I’d like to welcome Melissa Yi to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.

Things you always put in your books: humor, intelligence, strong women, and friendship/connection. I also love food, so that's fairly mandatory.

Things you never put in your books: So far I've avoided the abuse and murder of indigenous people because it makes me so sad, even though it's an important topic

Favorite music or song: I've always been a pop music girl—some of my recent downloads include Flo Rida, the Barenaked Ladies, Abba, MC Hammer, Kanye West, and Cardi B. I'm crazy about 1 Million Dance Studio on YouTube. I also like a capella music (Pentatonix) and musical theatre.

Music that drives you crazy: terrible autotune, screeching, chanting, and monotonous music

Things that hamper your writing: To be honest, one of the biggest problems is me procrastinating on the Internet! I also have trouble if my son is loudly playing video games in the background. And forget it if I have to police my kids' virtual school, get my 12,000 steps in, and somehow that fridge is always calling to me …

Things you love about writing: cool characters that surprise me, plots that twist seemingly out of nowhere, the joy of meeting readers who "get" me

Hardest thing about being a writer: butt glue, which means writing consistently and in a great amount every day. I want to play hooky sometimes. Also marketing. It would be so amazing if you could write a book and magically connect with the right readers instead of advertising and social media.

Easiest thing about being a writer: I love clearly communicating with people. It's great to cut through the B.S. and say exactly what's happening. And so fun to invent, although that's not always easy!

Things you need for your writing sessions: energy and imagination. I usually write on my computer or iPad, but I can make do with a felt tip pen and paper in a pinch. I also write in my email or in my Notes app if I'm on the go. To motivate myself, I'll do writing sprints where I can see other writers writing away in real time, especially during NaNoWriMo (writing a novel during the month of November). I've also experimented with dictating while I walk.

Things you need to throw out: pretty much everything. I'm an environmentalist and a sentimentalist, so I have trouble shedding possessions, and I don't have time to Marie Kondo everything. Just looking at my desk, I see broken headphones. My kids are always breaking headphones. My engineering husband tries to save them.

A few of your favorite things: my family, including our beloved dog Roxy, writing "The End" and knowing I've done my absolute best, delicious food, curling up with my books, saving lives when I work as an emergency physician, yoga, walking with my friends, a good show (theatre or streaming), energy in the morning and quiet at night, sunshine, and snow.

About Melissa:

Melissa Yi is an emergency physician who writes her critically-acclaimed Hope Sze medical crime series. The latest thriller, Scorpion Scheme, is a finalist for the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Thriller. Melissa’s stories have been longlisted for the Staunch Prize (best international feminist thriller) and finalists for the CWC/Arthur Ellis Award (best crime story in Canada) and the Derringer Award (best crime story in the English language). Under the name Melissa Yuan-Innes, she writes speculative fiction, romance, poetry, and non-fiction.