Research

I'm old.

My memory is fading so that I can't remember what I ate last Thursday, what movie I watched on Saturday night, or the last book I read.

I can't even remember details of the last book I wrote.

As I write Gyeosunim, the sequel to Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary, I find that I have trouble remembering details of the first book. Like people's names. And things that Roland said and did. There are details that should be fresh in my main character's head, that should, at most, be only a month or two old.

I finished writing my novel about three years ago. It's been available in book stores for more than two years. And it's somewhere in between those years that I had last read my manuscript. I have never read the final, printed version. And the final version is not the same version that I started selling or giving away. There are four or five story lines that changed, and I can't remember which one ended in the published version.

So, before I write more of Gyeosunim and dig myself in deeper, I've started reading Songsaengnim. And I'm taking notes.

If you haven't read my novel yet, why not read along with me? If you've started reading the sequel, be aware: it will go through changes too, as my memory is refreshed.

I'm thinking of this reading as research. Because my memory is fading.

I'm old, you see.