Re-post of "The Invitation" for Phones

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I am re-posting "The Invitation" in a *.pdf format because the Scribed file doesn't show up on phones and a friend asked for it.  In this post, I want to write a little bit about culture and writing.

I made a few changes.  Recently, I read it to a group of youth at a creative writing center (the name escapes me.  hey, it's 4a.m., and the writing bug won't let me sleep.), and one of the young men asked me after the reading how close I was to my culture.  He wanted to know if there was some ratio I used to insert into the story.

Obviously, there is no quantifiable formula.  I told him to start off with strong characters, and often, the characters I wrote about were conglomerations of people I knew from the barrio.  In fact, much of that story above was autobiographical.  (Post comments below if you think which sections were autobiographical.) 

Still, I had to admit that I rarely speak Spanish because my husband is for all intents and purposes German and Irish.  I do make Mexican food, but I don't always.  Almost all the dishes I ate growing up were home cooked by my mom.  I said to him the reason I probably write about my childhood is because I was close to my roots. 

I also got asked why I wrote about horror, and that is a much longer post for a day when I am more awake.