Jane Austen and metaphysical marketing
By Kimberly Kinser January 9, 2009 San Miguel de Allende

Authors’ Sala Reading
Andrea Adler and Terry Hill
Fri, Jan 9, 5–7pm
St. Paul’s Church
Cardo 6
50 Pesos

On January 9, join the Author’s Sala at St. Paul’s Church to hear the newest edition in the Two Guys series from Terry Hill. Two Guys Read Jane Austen has been adopted by several Jane Austen Society blogs and will be on sale at Austen’s home and museum in Chawton, England.

Writer and San Miguel resident Terry Hill and his co-writer, Steve Chandler, had long been urged by their wives to read, and write about, Jane Austen. After years of resistance, they finally gave in. The result is the correspondence that comprises their newly released book, Two Guys Read Jane Austen. The two excerpts below are indicative of the high academic standards these men bring to their Austen criticism.



Opening letter in the book:
24 September 2007 - Georgian Bay, Canada

Dear Steve,

Do you know what an angioplasty is? 

It’s a medical procedure, and believe me, I’d be very much in the dark about it myself if it weren’t for having once worked on a medical account in advertising. (I’ve always made a distinct point of walking away from any health or medical discussion unless there’s money in it for me. I’m going to make a very unsatisfactory old man I’m afraid.)

Angioplasty is used on patients with clogged veins (or maybe it’s arteries, I’m not sure.) In order to open the flow of blood, the operation involves putting a tiny balloon into the vein and then inflating it to enlarge the vein and facilitate the flow. (I know this can’t be, but I picture a bicycle pump being used at this point in the surgery.) It all sounds very Fantastic Voyage, doesn’t it?

I bring up this bit of medical trivia because Miranda suspects that a similar procedure has been performed on Anne Hathaway’s lips and I was hoping you could weigh in with an opinion. We just saw Anne in the film Becoming Jane as part of my rigorous preparation for starting this book. The film is supposed to be based on the real circumstances of Jane Austen’s life.

Anne plays Jane Austen in the film. This is a bit of a casting stretch. There are only two known pictures of Jane—both amateur efforts by her sister Cassandra—and if they represent a passable likeness, then Jane was not nearly as pretty as Anne Hathaway. Nor were her lips as inflated. On the other hand, surgery had not advanced to the Fantastic Voyage stage in 1800 either. Still I must say I thought Anne a terrific Jane Austen.

Miranda didn’t much like her, but then, in my experience, Anne Hathaway is a bit of a litmus test. If you like her, you’re a man; if you don’t, you’re a woman. I find her perfectly beautiful in a romantic, virginal kind of way. Women find her too perfect and too perky.

This male/female divide is interesting as we approach Jane’s books because so much of what drives her stories is about just that: the differences between how men and women think and feel. Which is, of course, what lured us into this venture in the first place.



Later in the correspondence, Steve worries about Terry’s safety here in Mexico:



Jan 21 – Phoenix, Arizona USA!

Terry, 

Tell me you are safe down there in Mexico. All the news reports I read these days focus on the drug cartels and the killings. Reassure me.

love to Miranda, Steve

* * *

Jan 22, 2008 – Manzanillo, MX

Steve,

I believe we are safe here in Mexico because we have signed up with what I consider the strongest cartel. Naturally it would be foolhardy for us to join one of the weaker ones, and I am not foolhardy. So don’t worry about us. 

terry.

* * *

Jan 22 – Phoenix

T,

Tell me. How does one choose the ideal cartel?

s. 

* * *

Jan 23, 2008 – Manzanillo, MX

Steve,

Good question. Many people make horrible mistakes joining cartels down here. Sure, they live it up for a while, but eventually they have to pay the piper. This payment is usually made by getting blown up by a car bomb or gunned down on the street (calle we call it down here) by a bunch of guys in ski masks. 

It’s sad.

Especially when it could all be so easily avoided by doing just a little research before committing to a particular cartel. But what to look for?

I’ve long subscribed to what I call the Holy Cartel Trinity: 1) appearances, 2) connections, and 3) track record. This research can be done right at home in newspapers or on the internet.

Appearances. Search the web for pictures of top echelon members of your short-list cartels. Think former Panama strongman Manuel Noriega here: heavy-set, jowly, pockmarked, thuggish. Look for guys that look like that; none of the top-flight cartels have pretty-boy capos. The problem here is that many of these guys have been on the lam so long that the most recent photos are often ten years old. It’s hard to tell what they look like now. Move on, then, to …

Connections. See how often the cartels honchos are linked to heads of state, other high-ranking politicians, members of the judiciary, A-list movie stars, etc. Don’t forget to check the gossip columns. Often you’ll find mention or a picture of some brand name capo knocking back a few margaritas with, say, Lindsay Lohan at some West Hollywood after-hours club. The problem here, of course, is that Lindsay ain’t got no juice: she can’t quash an indictment; she can’t order a retaliatory hit; she can’t even talk her way out of a speeding ticket. Move on to the third and most critical measure …

Track Record. Cartels don’t publish annual reports or offer full disclosure on their sales figures or trends. This makes a financial evaluation mere guesswork. Not helpful. But what is readily available in the press is information about take-downs – assassinations. No, I grant you they don’t publish daily standings like in the other major sports, but any competent newspaper reader can quickly put together a pretty fair approximation. 

Reviewing these three facets will usually turn up a pretty obvious choice among the cartels. Hope this is helpful.

Terry.

San Miguel Poetry Week 2009
By Jennifer Clement 

Poetry Readings
San Miguel Poetry Week
Mon–Fri, Jan 5–9, 7pm
Bellas Artes
Hernández Macías 75
Free

For one week in January San Miguel de Allende hosts poetry workshops, readings and lectures during the annual San Miguel Poetry Week. The inspiration behind the San Miguel Poetry Week was to create an environment in which Mexican, British and US poets could come together. Classes, including workshops, lectures and creative exercises, are held every morning. In the evenings the poets read their work at Bellas Artes at 7pm. The last night of the program is set aside for a reading by all the participants. These evening readings are free and open to the public. 

In 1997, Jennifer Clement and Barbara Sibley, sisters who grew up in Mexico City, founded the San Miguel Poetry Week. Clement is an award-winning author of the memoir Widow Basquiat and the novels A True Story Based on Lies and The Poison That Fascinates, as well as several books of poetry.

Barbara Sibley, apart from founding and directing the San Miguel Poetry Week with her sister, is also the co-owner and co-chef of two Mexican restaurants in Manhattan: La Palapa Cocina Mexicana and La Palapa Rockola. In 2009 her cookbook, Antojitos, will be published by Ten Speed Press.

For more information, write to poetryweek@aol.com  or visit their website at www.sanmiguelpoetry.com. 

Roster of readers, San Miguel Poetry Week 2009

January 9
Group reading
Writing workshops at Authors’ Sala festival
By Sara Fasy

Writers’ Conference and Literary Festival
Fri, Feb 20, 1pm–Tue, Feb 24, 4pm
Before Jan 15: US$175, US$225 for conference plus workshop

How does a children’s picture book evolve from a simple idea to a real, brightly colored publication? What does it take to find the right voice for a YA (young adult) novel? How did an email exchange become a bestselling exploration of friendship? How do you research a true crime book? What takes memoir writing out of disorganized anecdote and into literature? For aspiring and established writers who want to explore these questions, the upcoming fourth annual Writers’ Conference and Literary Festival will provide cogent answers. A team of successful writers, including Dianna Aston, Betsy James, Nina Burleigh, Terry N. Hill and Jeannie Ralston elucidate the fine points of their craft during their workshops at the Biblioteca this February.

Let’s say you have a brilliant idea for a children’s book. After all, you’ve read The Story of Ping 150 times and can recite The Night Before Christmas by heart. But how do you fashion the quiet poetry and lilting rhymes that make the best children’s books a pleasure to read again and again? If you are the writer, how do you find an illustrator who shares your vision? How do you bring that bright idea to fruition?

For Dianna Aston, her bestselling children’s book, An Egg is Quiet, began with an anecdote about how a little boy she knew described eggs. Curiosity in the natural world may take you to an idea; then there is the research. Aston says her journalism background helped immensely in constructing her books. “Journalism teaches you to write tightly and to organize information. And then I have to learn everything I can before I can cut it down and condense it into 500 words.” Like many writers, she values the time before she begins to write, a time to let the mind wander. “Then I brainstorm in my journal, create a rough outline and revise everything 20 times.”

Betsy James will team with Aston for a workshop that teaches the fundamentals of writing both children and young adult (YA) books. James combined a teaching and illustration background to create more than a dozen books. Like Aston, she stresses learning to observe—a skill she hones in hours of hiking.

Another workshop presenter, the polymath Nina Burleigh, travels the path of fearless journalism. Burleigh’s compelling narratives run the gamut from Napoleon’s scientists in Egypt to the mysterious death of a presidential mistress and the fascinating origins of America’s most eclectic museum, the Smithsonian. Her most recent book is Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed & Forgery in the Holy Land. While writing Unholy Business, she says, “I met more eccentrics in one week doing the research than I have in years. I loved every minute of it.” A staff writer at People magazine covering human interest stories, she also teaches journalism at Columbia and offers occasional blogs in the Huffington Post. Her workshop promises to be a must for serious nonfiction writers looking to hone their craft.

Most writers email—some of us compulsively. But how many writers have used the medium to collaborate on a book? For Terry N. Hill, it all started when he and a friend mused about books they’d failed to read in high school. That nagging sense of unfinished business led to a dynamic collaboration known as the Two Guys series, a critically acclaimed sensation in the book world. Two Guys Read the Obits, Two Guys Read Moby-Dick, and their latest, Two Guys Read Jane Austen, provide delightful musings on life in much the same way that My Dinner with Andre did on film. Through the dialogue of two old friends, memories, philosophy and reflection on human behavior play out on the page but always loop back to the subject at hand, literature. For anyone who has contemplated a literary collaboration, this will be a gem of a workshop (The Writer and the Reader). Hill has some great things to say about the process. He tells me that he and his co-author, Steve Chandler, have been friends for 53 years and came to the project with different strengths. Hill was a former advertising man and Chandler had been a motivational writer and country songwriter. Hill says those activities left them prepared to jump into writing a book together. “Part of the dynamic of collaboration is a certain competitiveness. When Steve writes something brilliant or something that makes me laugh, I’m very happy for the book. But it’s also true that I’ll be trying extra hard to top it when I write my next section.” Despite their long friendship, Hill adds, “Steve regularly surprises me with a thought or an idea. That’s extremely important. That surprise will send me off in a direction that I’d never have gone if I’d been working on my own.” 

In perhaps the most encouraging comment for aspiring writers contemplating a joint project, Hill adds: “Collaboration is the great cure for being blocked. When someone you admire is counting on you for something, there’s no way you’re going to let them down. You just suck it up and turn out the work.”

Jeannie Ralston, author of The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming, will conduct a thought-provoking workshop on memoir (Memoir Writing). 

She comments, “The most important thing in developing a memoir is identifying why you want to write the story and what the message is from the life you’ve lived so far. Then you must stick to the experiences, encounters and people that move that message along. The task is to cut out superfluous anecdotes and events, to include only those that follow the spine of the story.” Those who are tackling memoir will find her workshop a succinct guide to the means of telling a story by letting “the readers discover your point rather than hitting them over the head with a lot of exposition.”

The schedule, registration information and details on 15 other workshops offered during this year’s festival are available at www.sanmiguelwritersconference.com.  

The Huichols: from sacred space to cyberspace
By Emily Hamilton

Lecture
Susana Valadez
"The Huichols Past and Present: From Sacred Space to Cyberspace" 
Tue, Jan 13, 6pm
Bellas Artes
Hernández Macías 75
50 pesos

Susana Valadez, co-founder of the Huichol Center for Cultural Survival and Traditional Arts, is the first speaker in the San Miguel PEN winter lecture series.

Unique to this lecture will be the opportunity not only to learn about the intriguing Huichol culture but also to take a piece of it home with you. From 3 pm on, traditional Huichol artwork will be sold outside the theater of Bellas Artes on the second floor. This is a rare chance to purchase the highest-quality jewelry and art, all crafted in customary Huichol style and brought from the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains by Susana Valadez herself. Each piece has its own story, its own legend depicted in vivid colors, animal symbols and intricate beadwork. Not only is the folk art completely authentic, but all proceeds will benefit the Huichol Center to aid in its mission of cultural preservation.

Known for their elaborately beautiful folk art, the Huichol people are indigenous to the states of Nayarit and Jalisco, Mexico. Their centuries-old traditions of peyote rituals, shamanism and mythology bring a natural richness that is increasingly rare in an industrializing society. In fact, it is so rare that the Huichol people, with a total population of about 8,000, are threatened with extinction. The Huichol Center for Cultural Survival and Traditional Arts is instrumental in combating the falling population of Huichols by helping their culture and traditions live on.

The center’s goal is to preserve the Huichol culture by “sustaining cultural identity through trade and tribal wisdom,” according to the center’s website. The center teaches computer skills to the children, assembles educational material in the Huichol language and also distributes Huichol folk art and jewelry to be sold throughout Mexico. 

The Huichol culture has survived for hundreds of years with little change. Its traditional dress is nearly exactly the same as it was during the 1800s. However, several economic and social factors are contributing to their current decline in population. Converting to a cash economy has left the Huichol people to face the perils of modern-day poverty: malnutrition, disease and unemployment. Many Huichol people feel that modernizing their ways will enable them to make a better living. However, this can mean leaving their community and abandoning Huichol culture. Now, most Huichol children attend schools that teach only in Spanish and thus become disconnected from their native tongue and culture. But with her “hands-on anthropology” approach, Valadez hopes to train the Huichol people to be able to survive on their own in an increasingly industrialized world while still preserving their historical traditions.

Nearly 30 years ago, the rich Huichol culture inspired Susana Valadez to dedicate her life to its preservation. Valadez married a Huichol man, and together they founded the center, which is a certified nonprofit organization. Valadez has a master of arts degree in Latin American Studies from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). To learn more about the Huichol Center for Cultural Survival and Traditional Arts, visit www.huicholcenter.org.  

San Miguel PEN is one of the more than 150 chapters in 110 countries of International PEN, the largest worldwide association of writers. It is dedicated to freedom of expression and works on behalf of writers all over the world who are called to court, threatened, jailed, attacked or killed for what they have written. San Miguel PEN sponsors local literary programs and scholarships and participates in major statewide and Mexican literary events, and PEN members travel at their own expense to represent us at the United Nations and at international conferences. Proceeds from the Winter Lecture Series fund local activities and help support the international organization. For more information, please contact Lucina Kathmann: lucina.kathmann@gmail.com or 152/0614. 

Emily Hamilton is the 17-year-old editor of Palo Alto High School’s Verde Magazine in Palo Alto, California.

The Art of Self-Editing
By Steve Joseph 

Talk & Workshop
The Art of Self-Editing
Wed, Jan 14, 5pm
Garrison & Garrison Books
Hotel Sautto courtyard
25 pesos

Many can write, but few can edit. Even fewer can do both. There is a misconception that if you can speak you can write well. People do not make the same assumption about art and music, but it is possible to develop your ear for the sound of good writing. To do so, you must read: articles, magazines, books, and poetry. Computer programmers have a saying: garbage in, garbage out. The higher the quality of your reading, the better your writing will be. Almost all good writers are prolific readers.

If there is one book that can teach you to be a better writer and editor, it is The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. It is short, explicit and filled with information. The more you follow its precepts, the better writer you will be.

There are two basic methods of writing: Think first, then write, or write first, then think. Which method you choose depends on your preference and personality. Those who write before they think tend to be less inhibited and less careful. Those who think first tend to be more cautious. Both methods work. Those who think first have more to fear from “the editor on their shoulders”— that inner voice that inhibits and corrects you as you write. Since most people’s editor is so strong, they cannot write at all. Most people can write at only one skill level. Even with great effort, it is almost impossible to write “up” or “down”—better or worse than one normally writes. John Grisham cannot write like Phillip Roth, and vice verse.

However, one can learn to write and edit on a higher level by reading and writing more. The writing and editing process are, in the end, one. The poet William Matthews said, "Writing poetry is like driving a car on the ice.” Self-editing is like driving with cleated tires. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins said, “Revision is not perfecting the poem; revision is the poem.”

How can you make yourself a better self-editor? To start, Google Elmore Leonard’s “Ten Rules of Writing.” Leonard is one of the best dialogue writers in American fiction. His advice will help you to write and edit.

Everyone is not your reader. You are fortunate if one in ten people likes your writing, but if you multiply that by all of your potential readers, you will have a large audience. The problem with most writing groups and workshops is that they tend to follow the above estimate. You may only be writing for yourself and that one writer who resonates with your work. You will know when you find him or her. The rest of the people in the group are only being polite. They, like the workshop teacher, will tell you how to change your story or poem to fit the way they would write it. If no one responds positively to your work, find another workshop, resign yourself to being a possible visionary, or find another artistic outlet.

Imitation is good. Try to copy the style of writers you admire. You will learn a lot. If you are disinclined to imitate, keep reading them. You will absorb something of their skill by osmosis.

Beware: most writing teachers will try to teach you to write like them. This is not necessarily bad, but unless you like your teacher’s writing, don’t study with him or her. Never take a writing workshop without first reading the teacher’s published work. If he or she has not published anything you like, go elsewhere, quickly. The time you waste will be your own.

Remember to double- or triple-space your writing. Leave lots of room for corrections. First comes the rough draft, followed by the first draft. Only you and your favorite reader will know when you have written the final draft. Buy books, new or used, and make notes in the margins on what you do or do not like. Underline sentences and paragraphs that speak to you. Most of us have been taught not to write in books. Forget that admonition. It’s your book.

You can be the second-best editor you will ever have. If you are skilled and fortunate enough to publish, and even more fortunate to publish in the right place for you, there you will find your best editor. Until then, read, write, search for your readers in workshops and be ready to stop working on a piece when you have done your best. A magazine editor told me that nonfiction writers often pass their deadlines because they cannot stop researching. The end of researching is arbitrary. As Checkov said, “A work of art is never finished, only abandonded.”

Steve Joseph was an editor at Dell, McGraw-Hill and Macmillan. He compiled and edited the million-selling anthology The Me Nobody Knows.