t people to read their works. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for sticking with me! And if you could, would you please share a review of any of my books, especially the newest ones, THE OTHER SIDE OF TOMORROW and GOD’S LITTLE ASTRONOMER on Amazon, Good Reads, Barnes & Noble, etc… I’m constantly reading reviews for appliances and recipes. Reviews sell the product! And 50 or more reviews on Amazon help your book get discovered. Thank you!!

Celebrate this new newsletter

To celebrate this new newsletter, I’m offering 4 people a chance to win ONE of the following.

• The Other Side of Tomorrow

• God’s Little Astronomer

• My Breakfast with Jesus

• A picture book critique or a 30 minute AMA (Ask me anything about publishing, writing, Korea, faith…)

HOW TO ENTER

1. Leave a message stating which prize you’d like.

2. Subscribe to this newsletter.

3. AND share this post on social media. Tag me @Tinamcho. Contest ends December 10th, midnight CST.

Please share this post with others who would be interested! Thank you.

a recent book signing at my local Barnes & Noble

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