And the WINNER is...

Congratulations, J.  You won the autographed copy of Death at Solstice: A Gloria Damasco Mystery by Lucha Corpi.  J., please send me your email so that I can get your info for the book.

A big thank you to all of the readers who stopped by to read my interview with Lucha Corpi and to those of you who left a question or comment! 

I wish everyone a very wonderful Holiday season!  Thank you to my newest followers.  Yes, I noticed and I am grateful! ;)

Wishing you dreams to fulfill and the inspiration needed to do so!
~the sol within~
       Anna

The Sol Within Welcomes author LUCHA CORPI!

Welcome, Lucha Corpi, author of Death at Solstice: A Gloria Damasco Mystery!
 
Author's Bio:

For Lucha Corpi, art has always meant activism. As a woman, a Hispanic, an immigrant and a mother, she has always found herself breaking down barriers in both life and literature.

Corpi was born in 1945 in Jáltipan, Veracruz, Mexico, a small tropical village on the Gulf of Mexico into a community that fostered creativity, performances and an appreciation for music, poetry and storytelling.

In 1964, she married and moved with her husband to Berkeley, California, a city in the throes of the students' Free Speech Movement, which ignited the most turbulent decade in the history of the University of California-Berkley campus. It also coincided with the inception of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement in the southwestern United States.

Following an emotionally devastating divorce in 1970, Corpi found herself alone and in pain, with no family except her young son Arturo and very few friends. She turned to writing simply to get hold of her feelings, to face her contradictions and keep chaos at bay.


Her initial writing forays led to the exploration of poetry in Spanish as an outlet for her creativity. In 1970, she received a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship for poems later included in Palabras de mediodia/Noon Words (Fuego de Aztlán Publications, 1980; bilingual edition Arte Público Press, 2001). Her first collection of poems appeared in Fireflight: Three Latin American Poets (Oyes, 1976), and a third poetry collection followed: Variaciones sobre una tempestad / Variations on a Storm (Third Woman Press, 1990).

During that same decade, Corpi resumed her university studies which had been interrupted by her marriage and supporting her husband while he studied. The UC-Berkeley campus provided an excellent forum for her political activism. Among other pursuits, Corpi was one of five founding members of the Aztlán Cultural, an arts service organization that years later would merge with Centro Chicano de Escritores (Chicano Writers Center). She also joined the Comité Popular Educativo de la Raza, an organization of parents, students and teachers in Oakland that sought to establish bilingual child care centers and other programs in the city's unified school district.


After her first collection of poetry appeared, Corpi experienced a long and personally worrisome poetic silence. To ease the tension, she turned to prose, penning several award-winning short stories. In 1984, she wrote her first story in English and her first English-language novel, Delia's Song, was published by Arte Público Press in 1989.

In 1990, Corpi was twice honored: she was awarded a Creative Arts Fellowship in fiction by the City of Oakland, and she was named poet laureate at Indian University Northwest.

The publication of Eulogy for a Brown Angel: A Mystery Novel (Arte Público Press, 1992) was the culmination of a life-long dream. The novel won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award and the Multicultural Publishers Exchange Best Book of Fiction. Cactus Blood (Arte Público Press, 1995) is Corpi's second mystery novel featuring Chicana detective Gloria Damasco. Hispanic culture, the United Farm Workers movement and other social issues texture a suspenseful search for a ritualistic assassin. The publication of Black Widow’s Wardrobe (Arte Público Press, 1999) rounded out the trilogy known as The Gloria Damasco Series. Fans disappointed that The Gloria Damasco Series has come to an end can turn to Corpi’s first mystery novel in a new series, Crimson Moon: A Brown Angel Mystery (Arte Público Press, 2004). Weaving the student movements at Berkeley, a serial rapist within the government’s ranks, a militant Chicano brown power group in Denver, and even the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico, Corpi has once again penned an intriguing thriller that revisits one of the most disturbing chapters for the American psyche: the civil rights struggles and student revolts during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In addition to poetry and mystery novels, Lucha Corpi also writes for children. In 1997, she published her first bilingual picture book, Where Fireflies Dance / Ahí, donde bailan las luciérnagas (Children’s Book Press), and The Triple Banana Split Boy / Diente dulce (Arte Público Press) in 2009.

A tenured teacher in the Oakland Public Schools Neighborhood Centers Program for 30 years, she retired in 2005.

                                      ***********

When I created The Sol Within, it was with the intention to inspire other aspiring writers to fully commit to following their dreams.  Along the way on my journey, I also hoped that I may find some inspiration to keep me in pursuit of becoming the writer I know is within this soul!  Over these past four months I have been incredibly blessed to meet those that have inspired my soul and my writing!  I have learned a lot about myself and about others, thus far.  However, I know that this particular project will be a highlight in my career that I will forever remember fondly!  Thanks to Jo Ann Hernandez, of BronzeWord Latino, I had the incredible opportunity to interview the talented Lucha Corpi...the "Grand Dame of Chicano Mystery!"

My only regret is that the interview was not done in-person and that each reader of The Sol Within does not get the chance to sit and meet Lucha Corpi in-person.  But, I am certain that you will become as intrigued and admire her as much as I do, because Lucha's beautiful spirit will leap off of the screen and you will discover, for yourself, Lucha Corpi's incredbible soul within!  Now, it is with great honor that I invite you to sit back and enjoy my interview with Ms. Lucha Corpi...

Anna:  Why did you choose to write a mystery novel and when did you realize that the mysteries should become a series – one novel would not be enough to tell all about Gloria Damasco?


Lucha:  When I was a young girl, growing up in a very small tropical town in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, I fell in love with the detective story by reading “la pagina roja,” the crime page of the regional newspaper. It happened that I started grammar school at age four and was able to read well by age seven. At about that time, my father had a cornea transplant and was unable to read the newspaper so he asked me to read to him from it. I loved doing that for my father, whom I loved very much and who has been one of the most influential people in my life. He would let me choose from any page or section of the newspaper. But, of course, he would not allow me to read from the crime page. He would remove it, fold it and put it in his shirt pocket to dispose of it later. But he didn’t destroy it. So I always found it, hid in my favorite place, and read it.

La pagina roja contained all sorts of graphic details about knifings, accidents, brawls in the red light district and gaming parlors, shootings, etc. And talked about subjects I didn’t quite understand. But after awhile I began to lose interest in these kinds of graphic depictions of violent events, and became fascinated with stories where it was obvious there was “an intelligence” behind the crimes. Someone had taken the time to plot against, to steal from, rob, or murder someone else. Also there was always a police officer or an amateur detective—a busybody—who would take up the investigation of the crime and solve the mystery, or not. This is the basic mystery detective story, whether the investigation is conducted by an official or amateur detective. This is the kind of crime novel I write and love.

Later, I read many of the Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie stories in translation, and began to dream of penning a mystery story myself. But it wasn’t until 1990 that Gloria Damasco walked into my dream and I began the writing of Eulogy for a Brown Angel, my first mystery novel.

Up to that time, I had already considered writing a trilogy: Eulogy for a Brown Angel, Cactus Blood, and Black Widow’s Wardrobe. Now I have five mystery novels, though Crimson Moon is not one of the Gloria Damasco novels. Death at Solstice is. It is a very special book for me as it has come out this year as I celebrate the beginning of my writing career (as a poet then) forty years ago, and my association with Gloria Damasco for almost twenty of those years.

Anna:  In Library Journal a review of your book, Death at Solstice: A Gloria Damasco Mystery, states, “Corpi has constructed a twisting storyline that confounds her intelligent detective and the reader at every turn. This will please readers looking for a fast-paced tale with a Hispanic cultural background.” As a Latina writer, is it a conscious effort you make to write about stories centered around Latina/o main characters? If so, why do you feel this is important for you to do?

Lucha:  Yes. By the time, I plotted Eulogy I had read many mysteries as well as articles by mystery authors on the writing of crime fiction. I became familiar with the conventions of the mystery story. But I wasn’t interested in writing a conventional mystery. I wanted to write mysteries that highlighted the history and culture of Mexican Americans, of characters, including detectives, who were deeply rooted in the culture, and aware of our history in the U.S. as I was.

The conventional mystery story, since its inception with Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Purloined Letter,” has been a plot-driven story. The art of the mystery story resides on the author’s ability to carefully and seamlessly incorporate other aspects of life, such as historical, cultural and socio-political issues that confront those communities written about, without detracting from a fast-paced tight plot. I was very happy when I read the Library Journal’s review of Death at Solstice, because it means that I have done my job well.

Anna:  I read that you moved to Berkeley, California from Mexico in the ‘60s, endured a painful divorce in 1970- leaving you alone with your young son Arturo. Through it all, you have received many awards and honors, became a successful author and poet, a tenured teacher in Oakland, California, and successfully raised Arturo who is an associate professor. What advice can you give to Latinas- of any age- who may be currently struggling in their lives, but might be holding on to a glimmer of hope that they can still achieve their dreams?

Lucha:  I feel quite fortunate to have been born to parents who believed in educating the girls in the family as equally as the boys. My father was fond of telling my sister and me that “when you educate a man, you educate an individual. But when you educate a woman, you educate the whole family,” and that the “education of (his) grandchildren began with my sister’s and my education. My sister and I were expected to excel in school. And we did.

I also learned from a very young age that having been born with a talent for doing something, be that writing or any other kind of endeavor or enterprise, is only a small percentage of what is required to make your dreams come true. Lots of hard work is involved in making a dream come true. But it is not impossible. I came to this country with little knowledge of English, but with a great desire to learn it, to communicate and be able to fend for myself in a new culture, expressing daily in a language that left the taste of salt and tears on my tongue. A language not mine yet.

Five years after my arrival in Berkeley, the fabric of my life was slashed by a very painful divorce, and in need of mending. I became a single mom, the head of the household. But I was determined to do whatever was necessary to do well by my son and myself. I always speak about the next few years after my divorce as “my lean years in Berkeley.” It was hard to hold a 30-hour job as a bilingual secretary on campus and carry 12 college units per quarter, while being a caring and thoughtful mother and writing poetry. But it was the writing of poetry that kept me together during such adverse circumstances. I wrote poetry, almost in a manic way, every night because I felt that if I stopped writing I would also stop breathing. It was then I discovered that writing poetry was only for me. And I accepted for the first time in my life that there was nothing wrong with doing something that wasn’t meant for the benefit of others, but for me alone.

We women tend to think that taking care of ourselves is wrong, that we fail those we love or care for us. But it isn’t so. As much as I thank my parents for teaching me that my son’s education began with mine, I am more aware now that I am also an individual and that doing something for myself as well is not selfish on my part but necessary and fair.

Every human being is born with the potential for creativity in any chosen field. This applies to women as well and perhaps more so. My only advice to Latinas of any age is to devote time to fulfilling their own dreams, to be determined and disciplined about it, even if they only have an hour a day to dedicate to that pursuit. Self-motivation is a key factor in the pursuit of anything worth having, for us adults, as it is for children, and essential to succeed at what we do, were born to do, or find pleasure in doing. The personal reward is immense, something that no one else can take away from us, ever!

Anna:  I grew up in Northern California and know the Oakland area well. How did your experiences with your Latino students in Oakland affect the writing that you had within your soul? Is there any particular incident or child that really affected a particular writing project of yours?

Lucha:  Everything I experience, everything I read affects my writing. My students and my fellow teachers have inspired characters in my stories. For a while I wrote stories and poems for Houghton Mifflin, among other publishers, to be included in their Spanish elementary readers. The children and the parents in “El rio de los recuerdos/The River of Memories,” (published in Houghton Mifflin’s Banderas) were fashioned after my students and their families—Cambodian American and Mexican American families.

Oakland is a multicultural city, where over eighty major languages are spoken every day. But what makes Oakland unique is that most neighborhoods are integrated. That means that anyone’s neighbors are people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, all sharing common ground. It is a situation that requires daily acceptance of others who are different from us. But acceptance is only possible if we acknowledge the ways in which we, as human beings regardless of background, have in common and try to understand the differences among us. Conflicts arise, nonetheless. And they walk into Oakland’s public schools, especially middle and high schools every day.

Still, I am happy to live in Oakland, precisely because of its multiculturalism and multilingualism. And I keep very close to my heart the dear wish that we succeed in Oakland as a multicultural community, because then, there is hope for the rest of the country, perhaps then for the world as well.

Anna:  As a retired bilingual educator, what do you feel is needed to inspire more Latino children and adults to read more books? (to keep them in school)

Lucha:  As a teacher, I realized that the most difficult task for me was to inspire my students, to teach them the critical skills necessary to succeed at whatever they chose to do, so they could be their own person not just follow what others dictate for them or victims of circumstance. It is in these aspects, the hardest to achieve, that teaching becomes an art not just a job.

So that my students would love reading, therefore writing—its twin—I have always read to them, no matter the age, and as I once read to my son and now read to my grandchildren. By the time I suggested that they read to me and to others, they did not find such a job difficult or a cause for embarrassment. In experiencing the comfort and pleasure of being read to, of listening, they also found pleasure in reading to others. From that to reading on their own there was but a short step, but still a leap to writing their own stories, which then would be read to others.

Nothing in teaching is easy or short. Educating a human being, younger or older, is always hard constant work over an extended period of time. I have always been passionate about teaching as much as about writing. Thus, it was difficult to retire in 2005 after 31 years because I wanted to devote all my time to writing. While I was a full time teacher and a single mom and head of household, the only time I had to write was from 5 to 7 a.m. but I wrote every day, a schedule difficult to keep up with as I grew older.

Although I don’t regret my decision to retire, and feel that I have earned the right to write full time now, I still miss the classroom very much. So I am now planning not only story-reading sessions for elementary school children through the local neighborhood libraries, but also offering writing workshops for small groups of girls, whose teachers identify them as budding writers.

Anna:  What has writing given you that nothing else-people, experiences, jobs, relationships- has ever been able to give you? Why do you believe that is?

Lucha:  Personal satisfaction and the desire to live each day fully. I’ve also found out that when I’m the most bored, I become the most creative. Then I know that I also write to entertain myself. If I find that something I’m writing bores me, I am certain it’ll be boring to anyone who reads it. I guess I believe like Cervantes that literature must entertain before it does anything else. So I go back and re-write.

When I write I want for nothing. Everything makes sense, and everything is possible. I need writing like I need my coffee and the milk and sugar in it every day, nourishment, like the air I breathe, the books I read to keep my mind always young, faith to help my spirit endure.

I once wrote in a poem that “Nothing is fixed or perpetual/not rain/or seed/or you/or I/or our grief/in this world that is bleeding/because we’re forever cutting paths/opening our way along unfamiliar roads/conquering the fury of oblivion verse by verse.”

I also write because I want the best part of me to endure long after I’m gone from this earth.

Anna:  Ms. Lucha Corpi, it has been an honor to feature you and your novel, Death at Solstice: A Gloria Damasco Mystery. I admire what you have accomplished in your life, as well as with your writing. Thank you for making The Sol Within a stop on your book tour! I wish you all the best with your writing.

Lucha:  Gracias, Anna, for having me and Gloria Damasco, and for your very thoughtful questions. It has been my pleasure. Thanks again. Happy Holidays to you and your readers!

                              ***********

Death at Solstice is the final novel in the Gloria Damasco mysteries.  If you leave a question or comment today on The Sol Within, you will be entered into a drawing for an autographed copy of Death at Solstice!  Plus, Lucha Corpi will be available to answer any questions that the readers have for her.  Lucha Corpi is also generously giving away a collection of all four of the Gloria Damasco books to the person that visits and comments on the most blogs throughout the Latino Virtual Book Tour.  If you don't win a copy of the book today or win the set of books at the end of the tour, don't fret, just click on the title at the beginning of this post and order your copy from Amazon!  

To check out more of Lucha Corpi's books and other information visit her Red Room author's page!

Thank you for taking the time to visit The Sol Within and for supporting Latino authors!

Wishing you dreams to fulfill and the inspiration needed to do so!
~the sol within~
     Anna

This week's Latino Virtual Book Tour has been exceptionally well done and informative!  The tour continues next week and to check out the blogs Lucha Corpi visited this week see the schedule below...

Dec 1

Mayra Calvani
Latino Book Examiner

Dec 2
Terri
Behind Brown Eyes

Dec 3
Julia Amante

Dec 4
Anna
The Sol Within

Dec 7
Misa
Chasing Heroes

Dec 8
Monie
Reading With Monie

Dec 9
Carol
Book-lover carol

Dec 10
Tasha
Heidenkind's Hideaway

Dec 11
Nilki
Musings

                                                                           

Who you lookin' at?!

I have been entertaining some real characters...in my mind.  A few weeks ago I was struck with some novel ideas- literally!  I have this beautiful project percolating in my head like a wonderfully aromatic rich cup of coffee!  If only I drank coffee...so maybe it's a wonderful cup of hot cocoa! (With whipped cream, of course!)  Do any of you know what I mean?  Is it only writers, or do artists of any genre and medium allow the ideas of their next work to freely roam around in the crevices of their mind? 

I have gotten to know- or at least meet- the main characters of my novel.  I just don't know a whole lot about them...yet.  I have sketched some details and some faces, but nothing seems to be a sure fit.  Some have the attitude or personality, but I'm not able to see their physical appearance.  I am eager to begin this project, but I realize the details of each character are crucial to the story.  So, here I sit and wait with these new characters residing in my mind. 

This process can take some time, but I must admit that I love it!  I am constantly searching my surroundings for something to spark an idea.  By something, I mean people!  I am noticing the people around me and wondering if they resemble any of my characters.  Does the couple who is meeting for lunch in the park- pulling up in separate vehicles- look like my two main characters?  Or would the scorned husband and wife, that are completely unaware of this lunchtime rendezvous, be a better fit for the characters I'm looking to develop?  I notice the crying babies, tantrum-throwing toddlers, troubled teens, harried housewives, delusional dads, and other deliciously dangerous people I see cross my path.  With the Holiday shopping season upon us the malls are crowded making people-watching better than ever!

I read once that when writers go out to eat they can lightly listen to the person or people they are dining with, but they are inevitably scanning the restaurant for a conversation to listen in on.  This is not done for the sake of being nosey, but merely as a means of character and plot development.  We see a story in everything we hear and see.  When my husband read this article he laughed so hard and as he pointed at me he said, "Babe, that is exactly YOU!"

I have seen mugs and other memorabilia with the saying, "Be careful what you say because I just might put it in my novel!"  I like to extend that further by saying, be careful what you do to me or to others around me...!  Just kidding...or am I?

Wishing you dreams to fulfill and the inspiration needed to do so!
~the sol within~
       Anna

Give it a listen!  The music that inspired this post:
~Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell
~I Heard it Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye
~Have You Seen Her by the Chi-Lites
~Just One Look by Doris Troy
~Shiny Happy People by REM
~Everyday People by Sly & the Family Stone

And the WINNER is...

Today was a long day with many unexpected twists and turns...and not all good!  So to cheer up my little one we wrote out the names of all entrants for yesterday's book giveaway of The HEARTBREAK PILL a Novel by Anjanette Delgado.  Before I announce the winner, I want to thank everyone who took the time to read the interview and leave a comment!  It is greatly appreciated!



 We were all so excited and gathered around to see who would be the lucky recipient!

And the WINNER is...

crafter, artist, painter CAROLYN FLORES of Flores Originals!

Last Chance to enter to win a copy of The Heartbreak Pill!

This is the LAST CHANCE to leave a comment for a chance to win a signed copy of The Heartbreak Pill by Anjanette Delgado.  Leave a comment on the interview post below for your chance.  Contest ends at MIDNIGHT Pacific time.  The winner will be announced here tomorrow!

A BIG Thanks to everyone who stopped by to check out my interview with author Anjanette Delgado featuring her debut novel, The Heartbreak Pill.  I hope you enjoyed it and it sparked an interest in picking up a copy of this novel to see just how Ericka Luna will get over her heartbreak after discovering her husband's affair!

If you enjoyed today and would like to read more about Anjanette Delgado or her novel, The Heartbreak Pill, you can continue to follow the Latino Virtual Book Tour.  The schedule is as follows:

Nov. 12  Host~Mayra Calvani     http://www.examiner.com/x-6309-Latino-Books-Examiner

Nov. 13  Host~Teri                     http://right2right.blogspot.com/

Nov. 16  Host~Misa Ramirez      http://chasingheroes.com/

Nov. 17  Host~Nilki Benitez        http://nilkibenitez.blogspot.com/

Nov. 18  Host~Monie Garcia      http://www.readingwithmonie.com/

Nov. 19  Host~Vanessa Torres   http://thathappenedtome.blogspot.com/

Nov. 20  Host~Icess Fernandez  http://www.locacrazywriter.blogspot.com/

Thank you for supporting me today with my very first blog tour and interview.  I had a great time!

Wishing you dreams to fulfill and the inspiration needed to do so!
~the sol within~
Anna

Welcome, Anjanette Delgado and her debut novel...The Heartbreak Pill!

The BIG day is here...my chance to feature author Anjanette Delgado and her debut novel,
The Heartbreak Pill.

Author's Bio:
Anjanette Delgado is a writer and television producer living in Miami.
She began her career as a journalist, working for NBC, CNN, Univisión and Telemundo, covering presidential coups, elections, Olympics, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, both Iraq wars; which she executive produced, and won an Emmy in 1994 for her human-interest series “Madres en la lejanía,” about the plight of Latino mothers who leave their own children behind and come to the United States to work as undocumented nannies.

She has written for Urban Latino, TV Más and the International Documentary Association magazine, written and produced lifestyle programs and documentaries for MGM Latin America and in 2002, wrote and developed the sitcom “Great in Bed” for HBO Latin America.

The Heartbreak Pill is her first novel and was published by Simon & Schuster in 2008 and won that year’s International Latino Book Award for Best Romance Novel in English. The novel’s Spanish-Language version, La Pildora del Mal Amor, is just out, also from Simon and Schuster. Anjanette is currently at work on her second novel, titled, The Clairvoyant of Calle Ocho.


From HCN Website:
Anjanette, a Puerto Rico native, has applied her expertise to creating community-driven and empowering broadcast, print and event-based efforts for Latinos in the US. Prior to joining Grupo Prisa’s Plural Entertainment as Director of Strategic Content, Anjanette created, launched and implemented the social content and strategic marketing department of Community Connections at Telemundo, winning the first ever Sentinel for Health Awards ever given to a Spanish-language network or station for her campaigns on Breast Cancer and Diabetes. Anjanette has now added one more communications challenge to her breadth of experience by publishing her first novel.

Please sit back and enjoy the following as The Sol Within Anna welcomes accomplished Latina and now novelist, Anjanette Delgado. Don't forget to leave a comment or question for Anjanette Delgado as she will be available to reply to the readers. Sign up to be a follower of The Sol Within, leave a comment and your name will be entered into a drawing where one lucky follower will win an autographed copy of The Heartbreak Pill. Good luck!

                                               * * * * *
Anna: What made you choose The Heartbreak Pill as your debut novel? Was this a story that had been residing within your soul for a long time?


Anjanette: Yes… there was no other story I wanted to tell. It seemed to me that no one really understood “what becomes of the broken-hearted.” How this sense of loss can take your life over like the flu.


Anna: I have always been advised to "write what you know", what part of your novel, The Heartbreak Pill, would that advice hold true for you- what were the personal aspects which enabled you to write about what you know?


Anjanette: Well, I wrote about heartbreak, divorce and Miami… all things I know very well.
But I also wrote about what I didn’t know at the time: science, drugs, the brain, forgiveness.


Anna: What do you think about the label "Chica Lit.", as a Latina author are you offended by it or do you embrace it?

Anjanette: Well, first, a little history. The original term… Chick-Lit is really a post-feminist term to describe contemporary women’s fiction that dealt with women’s issues with self-deprecating humor. It came about because our roles as women were changing so much… that we needed that friend (character) to let us know it was okay to consider divorce if things had become unbearable… that we weren’t the only ones being cheated on, etc.


So, in that sense, I embrace it; have no problem with it.


The problem is when people start calling anything with high heels, a lipstick or a fancy pocketbook in the cover, Chick-Lit. Especially, if a lot of books with the same formula start coming out and receiving that label. You know… girl has awful boss and boyfriend who won’t commit… but then she triumphs and is promoted to book or magazine editor and begins to date the director of photography who happens to be hot and has been interested in her forever. See, well, that’s where I have a problem.


I’m not sure that Chica-Lit as a term was born of an understanding of the post-feminist history of the concept, as opposed to a great way to market a conference... or a section inside a bookstore.


One of the blurbs in my book is from a Columbia University professor who called it Latino Pop Fiction… which I think fits my novel well, too. In the end, I don’t get upset about this or that term… I just try to write something that women like me will be comforted and entertained by, something that makes them think and consider the choices my characters make as they relate to their own lives.


Anna: Of all of your hard work and many accomplishments with CNN, NBC, Telemundo, HBO, MGM Latin America, and the UN, just to name a few, as well as your own personal triumphs, how did all of that compare to the moment when you held your completed and published novel in your hands for the first time? Where were you?


Anjanette: You know… I felt nothing? Publishing day arrives… April 1st… nothing. Then about 6 weeks later, I get an email from a woman I didn’t know at all. She had tracked me down (my website wasn’t up back then) to tell me she had cried and laughed and felt like she knew me after reading my book. That’s the day I felt like an author… like all had been worth it. I have gotten other such emails. I save them all. Reread them all the time. I thought about my readers before they existed. I loved them, writing one more page, in case they ever read it. And now, it’s an amazing feeling when I get to meet them, connect, know that I reached them after all.


Anna: Over the past six months I have met some wonderful women aspiring to become published writers; some single, married, divorced, some mothers, some know, all too well, the heartbreak and betrayal you write about your character, Erika Luna, enduring. As these women try to enter a new world in search of becoming published authors, what words of inspiration can you share with them?


Anjanette: SIT. YOUR. BUTT. DOWN….and do not get up until you’ve written 3 pages (if it’s every day) or 10 pages (if you can only afford to write on Sundays.


That’s it… write. Read. Write. Read. Think of your reader, not of yourself. Enjoy your book before it’s born. It will happen. Write. Read.


Anna: I read on your website that your favorite quote is "When you're going through hell, keep going," by Winston Churchill. What meaning or impact has this quote had in your life?


Anjanette: It’s another way to say hope. If you stay still when you’re in hell, you’ll never get out. If you trust, and you keep going, there’s hope that things will be better. But you’ve got to keep going. I remind myself of this all the time.


Ms. Anjanette Delgado, I greatly appreciate your time with me and for making The Sol Within a stop on your Virtual Blog Tour. I wish you all the best with your debut novel, The Heartbreak Pill.


~Anna Rodriguez


Thank you Anna. I wish all bloggers/journalists/writers took the time to do their homework as you have. I loved your questions and am honored to be featured on your site.


Un abrazo ,
Anja

Followers: Don't forget to leave your comment or question for your chance to win an autographed copy of Anjanette Delgado's debut novel. The winner will be announced Thursday, Nov. 12th. If you don't win...no worries, just click on the button below to purchase your copy from Amazon today...or as a great Holiday gift!

I must give a tremendous "Thank You" to author and Editor, Jo Ann Hernandez of Bronzeword Latino for allowing me the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful event, the Latino Virtual Book Tour, and for introducing me to such a wonderful Latina author and person...Anjanette Delgado!

Wishing you dreams to fulfill and the inspiration needed to do so!

~the sol within~
Anna
  

ISBN: 1-7432-9753-9

The FINAL COUNTDOWN

It's been quite some time since my last post, but I have been busy and I am very excited about all the things that I've been up to.  For example, I was a guest on someone else's blog.  I will give more details about this article later this week. 

I have been writing like crazy...a new children's book, a YA novel, and I am working on an outline for another novel. 

I have also been working on hosting my very first Latino Virtual Book Tour.  Author and Editor, Jo Ann Hernandez of Bronzeword Latino, sets these tours up and included me this time around.  I am thrilled, excited, and can hardly wait to host the author of The Heartbreak Pill, Anjanette Delgado.  This is her debut novel which is set in Miami.

Anjanette Delgado will be around tomorrow to answer your questions, so please leave comments or questions for her.  My interview with Anjanette Delgado is...WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11th.
Please don't forget to stop by and check out our discussion!

Wishing you dreams to fulfill and the inspiration needed to do so!
The sol within
~Anna~

Give it a listen!  The music that inspired this post:
~The Final Countdown by Europe