Perra Brava

Blog alert: Tepoztlan-based writer Rena Lindstrom just started a blog, "Perra Brava."

Guest-Blogger Graham Mackintosh's 5 Favorite Websites

The King of the Baja Buffs, the one who knows Baja California up, down, and all around--- indeed, in a death-defying feat, he actually walked around its entire coastline--- the one who has seen its almost every nook and rattle-snake-infested cranny, and especially, its loneliest and most dangerous places, and then shared his stories in a multitude of books, most recently, Marooned with Very Little Beer, about two months alone on a 42-mile long island in the Sea of Cortez... OK, I know this is a helluva run-on sentence... it's... drumroll.... Graham Mackintosh! I have, and treasure, all of his books! Truly, no bibliography on Baja California can pretend to cover the 20th and 21st centuries without including his works. And, as anyone who has read his books and/or met him can testify, he has a joyous and generous spirit. So it is for me a very special honor to have Graham Mackintosh guest-blogging today. Over to you, Graham.

When the New York Times reviewed my first book, I received the incredible accolade that “Graham Mackintosh is not much of a writer, but he makes a great traveling companion.” Ever since, I have absolutely refused to take any steps to improve my writing, and have just concentrated on making my tales as interesting and humorous as possible.

The most comprehensive single Internet source for discussion and opinions about Baja California is perhaps BajaNomad. At its best, Nomad is a wonderful resource; at its worst, it’s replete with knee-jerk negativity. Ironically, when I most need its community opinion, I tend to stay offline. I’m much more productive being “not much of a writer” when I work alone and focus on the experience that I’m trying to convey. Reading that I should be yanked from Baja, thrown in jail, and have all my worthless books trampled underfoot does not seem to help the process. There was such a heated Nomad debate about my last adventure camped on a remote island in the Sea of Cortez, that I included great chunks of the back-and-forth in my new book. It saved me writing whole chapters and was much more entertaining than anything I could have written. I’m just glad I didn’t know the half of it (the hostile half) while I was enjoying my sensitive, thin-skinned experience with the spirits and the wild life on the island.

Perhaps because of my Catholic, working class upbringing, I’ve always sought “truth” on a visual and emotional level. And probably because of my propensity for devouring comics as a kid, my deepest thoughts tend to flow as lines, images, and graphics. I have a bit of a distrust for words. Images appeal to my sense of economy. Show me a page of written instructions and I quickly feel lost, whereas one good graphic and I can often see the point instantly. I love to look at the world through Google Images. I’ve spent many happy hours zooming into remote areas of Baja, enjoying volumes of memories, recollecting faces of kindly strangers, simple meals shared on remote beaches, canyons where I camped with my donkey… and occasionally feeling myself called to some new adventure. You can get down and dirty to just about any place on earth, including your own back yard.

A good chunk of my literary education has come from Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac, though I do prefer listening rather than reading.

For a slightly different perspective on news and cultural matters, especially how my favorite soccer team is doing back in London, (very poorly by the way; looks like they are going to be relegated from the Premiership) I am fond of visiting the BBC website.

Otherwise, my web searching tends to be remarkably scattered. When I need to research a species of rattlesnake that nearly nailed me or some strange kingfisher behavior that I observed, then I’ll worm my way through Google. And before I know it, I’m having a super time delving into Greek mythology or an 1860s article in the American Journal of Medical Sciences, “On the production of cataracts in frogs by the administration of sugar.” I seem to end up everywhere except on sites that might actually help me improve my craft as a writer.

For a fifth choice that would be in any way relevant, I had to check to see what web sites were in my recent “favorite places” list. This one, http://www.mexico-herps.com, was very helpful and interesting, lots of nice maps and pictures. No, it’s not about some horrible viral disease, but rather an introduction to the wonderful range of reptiles and amphibians (snakes, lizards, frogs, etc) south of the border. Not comprehensive, but a good beginning. Enjoy.

---Graham Mackintosh

--->For the archive of Madam Mayo's guest-blog posts, click here.
Up next Wednesday: Paula Whyman.

The Building of Quality

Soon to be an audio CD--- my short story in the Kenyon Review. For the cover, I'm thinking of something with this blurry photo (taken out a car window) of the Jefferson Monument. Tidal pool cropped out, of course. Here's the background music. More anon.

Write Like a Blogger

Seth Godin has a nutritious little post on blogging.

Dawn Marano's "Trusting the Edge"

Dawn Marano, dear friend, editor (the hard-cover edition of my travel memoir, Miraculous Air), fellow writer, and now fellow blogger, is about to embark on her Lake Placid Adventure, that is, compete in the U.S. Adult Figure Skating Competition. At 50 years old, she's geared up with a regimen of pilates, a good supply of arnica, and a solid-gold Zen attitude. It's an endeavor that is both amazing and inspiring, and she's blogging about it now on Trusting the Edge, titled after her memoir of her early years when she skated on TV with, believe it, Donny Osmond.

Delia Lloyd on Academic Blogs

But will she start a blog? My Mexico City amiga (now living in London), political scientist and writer Delia Lloyd has a guest-blog post on academic blogs over at Urban Muse:

For a long time, academics sat on the sidelines of the public sphere. Sure, there were famous professors like John Kenneth Galbraith--or more recently, Paul Krugman--who had tremendous influence inside the scholarly community and also shaped the public debate. For the most part, however, academics just seemed to do "something else" and we, as a society, had little knowledge of--or interest in--exactly what that was.

In recent years, however, a growing number of Ph.D.s--both inside and outside of the university--have begun sharing their expertise with a wider audience on a range of subjects that spans economics, law, political science, even literature. And the way they've done this is through blogs.

Among the most famous of these "academic blogs" is probably Freakonomics, the New York Times blog (based on the best selling book by Steven. D. Levitt and Steven J. Dubner) that sheds economic insight onto everyday occurrences....READ MORE

The Writers Center Open House This Saturday

Interested in trying some creative writing? This Saturday April 5th from 12-3, the Writers Center in Bethesda MD (a hop over the line from DC) is hosting an open house. So come on in, see what the place looks like, have some coffee and cookies, talk to workshop leaders, peruse the book gallery (it may be small but it has what may be the best literary magazine rack outside of New York City). I usually give a one-day literary travel writing workshop once a season--- however, this spring I'm teaching a one-day in "flash fiction" in Mexico City via Dancing Chiva. I'll be back to offer another workshop at the Writers Center this summer. Stay tuned. For full information about the Writers Center, its many workshops and workshop leaders, and the open house, visit www.writer.org More anon.

Alice's Tulip Analogy

The other day I described this blog as not a diary or log, not a community bulletin board, but a filter. I've also said many times that a blog doesn't have to be this or that; it can be whatever the blogger wants it to be--- a diary, a newsletter, a column, a recipe book, a whole novel.... I recently met with fellow blogger Alice of Alice and Pabu, who posts a little something a couple of times a week in the channeled "voice" of her Tibetan spaniel, Pabu. She's not trying to sell anything--- there's no book, no DVD, etc.--- she does it, as she puts it, as one would plant tulips in the front yard.

"You hope other people enjoy them. But they might walk by without noticing. Their dog might pee on them. They might steal them. But most people are happy that you've planted tulips. Anyway, like I said, you do it for yourself." 

That's Alice's photo of me with my pug, Picadou, admiring some early spring tulips.

Unbridled Books's Fred Ramey on the End of the Lit-Blog Co-op and the Roomless Salon of Web 2.0

For anyone interested in the future of book culture, an important post.

Guest-Blogger Leslie Pietrzyk's Top 5 Work-in-Progress Guest-Blog Posts

This post makes me blush, but what the heck! Guest-blogging today is my DC amiga, novelist and fellow-blogger Leslie Pietrzyk. If I just celebrated the second anniversary of my blog, it's thanks to her--- she's the one who urged me, despite my disdainful resistance, to take literary blogs ("litblogs") seriously. One of the questions newbies to the blogging world ask me is, how do you know which blogs to read? Start with the ones I recommend, I always say--- meaning, well, start with the ones someone recommends! Leslie gave me my start by recommending several (click here to read her list of favorite blogs back in 2006). And now she, too, is celebrating the anniversary of her blog, Work in Progress and I do very heartily recommend it. One of the most outstanding litblogs on the Net (on my top 10 list of writers blogs), it focuses on the creative process and all things literary. Over to you, Leslie.

My blog, Work in Progress, is a year old, and I have our own dear Madam Mayo to thank for this auspicious event. While I was reading literary blogs for several years, trying to hook others into my obsession, I had never imagined I might actually write one: too much work... too hard to format italics... too much responsibility... too many links. I had plenty of excuses.

Then I started reading Madam Mayo, who made blogging seem effortless and fun and an exciting (and necessary) part of the future for writers. Finally, I took the plunge directly from her site, clicking on the innocuous “create blog” in her upper right hand corner, right up there still (you can start a blog, too, right now; that’s how simple it is). And that was a year ago!

To celebrate, I’d like to offer my five favorite guest posts over the past year. I’ve enjoyed—and am grateful to everyone who contributed a guest essay during my first year (and I’m always looking for pieces; contact me)--- but these are five posts that I absolutely can’t shake.

1. Liam Callanan, “After Words.” I still get teary when I read this evocative piece filled with yearning of the young and the old, the remembered and the forgotten.

2. Carolyn Parkhurst. I write fiction so I don’t have to deal with the issue of writing directly about people I know and care about. That question is even more complicated here when the story you think you might want to tell is about your own child.

3. Ryan Krausmann. What can I say? This one still makes me laugh. And I’m continuously inspired by Ryan’s story about how he boldly quit his job to spend the summer writing his first novel.

4. Anna Leahy offers excellent suggestions for how to create an effective writing group, a topic that I think is under-covered in the general writing magazines.

5. Katharine Davis, “Letter from Maine.” Kitty writes here about the intersection of art and writing, showing us that writers have much to learn from visual artists.

6. Bonus pick: Check out Madam Mayo’s helpful suggestions about how to get the most out of your writing workshop!

--- Leslie Pietrzyk

--->For the archive of past guest-bloggers on Madam Mayo, click here