Book Shop Chats:
Welcome to Book Shop Chats, your go to podcast for indie authors and learning insight into what it takes to write a book (HINT: You can do it too!!)
Join authors as they share their personal journeys, successes, and challenges, providing you with unique insights into the writing process. The discussions explore into various aspects of storytelling, from character development to plot structuring, ensuring you have a well-rounded understanding of the craft.
Whether you're just starting out or have published multiple works, this podcast is your companion in the pursuit of storytelling excellence. Tune in, gather inspiration, and let your passion for writing flourish alongside a community that celebrates the art of the written word.
Book Shop Chats:
From Broken To Bold with Ming Louie Stein
About the author:
Ming Louie Stein grew up in East Vancouver and now lives in Port Moody with her husband and their two beloved pets—a poodle-terrier mix and a British shorthair cat. She has two grandchildren who inspire her every day. Ming began writing after her retirement, and this is her debut book. She is currently working on two additional novels and has a children’s book set for release in summer 2025. Ming is a Tai Chi Devotee and loves nature. She participates in writing groups and attends book fairs and author events throughout the Tri Cities area.
KINTSUGI
A Woman
Worthless to Gold
Auto-fiction / Creative non-fiction / Memoir of a first generation chinese immigrant. It is 1960 and inside a Vancouver home, a spirited four-year-old girl is beaten to submission. She endures repeated episodes of what her mother calls corporal punishment. At school, she blooms under her encouraging teachers and the camaraderie of friends, retreating once she's home. As the years pass, her confidence erodes, leaving her unprepared to face adulthood.
Lacking healthy role models and essential life skills, she searches for love through a series of failed relationships. But it is only through these interactions that she learned to live like she never knew possible.
Written with candour, the story is sad but heartwarming. It's an emotional journey with our heroine toward her path to healing and happiness.
She is Kintsugi. A metaphor for the woman— who was once considered worthless. Once broken, now a beautifully mended vessel*, stronger and more resilient than ever, for each restored piece is a treasure that completes her.
*Throughout history, women are viewed as vessels as they contain, guide, and protect. A woman's womb is a cradle that gives life.
LINKS:
About Victoria:
Hey there, I’m Victoria! As a writer and developmental editor, I specialize in helping busy writers bring their publishing dreams to life without the overwhelm. Your story deserves to shine, let's make magic together.
Here’s how I can help:
📖 FREE 7 day Writing Reset: Daily support in your inbox for 7 days.
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📝 Developmental Editing: Get expert feedback that elevates your manuscript, strengthens your story, and polishes your characters.
✍️ 1:1 monthly support: Revitalize your creativity, map out your novel, and unleash your authentic voice.
Your story deserves to shine, and I’m here to make it happen. Let’s turn your writing dreams into a reality!
📱 IG: @editsbyvictoria
🌐 LINKS: Victoria Jane Editorial
Welcome to Bookshop Chats, where we cozy up with books, creativity, and embrace the magical, messy process of writing a book. I'm Victoria Jane, a writer, developmental editor, and coach for sensitive busy writers, and I love to support you on your journey of bringing your story to life. So whether you're here for inspiration, behind the scenes peaks of what it what it means to actually write a book, or just some bookish conversations, you are definitely in the right place. And if you're looking for more personalized support, I also offer one-to-one writing support sessions to help bring your story to life because sometimes you need a little bit of support digging through the noise that is your brain because saying. And if you've got a finished draft, I would love to chat to you about developmental editing. It is my favorite thing. I love supporting authors in bringing their story to life. You can find all of the details in the show notes. So grab a coffee, grab a tea, plug in your headphones, go on a little walk, and let's dive into today's episode. Welcome back to Bookshop Chats. In today's episode, I am chatting with Ming Louis Stein. Welcome to the podcast.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, thank you for having me here. I'm really uh pleased to be part of this.
SPEAKER_02:Yay, me too. I'm excited to chat uh today. I feel like it's a perfect. I find these conversations are always a great pick-me-up for the afternoon, like lull in energy. So I'm really excited to be chatting with you today. So I'm basically going to give you the floor and let you share about your book that is currently out in the world right now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. Now, my book um it's called Kinsuji, a woman. And I've got this subtitle called Worthless to Gold. And what it is, is it's a story of me. And I am a first-generation Chinese Canadian. And I began writing this book after I retired. I had the time and I thought this is the best time to start writing it. Now I was never a writer. So for all the folks out there that want to write and they've never written, if I can do it, you can do it. So I had I joined a writing critique group, which really helped. So if you have anything like that in your neighborhood, in your community, I would say check it out because my group was super helpful. We read to each other, we would do a chapter, you know, we would read it in class, they would give us really good critique, what strong points, what can be um um improved upon. So this is exactly um the product of taking these classes through three years. Amazing. So yeah, so you can do it. Um so um just a little bit about me. I felt I had this story to tell ever since I was four years old. Um, and I it's I think it is, I called this my self-help book. Um, it was totally therapeutic for me to write it, but after I wrote it, people who have read it said that they can pick and choose certain parts of this that they can relate to and they feel moved from it because I thought to myself, well, if I'm gonna write this, I had better be really authentic and just tell it like it is, because otherwise, why bother? That was what I told myself. So people said it was gun-ret gut-wrenching, they thought they could really come um feel the emotions. So that's so that's good. I I think um what I wanted to want wanted to come across as is an emotional tale from trauma to healing in storytelling. That's what it is, and people can follow along, they can they will experience everything um from you know um, I don't know, like sadness, anger, joy, you know, being let down, disgusted, all those different kinds of emotion, envy, jealousy, all everything is all in there. I mean, because it's a life, right? Yeah, and uh I was born in the 50s, so you can kind of imagine a life, you know, and so in a lifetime, everyone is capable of feeling all those things. Um now the title, I just want to give um your listeners a brief explain explanation of why Kinsuki. Kinsuki is Japanese, but I thought it was the perfect metaphor for me because kinsuki is a broken bowl that's been mended with gold, and it's been used a lot these days because it's just beautiful. So they would take something that's broken, cracked, and they would have this gold lacquer or pewter or silver, and they would piece the they would glue the pieces together, and it becomes a piece of art. And that's how I feel because when I was when I was the firstborn daughter of a Chinese family, and daughters were considered worthless. And I'm so I you know, I'm hopeful, even as I speak today, that take things are changing. Girls are are are precious, girls are valued. But I know that in parts of the world, a lot of us women, um, girls and daughters and women are still battling that that um um that attitude isn't it's an archaic attitude. So that's why my my subtitle is from worthless to gold, because um, yeah, the world it has to move forward. Um so that's kind of like um it in a booksh uh on a in a nutshell of why I wrote and who I am. And um and uh yeah, so um if you have any questions, um Yes, I love that.
SPEAKER_02:I love I love hearing about um authors and like their stories and how they get uh get to where they are. Uh so I want to dive back. Like you said that you had the story like in your mind at like four. What was it that made you decide that you could finally write it?
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So when I was four, now see, this is another really good um discussion topic for book clubs because when I was four, something happened that I remember. And some people say, Well, I remember something when I was three, and I remember something when I well, whatever it was that shook you, I it was for me, it was four, and for some people it could be something so ecstatic and so exuberant that they're so happy about it that they will always remember it. But for me, it was something um traumatic because at the age of four, I went on an airplane by myself to be reunited with my parents. So I was shipped away like a parcel. Um, and so at that time I thought to myself, what did I do? You know, why am I being abandoned? I'm going somewhere where I don't know because my parents were immigrants, they couldn't take care of me when I was little, so they left me behind, and then they sent for me. So that was my traumatic, and so um that was the start of my trauma. And the reason why I carried this all my life is because when your initial trauma starts, and then something else happens, something else happens, no one takes a child seriously. There are resources today, I'm so happy to say, that this is so different now than from the 1960s. Hopefully, the community we have full of different um counselors and and people are listening, they're watching out for signs and all that kind of stuff, right? So, yeah, that's why that's why at four my memory started. Yeah, that's huge.
SPEAKER_02:That is such a big one. And it's wild how these like events again, like they shape us and they help us become this version of who we are and the stories that we're we're meant to tell. And I think that that's something that's really important with uh and what I feel like draws so many people to storytelling, whether it is fiction or non-fiction, is that connection and that like feeling like you're not alone and and that you yeah, that you can be seen and that and others have gone through that. So that's huge. I like that's a wild, that's a such a wild experience for a little four-year-old. Oh gosh, I couldn't imagine.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, I know. It was like, like I said, it starts with the first memory, and all of us can take a discussion point from there because we all have our own unique first memories. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I I so agree. Yeah, that's so it's so interesting. And and that we often don't necessarily think that they're important too. Sometimes they're like, oh, is this anyone gonna relate to this? Is this gonna be something that's worthwhile exploring more of, or, or that kind of thing? Um, so now that you've obviously written the book and you, you know, obviously decided to take that leap, I think this is something that I feel like is really important, especially in our world now where we feel like we're constantly, we have to do all of the things, we have to keep up. And that if you start, you know, at a certain age, somehow you're behind. And you said that you started writing this when you're retired. Um, and like what what was it that gave you the confidence to decide that you're like now is the time to write this?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I felt like after my retirement, I wanted to be useful, I wanted to do something that would keep my my mind active and it would mean something to me. Yeah, I mean, I could garden. There's a lot of gardeners or people who love baking, arts and crafts, pottery, but I chose to write. And like I said, once I put the pen on the paper, I started to write, and once I got the support I needed in my community, I made friends. There is there is such a great writing community here where I live, and if you seek them out, you're gonna find a lot of like-minded people, and then now for the last three years, I'm so part of that. And and then I did then I wrote my second book, and then what I did people are asking me, Well, what is your genre? What do you write? So then I had to think of what is it? I had to ask myself these real tough questions. You know, I wrote one, but what and I'm writing another. What is my genre, you know, right? And I decided that you know what my genre is is women's stories. And and women's stories could be murder, mystery, they could be romance, but mine is about uh women, uh troubled women, women with flaws. Because I think a lot of women, even the most confident CEOs in their power suit, maybe they have something internal, maybe something personal, they hide away and they mustn't let the office see them, or they wouldn't let the boardroom see it, but they're struggling inside. So my second book kind of is around that, you know, what happened behind the closed doors? What happened? So there's a whole bunch of that, uh feelings there. The one day you get up in the morning and you said, Well, geez, I feel like I'm an imposter, I'm just doing, you know, and then the next day you say, Well, geez, you know, I don't look as good. Are you, you know, all these doubts, these self-doubts. And I think that again, I think it resonates with a lot of women. Now I'm older, and it took me a lifetime to battle these. Yes. And I figure, wow, what if there's young people that are battling this insecurity now? It's all in your head. Nobody sees you like that but yourself. You know, when you walk up there, you'll your head is held high, and you're doing what you're meant to do for the day. Nobody knows the the the upheaval that's in your gut, but you might. You know what I mean? Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, I love that. I love that so much. And I think it's so great. Of I think this sort of like multi-generational kind of like story. I think there's something really important about that. That uh we like, you know, I'm in Canada as well. We we do kind of miss that. Um, in in our in our society and our culture. Uh, and that's something that I feel like is really, really beneficial for just a lot of life experience and wisdom where we're learning from, you know, the people that have walked before. And I feel like, especially as women, uh, there is a lot of like pressure as you get older, I feel like, of this sort of like washed up of like, but what is like you're you're too old, or like there's a lot of that nonsense that we hear, even if we're not like really believing it, but I think it's just kind of in the background a lot. So I love to have stories like that that just sort of like challenge that and and kind of remind you of like, no, this is not true. This is designed to keep us small and um not in our power.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, exactly, exactly. And I decided to make it so it's a novel form. So it is not like a self-help, but where you this is what you should do, this is what you should do. It's not like that, whereas actually you read a story and you pick it. They're really good for like again, uh, book discussions because you know what makes the character feel so uh worthless, what makes this character feel so emboldened? Like, you know, these really good discussion points, and because it's a story, it's interesting to read as well because you get you get um an incident or something like okay, there's an incident, just like a murder, you know. Oh, yeah, you know, instead of a murder, it goes, okay, what's happened here? And it makes you keep flipping the pages. So it's not dry like textbook, but it is a story that goes through a person's the way they're thinking, their thought process that brings them to this point, you know. So that's what I find very um creative, and it keeps my um, you know, rather than working on CrossFit puzzles, which is so great for some brains, and I and I get I'm not a games person. So I can go out this this is what I'm gonna do. How many different adjectives can I think of to describe this person? Right. Totally.
SPEAKER_02:I love that. I love that. It's so fun. And I think that there's something magical about like just channeling that creative passion. And I think that the more that more of us do that, the better the world is of just like creating and making art and and telling stories. Uh it's just that's that's what connects us as humans. And you see it across all media, right? Like that's essentially what it is of like storytelling.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, painting, singing, drawing, whatever, right?
SPEAKER_02:It's amazing. It's so magical. I I I get so excited about all of this stuff. Amazing, awesome. Well, now that obviously your book is out in the world, I'd love to hear a little bit about how that process has been in terms of like the marketing side of things. Because I know a lot of authors I chat with, they're like, oh boy, this is a lot. Um, so yes, I'd love to hear about how you kind of like make that work for you and your life and and all of that sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, great question. Because marketing, I find is an ongoing process. Yes. You know, when I first launched the book, it was on KDP, and I didn't have a book launch date. Because I thought to myself, if marketing is a continuous thing, if I have a book launch date, people will come and gather and everything, and it's all exciting, and then then there's going to be like this high, and then this then this is the the thing that you kind of go through afterwards. How do you keep that momentum going? So I didn't um do a book launch until six months later. Interesting. Um, well, and I and I started late because people are saying, no, you gotta you gotta talk about your book on social media, so you gotta drum up excitement. Yeah, that would be the right thing to do. Um, again, I didn't um because I had my book cover and my formatting done around the same time. And so I took to social media and I, you know, and I start resetting all my um um redoing my settings, you know, from friends to friends of friends to public, and I started to revamp my social media page so it's all about me, the author.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:So, and I but but it's not all serious because I think when you market yourself, is not the book so much, is but people want to know who you are, so I decided to I I wanted people to know who the author is, and I have to um you know do away with all the silliness, but but show them that I love animals, I love my grandkids, um, I love walking in paths through the forest to trails, these sort of things. So then, you know, you have to be kind of careful that you're not gonna get too political, but all of that kind of stuff goes into building your social media, and I'm still building it now. um I'm not an expert, I have to kind of think what's worthy to engage in and what will people um want uh to see uh and will they engage in um i think that's part of the marketing because i've often and also i've heard that just because you like like just because you have so many likes does that does that doesn't translate into sales of your book but that's just part and parcel of it yeah okay and then i built then i had a website built um and my website looks good i would have to say it looks good but my other challenge was now if people don't know about me how are they gonna know about my website right that was another challenge and then uh so then I have to actually introduce my website on my social media and get people to click on it and then I did a press release I just wrote it myself um and then I start passing it around you know I would um yeah I would actually go to places where I think they would um entertain maybe this sort of story yeah um I would actually I started going to the libraries um to the independent book clubs um to the independent um bookstores I just by word of mouth is all pretty well organic you you you you can go to your yoga class and ask anybody do you guys know of a book club are you in a book club and talk to them about it and then and then I would I would have my list of book club discussions they go wow that sounds great we would love to read it so it kind of starts there um and now my book um is being read um by three book clubs is it's a start it's a start amazing I think that's amazing yeah um yeah yeah and then the and then also what's also amazing Victoria is that one woman from one book club says I know a friend that lives in Surrey which is a totally different municipality outside of us I know a woman there that has a book club do you mind if I give you give her your oh no I don't mind at all go for it so you know so basically I'm just asking people can you tell people if you like it and then so then another thing what I did um I noticed that my book came in into the library because I had actually um submitted my title for the library to per to to buy so so once it's come in I look on my on the library and my book is in and my book is in and my book is in but it never goes out because nobody knows it's there and nobody knows who I am so I you know I go out there to the library and I take my book out of the shelf and I just thought you know what I'm just gonna talk to somebody I just asked the lady next to me I said are you looking for something new to read and she goes yeah I'm looking she goes do you have a suggestion and I said how about this and I just give her my book and she goes oh what's this and and I said well this is me I'm the author you are and then you know what and people are so happy to meet an author whereas I think that I I don't really think of myself like that because I'm a regular person that just wrote a book you know but they were so pleased that an author came up to them in the library and uh so the first woman that I asked maybe is maybe I'm lucky but she took my book out right away. And then so there was the first book checked out and then I guess she finds my name and then she wrote me an email saying that she loved it and she's gonna tell her friends about it. So now when I'm checking on the library my book is always out that's amazing. I know so this is something that you I want to share with people. Yes you can do that just just go to your library ask them to bring in your book and if they won't ask your friend to go in and ask for you because it might be better being endorsed by someone else and not yourself.
SPEAKER_02:It doesn't seem so self-promoting you know what I mean yeah yeah and then if you see that your book is not doing anything just go in and light a fire just light a fire yeah oh gosh I love that I feel like that's such a great reminder because I think so many authors that are like indie authors are so focused on social media that they forget the real world uh and this is such great like ways of getting in front of people right and like connecting with people in person and like you said to have an author be like yeah I wrote this book I think you might want to read it that's like such a cool experience and I think it just builds that connection and I think even like obviously in this sort of world of like where going viral is like often the goal I think we forget that you know talking to like two or three people can that can feel just as like empowering as having like a thousand people like your video right like I think that we forget that like it's kind of skewed our like thought process when it comes to stuff like that. So I love that of being like just thinking of things outside of the box um or even going to like local like you said local stores local shops coffee shops sometimes will do this as well as like having have a book of like you know guest author I know a lot of the ones local to me always want to support local um artists and stuff like that. So that's such a great thing to think of doing I just I'm like oh it's so obvious duh like why why wouldn't I have thought of that yeah I just thought you know I think person to person is still a big deal.
SPEAKER_00:Yes I I think because in this day and age like you said you we were so comfortable doing social media and connecting and we got all these lights but no one really knows you but I think once you go out there and meet someone you I mean I don't know but I might have made her day just like how she made you know and I think that really carries a lot I I think yeah so I just keep I keep on doing this sort of thing. And today I was just wondering whether I live in a high rise and um we have an amenities room and I think that could be another thing is that I asked I asked um you know whether maybe can I maybe rent the room maybe even for free if I just have just invite people in the building to come down and do a book reading would they would they like that you know like you know stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02:I mean you know um so it's not we're not using like the kitchen you know everything like that we're just having a little group and just by the people in the building um I just thought maybe that could be an idea um just like a library reading you know and things like that all along that kind of line um yeah would help yeah definitely I think that's such a great way of just like you said getting in front of people connecting and and um I think showing them yeah because sometimes they just don't know uh like you or the story or whatever and tend then to be able to have you know the person who wrote it there to like get feedback of like oh like what what did you mean by this or kind of what were you what was your thought like that's such a really like beautiful way of sharing your story and getting people to yeah I think just think um more and like really just spend time and slow down because that's always a great thing yeah when it comes to to reading and just that sort of like can we create and do this in a way that doesn't feel so overwhelming and I think oftentimes social media can kind of give you that sort of like headache just because it's so fast paced. So I am all about offline connection. Yeah yeah because we need that sometimes we really do to to connect to see the face the face to face exactly amazing awesome well it was so lovely chatting with you as we wrap up here I would love for you to share how people can connect with you and follow along on on your journey your writing journey and like here and grab obviously your books that are book number one that's out and book number two that will be coming out.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah that's right so the easiest thing is to remember my name Ming Louis Stein because that's going to be www www.minglouistein.com so this is the whole name and even if you google Minglouistein you'll find me on Instagram Facebook LinkedIn you'll find me on readsey you'll find a whole bunch of other stuff um just with the name so so that will be amazing yes yeah awesome well everything will be linked in the show notes so we'll it will be super easy for people to click through and find you and your book but thank you again for chatting with me I again I always feel like I learned so much so I love it. Yeah it's been my pleasure so thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_02:Thanks so much for listening to today's episode and if you really loved this author I highly encourage you to go check out their links and comment and share their work because let's be real as an indie author all that stuff makes such a difference. And if you're feeling a little stuck on your draft and just want some gentle accountability check out my one-to-one offers that are linked in the show notes as well. I'd love to support you with your writing or editing journey. And if that's not quite where you're at I've also put together a really amazing free resource to help with taking your writing to the next level because there are so many amazing resources available without needing to spend a ton of money or get that MFA or all of the things that you may think that you need in order to write a book. Until next time keep writing your way and trust yourself enough to tell your story because I promise if it's coming to you there's a reason and someone needs to hear it.
