The Not-So-Uniform Life of Christina Matula

by Jenny H. Chang (Photo by Kylie Knott)

As an accomplished woman, there is nothing uniform about Christina Matula.

Christina lounging on the sofa as a toddler

Sure you can put many traditional labels on her - wife, mother, daughter, sister - but it’s the nontraditional ones I find the most interesting. How does a biochemist living in Canada end up in Hong Kong on the brink of publishing her first Middle Grade novel?

Like her protagonist, Holly-Mei Jones (more on that later), it involves a lot of what Christina would call “impulsiveness” (and I would call courage), persistence and grit. Born in Montreal to a Hungarian father and Taiwanese mother, Christina grew up in an idyllic suburb of Ottawa (down the street from Sandra Oh!). Her weekends were not unlike many immigrant families. Sleepovers with her Taiwanese-Canadian cousins in the basement as her mother and aunts wrapped Taiwanese dumplings. Together with her younger sister, Christina was raised by well-educated practical immigrants (PhD for dad, Masters for mom) who encouraged her to “study science, go to grad school and get a civil service job for life.” Stability was the goal (unsurprising for immigrants who had anything but) and the arts was definitely not a path to that. Unsurprising, little Christina, with no other references or models to look up to, wanted to be a forensic scientist. It’s hard to believe but ‘writer’ was not in the consideration set given her artistic career today.

www.morethanacover.com As with many good Asian daughters, Christina fulfilled her parents’ wishes, studying biochemistry in college. Despite enjoying high school science, she did not love spending four years deep diving into biochemistry. Nor did she love the civil service job she landed post college. Thankfully, Christina broke away from the well laid tracks her parents had planned for her. At the age of 26 her curiosity overrode her parents’ wishes and she set off on her own path, enrolling in McGill University for business school. And as we know, once you take one brave step forward, others are sure to follow.

A semester abroad in England fed her wanderlust for travel and adventure. That taste abroad gave her the courage to move to London for a career in Marketing after her MBA graduation. After a few years in London, she and her husband jumped at the chance to move to Hong Kong for “one year.”

One year turned into a 14 year love affair with Hong Kong. Her love for Hong Kong inspired her to write her first children’s book, The Shadow in the Moon, after she was unable to find an English book explaining the Moon Festival to her young kids. A friend had created a chamber music concert for children based on her story and thought Christina should have the book available for guests. So instead of waiting to be published, Christina found a local Hong Kong illustrator named Pearl Law and self-published it to meet the short timeline. She gave the book to a fellow writer, who passed it to her agent. That agent became her agent and sold the book to Charlesbridge, who republished it with additional illustrations and expanded storyline. Ultimately the book would go on to win a 2019 CALA (Chinese American Librarians Association) Best Book Award.

Christina and her sister

Christina's middle school photo

With proven traction, Christina invested in herself and pursued her MFA in Creative Writing at HKU (graduating with distinction no less!). She credits her MFA with teaching her how to read critically, thereby improving her writing. Months into her MFA, she had signed a three-book deal for a Middle Grade series featuring Holly-Mei Jones, a mixed-race Canadian tween who moves to Hong Kong. Like her favorite female character, Anne of Green Gables, Christina got there by believing in herself, staying curious, learning from her mistakes and not limiting herself to what others expected of her.

In hindsight, the road to becoming a published author may sound smooth, but it belies the diligence and tenacity required. Initially Christina was daunted by the idea of finishing a novel. Children’s picture books are usually under 1000 words so the idea of writing 60,000 words felt like “running a marathon.” Despite the mental block, Christina refused to let her lack of experience slow her down. She viewed it similarly to completing 5km at a time rather than 42km+ all at once. After researching and outlining the story, It took six months of diligently “chipping away” at her “first draft” until the exhilarating moment when she typed “The End” and The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei Jones was born!

A young Christina and her parents in Canada

The novel’s protagonist Holly-Mei Jones is a tween whose seventh-grade life is suddenly rocked when she’s taken away from her everything she knows, including her beloved AhMa, for her mother’s new job in Hong Kong. Like many third-culture kids, Holly-Mei “quickly discovers there are new rules to follow and expectations to meet.” This series is Christina’s love letter to all the third-culture kids living in Hong Kong. At the core, it's a fun story about kids tackling adolescent things who just happen to be Asian. The novel is filled with characters who are happy and confident in who they are, unencumbered by racial tension or immigrant struggles.

Christina believes everyone can see a reflection of themselves in this book, even if you don’t live in Hong Kong. She hopes readers take away that “it’s okay to be happy with who you are, that your heritage doesn’t define you. Instead, it should enrich you and be a source of pride.”

Indeed!

The Not-So-Uniform Life of Holly-Mei

will be out from Inkyard Press in April 2022. Eager readers can pre-order a copy on your favorite book platform now!

Looking for a not-so-uniform life too? Christina has some advice for you:

1. Impulsiveness isn’t all bad. Be ready when life presents opportunities!

2. Don’t let others define you. Be proud of all of your layers.

3. Set a goal and go for it. Obstacles are no match for hard work and perspiration!

IMTAC contributor, Jenny H. Chang is a former management consultant, venture capitalist, and brand marketer turned professional storyteller and writer. In 2019, she walked away from a 25+ corporate career to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing. A reformed good girl, Jenny is passionate about telling stories featuring women who break all the rules.