My heart stopped. To have someone (for the
@nytimes
!!) read this book with such care and understand it for all it is, it’s more than I process. Thank you
@michelleorange
. I’ll be over here bawling again it’s fine 🍊 🥭
Last night, one (1) person showed up to my book tour event. So we walked across the street and drank wine, and maybe all book tour events should be that way
This Filipina-Slav Floridian has a book deal. I’m honored to be working with
@vivianwmlee
(who called it “heartfelt, tender, and delicious 🥹) and eternally grateful for
@LightnerKayla
. Here goes nothing (and also EVERYTHING) 🥭 🌳 ✨
Post office clerk to the Vietnamese man in front of me: “Let me guess, you’re mailing mangoes. Everybody today is mailing mangoes.”
Me holding a box of mangoes: “yeah that checks out”
The asian woman behind me: “I thought he was racially profiling us, but this is also mangoes”
"These wins have felt like a balm, a plate of cut fruit delivered from the universe following months and years of Asian hate.They don't solve that.But they matter."Honored to write about
@oliviarodrigo
@anthonyocampo
@kevinnadal
&Filipinoness in
@USATODAY
After 17 years and 11 months, today is my last day with
@TheNewsPress
. I took a buyout in Oct. I have no plans other than to take a nap and work on more books. I can't thank my colleagues and editors enough. You saw a failed med-school applicant and middling line cook and gave...
@MindaHoney
@danhett
My friend PayPal’d me for our Cuba trip in 2019 and PayPal ALSO FROZE that transaction. It was a mess and took FOREVER to recover the money. PayPal does not like Cuba stuff
I’m flying to
@latimesfob
, having an aiport Bloody Mary at DFW and the woman next to me pulls out THIS. To which I say “Um, is that a mango?” To which she says “Yes, of course.” To which I say, “Wow do I have a story for you.” And long one short, I just sold a book
@littlebrown
From Brian Nagle of The Cottage
#FortMyersBeach
“I went down the day after the hurricane and this is my 700 seat restaurant. I found this flag in the rubble and just didn't feel right stepping over it.Figured I could give my people a little hope bc I have nothing else to offer.”
I’ll be crying all day long. Thank you to the absolute best agent and agency a nobody author could ask for.
@LightnerKayla
and
@pande_literary
are my heroes 🥭
My goodbye column is out today in
@TheNewsPress
. It’s about sandwiches and shamelessness, both of which I’m learning to embrace. It has been an honor ❤️
The beauty of no longer working as a restaurant critic: I can go back to the same place over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over
her a chance. I wouldn't be a writer, a critic or a soon-to-be author were it not for this opportunity. Thank you. Keep your heads up. Keep fighting for local journalism. And if you ever need a drink or a snack, my door is open. Unless I'm napping.
Had a bit too much wine Friday night and bought a $50 panettone at a local holiday market, and merry christmas to that version of me because she’s fantastic
This is Fort Myers Beach. My friend’s house is the gray one covered in plywood at the bottom of this photo. There used to be 4 houses to the left of hers and another to the right. They are gone. The office building behind her house is also gone.
#HurricaneIan
I’d like to dedicate this National Proofreaders Day to Robyn, who’s not on Twitter, but who saved me from writing “with wonton abandon” once, and for that she is a legend 🥟
So many Filipina hands have helped bring this book into existence, and last night I got to celebrate with two (well, 4 👋🏽) of them. Thank you for an amazing night
@gracet09
and
@belcantobooks
. Your guidance has meant everything 🥭🧡
If you’re a writer who is older, a writer raising kids, a writer without an MFA, etc. a few reminders:
You can be a debut writer without an MFA.
You can be a debut writer at any age. And your writing may actually be better for it if you take your time.
Keep going.
My kid’s principal emailing parents to tell us the mountainous hurricane debris piles behind the school caught fire last night but things are probably ok … is peak 2020s
“I want tenderness for her. I want it for every queer and trans youth. I want it for Florida, my community;my home. To love a place that refuses to love you back is a heavy burden to bear.”
@Kristen_Arnett
explains FL as only a Floridian can;gorgeous op-ed
I’m not the best at bragging on myself, but I was honored to be a Best of Gannett finalist last month. And now a second place win from the Florida Society of News Editors. Feeling grateful 🙏🏽 And a huge congrats to all the winners!
In
#SWFL
, the
@ndn
and
@TheNewsPress
, both
@gannett
newspapers, have lost more than half their staff since 2018. My former colleagues, what few remain, are going on strike to demand fair contracts. I urge you to support them.
#localjournalism
I love talking to fellow journalists about this book and how it started as a “Florida woman” headline. TLDR: pls don’t trespass and steal mangoes. Thanks
@kathrynvarn
and
@axios
🥭 🧡
Happy 1 month birthday to THE MANGO TREE!! To celebrate: four of my favorite book tour ‘fits because I’ve spent two years planning these and that’s a tremendous investment for someone who wears ratty T-shirts most days
This means so much. Thank you
@CharlesRunnells
for this and all your wisdom and advice through the years. THE MANGO TREE made it into my hometown paper, my workplace of 18 years, my home away from home 🥭
I’m honored to get to write this one. My friend and former colleague,
@ATometich
, left journalism to write books. And her debut memoir is heartfelt, beautifully written and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. I’m so damn proud of her.
It’s hard to take PG pictures of smoked sausage but look what arrived today?!!! My deeply southern mother in law knows the way to my Filipina heart. Pork
TONIGHT at 7, join me and NYT bestseller Nathan Hill (!!) at the Barnes & Noble in
#FortMyers
. We’ll be talking mangoes, midlife crises and the stories that define us 🥭 x 🔺 And I will be trying *so hard* to keep my cool (!!!!)