Q & A with Sara Mansfield Taber on CHANCE PARTICULARS: A WRITER'S FIELD NOTEBOOK

Sara Mansfield Taber,
author of Chance Particulars

Starting this year, every fourth Monday I run a Q & A with a fellow writer. This fourth Monday features Sara Mansfield Taber. 

Creative nonfiction, literary journalism, literary travel memoir, ye olde travel writing-- by whatever name you call this genre, Sara Mansfield Taber is a master. Among her works are: Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy's Daughter; Bread of Three Rivers: The Story of a French Loaf; and Dusk on the Campo: A Journey in Patagonia.  

[>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING THIS POST ON THE NEW SELF-HOSTED WORDPRESS BLOG, MADAM-MAYO.COM]

Without exception Taber's works are superb, wondrous, must-reads for anyone who would explore the world from an armchair-- and for anyone who would write their own. There is so much to relish and to learn from Taber's daring, her mastery of the craft, her ability to see the most telling particulars, and the exquisite, sensuous beauty of her prose.

Get it from
The Seminary Co-op
Book Depository
amazon.com
Johns Hopkins University Press

Based just outside Washington DC, Taber is also a long-time writing teacher, currently leading workshops both privately and at the Writer's Center (Bethesda MD) and elsewhere. And now, for both her workshop students and for those at a distance, who cannot take her workshop, just out from Johns Hopkins University Press, and with lovely illustrations by Maud Taber-Thomas, we have Sara Mansfield Taber's Chance Particulars: A Writer's Field Notebook.

I was honored to have been asked to contribute a blurb:

"Sara Mansfield Taber's Chance Particulars is at once a delicious read and the distilled wisdom of a long-time teacher and virtuoso of the literary memoir. Her powerful lessons will give you rare and vital skills: to be able to read the world around you, and to read other writers, as a writer, that is, with your beadiest conjurer's eye and mammoth heart. This is a book to savor, to engage with, and to reread, again and again." - C.M. Mayo

The following Q & A is reprinted from her publisher's website.

Q: Why did you decide to write this book?

TABER: So that writers of any stripe—from travelers, to bloggers, to journal-keepers, to memoirists, essayists, and journalists—will know just what to note down so as to paint rich and vivid pictures of people and places, and create a lively record of their experiences in and responses to the world.

Q: What were some of the most surprising things you learned while writing/researching the book?

TABER: The writing of the book allowed me to put on all my hats—literary journalist, anthropologist, memoirist, essayist, journal-keeper, and traveler—and draw together in one place all that I have learned, from those various fields, about keeping a lively field notebook. Writing the book let me re-live the pleasure of field-notebook keeping and also offer the prodigious pleasure of the habit to others. It is a way to get to live your life twice.

Q: What do you hope people will take away from reading your book?

TABER: A sense of exhilaration—to stride out into the world, to experience it fully and observe it closely, and then to write about that world with all the richness and color they can muster. 

# # #

> Check out the trailer for Chance Particulars:




> Visit Sara Mansfield Taber's website.

> For an in-depth interview from a few years ago, listen in anytime to the podcast (or read the transcript), Conversations with Other Writers: Sara Mansfield Taber.

> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.

Q & A with Nancy Peacock, 

author of The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson

So How's the Book Doing?

One Simple yet Powerful Practice in Reading as a Writer

Some Old Friends Spark Joy (Whilst Kondo-ing My Library)

Elvis approves

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I moved. And of course, this involved oodles of Kondo-ing.

For those who missed the phenomenon of Japanese tidying expert Marie Kondo: She says the way to do it is to pick up each object and ask yourself, does this spark joy? If so, keep it (even if it's a raggedy T-shirt), and if not (even if it's a brand new suede sofa that cost a heap), thank it, then chuck it--or donate it or sell it, or whatever, but get it out of your space. Many organizers and sundry pundits have dismissed Kondo-ing as "woo woo." Too bad for them because, by Jove, by whatever Shinto spirit you want to name, or the god Pan, or Elvis Presley, it works.

My personal and working library is at last in good order, and I am delighted to share with you, dear and thoughtful reader, just a few of the many old friends that sparked much joy:

See this post that mentions the luminous Sara Mansfield Taber: 

"So How's the Book Doing? (And how many books have you sold?

And what was your print run?)"

Both of these books made my annual top 10 book read lists.

2011 Wandering Souls: Journeys with the Dead and Living in Viet Nam

2014 Finding George Orwell in Burma

Post re: Bruce Berger's amusing, eccentric and very sensitive artist's memoir.

I often quote from Rupert Isaacson's The Healing Land in my literary travel writing workshops.

Taking the advice in Neil Fiore's The Now Habit enabled me to finish my novel.

David Allen's GTD saves the bacon every time.

Back in 2010 Regina Leeds contributed a guest-blog:

"Five Plus 1 Resources to Make a Writer Happy in an Organized Space"

I have a sizable collection of books about books. Books for me are heaven.

I wrote a bit about book history in my recent longform Kindle,

"Dispatch from the Sister Republic or, Papelito Habla" 

Sophy Burnham is best known for her works on angels, 

but she has a sizable body of outstanding work of literary essay / sociology. 

Her The Landed Gentry was especially helpful for me for understanding 

some of the characters in one of my books.

Doormen by Peter Bearman... that merits a post...

Drujienna's Harp was one of my very favorite novels 

when I was first starting to read novels.

As for The Golden Key, pictured right, 

my copy was left for some days by an open window in the rain 

back in 1960-something, but I have saved it and I always shall.

> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.

Top 10 + Books Read in 2016

A Simple Yet Powerful Practice in Reading as a Writer

Dispatch from the Sister Republic or, Papelito Habla

A Longform Essay on the Mexican Literary Landscape

and the Power of the Book

A Conversation with Sara Mansfield Taber, author of "Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy's Daughter"

An age ago-- December 2011, to be exact-- I interviewed one of my favorite writers, literary journalist and poet Sara Mansfield Taber for my Conversations with Other Writers occasional podcast series. Well, it may have taken me almost four years, but today's the day the transcript finally went up onto my website. 

Read and/or listen in any time to the interview with Sara Mansfield Taber (and find show notes) >>here<<.

(In case you were wondering whether I was somehow blessed with 48 hours in the day,  the answer is no, ho ho, I use CLK Transcription, which I found via Debra Eckerling's Write Online! newsletter and I do warmly recommend them. It was Jane Friedman-- another warm recommendation-- who urged me to start posting transcripts of my podcasts.)

You'll notice I've only posted one Conversation with Others Writer podcast this year-- an interview with Rose Mary Salum, the Houston, Texas-based Mexican poet, writer and visionary editor. Why not more? It's not for lack of enthusiasm on my part-- I relish talking with other writers-- but this year I've been putting my podcasting time into my "Marfa Mondays" Podcasting Project and the (related) book I'm writing about Far West Texas, World Waiting for a Dream: A Turn in Far West Texas. 

That said, on a recent foray to San Antonio-- en route to visit the rock art of the Lower Pecos-- I did manage to record an interview for my "Conversations with Other Writers" series with Mary Margaret McAllen, a super crujiente one about her splendid book, Maximilian and Carlota: Europe's Last Empire in Mexico. Look for that podcast to be posted after the holidays.

I call my "Conversations with Other Writers" an "occasional series" because well, it's occasional, and it's occasional because podcasting on occasion beats not doing it at all! 

By the way, if you're interested in learning to podcast, while I may not be the world's Podcasting Poobah with a PhD in Sound Engineering, I do turn 'em out of the oven in my writerly fashion, and I'll tell you how in my podcasting workshop for the San Miguel Writers Conference this February. (You can also pick up my ebook based on my one day workshop for the Writer's Center, Podcasting for Writers & Other Creative Entrepreneurs, over in the Kindle store.)


> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.

Top 10 Books Read in 2012

#1 Sara Mansfield Taber's Born Under an Assumed Name

A Conversation with Rose Mary Salum

On Making Literary Connections

A Conversation with Michael K. Schuessler

On Pita Amor, Elena Poniatowska, Sor Juana and Alma Reed

Marfa Mondays #20 Raymond Caballero on 

Mexican Revolutionary General Pascual Orozco and Far West Texas

Marfa Mondays #19 Pitmaster Israel Campos in Pecos

CLICK HERE.

Cyberflanerie: Internet Book Shopping Edition

The Norton Book Sofa

October and November were intense... no more books for me, Santa, but oh, do I want some of these Brodart book covers... (Why didn't I start buying and using them sooner?!?!)


The Norton book sofa: perfect for rare book collectors.

So whimsical: KnobCreek Metal Arts bookends on etsy.

A well so deep it must go to China: bodaciously great source of antiquarian books (and used whatnot) at www.abebooks.com

Not sure how to get started with rare book collecting? ABC for Book Collectors by John Carter  and Nicolas Barker. 

And do buy Leslie Pietrzyk's novels! P.S. Highlights of her recent talk for the Writer's Center's Leesburg First Friday series on writing short fiction and long fiction here.

Books, books, books! Bookman's Log!

For Baja Buffs and soon-to-be-Baja Buffs: Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico. 

The rest of the gang is here.

P.S. I'll be posting my top 10 reads for the year in the next couple of weeks. Last year's, topped by Sara Mansfield Taber's lyrical Born Under an Assumed Name, is here.

COMMENTS

Cyberflanerie: Rare Books Entrepreneurship Edition-- Double OO Books

So my dear travel writing amiga, Peat O'Neil, has opened a bookshop, Double OO Books--the Os standing for Oh Li Ping and Peat O'Neil. She is specializing in crime, espionage and mystery.

Speaking of espionage, two fabulous books I hope she will carry:

Heribert von Feilitzsch's bio, In Plain Sight: Felix A. Sommerfeld, Spymaster in Mexico

and

Sara Mansfield Taber's memoir, Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy's Daughter

I am all about collecting rare books these days, and just recently in Mexico City I found a few humdingers related to / about the Mexican Revolution... one with an absolutely astonishing inscription. Stay tuned for the videos. Meanwhile, some more surf-worthy links:

William Reese's fascinating and eye-opening talk for the Grolier Club: Books in Hard Times

Once again I point you, dear reader, to Michael Suarez, SJ's talk on books, "The Ecosystems of Book History" (don't miss it)


Allen and Patricia Ahearn, owners of Quill and Brush, offer Book Collecting Tips

Ken Lopez shares "Some Thoughts on the Maturing of the Rare Book Market at the Start of the 21st Century"

Sarah, a painter and used book dealer in Maui recommends So You Want to Open a Used Bookshop

Rick Lugg on A Spa for Books
(Hey somebody open this service for private collections? Maybe like those wine storage services?)

Richard Goodman blogs the love for his books.

Just finished reading Alessandro Marzo Magno's delightful Bound in Venice: The Serene Republic and the Dawn of the Book, which makes my top 10 list for 2013, hands down.

COMMENTS

So How's the Book Doing? (And how many books have you sold? And what was your print run?)

>> READ THIS POST ON THE NEW PLATFORM AT WWW.MADAM-MAYO.COM

My amiga the crackerjack memoirist and writing teacher Sara Mansfield Taber has posted an oh-so-true toe-curling but chuckle-worthy blog post over at She Writes: "Writing Is a Humiliation Banquet."

It reminds me of how gallery owners complain that customers (more often lookyloos) don't know "gallery etiquette." It's the same with writers. People usually mean well when they ask, "So how's the book doing?" Though alas, this is often followed by the more knife-like, "How many books have you sold?" What they don't realize is that (in most instances) this is akin to asking someone who was just turned down for a long overdue promotion, or maybe even fired, "So how much do you make?" because, as Sara Taber so eloquently points out, the book is almost never doing as well as its author had hoped it would and for most literary books, earnings hover well below the level at which one might cobble together a non-food-stamps-worthy living. Furthermore, publishers report sales with such a long lag, one never really knows at any given moment. (True, one could check amazon.com sales reports but I have never done that because it's a self-torture fest and, for anyone focused on writing the next book, a mega time-suck.)

Herewith some of my favorite replies (and if you're an author with a book out, may they serve you):

(With a wink): I'm getting away with it... How about you?
(This is thanks to Paul Graybeal of Marfa's Moonlight Gemstones, by the way.)

(Breathily, Nancy Reaganqesque): Why my dear, that's like asking a woman her age! How have you been?

(Beaming, ready-to-judo): Oh, great! You know, I think everyone should write a book. Do you have a book you'd like to write?

(Shrugging, Jimmy Fallonesque): Well, I haven't moved full-time onto my yacht-- yet. But thanks for asking. How are you?

(Gleaming stare, revealing teeth): Very well... in fact... my doctor has been able to... reduce my meds... (Continue staring silently for three beats...) Just kidding! How are you?

Notice, the trick is to lob that conversational ball back into their court. Unless you might have something for them, e.g.,

Wonderfully! Thanks for asking! Oh, and by the way, I'll be doing an event at the bookstore next Thursday at 6 pm, it would be wonderful if you could come!

It's been such fun! Oh, and by the way, if it works for your book group / workshop / class, I'd be delighted to come talk about the book! 

The thing is, I don't think most people really care about one's answer; they're just asking to be polite, as they might ask about your kids (whom they don't know) or your kitchen remodeling project or even just chatting about the weather. And some friends really do care, they do mean well-- they're delighted to know a real-live-published author! They want to bask in your literary glamour and talk books! For those folks, the "I'm getting away with it," or "wonderfully, thanks for asking!" works fine. But then there are those, usually with a toe in the publishing business, or ambitious to write / publish themselves, who persist with the outrageous, "What was your print run?" Well, I say, bless 'em. Because they need blessing. I answer, "You know, I have no idea. I am so busy with my next book... " and when they insist (yikes, some of them do), "What do you mean, you don't know what was the print run?" I put on the Scarlett O'Hara:

"Why, golly gee, numbers just go in one ear and out the other."

When a writer has spent several years working on a book she has more emotion invested in it than the casual reader would guess. So if it's another writer who is asking and your book is doing splendidly, why rub in the salt? Or, more likely, since your book isn't selling anything like Dan Brown's latest, make your neighbor (the divorce lawyer who is going to write a thriller "one day") view you with head-shaking pity?

But I don't find writing a "humiliation banquet," quite the contrary. I am grateful that I have the skill and (most days) focus to write and that, in one way or another, my work finds readers. I'm always happy to see more royalties but I don't measure my success as a writer by numbers alone. A single  reader who approaches my work in a spirit of respect and intellectual curiosity, and to whom my book makes a meaningful difference, is worth more to me than 10,000 readers who just want a beachside page-turner.

(Bless you all who write beachside page-turners! May you all live happily ever after on your yachts! But I don't read such books and wouldn't have the wherewithal to write one, and anyway, even if I had a hundred bagilliwillion bucks, I couldn't be bothered with a yacht. To start with, I'd have to insure the darned thing. What a bore!)

So how does one make a living? All I can say is, if you want to make a living writing literary books you'll need to be (a) very lucky (b) very persistent (c) very productive (d) very hard-headed and (e) totally flummoxed by shopping (except for books, of course). And by the way, most literary writers don't make a living from their books but from teaching, freelancing, editing, and/or other work / income.

The "humiliation banquet" comes with the promotion part... and for that, thank goodness for the vast and ever-growing literature on sports psychology!

P.S. Check out my podcast interview with Sara Mansfield Taber about her fascinating memoir on "Conversations with Other Writers."

>Comments?

Top 10+ Books Read in 2012

1. Sara Mansfield Taber's Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy's Daughter
Lyrical, original, and profound. At once a memoir, a piece of American history, and an examination of the question, what does it mean to be American?
>Listen to my podcast interview with the author here.

2. Anne-Marie O'Connor, The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer
>Read my talk at Bellas Artes in Mexico City about this splendid book. 

3. A tie! (Who says I have to decide?)

Natalie Dykstra's Clover Adams: A Gilded and Heartbreaking Life
One of those rare novelesque biographies that can change the way one thinks about a whole country, a whole century, and certainly about one city: Washington DC. Out of five stars I give this six, lit up in flashing neon.
>View Clover Adams' photo album at the Massachusetts Historical Society

Janet Wallach's Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia

The life of a priviledged Englishwoman whose curiosity fired with boldness changed the world. Alas she was less apt in love and bureaucratic shenanigans. Fascinating reading. When I came to the end, which was too sad, I went to Egypt and rode a camel.

4. Bruce Jackson's The Story is True: The Art and Meaning of Telling Stories

Brilliant, worth a re-read or five.
>Read my mini-review here.

5. Lonn Taylor's Texas, My  Texas: Musings of the Rambling Boy
Though a collection of columns as "The Rambling Boy" for the Big Bend Sentinel, this is far from the usual mashed potatoes newspaper fare.  Taylor is a wise and lyrical writer with a background as a professional historian and his mammoth love for Texas is infectious. This is a book to savor in a rocking chair on a hot day with a tall glass of spiked lemonade at your side. Get ready to howl with the one about the in-law aunts's oodles of poodles.

6. Rubén Martínez's Desert America: Boom and Bust in the New Old West
Another kind of Texas-- and New Mexico, Arizona, and California. I'm preparing an overdue (rave) review of this one. Stay tuned.
> Read my review of this book in the Washington Independent Review of Books

7. Ruth Levy Guyer's A Life Interrupted: The Long Night of Marjorie Day
>Read my mini-review of this exceedingly strange story and how I happened upon it here.

8. Mitch Horowitz's Occult America: White House Seances, Ouija Circles, Masons, and the Secret History of Our Nation 

So what am I doing reading about the occult? I've spent much of this year reading and researching for an expanded and revised introduction to my translation-- the first into English-- of Francisco I. Madero's secret book of 1911, Spiritist Manual (a work vital for understanding the Mexican Revolution of 1910 since Madero, a Spiritist medium, was its leader). Earlier I'd seen Occult America but didn't pick it up because I (wrongly) assumed it was a bit of trade sensationalism. Then, on the Occult of Personality podcasts,  I happened to listen to an interview with the author about the Theosophist Colonel Henry Steel Olcott's profound influence on the revival of Buddhism in 19th century Sri Lanka. Start reading the literature on the occult and very soon one will appreciate, as water in the desert, an author who is at once knowledgable, objective, and articulate. Of course I immediately ordered the book. It's a masterwork of scholarship. Dear Mr Horowitz, if I had a Ouija board, I would salute you with it.
>Occult of Personality Occult America interview 1 (Publick Universal Friend et al)
>Occult of Personality Occult America interview 2 (Joseph Smith, Edgar Cayce, et al)
>Occult of Personality 48 (Life and Work of Henry Steel Olcutt)
>Mitch Horowitz's website

9. Sergio Troncoso's Crossing Borders: Personal Essays and novel, From This Wicked Patch of Dust

>Read my double review in Literal magazine

>Listen to my interview with the author here

10. Mark Sundeen's The Man Who Quit Money
The superbly told true and head scratcher of a story.
>Author's website with link to mini-doc on the man.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + +

Of note, two crucial works on Mexico's second Empire were published this year:

*El ocaso del imperio de Maximiliano visto por un diplomatico prusiano: Los informes de Anton von Magus a Otto von Bismarck, 1866-1867, Edited by Konrad Ratz.

*Los viajes de Maximiliano en México (1864-1867), By Konrad Ratz and Amparo Gómez Tepexicuapan 

+ + + + + + + + + + + + +

Over at Work-in-Progress, my amiga the novelist, short story writer and essayist Leslie Pietrzyk shares her list of top books read / reread in 2012, which, if you've been following her excellent blog, unsurprisingly starts with ye olde Great Gatsby. Which is, seriously, a masterpiece.

Alas, nothing on our lists coincides. This is why, in writing workshops, when we get to plot, I resort to discussing movies. Now if you haven't seen The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Gone with the Wind or Gladiator, GHY. But plot in a movie compares to plot in a novel as cement blocks to fine woodwork.

So I just noticed I didn't read any novels this year. Oh well! I'm writing another travel memoir, that's why it's heavy on Texas and the West.

A Conversation with Sergio Troncoso, Author of From This Wicked Patch of Dust

A new and, of course, free, podcast in the Conversations with Other Writers series:

A conversation with Sergio Troncoso on Chicano literature, the book ban in Arizona, the US-Mexico border, 911, writing for New York, blogging, the culture of reading, and much more.

>>Read my review of Troncoso's From This Wicked Patch of Dust and Crossing Borders: Personal Essays for Literal Magazine, reproduced by permission here.

>>About the Conversations with Other Writers podcast series

>>Listen in anytime to previous conversations with:
Michael K. Schuessler
Edward Swift
Sara Mansfield Taber
Solveig Eggerz

>>So what's up with the monthly Marfa Mondays podcasts? Just slightly delayed due to unexpected developments... two more, for August and September 2012, will be very posted soon. Stay tuned on the home page. Ditto the iBookstore interactive ebook, Podcasting for Writers.

Michael Wiese Productions Podcasts (Recommended for Writers)

I just happened upon some helpful podcasts for filmmakers, screenwriters, and just plain ol' writers at Michael Wiese Productions on "BlogTalk Radio":
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/michaelwieseproductions

Michael Wiese publishes some excellent books. Apropos of a note on log lines, I recently posted a mini-rave review of one of them: Blake Snyder's Save the Cat!

I'm on the lookout for good podcasts  by and for writers, so let me know of any you recommend. I like to listen to them, but I'm also looking for helpful links to list in my forthcoming iBook, Podcasting for Writers. 


(My own latest podcasts include "Marfa Mondays" interviews with bee expert Cynthia McAlister; Avram Dumitrescu, a talented painter originally from Belfast; Museum of the Big Bend curator Mary Bones on the Big Bend's Lost Art Colony; and Charles Angell, expert wilderness guide and travel writer. Plus, several in the Conversations with Other Writers series, mostly recently, Elena Poniatowska's biographer, Michael K. Schuessler and travel writer and memoirist Sara Mansfield Taber.)

A Conversation with Artist and Writer Edward Swift

So why, when, where, and how am I podcasting? Read all about my Conversations with Other Writers podcasting series here.

New podcasts:

Edward Swift, artist and writer based in San Miguel de Allende, on the Orphic journey, Marguerite Young, the Big Thicket, the wonders of the Sierra Gorda, My Grandfather's Finger, The Daughter of the Doctor and the Saint, on being an ABT flower man, his house designed by Jesus Zarate, among a whole bunch of other things! This one hour plus interview with one of my very favorite writers was splendid fun.

>>Listen in right here.

>>Previous conversations with other writers: Sara Mansfield Taber, Solveig Eggerz, and Rosemary Sullivan.

Also new:

Abbreviated podcast-- just Yours Truly talking about my translation of Francisco I. Madero's secret book of 1911-- of the PEN / SOL Literary Magazine Reading Series event, February 22, 2012 in San Miguel de Allende is now on-line.

>> Listen here.

Conversations with Other Writers: Sara Mansfield Taber, Author of Born Under an Assumed Name

Just posted on Conversations with Other Writers:
SARA MANSFIELD TABER, AUTHOR OF BORN UNDER AN ASSUMED NAME: THE MEMOIR OF A COLD WAR SPY'S DAUGHTER

-> Listen on podomatic

-> Listen on iTunes

C.M. Mayo talks with Sara Mansfield Taber, author of the memoir Born Under an Assumed Name. For Taber, growing up in Taiwan, Japan, Washington DC, the Netherlands, and Borneo was tough as well as exotic, and she found the experience even more unsettling because, as she learned at fifteen, she was the daughter of a covert CIA agent. The conversation ranges from her father's work in Asia, including his daring rescue of over a thousand Vietnamese after the fall of Vietnam to the Vietcong, and his disenchantment with the agency while working in Germany; Taber's childhood in Taiwan, highschool years in Washington DC during the Vietnam War; her previous books, including Bread of Three Rivers and Dusk on the Campo; other travel writers, reading as a writer; writing practice, and teaching writing. Recorded in December 2011. (Aprox 50 minutes).

Quick links:

-> Watch the trailer for Taber's BORN UNDER AN ASSUMED NAME

-> More about BORN UNDER AN ASSUMED NAME (and how to order)

-> More conversations with other writers, including Solveig Eggerz and Rosemary Sullivan

-> All C.M. Mayo podcasts

The Writers Center: C.M. Mayo, Luis Alberto Ambroggio, Yvette Neisser Moreno & Company--- and Grover Cleveland at the 7-11?

Sunday's reading at the Writers Center in Bethesda MD was such a delight. My dear amiga, historical novelist and fellow Writers Center faculty member, Ann McLaughlin, gave the introduction and read her favorite passage from The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire-- which she knows so well, having critiqued multitudinous drafts! For the record, it was the scene where Maximilian watches the sunset from the roof of Chapultepec Castle, rendered, but of course, in Maximilianesquely labyrinthical syntax (& toss in the Deities of Memphis, swords of light, an eagle skimming the treetops...) Gracias Ann!

Read Art Taylor's full report on the event over at Art & Literature...

And thank you also to everyone at the Writers Center, especially Sunil Freeman and Kyle Semmel (the Writers Center's blogger extraordinaire--- check out First Person Plural)-- and my fellow readers, poet Luis Alberto Ambroggio and his translator, poet Yvette Niesser Moreno (pictured right, photos by Kyle Semmel), who read such superb poems and so beautifully. Their new book, Difficult Beauty, will be available shortly.

It was a heartfelt pleasure to see my dear friend travel writer Sara Mansfield Taber, as she was the one who, many years ago, when we were fellows at Bread Loaf, first introduced me to the Writers Center. Other writers in attendance: Dylan Landis, who has a new and much-vaunted book of short stories coming out this fall, and my fellow Unbridled Books novelist, Stephen Evans; John Curry (with whom I'm cooking up a panel for the American Independent Writers Conference this June-- stay tuned; the talented short story writer and novelist Ellen Prentiss Campbell; poet, translator and publisher Robert Giron (who just brought out an amazing anthology, Poetic Voices Without Borders 2); poet and childrens book writer J.D. Smith (whose book on mariachis will be featured on this blog asap); poet and Momotombo editor Francisco Aragon; poet Judy McCombs, book blogger Serena Agusto-Cox (at her blog, Savvy Verse & Wit, check out her report-- and a contest for a free copy of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire) and fiction writer Art Taylor, who reports for Arts & Literature.

And last but certainly not least, medievalist and blogger (Quid Plura?) Jeff Sypeck, who alerted me to a tromp l'oeil of--- surely it is--- President and Mrs. Grover Cleveland, on the side of a 7-11 at the corner of Connecticut and Porter, DC.



What, by Jove, does this have to do with my novel? Well, the prince's mother, nee Alice Green, grew up at Rosedale, then one of the grandest country estates in the District of Columbia. In the late 19th century, a substantial chunk of it was sold to President Grover Cleveland. His country house has since been torn down, but the now very urban neighborhood around old Rosedale is known as Cleveland Park.

Thanks to all my friends, Americans and Mexicans, long-time and new, it was grand to see you!

More anon.

Hattie Ellis's Sweetness and Light: The Mysterious History of the Honeybee

New on my list of recommended literary travel memoirs is British journalist Hattie Ellis's elegantly written and deeply researched Sweetness and Light: The Mysterious History of the Honeybee. Travel on a spoon from Surrey to Sicily, and Paris parks to New York City rooftops--- and gain an all new appreciation of this nectar from heaven, and the reason why bees can tell us more about ourselves than any other creature. (Except, well, pugs. Had to get that in there.) More anon.

Guest-Blogger Paula Whyman's 5 + 1 Favorite Links to Books & More for Baking--- for Writers & Other Breadheads

For those suffering from writer's block, I usually recommend Giant Golden Buddha & 364 more 5 minute writing exercises--- and, lately, poet and visual artist Christine Boyka Kluge's magic "Baby Muse." But there's more! Bounteous, yeasty, mmmmm-more! My DC writing amiga, Paula Whyman, aka Curious Writer, has a website (or is it a blog? check it out) chock-a-block with links to her stories and essays and miscellaneous funny pieces (here's one of my faves), one of which--- which she expands on here--- is about baking for writers. Over to you, Paula.

Why bake? No one rejects my work. There's an endpoint in sight, and everyone goes away happy. It's cathartic; I get to slap some dough around, and no one gets hurt. It prevents "page rage" (do I need to explain that?).

When I can’t write, I bake. I read about baking, in books and online, and, although I generally hate shopping, who can resist a little cooking p*rn? I shop about baking, too.

Here are some of my favorite baking-related books, sites, and equipment:

#1. The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion
The best general baking cookbook I’ve ever seen. Simple, easy-to-follow recipes, plus information about, for instance, the many types of sugar and how molasses is made. Nutritional information is included with each recipe (no, don’t look!). Not a single bad recipe yet. Favorites include: Molasses cookies, bumbleberry pie, and blueberry cobbler. And a shout out to the King Arthur Flour website where you’ll find some great cooking p*rn (forget Williams-Sonoma, those posers*). I’m the proud owner of a bag of nondiastatic malt powder. Now what?

*Don’t get me wrong, W-S offers great cooking p* r n, but there’s also something smugly contrived about it, the way they display those impossible bundt cakes (I hear they have a bundt of Helm’s Deep) in the window--It reminds me of the sleazy guy standing outside the x xx shop, leering at you as if he knows you can’t help looking in as you walk by...


#2. The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart
Challenging recipes, not for the beginner. Detailed step-by-step instructions, helpful pics, especially for shaping the loaves. I find the recipes rather more time-consuming than some others, but very erudite. I use this as a reference often, for instance, to make a biga, or to get a better understanding of techniques. I made the challah and it had a perfect, beautiful crumb. But Peter, it needs to be sweeter. ;-) (Seriously, 2 tablespoons of sugar in a challah? That must be a typo.)

#3. The Art of Bread by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno, published by DK
I bought two copies on remainder in Politics & Prose awhile back, because I thought it was such a good beginner’s guide to everything from French bread to flat bread. Some of the recipes are not stellar, but they’re simple, there are lots of pics, and everything is explained clearly. Great instructions on shaping and on using steam to improve the crust. (I still have my extra copy. I’ll probably hold a contest on my web site to give it away, so watch for that!)

#4. The Fresh Loaf
The ultimate site for Breadheads. You will be amazed and perhaps overwhelmed. I’m linking directly to the page on baking a ciabatta because I’m so jealous. Beautiful photos, great recipe commentary. Great videos on tasks like how to correctly slash the dough before baking, which is something I always get wrong. (But I’m getting better, using the lame I bought at the King Arthur site…)

#5. Surfas
A restaurant supply site (as well as a bricks-and-mortar store in CA) with good prices. I’ve ordered everything from a dough bucket to a cooling rack. They may not have the kitchen sink, but they’ve got the ice machine, if you want it.

#6. My Future Stand Mixer
I cannot yet justify this purchase, much less find a place to store it. You can keep your Kitchenaids (unless they were made by Hobart, years ago—oh yes, there are many forum discussions on this topic, e.g., here and here. With this machine, I know I will finally be able to make the ciabatta that strangled my last food processor. The Magic Mill can handle 28 cups of flour at once. That’s roughly 9 loaves of bread. Its roller apparently mimics the kneading action of hands better than any hook, paddle, or beater design. At least, that’s the buzz I hear from the bread mavens. I feel the need to add a disclaimer: This is not a product endorsement, just an irrational desire and, perhaps, another procrastination tool (Stuck on that story? Daydream about stand mixers instead). Really, what would I do with 9 loaves of bread?? (So, what color, do you think? Frosty blue?)

---Paula Whyman


P.S. From Madam Mayo: On April 23, look for chef/ food writer David Hagedorn's "Chef on Call" column in the Washington Post--- it features Paula Whyman getting a baking lesson from a famous local chef. And For those who want to bake only in their imaginations, Madam Mayo recommends Sara Mansfield Taber's glorious literary travel memoir, Bread of Three Rivers: The Story of a French Loaf.

---> Read more Madam Mayo guest-blog posts here.
Up next Wednesday: Grace Cavalieri

This Saturday's Washington Independent Writers Conference

This Saturday June 9th is the big bash of the Washington Independent Writers Conference in Washington DC, featuring Francine Prose, writers of all stripes, and literary agents galore. My own panel is on travel writing, with Sara Mansfield Taber, L. Peat O'Neil and Candida Mannozzi, yes, the Candida of the fabulous and unique international treasure trove that is Candida's World of Books. Click here for the details.

Travel Writing Panel at the Washington Independent Writers Conference June 9th

I'm chairing the travel writing panel for the Washington Independent Writers (WIW) conference this June 9th. Here's the official blurb and the line-up:

Travel Writing: Article, Essay, Book

What and where are the markets for travel writing? Where and how do travel books sell? Can a travel article turn into an essay and, eventually, a book? Or, vice versa? Three distinguished travel writers and an innovative travel bookseller discuss their experiences and views.

Moderator: C.M. Mayo's books are Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Whereabouts Press), Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California the Other Mexico (Milkweed Editions), and Sky Over El Nido (University of Georgia Press), which won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. Her travel writing has won three Lowell Thomas Awards and the 2005 WIW Award for best essay.

Candida Mannozzi is the owner of Candida's World of Books, which opened in Washington DC in 2004. A native of Italy with dual Italian / US citizenship, she speaks six languages fluently, and has lived and worked in many different countries including the Czech Republic and Japan. She has a BA and and MA in language and literature from Swarthmore College and Yale Univ. respectively, as well as a graduate diploma in European Studies from Johns Hopkins University SAIS (School of Advanced International Studies).

L. Peat O'Neil, after 18 years in the Washington Post newsroom, O'Neil currently is learning Mandarin, teaching writing for UCLA and freelancing. Author of Travel Writing – See the World, Sell the Story (Writer's Digest Books 2005).

Sara Mansfield Taber was raised in Asia, Europe, and the United States as the daughter of a CIA agent. She is the author of two books of literary journalism: Dusk on the Campo: A Journey in Patagonia (Henry Holt) and Bread of Three Rivers: The Story of a French Loaf (Beacon). She has also written a writing workbook for internationally global youth entitled, Of Many Lands: Journal of a Traveling Childhood (Foreign Service Youth Foundation). Her memoirs and essays have been published in national literary magazines and produced for Public Radio's All Things Considered. Her work appears, also, in the anthologies, Notes from a Traveling Childhood and Unrooted Childhoods.

For more about the WIW conference, click here.

Washington Independent Writers Conference: Panel on Travel Writing

Quick blog post before I run out the door to AWP with Tameme: Just finalized the line-up for the travel writing panel at the Washington Independent Writers conference, which takes place this June 9th at the George Washington University's Cafritz Conference Center, Washington DC. Yours Truly, Sara Mansfield Taber, L. Peat O'Neil, and--- drum roll--- Candida Mannozzi, owner of Candida's World of Books, one of the most unusual and charming and altogether Washingtonian venues in Washington. Get on Candida's mailing list and you'll be invited to readings and signings of books on Rwanda, Turkmenistan, Italy, Iceland--- and maybe all in the same month. In the meantime, WIW's website has profiled my anthology, Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion here. Gracias, guys! Pictured left is the cover of L. Peat O'Neil's Travel Writing: See the World, Sell the Story (2nd Edition). I always very highly recommend this book to my writing students. L. Peat O'Neil has sold more travel stories than any one I know--- and now she's learning Chinese. And here's the cover of Bread of Three Rivers: The Story of a French Loaf, Sara Mansfield Taber's luminous travel memoir of her quest for the DNA of the best bread in the world. The writing is as delicious as the subject.