2 Comments on October Skies, last added: 10/29/2012
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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 10/29/2012
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: New Mexico, Albuquerque, Add a tag
By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 9/3/2012
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: running, me, Albuquerque, Add a tag
By: Contributing Bloguistas:,
on 8/18/2012
Blog: La Bloga (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: National Hispanic Cultural Center, readings, chicano literature, Albuquerque, Rudy Ch. Garcia, The Closet of Discarded Dreams, chicano novel, Add a tag
By coincidence, I'm in the same publishing stage as Melinda Palacio who posted yesterday on La Bloga about turning in her final manuscript for her upcoming book of poetry, entitled How Fire Is a Story Waiting. I too just turned in the final for my upcoming novel, The Closet of Discarded Dreams. Dos frijoles in a pod?
Feel free to pass this info along. And hurry before the Closet’s Door slams shut!
By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 4/22/2011
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: New Mexico, desert, writer's life, your questions answered, Albuquerque, writing, Add a tag
By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 2/28/2011
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Albuquerque, Add a tag
For people who've never been to the Southwest, tumbleweeds are mysterious, weird dried things that roll around in old Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons.
Last Thursday, I brought my phone along on my run and tried to see the trail with outsider's eyes.
Those weeds took on a beauty of their own, resting up against the dusky greens of the chamisa, the dried branches of other desert shrubs,
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By: Cinda Williams Chima,
on 6/16/2010
Blog: Cinda Williams Chima (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: lake effect, weather, Albuquerque, Add a tag
By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 5/14/2010
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: motherhood, Louisiana, moving, Albuquerque, The Duke City Project, Sandias, church plant, Add a tag
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By: Sondra Santos LaBrie,
on 7/8/2009
Blog: Happy Healthy Hip Parenting (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: denver, road trips, BlogHer, 1999, albuquerque, Chevy, breckenridge, Add a tag
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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 10/29/2012
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: New Mexico, Albuquerque, Add a tag
By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 9/3/2012
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: running, me, Albuquerque, Add a tag
Two weekends ago, my niece and I ran a 5k called the Color Run.
It's a race that involves being pelted with colored powder.
Jackie and I got very silly and took a lot of pictures.
I love running, but I can also get discouraged by the amount of work it sometimes requires. That's why an un-timed, goofy race like this is fun. It's a chance to play, a chance to celebrate, a chance to recharge.
Any other Color Runners out there?
Any other Color Runners out there?
4 Comments on Color Run-derful!, last added: 9/3/2012
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By: Contributing Bloguistas:,
on 8/18/2012
Blog: La Bloga (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: National Hispanic Cultural Center, readings, chicano literature, Albuquerque, Rudy Ch. Garcia, The Closet of Discarded Dreams, chicano novel, Add a tag
A reading and book-signing of Rudy Ch. Garcia's
The Closet of Discarded Dreams
Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012, 2:00 p.m.
at the
National Hispanic Cultural Center
1701 4th Street SW Albuquerque, Nuevo Mexico
For info: 505-246-2261
Some of my promotion efforts for my new book, like the above, have born fruit. I'm honored at the opportunity, but a little nervous at the prospect of the Hispanic Center's membership cringing when I utter the word Chicano. Hopefully the literary experience will be good for both of us. Their September events will be listed here soon.
By coincidence, I'm in the same publishing stage as Melinda Palacio who posted yesterday on La Bloga about turning in her final manuscript for her upcoming book of poetry, entitled How Fire Is a Story Waiting. I too just turned in the final for my upcoming novel, The Closet of Discarded Dreams. Dos frijoles in a pod?By an even greater coincidence, Melinda graced our patio in Denver this past week at a small gathering of writers, artists and familia. In her post Melinda wrote how she preferred live readings and we were treated to a sampling of both her work and her voice. It wasn't the sing-song rendition that some poets perform, it was more hearing descriptions of thought and feeling from the poetess' own mouth. Four poems representing the book's four sections gave us a great experience of the literary lyrics in her book. I highly recommend not only buying it, but seeing and hearing her in person. Melinda was a delight.
With all the work preparatory to my book being released in September, my head and days seem to be filled with book business, if not the literary. And with little prospects for employment this next school year, my life seems to be transforming into something like the writer's life, albeit with little to no income to support it.
Last week on my front patio the Friday evening, end-of-week cervezas turned into a discussion about the of starting one's own publishing company to distribute one's novels. Manuel Ramos, Pocho Joe of KUVO La Raza Rocks fame (that you can stream on-line here), myself and a neighbor who's completed a novel batted around this idea, ending with an agreement to agree that every novelist should decide his own path. Goes to show you how deeply cervezas can uncover the ultimate truth.
And one morning this week, an aspiring author and I traded our entries for Esquire Magazine's 79-word story contest. (No entry fee, great prize and only a couple of weeks left to enter.) This was no reading out loud experience, but instead a process of reading each other's work to ourselves several times. Some authors prefer not to undertake this sharing, but I sometimes find it beneficial, as happened that day.
My initial promotion was a great success. The first 25 autographed, monogrammed and numbered copies of my novel have been spoken for. I now know I'll sell at least that many the first week it's out. About mid-September or earlier when it's available, I'll have to aim for 26. Possibly even more.
Over on The Closet of Discarded Dreams website, it's obvious that it's not easy to give away an autographed copy of a new book from a debut novelist. Maybe I made the rules too difficult, so I decided to change them to make it simpler. Below are the new ways to win, so I encourage La Bloga readers to enter.
Winning an autographed copy – now made easier!
Beginning Sept. 1st, readers can enter to win an autographed copy of The Closet of Discarded Dreams (continental U.S., only; an unsigned E-book or pdf for others), following its release in Sept., each week I’ll randomly pick one lucky person.
Here’s how: This novel is filled with dreams, nightmares, aspirations and passions that people have abandoned. DON’T send me one of yours. Instead just send 5 words or more that pertain to your dream or whatever. If you don’t have one, make it up; I won’t know the diff. Example: bicycle, monster, nighttime, my BFF, eating nachos. Simple, huh?
Fill out the “Contact the Author” form on the homepage, put “My dream” or nightmare, etc. in the Subject line. Send me your words in the Message box. I’ll blindly draw one winner. I’ll only announce the winner, not their words, unless you prefer to.
This week Facebook and Twitter sites should be ready for the book. Hope you "like" them.
Es todo, hoy,
RudyG
3 Comments on The Closet goes to Albuquerque NHCC, last added: 9/8/2012
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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 4/22/2011
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: New Mexico, desert, writer's life, your questions answered, Albuquerque, writing, Add a tag
I would love to know about your writing routine, because if someone asks me that I look at them funny and say, "What's that?" My four-year-old seems to think that whenever I sit down at the computer it's time for him to need food/attention/a playmate/you name it.
I have to admit I almost didn't include "writing routine" on my list of ideas to get you readers thinking, probably because my routine is never the same. My husband had a seminary professor that used to describe balance as "momentary synchronicity" -- a great way to also sum up my writing schedule. What works for me now didn't work for me while I was teaching and certainly didn't work when I was home with toddlers.
During my teaching years, my creative energy was spent by the end of the day. The school year was for revision; the summer for new drafts. As a stay-at-home mom, I aimed for three writing sessions a week. Some lasted ten minutes, others, when I had a sitter, were two-hour stretches. It took me a long time to move forward, but in those phases of my life, that's the way things worked.
Word counts stress me out, especially because I spend so much of my time working on verse or picture books. It can take me weeks, sometimes, to move past a handful of words. What I've found to work for me is general monthly goals. In the last few months, I've focused on working with my editor on revisions, line edits, and copy edits on one novel; returning revisions to my agent on another; and beginning (then beginning again) research on a third novel.
Have I met every goal? The ones with deadlines, yes. The others? No. My hope was to have finished the research by now. But when I look back over the last few months, I have done a huge amount of work. Writing, I've learned, isn't something I can quantify. Maybe this will change in the years to come, but for now, general monthly goals keep me motivated and free to let the words come.
What's it like to live in the desert?
The desert is my first love, so I've returned to New Mexico utterly biased. When I first moved here in 1980, I'd spent three years in the deserts of Saudi Arabia. This place was lush in comparison. When my husband moved to Albuquerque as a boy, he moved from Michigan, and this place took quite a bit of getting used to. I suppose what you love in part stems from what you've been exposed to. I've happily lived in and loved a variety of places across the country and around the world, but nothing compares to the New Mexico desert. With the low humidity and high elevation, everything is sharp and clear beneath a turquoise sky that reaches from the Sandia and Manzano Mountains in Albuquerque all the way to Mt. Taylor (150 miles to the west and visible from the city). The scrubby juniper bushes smell like my childhood. The chamisa and tumbleweeds add a natural beauty. The dirt smells glorious after the rain. It's heavenly and familiar and lovely. I've been happy everywhere I've lived, but I'm thrilled to be home.
Thanks, all, who participated in this question and answer session.
7 Comments on The Answers: Writing Routine and Desert Living, last added: 4/23/2011
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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 2/28/2011
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Albuquerque, Add a tag
Last week, when I posted on Facebook that I'd wrestled a massive tumbleweed to get in my van, Gae had me promise I'd write a tumbleweed post -- complete with pictures -- on my blog.
In college my sister, fascinated by tumbleweeds, took one back to school as her carry-on item. Years later, I found it in her guest room closet.
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18 Comments on For You, Ms. Polisner, last added: 3/3/2011
By: Cinda Williams Chima,
on 6/16/2010
Blog: Cinda Williams Chima (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: lake effect, weather, Albuquerque, Add a tag
In different parts of the country, there are differing definitions of “bad weather,” depending on whether they actually have any. I mean, everybody likes to talk about the weather, right? Some of us just have more to talk about.
Where I come from, it’s not bad weather unless we can shovel it. Or unless trees are coming down around our ears. We take pride in our bad weather, the summer and winter storms that roll in off the Great Lakes. “Yep, I remember the blizzard of ’78. It was so cold we had to wrap up in snowdrifts to keep warm. It was so windy, the barn blew inside out and we had to staple the cows to the roof.”
California may have its Santa Anas and the Mediterranean its Mistrals and Sciroccos, but here on the North Coast we have the witch of November—the gales that sink ships on the Great Lakes.
We also have something called “lake effect,” where the Northwest winds pick up Lake Erie and dump it on our heads in the form of rain, sleet or snow.
In some parts of the country, if you predict “sunny and hot” you’ll be right ninety per cent of the time. Where I live, weather is a big deal. We treat our meteorologists like shamans (shamen?) and hang on their every word. Sometimes they are woefully wrong, but we forgive them. Predicting the weather around here is hard.
In the midwest, we’re good at coping with bad weather. The birth rate always skyrockets nine months after a big snowstorm or a power outage. I’m just sayin’.
My husband and I went on our first date during the Great Fourth of July storm of 1968. Um. We were—um—in preschool. The fireworks were called off, the trees came down, we went back to the house, and a great romance was kindled that still burns today.
A couple of years ago I was in LA for the SCBWI Summer conference. The conference buzzed about the bad weather. It was raining.
“Maybe you’d better leave for the airport early,” people said, in the hushed, excited tones we reserve for the hundred-year storm. “There’s no telling what the traffic will be like.”
I was in San Antonio, Tx, last February, at a time that Mother Nature was relentlessly dumping snow on the Midwest. People in SA were apologizing for the weather. It was…cloudy.
‘We don’t usually get clouds this time of year,’ they said, looking skyward and rubbing their chins. ‘Sorry ‘bout that.’
By whatever the local definition, bad weather seems to occur wherever I am. I’m in San Francisco in a downpour, and folks are saying, Huh! It never rains this time of year.
So right now I’m in A
2 Comments on Weather or Not, last added: 6/18/2010
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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 5/14/2010
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: motherhood, Louisiana, moving, Albuquerque, The Duke City Project, Sandias, church plant, Add a tag
A lot is going on in my world right now. We are in the process of moving from Louisiana back to Albuquerque, NM, where my husband and I grew up and married. There are a few other minor events going on: waiting to sell one house, trying to buy another, wrapping up my boys' school year, and, in a few days, receiving my first edits. No pressure!
Dan and I have always loved our hometown, but realistically never thought there would be the opportunity to go back. Until now. He's been asked to start a new Presbyterian church. From scratch. (That means the four of us, to begin with).
And another thing: we need to come up with half the money to sustain a little church for three years.
We've put offers on two lovely houses, only to be turned down. In this market, sellers are cautious when it comes to buyers who haven't yet sold their own homes.
In some ways, this process is terrifying. We've stepped out onto the edge of a cliff, trusting a safety net to be there when we jump, when we return to this beauty:
By: Sondra Santos LaBrie,
on 7/8/2009
Blog: Happy Healthy Hip Parenting (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: denver, road trips, BlogHer, 1999, albuquerque, Chevy, breckenridge, Add a tag
So, you know when you tell your kids that they're driving you crazy? I say that often and usually my son knows I'm joking and he'll say the same thing to me when he's in a silly mood. Lately, though, I've been thinking about the whole driving thing and how I'm about to head out on a roadtrip in a few weeks that'll take me over 2,000 miles - without my son. Now, that's crazy!
Even though my BlogHer trip is not (yet) sponsored, it is, sort of. You see, Chevy, the carpool sponsor, will be providing me with a brand-spanking-new Chevy Tahoe Hybrid to drive from my house here in San Diego to the Sheraton in Chicago. They may even be able to provide the 2010 Chevy Equinox if it arrives in time!
The last time I drove halfway across the country was when my friend from college convinced me to move to San Diego ten years ago. I had never even stepped foot in California before, but there was a lot of drama going on in my life at the time and I really needed a change of scenery.
I knew nothing about San Diego, other than what I had heard about the perfect weather and beautiful beaches. Is there really anything else you need to know after growing up in Minnesota?!
My friend's sister joined us on the road trip and we had a blast, stopping in Breckenridge, Denver and Albuquerque along the way. We had so many crazy experiences, met a lot of cool people and spent a lot longer on the road that we had originally anticipated.
I love Chicago. I used to drive there with my friends for the weekend during college. We'd check out the museums during the day and hit up the bars at night. I don't know when we ever slept, but I have a feeling BlogHer is going to be pretty much the same. Seriously, we'll all be partying like it's 1999!
Even though my BlogHer trip is not (yet) sponsored, it is, sort of. You see, Chevy, the carpool sponsor, will be providing me with a brand-spanking-new Chevy Tahoe Hybrid to drive from my house here in San Diego to the Sheraton in Chicago. They may even be able to provide the 2010 Chevy Equinox if it arrives in time!
The last time I drove halfway across the country was when my friend from college convinced me to move to San Diego ten years ago. I had never even stepped foot in California before, but there was a lot of drama going on in my life at the time and I really needed a change of scenery.
I knew nothing about San Diego, other than what I had heard about the perfect weather and beautiful beaches. Is there really anything else you need to know after growing up in Minnesota?!
My friend's sister joined us on the road trip and we had a blast, stopping in Breckenridge, Denver and Albuquerque along the way. We had so many crazy experiences, met a lot of cool people and spent a lot longer on the road that we had originally anticipated.
I love Chicago. I used to drive there with my friends for the weekend during college. We'd check out the museums during the day and hit up the bars at night. I don't know when we ever slept, but I have a feeling BlogHer is going to be pretty much the same. Seriously, we'll all be partying like it's 1999!
Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
Peace Begins in the Home
1 Comments on DriveHer, last added: 7/8/2009
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The clouds are feathery. Beautiful!
Gorgeous! I love sky photos : )