The Books Inspiring Me

Every writer has books that inspire their writing. As someone who has been seriously writing ever since I was fourteen, I can confirm that the books that inspire us change over time, as we grow into better writers and readers. Right now, these are the top four books inspiring my writing.

Dune by Frank Herbert

PC: Goodreads

I read Dune about five years ago, back in 2020. I was about a third of the way through when I knew this was a book I was going to need to read again at some point. There was just so much going on that it felt impossible to fully absorb in one read.

This book inspires me on so many levels. For one, I absolutely adore the world building. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the world of Dune, it’s a science-fiction story where there are no computers. All “thinking machines” are banned, because at one point in their distant past, humans went to war with machines. Instead of computers, there are people whose whole purpose in life is to do complex math on the spot when people need it. There’s an order of semi-magical women who have been manipulating bloodlines for the past 10,000 years to create a mystical being that could see the future. Of course, that mystical being is our main character, Paul Atreides.

My favorite parts about this story are the elements that are similar to Star Wars. Or … since Star Wars came after Dune, you could say that a lot of what I like about Star Wars comes from Dune. I just didn’t realize it until recently.

I like the themes of destiny, of the choices we make in the face of the inevitable and why those choices matter. I like what this story says about love, how it can strengthen us or destroy us if we let it.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

PC: Goodreads

I read this book in 2023, and it blew my mind. First, I love Brandon Sanderson’s writing. His style is so simple, so easy to read, and it belies the true complexity of the tale he weaves. This 1000+ page tome looks intimidating, but I read it in less than a month and I’m a slow reader.

This is the only book I’ve ever written where a main character is depressed, and yet reading his scenes doesn’t feel depressing. I also don’t think I’ve ever read a book where a male author writes female characters so well. The women feel like real people, and their lives don’t revolve around the men in their lives.

And don’t get me started on the world building. Look, I love the typical Euro-centric Tolkien-esque fantasy, but it’s also very … typical. Yeah, dragons are cool, but Brandon Sanderson builds his own fantasy world. The world of Roshar has one massive continent, and it is plagued by these massive hurricane-like storms every season. The storms shape the lands, and the lands shape the people. There are no elves or dragons, there are Parshendi and chasm fiends.

The plot is also completely fantastic. I stared at a wall for ten minutes after finishing this book because I couldn’t believe how it had ended.

PC: Goodreads

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

I read this book back in 2022 after reading Ender’s Game, which is sort of book 1 in the series. The thing is … Speaker for the Dead is so different from Ender’s Game. Like … if all the characters had different names, it would be really hard to tell that they were from the same series. And it’s weird because it somehow works. I actually cried at the end of this book, because it was honestly just so beautiful.

What I loved most about this story was how we were given a situation––a gruesome murder––of these scientists who were working alongside these aliens, and the whole book, people are trying to figure out why the seemingly peaceful aliens would do such a horrible thing. At the end it turns out that it was all just misunderstanding. The gruesome murders were real, but they hadn’t exactly been intentional.

I loved how biology shaped the misunderstandings, and it’s helped me think a lot about the kind of aliens I want in my stories.

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

PC: Goodreads

I read this book in 2023, and I’m going to be honest, it was super weird. For about the first third of the book, I had no idea where it was going, and I genuinely kept looking at the Goodreads description of the book to make sure this was actually a collection of King Arthur stories. After the first third of the book was over, I realized it was weird in a good way, and yes, it’s a collection of King Arthur stories, very loosely based on Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.

I ended up crying in this book, too. The first part of the book chronicles Arthur’s childhood. It’s silly, it’s quirky, and I literally laughed out loud at a few parts. I loved Merlin’s character throughout the book; he was so chaotic and odd, it was amazing. Later on, the book becomes much more serious, and it turns into a beautiful epic.

This book is about far more than King Arthur, his knights, and Round Table. It is about a man who struggles his entire life with the question of “might vs. right.” Everything he does is done with the intention of making England a place where the strong serve the good, instead of a place where strength is considered the ultimate good.

My favorite part was how, in the end, Arthur is an old man who is weary after long years of struggle, trying to make England not great, but good. Ultimately, he fails, but he fails trying to do the right thing, instead of succeeding in doing the wrong.

These are four books that deeply inspire me every day when I write. What are some of the books that inspire you?

Weekend Review #4

I spent the weekend in Fort Myers with my in-laws! It's been such a wonderful trip, and despite the heat, I always love coming to Florida to visit them in the summertime.

We spent a lot of time together, talking, laughing, eating delicious food my mother-in-law made, and giggling about my cute little sister-in-law. Her name is Yofi, she's four years old, and I actually helped pick her out as a baby. How lucky is that? I literally got to choose my sister-in-law!

Mother-in-law carrying Yofi
© Jessica McKendry

Yes, she's a dog, and it's the best!

Isn't she the cutest?

Anyway, we're home now, and getting back into the rhythm of things.

Project Updates

Original Project: Convergence

This week, I struggled the most with coming up with a prayer of mourning for one of my main characters. He is mourning the loss of his teacher, and he has spent an entire year grieving. I wanted him to say something beautiful, something almost poetic for the final prayer of mourning before returning to his duties as a warrior.

Let me tell you, I spent hours coming up with what he'd say, and then I spent another few hours coming up with a whole new language with different syntax and creating grammar rules for it. So I spent a lot of time being creative, but not a whole lot of time actually writing. Which was sort of annoying.

I think this might be the most elaborate form of procrastination I've yet to experience. Still, it was fun.

Fan Fic

I've written so much in Chapter 31 of my fan fic, but I keep erasing everything. It's been such a struggle figuring out how/where to start it. On Sunday, I may have actually figured it out, but we'll see. I may end up erasing it all again later this week.

Last Week's Goals

❌ 2,000 words in Convergence that I actually keep.

Unfortunately, I did not write 2,000 words in Convergence that I ended up keeping. I'm not entirely sure how many words I wrote, but I only kept 739 words. Ugh.

❌ 1,500 words in my Fan Fic that I actually keep.

This one was even worse. I only kept 175 words.

✔️ 2 chapters in Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson.

This was the only goal I actually met this week, and I ended up reading 3 chapters in Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson! I'm really enjoying this book so far, so I'm glad I was able to set aside some time to read it.

This Week's Goals

I thought I was being generous with myself last week, but it looks like I need to lower my expectations even more. Bleh.

This week, I want to:

1. Write 1,000 words in Convergence that I actually keep
2. Write 1,000 words in my Fan Fic that I actually keep
3. Read 2 chapters of Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

Jasper Update

We left Jasper with my parents over the weekend while we were in Florida. We always get worried about him when we travel, since he's technically been abandoned twice, so we don't like to leave him. But he was a very good boy for my parents! No accidents in their house, no getting into stuff he shouldn't, so overall, he gets a five star Good Boy rating for this weekend from me!

Is Jasper missing me?
PC: my mom

What a good boy!

Quote of the Week

Margaret Thatcher
PC: Wikipedia

“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”

— Margaret Thatcher

What did you do over the weekend? What are your goals this week?

More From Chinatown, Hamilton, & a Rooftop Bar

New York City – Memorial Day Weekend (Saturday, Day 2 of 4) (Part 2)

* All names in this post have been altered for privacy.

Other posts in this series: Day 1, Day 2 (Part 1)

Saturday, May 24, 2025

“Alright, what do you guys feel like eating?" Dad asked excitedly.

"Dad, we're stuffed!" Lottie replied.

"We literally just ate," I said, frowning at him. "How are you still hungry? Eat the rest of these dumplings if you want food!" I pushed the remaining box of fifteen dumplings toward him.

"I'm not hungry, but we're in New York," he said with a grin. "If you're not eating or seeing shows, you're wasting time! And ... there's a great noodle place just a few blocks away, or another dumpling place that's just as good as Jin Mei, or ..."

I have to admit, I sort of tuned him out at that point. We finished our boba, then continued our tour of Chinatown under colorful banners splashed with red, past signs in both English and Chinese, through clouds of crisp musical notes played on a zither.

Chinatown
© Jessica McKendry

Dad led us through another bright and crowded street.

"Haircut! Ten minutes, ten dollars!" A woman outside a shop called into the river of people.

Dad's eyes snapped to the woman. "Oo, I need a haircut!" He exclaimed, then basically bolted into the barber shop.

Mom went inside with him, but it was a little crowded, so Lottie, Seth, Han, and I all waited outside under an awning. It began to drizzle, but it was peaceful and warm.

Han and I made small talk with Lottie and Seth while we waited, but it was a little awkward because neither of us knew Seth very well. She's been dating him for about a year, and he's a decent enough guy, but I think she could do better. Though, maybe that's just my Chronic Oldest Sister Syndrome acting up. Who's to say?

Dad came out of the barber shop almost exactly ten minutes after entering with a taper fade buzz cut and a big smile. "Just what I needed!”

Lottie nudged me and giggled. “He looks so Asian!”

My dad is half-Japanese, so he always looks Asian, but my sister was right. If his heritage wasn’t obvious before, it was obvious now, and it suited him!

After that, we made our way to OS NYC, a gaming café in Chinatown. Seth, Han, and I had never been there before, but Mom, Dad, and Lottie had gone the last time they were in NYC. They had stayed at the hotel next door.

I had never been to a gaming café before, but OS NYC was not what I expected. First, unlike most places in NYC, the café was huge. It had this dark, chic vibe, and stations with hundreds of computers, PlayStations, Nintendo Switches, Xboxs, and gaming consoles I couldn’t even name. The best part? It cost $25 a person for an all-day pass.

Dad rented two PlayStations, and for about three hours, we took turns playing Fortnite. Mom didn’t play; she had a bit of a headache. We didn't win a single game, but we still had fun and got a lot of XP. I didn’t play much Fortnite in the past, but they had a Star Wars-themed season all of May and part of June, so I obviously had to play.

Around 4:15 p.m., we took the subway back to the hotel to change our clothes and get ready for our next Broadway show, Hamilton. We got to the Richard Rodgers Theater around 6:30 p.m. and took our seats.

view from our seats
© Jessica McKendry

The show began at 7 p.m., and those first few staccato notes echoed through the theater in the dark. Aaron Burr walked on stage with such smooth confidence and said the opening line: "How does a bastard, orphan / Son of a whore and a Scotsman / Dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot / in the Caribbean by providence, / impoverished, in squalor / Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?"

My heart was racing.

I’ve seen Hamilton on Broadway twice before, so nothing about the show came as any sort of surprise. However, it never fails to transport me back through the ages, to the days of the American Revolution. This show feels like time travel.

Hamilton is one of my favorite shows that I’ve seen, second only to Hadestown. It isn’t one of Han’s favorites, though, and he started falling asleep in the first act. It didn’t help that we’d been very busy all day. I wouldn’t have cared too much if he didn’t snore like a roaring lion. I had to keep pinching him and nudging him to keep him awake, which was awful because it made it very difficult to concentrate on the entire first act. At the intermission, I made him buy a coffee. That helped a lot.

After the show, we went downstairs and met Thayne Jasperson, head of the Hamilton dance crew, and the only original Hamilton cast member left. Broadway World just published an article about him, and his decade-long career with Hamilton, which you can read here: Thayne Jasperson Celebrates a Decade With HAMILTON: Reflections From the Last Original Cast Member. Oh, and my parents are friends with him. Yeah, my parents might be a lot cooler than me. *Sigh.*

“Hi Kathy! Jesse!” Thayne said, greeting my parents. Then he looked over at the rest of us. “And it’s so nice to finally meet all of you! Come on, I want to take you guys backstage!”

We followed him behind the stage, through a very tiny corridor.

“Have I taken you guys on stage before?” Thayne asked my parents. “After we got lunch last time?”

“No, we were going to, but we never got around to it!” Dad replied.

“Well, come on then!” Thayne replied in a cheery voice.

And then we were walking on stage at the Richard Rodgers Theater.

on stage at the Richard Rodgers Theater
© Jessica McKendry

It was sort of shocking, because the stage looked much smaller than it does when viewing it from the audience!

Anyway, we talked to Thayne for a little bit, but he had rehearsals early the next morning and it was getting late, so he had to go. Still, he wouldn’t let us leave without getting a picture with him on stage! What an incredible experience!

left to right: Lottie, Seth, Dad, Thayne, Mom, me, Han
© Jessica McKendry

For dinner, we wandered to an Indian restaurant called Indigo. When we walked in, the waitress looked distressed.

“How many?” She asked politely.

“Six,” Dad replied.

The waitress looked around and sighed. “I’m sorry, we don’t have room.”

And sure enough, they did not. There was one two-person table open, and that was it.

“Ah okay,” Dad said, and started to turn around. “No worries!”

“We can move!” Called a voice from behind the waitress.

I glanced over at her. She was a middle-aged woman with dark hair and she was sitting at a six-person table with another woman. They were the only two people at the table.

“Oh no, you don’t have to do that!” Dad said. It isn’t hard to find good food in New York City, even later at night.

“It’s okay!” The woman insisted kindly, gathering her things and moving with her friend to the open two-person table.

We thanked them profusely, then the waitress got us settled at the six-person table. Don’t ever let anyone tell you New Yorkers can’t be nice.

The food was delicious. It was filling and spicy, warm and comforting, rich and buttery. They didn’t offer my favorite North Indian dish, paneer makhani, so I ordered a paneer tikka masala. It was very good, but in hindsight, I wish I had ordered their chicken biryani.

Over the scent of jasmine rice, garlic naan, and garam masala, we talked and laughed, discussing Hamilton and the artistic choices Lin-Manuel Miranda made in its creation.

We ended the night at Bar 54, the rooftop bar at our hotel, Hyatt Centric Times Square. There, we enjoyed nighttime views of the city from a comfortable booth as we sipped delicious drinks.

Stay tuned for Day 3 of this adventure next Friday!