I often wonder whether or not my work gets chosen for publication not on the strength of my writing but on the subject matter.

Am I just a token Hawaiian?

I don't think there are a lot of us writing literary fiction. To be honest, I don't even know who is Hawaiian and writing about Hawaii. I guess that's my own fault.

My whole writing life, from undergrad to now, I have had this sinking suspicion that I was chosen, selected,accepted, published because I write about Hawaii and I write mostly in Hawaiian Pidgin Creole.

My biggest fear is that I am not a very good writer at all. That my work just gets chosen because it's different. But is that enough for me? Acceptance is acceptance. Publication is publication. Those things should be enough to confirm my worth, my writing's worth.

And yet, there is that fucking nagging thought like a low continuous hum in the back of my mind that insists that it's only because I am Hawaiian.

How do I fight that?