This June, I ventured to the Southern Hemisphere for the very first time. Although I had layovers in Brazil and Peru, I spent most of the trip in Santiago de Chile. It was cold and rainy , and I had a few freelance assignments due, the biggest of which was for Catapult, which I’m really excited about. I wrote around 7,000 words to get the best 2,500. I wrote in hotels and coffee shops. At one point, I was writing in a vacant room on the top story of Sociedad de Escritores de Chile, a place where Pablo Neruda himself had once worked. Typing in that unheated room, my fingers got so cold that I couldn’t feel them, and I would have to trek downstairs to warm up then go back up to keep writing. It was a singular writerly experience.
Half of the people I traveled with got sick. The pollution in Santiago left me gasping for breath after climbing stairs. Needless to say, a lot of us were in bad moods. But the trip wasn’t all bleak and squalid. The city of Santiago is full of friendly stray dogs. Yes, I pet them. Yes, I know that’s weird. Yes, the one in the picture is wearing a sweater. Vibrant street art flows through Santiago. So does some impressive wine. My Spanish, on the other hand, failed to flow. I forgot conjugations and words I knew only a year ago in Mexico.
Here are some pictures from my trip! Click here to see more on my Facebook author page.
Leaving Chile, I survived literally my worst flight ever. I must have picked something up in transit, because I’ve been coughing ever since I got back. I think I pulled a muscle in my abs. Ow ow ow.
Anyway, here are my publications from last month. They’re both on Book Riot. The second one was one of the top ten most popular posts on Book Riot for the month of June!
- Environmental Fiction: A Reading List to Save the World
- 10 Hilarious Fiction Audiobooks for Your Summer Road Trip
Right now, I’m working on getting more freelance work, and I’m editing my novel. If you’d like to support me while I’m editing, you can:
- Follow me on social media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Goodreads.
- Follow this blog. 🙂
- Sign up for my mailing list here.
- Sign up for my Patreon.
Shout-out to Kat Lewis for not only being my first Patreon subscriber, but also for being really supportive and nice! You should take a gander at Kat’s website and consider buying her book.
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