What I'm Writing
Here's where I talk about my ongoing projects.
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While Fiesta Plans Brew, Here’s the Story Behind a Couple of Saint Down’s Illustrations
The fiesta for the launch of The Music of Pedro will be a journey into the book, which is why I was set on Highland Gardens as the venue. I want our guests to take a trip from Utah Valley in November to the tropics of a greenhouse, something like the setting of our story: Pivámoc, Jalisco.
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Ode to My Graphic Designer: A Story of Violent Affection
My best friend is a Berrett cousin I’ve patiently corrupted. We were both in junior high when we discovered our mutual love of writing and spent the weekends co-writing stories that featured our wish-fulfilling counterparts, one blond and blue-eyed like my cousin and the other a brown-skinned brunette. This is the story of how I lured her to the Cuevas ways.
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Wistful August Wrap-Up
I met my benchmarks a few days ahead of schedule and I have a moment to forget the weeks and months ahead until launch. Instead I look backward. I consider what I’ve personally put into this book and why, what it communicates to me and what I hope it will communicate to others, and also how much I love my dad.
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Shouting at a Lover by the Sea: Graciela Enjoys Her Power, Such As it Was
Did she enjoy this? she wondered. She shouldn’t, but his lips took hers hungrily and the knowledge of his wanting stabbed her with desire, like that first burn of a hard drink, the way it entered her head with a hum. At least when he wanted her like this, there was something of him that was hers and she was grateful for that power, such as it was. Sometimes it could feel like everything.
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Tlacati, He is Born, but Dina Wished for a Girl
At least a month after her arrival in Pivámoc, Dina woke in the dark, early morning to pounding at her front door. Throwing a shawl about her shoulders, she ran to find Lea at her doorstep in a nightgown and slippers. Her long black hair was plaited into a single braid and dangled from the nape of her neck as she held herself between the legs with one hand, the other pressing hard into her lower back.
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Achievement Unlocked: Adobe InDesign (plus a Sneak Peek at Some Illustrations and Cover Designs)
What it was like to learn InDesign: You walk into a craft store simply knowing that you want to have a pretty house. You feel your eyes get big as your wallet gasps and then you find yourself in the clearance section at the back of the store maybe picking out some beads. Are you frightened? Strangely, yes. Do you feel inadequate? You bet.
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Sleuths of 642 South: Ode to Hyperbole and a Half
I was an enthusiastic fan of Encyclopedia Brown, so the plan was to journey outward, beyond the walls of our house, even beyond the cul-de-sac, and to gather clues. We had a magnifying glass and a notepad for just that purpose. The only thing we were missing was an actual mystery to solve.
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Writing The Music Of Pedro: Weaving Truth with Fiction
The story is fictional but very much based on true events. It reveals much about me, my life experiences, and a wistfulness for how I wish some things could have been. --Sergio A.C. Pizano
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A New Ending to My Marriage: Dreaming Up a Better Story
There’s a reason I dreamt a better story five years later: "I was a shit wife" and "We were better as friends" or "I married too young" are reasons and excuses all in one, and less fun than invention.
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I Suspect My Dad Raised Me to Rewrite His Book: On Harnessing Words of Dis/Encouragement
Much of what I was reading voraciously at the time could be called uninspired, but it scratched an itch, gave me something to mimic, and it was published. I wanted more than anything to do what those authors had done and smell my own words mixed with that pulp potpourri.