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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

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
I’m never afraid of research. I relish it!
ACHY OBEJAS

Afraid Experience never Relish Research
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
Interestingly, in Cuba abortion is treated as lightly as getting a mole removed.
ACHY OBEJAS

Abortion Cuba Interestingly Lightly Mole Removed Treated
I think one of the unintended results of the embargo is that Cuba is quite consumerist – and I’m talking about the people, not the government or the official propaganda.
ACHY OBEJAS

Cuba Embargo Government People Quite Result Taking Unintended
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
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
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
In journalism, if there’s a hole in your story you figure out a way around it because you’ve got a 4 p.m. deadline.
ACHY OBEJAS

Deadline Figure Hole Journalism Literature Story
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 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
Our real world has evolved. It’s become something much different, and inadvertently about healthcare, and about what it means to have good health, and to be able to have good health.
ACHY OBEJAS

Different Evolved Inadvertently Mean Real Something
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
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
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

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!

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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!

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Popular Authors

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