On Publishing
It’s “Please-Look-at-Me” Time Again
My third book of fiction Living Color: Angie Rubio Stories comes out this fall from Jaded Ibis Press and the please-look-at-me part of being a writer has begun. It started with my publisher asking for blurbs on my behalf. It’s a big thing to ask, given that it’s a request for someone’s time. It’s also…
Read MoreWhere resolution meets writing even when my resolution isn’t about writing
I have one firmly defined and achievable resolution, and I have one that is maybe not a resolution after all, but some vague hope. But I’m making a connection between that resolution and that hope, because I’m making a connection between that resolution and everything in my life. My resolution: To be able to have…
Read MoreWhen a person of color tells conference organizers their conference is too white
You could say I asked for it, that I knew what I was getting into. Still, I went. To the San Miguel de Allende Writers’ Conference. I wrote about it in a previous post. I’d long known about the conference. And I’d long wanted to experience San Miguel de Allende, its picturesque cobblestone streets, its…
Read More#UnaFamiliaInPhotos Contest Winner 3 and Grand Prize Winner
Congratulations to Patty Enrado, winner of Week 3 of the #UnaFamiliaInPhotos Twitter contest! Her photo of her, her father, her sister, her aunties, uncles, and manongs is captioned “Family get-togethers always involve pig roasting.” It’s a photo that conveys family ties, tradition, and celebration. The runner-up is Michelle Peñaloza who submitted a photo of…
Read MoreUna Familia in Photos
Hola and Goodbye is a collection of stories about three generations of a family. In anticipation of its November 1 release from Carolina Wren Press, I’m running a contest on Twitter and inviting Twitter users to post a family photo with a caption. The photo above is of some friends of my grandfather, who was also a…
Read MoreThe Endurance of the Raven
This year Raven Chronicles, the literary journal based in Seattle that publishes work reflective of the cultural diversity of the Pacific Northwest and beyond, turns twenty-three. To mark this milestone, there will be a panel at the 2014 AWP Conference February 26-March 1 held this year in Seattle at the Washington State Convention Center. The…
Read MoreLies, Fakery, and Fiction
I took vacation time from work last week to work on my new novel. I wanted to put myself on track to finish a draft by the end of the year. While I made good progress, I might have made more had I not allowed myself to be distracted by the Internet. I was posting…
Read MoreWhy and How I Made a Book Trailer
“Look, Mom. I wrote a book!” Approval from Mom. That’s all we want, isn’t it? Well, maybe when we were three and Mom equaled the world. But now, isn’t it the world’s attention we’re really after? Okay, maybe not the world. But some very modest portion of it. A sliver. Because writers spend a good…
Read MoreLaunching a Daughter, Launching a Book
Gestation and birth are words often used to describe the writing and publishing of a book. The book is the baby, the creation of it is a gestation, and the presentation of it to the world is a birth. This is not an analogy I’ve ever used myself. Having gestated and birthed two children, it’s…
Read MoreThe Hard (Un)sell
My publisher is a small, start-up press based in Hong Kong—too small and too new to send its authors on book tours, it if believed in such a thing. And because I can’t afford to hire a publicist, booking readings is up to me, which I’m perfectly willing to do. Or so I thought. My…
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