Events
Farewell, Seattle (After AWP)
My husband and I are moving to Spain. Soon. Like next week. The idea had been in our heads for a year and the actual visa process was in the works for months. But when the visas arrived in the mail sooner than we imagined and we realized we needed to apply for our residency…
Read MoreHow to escape your writing woes: A garden book party on a golden day
When the path for getting your next book out in the world is a hamster wheel of rejection—one long, squeaky NO spinning like a broken record—go forth into the sunshine should there be any in your rainy Pacific Northwest city and revel among a genial band of other writers and readers as you all celebrate…
Read MoreHow much do I suck at selling my books?
When the invitation came in my email to participate in a community book festival in Long Beach this April, I thought, why not. My last book was published in September of 2020, over a year and a half ago. Okay, call it two years. My book came out during the pandemic so any events I…
Read MoreMy AWP 2022: All real, all true
AWP – that annual mega writing conference that some abhor and others adore, or at least like well enough to attend when they can and feel a pang of regret when they can’t. I last attended in 2019 in Portland, canceled my plans for 2020 in San Antonio as the pandemic loomed, and tuned in…
Read MoreWhat I missed when I missed my 50-year high school reunion
I missed my 50-year high school reunion last month. I had purchased a ticket to the event months ahead of time and booked a hotel room in Old Town San Diego for three nights, planning to use it as a mini writing retreat. I was going to write while reuning. But as the date neared,…
Read MoreThe 10th birthday of When the de la Cruz Family Danced, my 68th birthday, and other numbers
Today is my birthday and I’m 68 years old. Ten years ago today, I celebrated the publication of my first book When the de la Cruz Family Danced.* My father, to whom the book was dedicated, never got to read it. He had been dead eighteen years. He died the year I turned forty when…
Read MorePreparing to talk to Alberto Ríos
How does a non-poet prepare to interview a prolific and esteemed poet who has garnered national awards, was selected as the inaugural poet laureate of Arizona, and served as chancellor of the American Academy of Poets? With trepidation and fingers crossed that she doesn’t mess it up. Next month I’ll be interviewing prolific Chicano poet…
Read MoreReading books during a pandemic
There’s a terrible inequity in asking people to please read my new book Living Color: Angie Rubio Stories when I’ve been unable to read more than a few books since the pandemic disrupted our lives and unsettled our psyches. While many others found solace and refuge in books, my brain failed to connect with words…
Read MoreLiterary April (and the tail end of March)
Every month is literary for readers and writers, but it seemed like April has been especially full of events for me, both as participant and audience. Here’s a brief rundown: AWP I’m going to cheat and start with AWP, which was at the end of March, so practically April, right? I went to a lot…
Read MoreArt and Nonfiction and Books I Want to Read: Finding Inspiration at the NonfictioNOW Conference
“We are essayists. We can make a difference,” Stephanie Elizondo Griest said in her electrifying keynote talk that capped the three-day NonfictioNOW Conference in Phoenix recently. I’m a fiction writer. But I went – an interloper, a mole – to glean what I could about writing essays. Not to forsake fiction. I’ll always wants to…
Read More