Fact or fiction: Which is easier to write?

On immigrant guilt and why everybody has a story with Claire Tak

In case you couldn’t tell from my latest essays, I’ve been experimenting with the art of memoir—or documenting real-life events using a narrative structure.

Which is why I invited my friend

Claire Tak

to join me on The Write-Life Balance. She’s been working on a book about immigrant guilt and the years leading up to her brother’s incarceration. We discuss:

• Working at her parents’ convenience store and watching it go up in flames during the L.A. Riots of 1992

• The process of using writing as a method for self-reflection, and the surprising after-effects of healing her own trauma

• How her brother’s sentence gave her the courage to share her story, and become an advocate for prison reform and criminal justice

On Immigrant Guilt & Why Everybody Has a Story with Claire Tak

WRITE 👩🏽‍💻 (3:24)

Claire’s been writing professionally for thirteen years; starting out as an editorial web producer for Warner Brothers. Soon Claire found herself writing and editing other writers’ work, and gained a lot of exposure on what a good story looks like.

Besides working as a freelance writer for tech companies and banks, Claire is also working on a memoir about her coming-of-age in the early 90s.

LIFE 🏡 (2:16)

In addition to being a writer and aspiring memoirist; Claire is the daughter of Korean immigrant parents, sibling to an older sister and younger brother, and a proud dog owner to a Golden Doodle named Riggs.

BALANCE 🏂 (22:38)

Claire recently moved to Denver, Colorado so she could snowboard in the winters (which I’d imagine requires its own level of balance!). She also mentions how surprising it was to encounter people that wrote for catharsis and healing family trauma. In the process of writing her own stories, Claire discovered that healing was an after-effect of writing, not the goal itself.

[Writing] is like being able to let out a really long sigh of relief.
Now I use it for everything.

PARTING ADVICE 💭

For anyone looking to document their life story, Claire recommends taking a writing class! Even with a decade plus of professional writing experience, she gets immense benefit from receiving feedback from others who share a common goal.

When you have to turn in 2,500 words and have a teacher or a
group scrutinize your work, it’s the best way to learn.

READING 📚

Honeymoon With My Brother by Franz Wisner. It’s a memoir about a guy who gets left at the altar and goes on his honeymoon with his brother. The two weren’t very close growing up, but after the initial honeymoon trip, they quit their jobs and sold their homes to embark on a one-year travel adventure. Claire calls it the bromance version of Eat Love Pray.

This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life by Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods. This book is based on the long-time podcast that started as a show inside San Quentin Prison in Northern California. Claire listens to this podcast religiously, so the book is a fantastic addition.

STREAMING ⏯️

Claire’s last favorite show was Love & Death on MAX, about the true story of a Texas housewife accused of hacking another woman to death with an axe—she’s a sucker for true crime.

COOKING 👩🏽‍🍳

Claire is currently into perfecting her version of a chicken salad sandwich. She started marinating chicken breasts with tangerine peels that she boiled and then blended in my food processor. She claims the acid in the tangerines makes the chicken incredibly soft! 

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To follow Claire’s journey, you can:

• Subscribe to her Substack publications:

  Memoir Junkie Wannabe Author
  and
  Stories About My Brother

• Connect with her on Linkedin

• Read her column on the Prison Journalism Project

Hope you enjoyed this episode,

Sophia :)

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P.S. In case you missed it, check out my recent interview on how a meditation practice can influence your writing with my friend

Jim Hight

.