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Offspring were a joy or a shame, but still the crown of their elders, nature’s unpredictable creatures.

Achy Obejas

Interestingly, in Cuba abortion is treated as lightly as getting a mole removed.
ACHY OBEJAS

Abortion Cuba Interestingly Lightly Mole Removed Treated
Each genre has its own process. I’m very intuitive about poetry. I usually write first and second drafts out by hand. The other end of the spectrum is journalism, which is much more cerebral, more thought-out and planned.
ACHY OBEJAS

Genre Intuitive Journalism Lying Poetry Process Truth Writing
And then when we moved, I reconfigured my writing desk. The previous one had had very little space to write by hand. And suddenly, the poetry was gushing!
ACHY OBEJAS

Desk Hand Moved Precious Reconfigured Space Suddenly Writing
I’ve gotten to try on voices very different than my own, and I’ve become much more aware of structure than ever before. Also, you really weigh every word. There’s no closer reading then when you read to translate.
ACHY OBEJAS

Different More Much Own Reading Trying
So much depends on our health, and we tend to take it so for granted.
ACHY OBEJAS

Depend Granted Health Take Tend
The legacy of the embargo will be Cuba’s poverty and desperation. When the island comes out of it, they’ll be even more desperate than they are now about the things they think they’ve missed.
ACHY OBEJAS

Desperation Embargo Island Legacy People Thinking
Offspring were a joy or a shame, but still the crown of their elders, nature’s unpredictable creatures.
ACHY OBEJAS

Crown Elder Joy Offspring Pride Unpredictable
It’s a neat skill to have but it’s deadly for literature. In literature, you need to stare at that hole, not ignore it. You need to figure it out.
ACHY OBEJAS

Deadly Hole Ignore Literature Neat State
Both childbirth and abortion are medical procedures but neither is an illness, and sometimes they’re both treated as such.
ACHY OBEJAS

Abortion Child Childbirth Illness Medical Procedure Sometimes
And I know that when I worked daily journalism it really affected my patience with literature, which I think requires reflection, and a different kind of engagement.
ACHY OBEJAS

Affected Journalism Kind Know Literature Patience Require Work
I feel possessive about stories I write in Spanish and so I usually end up translating those into English myself.
ACHY OBEJAS

Country Feel Possessive Story Translate Write Writing
I’m never afraid of research. I relish it!
ACHY OBEJAS

Afraid Experience never Relish Research
We’re a long way from the embargo ending. Look at what just happened with the rollback of Obama’s Cuba policies. Two idiot congressmen convinced our idiot president to make it harder on Cubans on the island.
ACHY OBEJAS

Embargo Ending Happened Idiot Long Look President
Fiction lies somewhere in between. I usually start intuitively but eventually I need to stop and consider structure, or research, or both.
ACHY OBEJAS

Depend Granted Health Take Tend
Journalism is very much public writing, writing with an audience in mind, writing for publication, and frequently writing quickly.
ACHY OBEJAS

Audience Mind Publication Reflection Thinking Writing
I tell people to have a relationship with their work every day, even if it means you just move a comma.
ACHY OBEJAS

Everyday Mean Moving People Relationship Work

Offspring were a joy or a shame, but still the crown of their elders, nature’s unpredictable creatures.

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Offspring were a joy or a shame, but still the crown of their elders, nature’s unpredictable creatures.

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