I have been busy with my new position as the visiting professor at the MFA program of Queens College, which has been a deeply rewarding but sometimes overwhelming experience. Some writing is happening in the cracks, which is important to me. You can even read some of it in my newsletter, A stranger comes home. You can also read my recent short stories, including one published this January in Reactor Magazine, “What I Saw Before the War.“
But mostly what occupies my thoughts is a giant project, one I’ve been working on and thinking about in one way or another for about twenty years. It’s my great Mexico novel, a project that has had an enormous influence on my life despite my never having been able (yet) to finish it. I’ve written and thrown away 60,000 words of this sucker, but I think this time I have it. It’s historical, it’s science fictional, it’s magical, and it encompasses most of what I’ve been privileged to learn and understand about my adopted home. I’m also nowhere near finished, so don’t look for it on bookshelves next year, but I figured it’s good to let people know what’s still cooking on my creative burner.
Until next time, take care of yourselves, take care of one another, take care of the planet, and resist cruelty and ignorance in all its forms.
Love,
Alaya
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