Labor Day Update

Hope y’all are having a peaceful and relaxing Labor Day weekend. The sun is shining out my window, but as of 5:15 p.m. Sunday, I have yet to greet it: there’s too crazy much to do! Some updates I’d love to share with you:

* Travelers’ Tales just sent me a box full of the latest translation of 100 Places Every Woman Should Go, from Korea. I can’t believe how thick it is–nearly double the heft of the original. Too bad I can’t read a word… though the layout/design/photography is terrific. Here’s the cover:

Que fun, no?

* The Believer has bought my profile of master frescoist Frederico Vigil! I met this extraordinary artist last May, when I was teaching at the National Latino Writers Conference at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, and was so blown away by his latest work–a 4,000 square foot fresco detailing 3,000 years of Latino history–I interviewed him on the spot. I returned to Albuquerque last October for the grand opening of the fresco, and have been in contact with him ever since. He is truly a magical man, and the Believer will be running my 4,000-word profile in their annual arts issue in November.

* The Florida Review has asked to publish the first chapter of my thesis/next book, currently titled Corpitos: Mystics and Mayhem in South Texas. The essay is called “A Sort of Homecoming,” and details my experiences at a silent retreat in Sarita, Texas, where I decided that, rather than run around the world again for my next book, I should take time to deeper explore my hometown and surrounding area. This essay will be featured in their Winter 2011 volume.

* The beautiful and talented Adriana V. Lopez has asked me to submit an essay for her forthcoming anthology Las Comadres: Latina Authors Reflect on Friendships, due out next spring with Simon & Schuster. I had a blast writing a ditty called “Road Sisters,” about my decade-long friendship with Brazilian international aide rockstar Daphne Sorensen, one of my U.S. Trekker teammates. Seriously: if any of you writers out there are in need of a pick-me-up, write an ode to your most beloved friend. It will make you laugh and cry, at the same time.

Bueno, here’s wishing you all a happy long weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Comments

  1. I am really glad you are having so much success now. It looks like you are getting several things published. I hope your thesis will be published for the general public. It sounds interesting. I also am amazed how much our different lives intersect. I am from a small town near Asheville, NC where you will be speaking in September– Tryon if you happen to go south from Asheville. I still regret I didn’t get to visit with you more in Alaska. I am off to South Africa in a couple of weeks and bought a couple of travel writing books you recommended. I hope to take good notes and pictures and to be able to write something about my experience working with animals, especially the lions in Lion Park in Johannesburg, and then traveling around the country. Let me know the next time you offer your travel writing course. I am looking forward to taking it then.
    Stephanie Jaeger

    • Thanks so much for the kind words of support, Stephanie! I too regret we didn’t have more time in Alaska, but I can’t imagine our paths won’t cross again, considering how much we both travel! Best wishes and enjoy Lion Park.
      Stephanie

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