Using Imagery (the "Metaphor Stuff")

This blogs posts on Mondays. The second Monday of the month is dedicated to my writing workshop students and anyone else interested in creative writing. 

The study of English Literature has its pleasures and virtues, and much to do with learning the craft of creative writing; nonetheless, these are not one and the same endeavor. You can earn a PhD in race, class, gender, or fill-in-the-blank in the novel, yet still not have the wherewithal to actually write one. 

[>> CONTINUE READING THIS POST AT MADAM-MAYO.COM]

San Miguel Writers Conference with Margaret Atwood, Elena Poniatowska, et al

Writers conference in San Miguel de Allende this weekend with (yeah!) Margaret Atwood, Elena Poniatowska, and many more outstanding writers from Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. I'll be giving a one hour "Techniques of Fiction" workshop during the conference on Saturday, a brief reading from my novel The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire on Sunday, and, following the conference, a two day "Techniques of Fiction" intensive (4 hours each day). The whole enchilada of info + online registration is here.

Workshop, Podcasts, Newsletter for September 2011

--> Tomorrow, Saturday 24th, I'll be giving a one day only workshop on "Techniques of Fiction" at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland (near Washington DC). Visit my "Workshop Schedule" page for details.

--> If you can't make that, or, even if you can, may this podcast, "The Number One Technique in the Supersonic Overview," be of use for you with your writing.

--> More podcasts, workshops, the best from the blogs, and notes on current and forthcoming publications, are in my September 2011 newsletter which just went out to subscribers. (I use www.mailchimp.com, whence the funny picture of the monkey. )

San Miguel Writers Conference February 2012 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

I'm teaching the two day only "Techniques of Fiction" workshop this time. Click here for more information.

My other workshops for 2011 and 2012 are listed on my workshop schedule. It's a bit sparse this year, as I'm working on a new novel (when that will be ready only the Muses know) and the prologue to Madero's Spiritist Manual, which comes out this November.

Get my free e-book C.M. Mayo on Creative Writing: The Best from the Blog here. Recent posts on creative writing not in this e-book include

>>Decluttering Your Writing: The Interior Decoration Analogy

>>The Arc of Writerly Action
From a panel discussion on writing historical fiction, American Independent Writers Association Conference, held at the Writer's Center

>>Language Overlay: A Technique of Fiction
A very simple yet very effective technique I learned from novelist Douglas Glover

More anon.

Querétaro: El último príncipe del Imperio Mexicano

This evening in Querétaro I'll be presenting El último príncipe del Imperio Mexicano, which is the Spanish translation (beautifully done by Mexican writer Agustín Cadena) of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, my novel based on the true story of Agustín de Iturbide y Green in the court of Maximilian.

The event will be at the Galería DRT, 5 de Mayo No. 80, esquina Altamirano, Centro Histórico, and it is thanks to my good friend the very talented writer Araceli Ardón. (By the way, her superb short story about Querétaro of the 1930s, "It is Nothing of Mine," appears in my anthology, Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion -- read her complete story at the website of National Public Radio).

Querétaro, one of Mexico's largest and most distinguished cities,
has long been associated with Maximilian. During the Second Empire, its deeply Catholic conservatives supported him and, in 1867, when Maximilian surrendered to the Juaristas, after a trial, he was executed just outside the city's center, on the Cerro de las Campanas. (The photo, above, is of the chapel dedicated to Maximilian on the Cerro de las Campanas.)

I will be presenting the novel in Mexico City a little later this year, and it is truly an honor to be able to present it today in Querétaro with Araceli Ardón.

There should be plenty of time for Q & A, and there will be copies of the novel in Spanish for sale at the event, which as ever, I'm delighted to sign. The novel is widely available in Mexico at bookstores such as Sanborn's, Gandhi, Sotano, etc., as well as CostCo and (yes) Office Depot. Click here for full information on how to find a copy in Spanish and here for information in English.

+++

This Saturday, Mónica Lavín, a well-known Mexican literary novelist-- whose short story "Day and Night" also appears in Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion-- will be giving a special seminar for the San Miguel Writers Conference in nearby San Miguel de Allende.

On Sunday, also for the conference, I'll be reading, briefly, from the original English version of the novel, and giving a 90 minute workshop on "Techniques of Fiction: A Supersonic Overview."

Next week: The Bay to Ocean Writers Conference in Maryland, and a one day "Techniques of Fiction" workshop at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

More anon.

Bay to Ocean Writers Conference, February 26, 2011 (Near Easton MD)

For the Bay to Ocean Writers Conference this February 26 I'll be offering a miniworkshop, "Top 10 Techniques of Creative Nonfiction and Fiction" from 1: 15 - 2:15 pm
Whether literary, mystery, spy, detective, romance, science or historical, fiction relies on specific techniques to invite the reader to form and maintain a "vivid dream" in his or her mind. The same is true for creative nonfiction, that is, literary travel writing, personal memoir and literary journalism. With examples of many different kinds of highly effective writing, award-winning travelwriter and novelist C.M. Mayo covers the ten most powerful of these techniques.


On Sunday February 27-- the following day-- I'll be offering a longer, three hour workshop, also on "Techniques of Fiction," at the Writer's Center in Bethesda MD. To read more and register on-line for this workshop, click here.

Techniques of Fiction Workshops, February 2011

This winter I'll be doing a couple of "Techniques of Fiction" workshops:

San Miguel Writers Conference, Sunday February 20
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

The Writer's Center, Sunday February 27
Bethesda MD

Read more about both workshops at http://www.cmmayo.com/workshop-schedule.html

More anon.

American Independent Writers Conference and Techniques of Fiction

This Saturday: The American Independent Writers conference--- editors, agents, writers of all stripes and more--- is all day at George Washington University's Cafritz Conference Center, Washington DC.

This Sunday: Techniques of Fiction, my one day only workshop, 1- 5 pm at the Writers Center, Bethesda MD.

More anon.

Fall Fiction Workshops near Washington DC & Mexico City

Flash Fiction: October 5th at the Writers Center, Bethesda MD.
Techniques of Fiction: October 18th via Dancing Chiva, Mexico City.
--->Read more here.

Mexico City This Saturday C.M. Mayo's One Day Workshop on "Techniques of Fiction"

Via Dancing Chiva. Sign-up closes on Friday before noon. Unless you beg. I need to figure out how many xerox copies to make for y'all. Missed this one? There's a one day "Literary Travel Writing Workshop" this winter. P.S. Wherever you may be, help yourself to the 365 daily writing exercises. More anon.

Techniques of Fiction Workshop in Mexico City

is scheduled for October 27th. It's a special one day workshop, from 10 am to 2 pm. More details anon--- and at my workshop page.