Wendy Tokunaga is a role model for writers struggling to get into print. Her debut novel, "Midori by Moonlight," is the fifth she has written, having survived "hundreds and hundreds" of rejections from agents over a 12-year period.
"Those previous novels were all part of the process of learning and improving my craft," she says firmly. "I finished 'Midori' in 2005, the year I applied also to some local MFA in writing programs."
Having never had the opportunity to go to graduate school earlier to get a master's degree in fine arts, she figured this would be another step in continuing to take her writing seriously: "I thought also that maybe out of those five unpublished novels I could at least get an MFA!"