Showing posts with label Leslie Pietrzyk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leslie Pietrzyk. Show all posts

Celebrating Literary Friends: Leslie Pietrzyk, Michael K. Schuessler, Rose Mary Salum, Araceli Ardón

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My amiga and long-time fellow writing group member, Leslie Pietrzyk, has won the Drue Heinz award for short fiction, read all about it over on her blog, Work-in-Progress. Read also her powerful essay, must-reading for any and all aspiring writers, which she posted on her blog shortly before learning that she had won: "The Writing Life: What It Really Takes." 

Michael K. Schuessler, one of the writers writing on Mexico I most admire, has just brought out what is sure to be rollicking good read: Perdidos en la traducción: Cinco viajeros ilustres en México en el siglo XX. This one definitely needs to come out in English! A literal translation of the title would be Lost in Translation: Five Illustrious Travelers in 20th Century Mexico. Who are those travelers? Howard Hughes, William S. Burroughs, Marilyn Monroe, Edward James, and B. Traven. Here is a photo of me and my writing assistant, Uli Quetzalpugtl, celebrating with Michael at lunch in Mexico City day before yesterday. (What happened to my head? Uyy, seriously bad hair day.)


My writing assistant,
who never has bad hair days,
approves of this book.
And here is Michael showing me the spot where the Madero mansion stood. It was burned down by a mob in the Decena Trágica of 1913, as the little tile plaque explains.




P.S. Listen in to my podcast interview with Michael about his extraordinary biographies of Mexican novelist Elena Poniatowska and poet Pita Amor, and his surreal rescue of the memoir of "La Peregina," Alma Reed, international journalist and fiancée of Yucatan's radical governor Felipe Carrillo Puerto. 



More books by Mexico expert Michael K. Schuessler

Speaking of podcast interviews, I've been editing a wonderful one with Rose Mary Salum, editor of Literal. She's also a writer and the editor of the visionary anthology Delta de arenas, cuentos arabes, cuentos judíos. Stay tuned-- almost done! (Alas, what I needed was a Dead Kitten... that's the term for a muff around the microphone to filter out infelicitous noises. But ex post I am getting it all ironed out.)

Araceli Ardón has just brought out a gorgeous new book of paintings by Restituto Rodríguez, each paired with an original literary work-- including one by Yours Truly. More about this one in the next post-- and Ardón's gorgeous book on the Sierra Gorda.

Your COMMENTS are always welcome.










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Cyberflanerie: Writerly Edition (Aimee Bender, Claire Cook, Djerassi, Historical Novelists Society, Guadalupe Loaeza, Leslie Pietrzyk & More)

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Pictured left, my handsome new writing assistant, Uli Quetzalpugtl. Right now he is specializing in mind-clearing walks. He will be four months old on the 25th. Yes, he is a pug. Yes, those are his real eyebrows. 

Aimee Bender on What Writers Can Learn from Good Night Moon
(Hat tip to @portershreve)

Claire Cook on Why I Left My Mighty Agency and New York Publishers (For Now) on Jane Friedman's Blog (well worth reading, and Yours Truly left a lengthy comment.)

Djerassi Resident Artists Program
> Watch a brief introductory video

Day before yesterday I finally joined the Historical Novelists Society, thanks to fellow members of Women Writing the West suggesting it. Joining Women Writing the West was one of the best things I did last year. I may have been publishing for over 20 years, but everything in publishing has so changed in the past few years… fellow members' advice on the listserv has been invaluable. 


Uli visits the childhood home of Willa Cather,
Red Cloud, Nebraska, June 2014.
What can I say, Uli has good taste in authors.
(He does try to chew my hand, after all.)
Here's what really impressed me about the Historical Novelists Society: their webpage is completely automated. I was able to pay, add my bio, and see my member listing without waiting for anyone to get back to me, bingo. (Such is life in the time of the bots…)

Yesterday I was interviewed for Mexico City's MVN radio live by Mexican writer Guadalupe Loaeza about Mexico's Second Empire / French Intervention and my novel El último príncipe del Imperio Mexicano (Agustín Cadena's translation of my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire), fue una verdadera delicia. Hope to have that link to the podcast by tomorrow. (P.S. Back in 2006, I translated a bit of Loaeza's hilarious classic on Mexico City's Polanco neighborhood for my anthology Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion). By the way, Loaeza's website takes a moment to load because it's got all this flash. Be patient... it's worth taking a look at. 

My amiga novelist Leslie Pietrzyk on the writing life: it really is a bowl of cherries.

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SURF ON, DEAR WRITERLY READER

30 Deadly Effective Ways to Free Up Bits, Drips & Gimungously Vast Swaths of Time for Writing

Giant Golden Buddha & 364 More Free 5 Minute Writing Exercises

Regina Leeds Guest-Blog for Madam Mayo 5 + 1 Resources to Make a Writer Happy in an Organized Space

Conversations with Other Writers podcast series
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Cyberflanerie: Writerly Whatnot Edition

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Ellen Cassedy's generous & inspired monthly column of writing tips for She Writes
(P.S. Cassedy's guest-blog post for Madam Mayo, 5 Links to Learn Yiddish.)

Hugh Howey's Author Earnings

Jane Friedman shows the changing face of publishing in 5 charts
(This is why so much of my focus these past few years has been on publishing Kindles and making podcasts.)

The last installation of novelist Carmen Amato's Bookstores of the Future series
(P.S. My ancient ode to bookstores over at Red Room.)

Thank you, dear Gregory Gibson, one of my favorite writers and the best rare book dealer blogger, I am honored to find "Madam Mayo" on your blog roll at Bookman's Log.

Lucas Klein on Translation and Translation Studies as a Social Movement

SURF ON, BODACIOUS READER-WRITER:
That Andrew Wiley interview, again, because it just so totally floats my boat

COMMENTS always welcome.
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The Secret Ingredient in My Writing Process

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Thanks to my amiga, novelist and blogger Leslie Pietrzyk, I'm posting today as part of a "blog hop" of writers blogging on process. So check out Leslie's post on her process over at her blog, Work-in-Progress. 

Before Leslie, it was Anna Leahy on the Lofty Ambitions Blog; today it's Yours Truly (scroll on down), and apres moi, not the deluge… but my DC writing amiga, editor and writer-for hire, world traveller, and blogger, Judy Leaver.

Question 1: What are you working on?
World Waiting for a Dream: A Turn in Far West Texas-- apropos of which I'm hosting the 24 podcast series, "Marfa Mondays." Listen in anytime. Latest podcast: Looking at Mexico in New Ways: An Interview with John Tutino (and if you think you know anything about Mexico, it'll knock your huaraches off.)

I see this book as a companion to Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico. Baja, Big Bend, they have a surprising amount in common.

Question 2: How does your work differ from others of its genre?
Well, go read my work, you tell me. One thing I will say, however, is that I offer a sharply different take on Mexico than you'll find in most books on that mammoth and cliche-saddled subject.

Question 3: Why do you write what you do?
Because I believe that through narrative we become human; truth is beauty; exploration is infinite. Long story short, I choose the subjects I do because they seem best suited for me to work in these directions.

Question 4: How does your writing process work?
The answer to that would be more than I could cram into a blog post, but I will offer hereby my secret ingredient: Pug. Picadou! Born in 2000, ever since she came to me as a tiny puppy, the minky chica has been my writing assistant, providing a background white noise of puggy snores and, most crucially, frequent walks. Walks, dear readers, refresh and rewire the creative brain. For me, as for many people, however, they just wouldn't happen every day without all that barking.



Picadou

As a puppy, oh, she was a princess-- of the universe and all realms beyond. (She knew she was a pug.) She had such a strong, joyous and silly-willy way. For the first time I felt inspired to write for children-- and a poem in her "voice." One of those poems, "People Who Pat Me" appears in Karen Benke's anthology on creative writing for children, Rip the Page! -- and will appear in Spanish translation by Agustin Cadena in a collection of micro-fiction published in Mexico. (I always say, prose poems and micro-fiction, same thing.)


When she was in her prime, I wrote an essay about our daily walks, "The Essential Francisco Sosa or, Picadou's Mexico City." It was published in Creative Nonfiction magazine, won two prizes (Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism Article, Personal Comment, First Place (Gold), 2005 and Washington Independent Writers Award for Personal Essay, 2005), later appeared in an anthology, Hurricanes and Carnivals: Essays by Chicano, Pochos, Pachucos, Mexicanos and Expatriates, edited by Lee Gutkind, (University of Arizona Press, 2007) and-- this was my first foray into audio-- as a CD.


Audio CD
The Essential Francisco Sosa or,
Picadou's Mexico City
by C.M. Mayo

She was small for a pug, small enough to fit into a Sherpa bag, so she traveled with me oftentimes-- once as far north as Jackson Hole, Wyoming. (But no, I haven't taken Picadou on my forays in the Big Bend-- the desert, with all those coyotes and rattlesnakes, is not Picadou's style.)

Here's a photo of her beneath the lovely green canopy of the Parque Juárez of San Miguel de Allende-- where we went for the writer's conference.


Picadou in the Parque Juárez

Picadou also spent a lot of time in Washington DC, where I lived on and off for a few years. (I still teach once in a while at the Writer's Center, where I serve on the board.) Here's a (very brief) video of her at Rosedale, the historic estate in Cleveland Park (with an attached dog park--yeah!) that features in my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. 



Back when I was flogging my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, my guest-blog post about Picadou appeared (with more photos) in Marshal Zeringue's #1 author & dog blog, Coffee with a Canine.

And here she is in her fire-engine-red coat on a stormy day visiting Sky Meadows  in Virginia:




Here she models her new spring coat (another one of the results of my learning to make little videos with iMovie):




Dashing back into the office, Mexico City:





Here she is on a visit to California, looking uncharacteristically serious, with her uncle Pabu:





Over the past few years, Picadou was more often than not snoozing on my lap as I wrote… for this blog, for my podcasts (though sometimes the snoring was a problem...) and my latest book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual.  

Last month, after a long life of 14 years and almost another month, Picadou crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

Rest in peace, little one.



Picadou at 14 years.

In answer to the question everyone asks: Yes. More about Uli anon.

Next up in the blog hop: Judy Leaver. Check in with her blog next Monday.

COMMENTS always welcome.

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Cyberflanerie: Bughouse Poet's and Other Far Out Books Edition

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Definitely different: Bill Zavatsky on Richard Griffin, the Bughouse Poet, in The Sienese Shredder.

Mine it! My amiga novelist and blogger (Work-inProgress) Leslie Pietrzyk has posted her best books read in 2013 list.

(Mine mine here.)

Honey & Wax has issued an amazing second catalog-- for those who might prefer to buy a book instead of a car. (Well, pourquoi pas?)

It was in-print for over a century: Jeff Peachy on the parachute guy and the best bookbinding manual ever. (Jeff Peachy is one of my new favorite bloggers.)

Laila Lailami has just announced her new novel forthcoming in 2014, The Moor's Account. For my book-in-progress about Far West Texas, I'm writing about Cabeza de Vaca, so I'm especially eager to read this novel from the point of view of Estebanico.

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Cyberflanerie: Internet Book Shopping Edition

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The Norton Book Sofa
October and November were intense... no more books for me, Santa, but oh, do I want some of these Brodart book covers... (Why didn't I start buying and using them sooner?!?!)


The Norton book sofa: perfect for rare book collectors.


So whimsical: KnobCreek Metal Arts bookends on etsy.

A well so deep it must go to China: bodaciously great source of antiquarian books (and used whatnot) at www.abebooks.com

Not sure how to get started with rare book collecting? ABC for Book Collectors by John Carter  and Nicolas Barker. 

And do buy Leslie Pietrzyk's novels! P.S. Highlights of her recent talk for the Writer's Center's Leesburg First Friday series on writing short fiction and long fiction here.

Books, books, books! Bookman's Log!

For Baja Buffs and soon-to-be-Baja Buffs: Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico. 

The rest of the gang is here.

P.S. I'll be posting my top 10 reads for the year in the next couple of weeks. Last year's, topped by Sara Mansfield Taber's lyrical Born Under an Assumed Name, is here.

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