Our Nonfiction Editor for November and December, Nancy Jooyoun Kim,  was born and raised in Los Angeles. She has blogged for the Kenyon Review, worked as an editor at the Seattle Review and published stories in City Arts and Amerasia Journal. She is working on a novel and a collection of essays.

Why work at The James Franco Review?

As a writer, like pretty much all writers, getting pummeled by rejection, in both dark alleys and bright, is one of the most stable things in my life besides, of course…the love of a strong man.

I try to think of happier things like Mendel and his peas that no one noticed or I watch 20 Feet From Stardom and weep at the gorgeousness of longing that is life—you know, that walking-in-place dance that all the backup singers do behind the mics.

It’s never gotten easier.

Nor, to be honest, have I toughened up or grown a thicker skin.

I prefer myself tender.

Medium rare.

We should call it the Medium Rare Review.

I digress.

Well, why The James Franco Review?

When making a decision about what I should be doing with my time, cowardly, I often choose what will make me feel the least left out, the most “relevant,” the most “liked.”

I laugh at James Van Der Beek crying. I want to be loved.

I’m here because I can’t give up on this—work that we need to make time for, if only we were a little less frightened, if only we were willing to be a little less “liked.” And, damn it, today is the day that I change my life!

Welcome to the Medium Rare Review.