Wrote more of my novel  The Harvest.  The Wifi is not cooperating, big surprise, so I will have to post the document at Starbucks. 

And that's all I have for now because my toddler was super needy this morning.  Lucking, she called me after I had written a few more pages.  Yay!

Keep writing!  #Resist

That's all the blog needs to say today.  Ja ja ja.  Seriously, I got some great feedback on the first short story, "Down South where the Water Is Warm," from Adam Gottlieb who Karen Lewis recently called "a good Jewish boy".  Based on his awesome analysis, I am definitely going to look at the pacing and side stories.  To me, the pacing is fine for a short story, but the side stories I know get annoying or could get annoying for others.

I honestly don't know if it's a Latino thing or how my weird brain works.  In my family, we can't tell a story without embedding a few more.  In fact, my mother is the queen of annoying tangents.  That's why I'm never going to run out of material.  Every time I go home or to visit family, the stories are often weirder than fiction.  

Maybe that's why white people don't like us.  

Anyway, I also worked on my novel and am filling in the narrative more.  I've been very dialogue heavy, and have been introducing too many characters, so I am going to focus on the ones that I have established.  Right now, the draft is at 174 single-spaced pages, but I suspect the chapters are too short for chapters.  That really is up to me.  Chapter conventions don't really matter, and I don't even think the length needs to be uniform or consistent.

Speaking of not giving a shit about norms, I am going to see Junot Diaz this Friday!  I missed him last time he came to Chicago.  I don't want to hype it up too much, but I love his work!  I will try to take pictures, maybe even get a book signed, if I can find a clean copy of one.  (Oh, that is funny cuz he curses like a Brooklyn whore in his work.)

Screw conventions.  #Resist 

I am networking with new writers and some old friends that are writers.  Not to join a writing group, though, I am living vicariously through my friends' writing communities.  I can't add anymore to my plate.  For me, right now, it's more important to show up every day and just write; the writing process is giving me a crazy amount of energy to move forward.

However, I am looking for someone with skills to edit my short story a $1 a page.  I know that's a cheap wage, but that is more than I can afford for now.

This morning, I wrote more of Alan's Cuento section 8, which you can read in The Harvest tab.  Yes, we are at over 170 pages!  Woo hoo.

Also, I am resting with the advice my friend Marcy gave me and that is to be open to editing changes.  I reread the short story, and frankly, only want to change the pacing of the last battle scene with Ana.  I wonder if the main character is encountering enough obstacles and if the pacing of the action is too fast.  Still, it's not as quick as Erick Allen Yankee's smut!  LOL. 

Here's to being open to editing changes.  #Resist

Stars are bright, and I want to send a message to them.

Joy is bright.

But a red light is in my heart. And it will always be there.

-Sined Antonio

(The poem was in response to a punishment.  Guess why he got punished?  Or better yet, I'm going to punish him if he produces poetry like this one.  Just kidding!)

I wrote another section of The Harvest. I am pretty happy with it and am developing the androids more.   

I am also revising my long short story, "La Bruja del Barrio Loco, " posted below.  Except for the pacing, I am not sure how to make major changes, which is not a wonderful reality to admit in a blog.  That is why I need an ideal reader, universe!  Send one over quick, before I start more projects.

See, I think I spent so much time working on that story, that it doesn't need radical changes.  

Regardless after I finish reading it, I am going to print it and cut it up and stitch it back together.  In fact, my son wants me to read it to him, which I will.  He has a good ear and asks great questions.

Oooooh, and my friend has an awesome idea for the cover.  I can't wait to see it!

Keep at it.  #Resist

It's 6:30a.m., and apparently, I got up too early to write.  Well, I managed to add a chunk and go over some of the older entries.  No, the androids aren't having sex, yet. 

However, I put a conflict that was coming in Ashley's path.  It's not that Ashley is homophobic, but she loves Alan, though she won't quite admit it.  She also, unlike most teenagers, is not overly hormonal but constantly preoccupied about being the best candidate and keeping her mother and Mrs. Jenkens safe.  In fact, she never thinks about sex.  We will see where it goes because I think I'm gong to keep the relationship with Jackie and Ashley painfully real.  You can read the next bits here:  The Harvest.

The androids are also starting to play a stronger role, and I may make 147-Paul the father figure Alan never had.  For Ashley, I am not sure if 309 will be a friend or mentor. 

Anyway, I also posted a revision of my poem in the Poetry tab.  It's still a work in progress:  “A Cup of Coffee for My 20’s Self”  Las night, I read it out loud to my son.  He wasn't impressed.  Not enough cursing or political topics about Trump.

Well, it's back to bed for me kiddos!

Get your sleep and rest.  Recharge, but keep writing or doing whatever you love.  #Resist.

“I Should Send a Note and Cup of Coffee to My 20’s Self”
by Dr. Jesú Estrada
October 7, 2017


It’s odd, sitting in a coffee shop
Starbucks in Hyde Park full of
Beautiful black men
Multi-Patchworked Children
 
Families, Safe, Families:  Kids learning to order tall hot chocolates, chocolate produced
                from the hands of exploited children
 
                        And me without that former angst of incompleteness.
 
That longing for true, true, TRUE fantasy like-telenovela-love
 
of teenage wet dreams, bored.
But always there.
 
I am Mucho Mas Contenta, no es que este mas vieja.
No I am not a wise old cliché, aged and easier to process.
 
            [And this goddamned fly keeps trying to make love to my left leg and
            shit on it at the same time!]
 
            [Let me drink my Venti fantasy of true happiness!  You fly fucker.]
 
I pour myself deep, doing what I really was meant to be--
 
            To do.  In actual peace.  There is no gap of infinite grief anymore for
                        
                           someone.  Anyone.
 
            Not chasing what never was, a false self, infused by gringo ads and
            gringo TV shows from the 70’s.    

Yes, my novel draft posted on the first time!  Woooooh. 

So about this next bit.  Well, it wasn't planned at all, but I added another android to the story line.  They will play an important role in how Ashley and Allen reunite, which yes, I have already written in my head. 

I am going to explore that age old question:

     Who will save man, or woman, when she loses her humanity?  Will
     they save themselves? 

I don't want my answer to be such a fucking downer like some sci-fi novels, short stories, movies, and shows.  You know what I'm talking about.

So, here it is:  The Harvest

On a totally random note, I just discovered Rupi Kaur and was informed about the plagiarism conflict or alleged plagiarism with another Tumblr poet.  I am a noob when it comes to Tumblr poetry.  Regardless, I was introduced to Rupi Kaur by my U.S. Latin American students, and I have to say that I like how she reads and performs.  Young people seem to really like her work.

On page the poems may seem obvious and oversimplified, but I like her work. 

My friend and poet Todd Heldt, who is not an internet sensation, yet, but has published a number of books created a contest on Facebook to spoof Kaur's poetry.  Of course, as a woman of color, I was deeply offended.  But as someone who likes to have fun, I created the following and am hoping to win the coffee cup prize. 

(Rupi Kaur, if you are reading this, which is 100% unlikely, I think you are an amazing woman and an accomplished writer.  Respect.)

Have fun today.  #Resist  (Respect all poets.)

All I have to say is that now, I'm going back to bed.  It's 4:30a.m.  Technology, I am done being mad at you.  Why can't you be helpful like 147-Paul?

I got the Scribd file to work, but can't get the regular page with my draft to post, so people can read it on the phone.  Sigh. 

Technology, you may make me a more patient person after all, but probably not.  You stupid fucker.

So, I added some more to the draft, which you will hopefully be able to see after I visit Starbucks and use the free WiFi:  The Harvest.

#Don't hate the small stuff.  #Resist.

First of all, I swear, yesterday, I had a post about androids.  But, unlike today (where I woke up at 1a.m. with that delicious writing bug), I was in too much of a hurry to fix the technological issues.  Nothing was posting or showing up right.  Weebly or WiFi, one of those W-motherfuckers wouldn't let me post.  Well, to be fair, I did manage to post my draft, a process that usually aggravates me because it takes so long.

All I said was that androids were playing a bigger part in The Harvest, bigger than I had planned.  In fact, I am writing the sequel in my head based on 147-Paul.  I know, I know.  I should focus on one project at a time. 

Also, I added links to the document upload partly for you but partly for me, so I could navigate through the draft. I haven't had time to insert the *.html anchors, but I will.  Maybe this morning.

I also reconnected with the editor, Adam Gottlieb, of my short story collection.  I am going to see him at an event this Saturday (https://www.facebook.com/events/1646103892154118/?hc_location=ufi) and offer some bones for his amazing work. He thinks he will be done by Tuesday or Wednesday with part 1 of Down South where the Water is Warm, which I am self-publishing independently of part 2.  Part 2 has all the fun stuff, horror and magical realism, but I think two books makes more sense.  I also got this braniac idea for the second cover using the same image; that way I won't have to agonize over how to design another cover.

I also finally found an artist to do the cover of my long short story "La Bruja del Barrio Loco," which I need to revise a few more times.  I have been researching that curandera genre some more. 

OK, it is 3:19a.m. and The Harvest beckons.    

Hug your android today.  #Resist.