Debi V. Smith's Blog

Trigger warning: street/sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, trauma It was 21 degrees and sunny when I was out for a walk 2 weeks ago, thermal underwear on underneath my sweatpants, t-shirt, and thick hoodie. I even had my compression gloves on under winter gloves and my compression socks on for extra warmth. Minding my own […]

It’s Filipino-American History Month and I’m starting it off by giving away one set of autographed paperpacks of my novels: Tainted Love, The Downward Spiral, and Family Ties. (Scroll to the end if you just want to enter the giveaway) While Tainted Love is the only one that is explicitly about a FilAm, it’s important […]

I’ve mentioned before that Tainted Love started out years ago as a single piece of flash fiction on this blog that turned into serial fiction. It’s gone through several versions since then before I published it in May. In one of the previous versions, there are more scenes where Ari calls Lola or her cousin […]

A trigger warning for AsAm women: some of the dialogue may trigger trauma echo for you.

It’s no secret that I love writing with music playing. As I mentioned in the last post, Ari and J.D.’s story started with Daryl Hall’s “Why Was It So Easy?” Specifically, the version with Butch Walker featured on Live From Daryl’s House. As the story grew, so did the song references. Not just in the […]

This is the original Author’s Note that was going to be in Tainted Love. Then, the domestic terrorism of 3 Asian-owned spas in Atlanta on 3/16 happened and I knew given the subject matter of Tainted Love that I had to rewrite it. Tainted Love will be out on 5/18. Pre-order link is at the […]

One man’s obsession is another woman’s living nightmare What could go wrong when Ariana Baraquio runs into Lance Byun, an ex-boyfriend, while out with her current boyfriend? After all, running into people you know in Honolulu happens all the time. You say, “Long time, yeah?” catch up fast kine and hele on. The chance meeting […]

My first memory of racism directed at me was the summer between Kindergarten and 1st Grade. I was flying alone to Hawai’i or returning to Seattle from Hawai’i. An older woman, who I remember as having short curly brown hair and was probably in her 40s, was seated next to me on the flight. At […]

The Washington R*dskins, after pressure from one of their major advertisers, said they would review changing their name, and after a week of “review” have decided to change their name. This may seem like a big leap forward to you and great news. It is in a way but it’s also a sign of how […]

Five years ago, I was stunned when a man stood before reporters, announcing his candidacy for President of the United States, saying Mexicans are “rapists” and “criminals” and they aren’t sending their “best.” I shouldn’t have been since he was also the same man who put out a full page ad when the Exonerated Five […]