Give More 24!

After a couple of years, Give More 24! is back to its previous form and time here in September. If you forgot what Give More 24! is, it's 24 hours in which you can make a positive difference in the world by donating to any one of the awesome nonprofit organizations based in the Southwest Washington area. "Sounds great," you say, "but which organization should I donate to?" Well, each organization is definitely worthy of your support, but allow me to make a suggestion: Autism Empowerment.

Why, you ask? Well, because not only are we dedicated to improving the quality of life for people and families in the autism and neurodivergent communities both locally and worldwide via our various programs (like the Neurodivergent Creators Collective), support groups, events, resources, and more, but also because we promote a global culture of acceptance for people of all abilities.

If that sounds good to you, then simply go this link and make a donation. Even just the minimum of $5 will be greatly appreciated. All donations are 100% tax-deductible, and best of all, giving feels good! I know this first-hand, because I donate to Autism Empowerment (on an ongoing basis) one dollar for every Joel Suzuki book that is sold.

Thank you! Mahalo! Arigatou Gozaimasu! Gracias!

Rock & Brews For Suicide Prevention

This Saturday, my band Second Player Score (yes, we are sometimes a band) and our friends Old Cross will be playing a benefit show for the Oregon chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention!

(The flyer says the show includes special guest Animation Eddie, but unfortunately he had to cancel. You should still check out his awesome stop motion animation on his YouTube channel.)

It will be from 6pm-9pm at Loowit Brewing Company's downtown Vancouver, WA location at 507 Columbia Street. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, so come and enjoy cold beer and hot punk rock tunes while supporting a great cause.

Hope to see you there!

I Am Now On TikTok (Gasp!)

Nearly three weeks ago, I took the bold step of finally setting up a TikTok account!

Some backstory: Andrew York, the star of Hold My Beer, had recommended that I get on TikTok because of a trend known as "BookTok," where authors post videos talking about their books and their personal writing journeys. Apparently, this trend had - and is helping - some authors gain new readers, which is something that the Joel Suzuki series could sure use. 

But while I appreciated his suggestion, I didn't do it at first, for two main reasons: (1) I had an iPhone 6, which, because of its inability to update its operating system, had a hard time running apps and was only good for texts and phone calls and (2) I was terrified of TikTok.

I had never used TikTok before, even just to watch stuff for fun, and the thought of creating an account and posting videos of myself was very intimidating. But then I remembered that I'd actually been doing similar things using other platforms like Facebook and YouTube for years. I also took the momentous step of getting a new phone. At that point, I had no excuse.

So I set up an account and lurked for a while, watching videos from other authors as well as from different kinds of creators, and then, once I got my courage worked up, I took the plunge. And honestly, it's been going pretty well so far! I've been trying to do at least one post a day, and I've been focused on telling the story of how the Joel Suzuki series got started, how it evolved, and where it stands today.

If you'd like to follow along, you can find me at: www.tiktok.com/@brian.tashima.author

Moral of the story: face your fears!

Story Structure Breakdown: KPop Demon Hunters

Yes, I am a fan of the recent hit movie KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix's most-watched movie of all time). Partly because it encompasses multiple elements that I support, including Asian representation, musical magic (or is it magical music?), and the fact that it is a new, original work of IP (intellectual property).

But also because I am 15 years old at heart.

So, after watching it once, I decided to watch it again - yes, I know, I'm waaaay behind those of you who are on your 500th viewing - but this time, I wanted to break down and analyze its story structure to see why it's so effective.

(Note: the folks at Save the Cat beat me to this by one week. Check out their analysis here.)

As I've mentioned in this previous post, I mainly used the books Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell and Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder (highly recommended for aspiring authors and screenwriters) as my story structure reference guides for the Joel Suzuki series. So, applying their formulae to KPop Demon Hunters, this is what I came up with, after the jump (warning: spoilers):