Don't You Love It When You Still Find Typos?

3/3/2018

My good friend and union brother, Anthony Escuadro and I at a first-ever Union on Tap at the Emporium in Logan Square. Throwback games to the 80s fun!

, sFuck to the No! I was going over "La Bruja del Barrio Loco," and I was annoyed to find missing letters and stupid typos. This is the fourth time I go over it. Ugh. I am so glad I am having an editor looking over my work with a microscopic and wide lens-ed eye. (And, maybe her meticulous Boo, will also give it a read. He is an avid reader I respect, truly.)

Anyway, early this morning at like 2:30a.m., I had a golden hour or two to write, so I thought. I looked over "La Bruja" and was on a roll, when my daughter woke up calling for me.

I swear, she has an internal clock that lets her know when I'm awake. Still, I was blessed to get a little work in and spend some time loving my cats.

Love someone today, even your furry family. #Resist.

0 Comments

Dr. Jesú Estrada,
Pen Name: María J. Estrada
Chicago, IL

I grew up in the desert, between Yuma and Somerton, AZ, close to the Cocopah Reservation. Because I was ever-bored, I became an avid reader of Spanish comic books or novelas. Then, once I learned how to read in English, I devoured everything in both languages.

I have been writing stories in mis lenguas since I was six years old. My fiction and poetry focus on working class issues, primarily about laborers in the Southwest.

In real life, I am happily married, been so for over ten years and have a fabulous nine-year-old, son, and three-year-old, daughter, who keep me incredibly busy. My husband is heroically supportive and encourages me to follow my literary passions.

All of my degrees, including my Ph.D. from Washington State University are in English, which makes me a big fat English nerd. Currently, I live in Chicago and teach full-time at Harold Washington College to an amazing student population. Of course, one of my favorite classes to teach is Creative Writing, but I love all of my students and all my classes because I teach all the novels and story/poetry collections I want. Lucky me.

(Yeah, sometimes I let my students write non-serious fiction.)

My next book coming out is Not Your Abuelita's Folktales, a Magical Realism collection of short stories for Young Adults.