DiscoverThe Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'MearaEpisode 474: How to Reconfigure the Fireworks with Yi Shun Lai
Episode 474: How to Reconfigure the Fireworks with Yi Shun Lai

Episode 474: How to Reconfigure the Fireworks with Yi Shun Lai

Update: 2025-06-20
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"One of the things I've done is to reconfigure the fireworks. The fireworks for me now are getting to have this thing off my desk so I get to work on something new. That's the firework," says Yi Shun Lai, an author, writer, and instructor.

Our occasion for this show was an essay she wrote for Writer Magazine about "arrival fallacy," this notion that once we get "there," wherever "there" is, we will have made it.

She's the author of three books, all in different genres, the YA novel A Suffragist's Guide to the Antarctic, the novel Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu, and the micro memoir Pin Ups.

Learn more about Yi Shun at thegooddirt.org and follower her on social media @yishunlai.

In this episode, we talk about:

  • How to reconfigure the fireworks
  • Arrival fallacy
  • Money
  • Privilege
  • And being kind to yourself.

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Show notes: brendanomeara.com

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Episode 474: How to Reconfigure the Fireworks with Yi Shun Lai

Episode 474: How to Reconfigure the Fireworks with Yi Shun Lai

Brendan O'Meara