CURRENT MISSION

Finish my novel

ABOUT ME

I have a blog over at http://www.amyolau.com from my time living on a particle accelerator in Japan. It is not up to date, and I recently changed things that said "Japan" to "Iran" to help the Iranian protesters foil Internet snoops.

PHILOSOPHY

I am a believer in the writing philosophy that you have to write a million words of crap before you can write something worth reading. With 2-3 bad novels completed (an an array of short stories), I am now half way through my million words of crap.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've met tons of people in hostels backpacking in SE Asia; never stayed with anyone until last summer (2009) in Vienna. It was fabulous, and my host totally made my trip!

Interests

writing, reading, traveling, fencing, books, food, cooking

• writing
• books
• dining
• cooking
• chinese food
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• backpacking
• fencing
• history
• physics

Music, Movies, and Books

Too many to list! I'm a reader, primarily a huge fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy but I read everything.
I love Haruki Murakami, Guy Gavriel Kay, Robin McKinley, Jacqueline Carey, Suzanne Brockmann, Salman Rushdie. Just to give you a sense, the last few books I enjoyed were:

-A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888-1889 by Frederic Morton (history)
-Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Young Adult, dystopian science fiction)
-Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (fantasy)
-The Snake Stone by Jason Goodwin (historical mystery in the 18th century Ottoman Empire)

I also review romance and Young Adult books for Publisher's Weekly. If you come visit and are in need of some books to take with you on your travels, I'm sure I can find you something :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Sunrise at Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Teach, Learn, Share

I majored in history; I can cook Italian and Chinese food, though what I usually cook is best described as "fusion Asian." My husband is a physicist and he'll try to to explain to you what he does, but don't worry if you don't understand (most times I don't either).

If you want to know about books or genre publishing in NYC, I might be able to help you out, or find someone who can.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Russian Federation, South Korea, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Japan, United States

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