I have some big news to share this month: I have been accepted to the Under The Volcano writing retreat taking place in Tepoztlán, Mexico, in January of next year. During the retreat, I will be participating in the Writing Of Witness masterclass run by US-Mexican writer Jennifer Clement.
As I wrote about in a previous update, I’m a bit nervous about going because it feels like a big step in my writing career. Not only that, but many writers I look up to have attended the program, such as Reyna Grande and Javier Zamora, among others. Despite my pre-conference jitters, I’m looking forward to the trip and am honored to have been selected.
On the writing front, I’ve completed four chapters of my magical realism rewrite. My writing pace is a little slower than I had hoped, partly because it took me a while to understand magical realism as a genre and figure out how I wanted to use it. Overall, I believe my changes are enhancing the story, and I feel really good about what I am producing.
For those of you who are early readers, I will upload the new chapters to my site in the coming weeks. I don’t necessarily need feedback on these revisions. I’m mostly just sharing the chapters so that you can get a sense of where I’m headed with the project. Of course, if you have any thoughts about the rewrite, I’m always interested in hearing what you think.
This month, I have been reading Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias. I picked this book because it is written with magical realism and takes place in Costa Rica during the 1990s when I first started traveling there.
I found the story a bit difficult to get into at first, as there are many names, and the author uses a lot of very literary descriptions, which are sometimes hard for me to follow. Despite the slow start, I am enjoying reading about a country that I have visited many times.
I wanted to share this one passage describing the Costa Rican bus drivers, which I found quite amusing. If you have ever traveled through the country by bus, you know exactly how this feels.
As soon as they crossed San Jose's boundaries and the gridlock broke the bus driver took it as his cue to drive like a madman. He handled the bus as one might a sleek motorcycle at a speed of no less than 80 km/h, and with a car dodging instinct that showed either a mastery or complete lack of regard for human life.
I’m not done with the book yet, but hopefully, I’ll have a full review ready for next month’s update.
During the month ahead, I will continue to work on the magical realism rewrite and start to prepare for my trip to Mexico. I hope you all have a pleasant fall and I’ll be in touch!
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.
