Despite February being the shortest month of the year, I got a lot done.
I spent a good chunk of February writing a draft of an essay for The NACLA Report magazine about how I came to terms with being forcibly disappeared. I'm really proud of my writing for this piece because it concisely tells a complex story while exploring the difficult emotions that this experience brings up.
The essay will be part of NACLA's summer issue, which focuses on the phenomenon of forced disappearances throughout the Americas. I can't wait to share it with all of you later this year once it is published.
The other project I worked on this month was creating a workshop that focuses on how to tell a personal story. Over the past decade, learning storytelling and story structure has not only helped me become a better writer but has also given me an outlet to process and share my experiences. I hope this workshop will empower other people in the same way.
I was able to do a test run of the material last week with an immigration stories class at the high school where I coach. I think the students got a lot out of it, although sometimes it's hard to tell. This coming weekend, I will run the workshop in full with a group of adult adoptees. I'm really excited to help them tell their stories and see what they create from the experience.
In book news, I haven't begun pitching agents again, but I came up with a big idea for the next draft of the book. While I'm not quite ready to share all the details, I am excited about what this could mean for the project.
If all that wasn't enough, I also recorded two interviews.
One was for an episode of the Unraveling Adoption Podcast, on which I talked about the complexities of adoption and the historical and cultural context of forced disappearances in Central and South America. You can listen to the recording on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or on the web.
The other interview was for a program about Pro-Búsqueda, the NGO that helped reunite me with my family, that will be airing on the BBC in early April. I recorded it alongside my adoptive mother, Margaret E. Ward, and we talked about our experiences of being reunited with my birth family. I will share a link to that when it is released.
I'm part of a book group with other Central and South American adoptees, and we recently finished reading You Sound Like A White Girl by Julissa Arce.
The book was really good, and I especially appreciated her discussion on the difficulties and nuances of Latinidad, which, as an adoptee, get even more complicated.
My coaching job has started up again, so life is about to get even busier! However, as I said in my January update, I will do my best to send out these updates regularly.
Speaking of updates, we are two weeks away from restarting our newsletter for Identifying Nelson/Buscando a Roberto, so be sure to subscribe if you would like to get those emails.
Alright, that's enough for now. I hope you have a wonderful month!
Sincerely,
Nelson/Roberto
Throughout most of January, I participated in the Under the Volcano writing residency in Tepoztlán, Mexico, which was an unforgettable experience that I will reflect on for some time. The remarkable people I met there inspired me to continue developing my craft.
This past month has been a good one. I was able to get some writing done and have finished seven chapters of my magical realism rewrite. I also started working on one of the new historical fiction scenes, and have been preparing for my writer’s retreat in Mexico.
This month’s update will be shorter, as most of November was occupied by my fall coaching job. Despite the hectic end of the season, I was able to get some writing done and prepare for my trip to Tepotzlán, Mexico.
