Name: Tracy Badua

Website: https://www.tracybadua.com/

Asian background: Filipino (Ilocano) American

What is it about your experience and upbringing that inspired you the most to write? 

As a kid, I read everything I could get my hands on and even wrote my own stapled-together books to sell to neighbors. My family was wholly supportive, with frequent trips to the library and genuine-sounding praise of my plotless, pencil-drawn works. My grandmother says I inherited this love of the written word from her father, a school teacher in the Philippines. It’s lovely to think that writing is in my blood. 

Name 3 authors and 3 books

Jessica Kim – STAND UP, YUMI CHUNG. fun, funny, fantastic!

Yoon Ha Lee – DRAGON PEARL. a fast-paced sci-fi middle grade that I couldn’t put down 

Mae Respicio – THE HOUSE THAT LOU BUILT. reaches right for those heartstrings in all the best ways 

What do you think is the best quality a writer can have? 

Resilience. Writing is tough and there’s the potential for discouragement at every turn, but your ability to bounce back is key to reaching your goals. You may not reach your goal as fast as some, or even take the same path, but two steps forward and one step back is still one step in the right direction. 

Any last words? (Fun facts, comments, something you’d like to share with the world, etc.)

My one viral tweet was about quarantine baking and Peeta from The Hunger Games.

Challenge: Write a one-sentence story! She ducked behind an abandoned fruit cart, letting the angry horde of fellow thieves thunder by, then patted her hidden pocket with a grin: the treasure was all hers.