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Speak and Speak Again

Writing Times with Steve Gutierrez

July 12, 2017 Leave a Comment

Steve Gutierrez, Pact Press author
Pact Press sits down with Steve Gutierrez, who offers thoughtful insight on the writing craft and on the duty of writers in a polarized age. Pact Press is very proud to include Steve’s article “Our President-Elect Causes Chest Pains and an ER Visit on Thanksgiving,” in our inaugural anthology.

1. Most writers have day jobs and frequently have difficulty finding writing time. How do you manage it?
I don’t have a set schedule. I just write when I can, as often as I can—often at night when everything else is done. I have a compulsive personality that needs to get all the daily stuff that can wait out of the way before I can devote myself to writing. I manage it by creating a goal—to get something specific done that day, no matter how big or small the task.
2. How long have you been writing and do you perceive your writing to have evolved in any particular way that you would like to share?

I’ve been writing since I was eighteen but there have been long stretches, like years, when I wasn’t writing, not by choice but because of whatever was going on inside my head that made it impossible. The writing has changed in a lot of ways, from the composition of sentences, their feel and texture, to a leap into more hybrid forms. I don’t respect genre boundaries. I could care less what anybody else thinks about it.
3. What appealed to you about being a part of the Pact Press Speak and Speak Again anthology?
I was pretty upset by the election of Donald Trump, feeling a nascent evil in the air that I do not think was imaginary. He gave the green light to many hateful people and groups, at least psychologically, and that mood of vengefulness permeated the atmosphere. I do believe that our inner states manifest themselves in very real changes in the air, again—in the air came a foul odor of fear and terror. Writing against it helped dispel my feeling of powerlessness—the anthology gave me an opportunity to join with others to cleanse the air or at least add another breeze to it.
4. What do you think is the responsibility of the writer in today’s polarized environment?
It is the same as always, to write truthfully and honestly, but more urgently than ever before. The writer must disavow cant of any kind, even at the cost of alienating himself from his or her accustomed political circles, and spill his or her political guts out. Nobody must be demonized. We all wear horns. We all wear angel wings. Except for the avowed hate groups that are warped. We must write with the idea that the other side is not simple but variegated and composed of very intelligent people who can listen to reason and passionately expressed argument. We must be alive on the page in a way that is intelligible to opposing factions. We must be more human than ever, admitting our own prejudices and blindness.

5. What would you say to those who can’t understand why Trump has so many Latino supporters?
The so-called Latino community is much more diverse and split than the media would have it. There is a great divide between people who have been here for generations but in some way identify as Latino and those newly arrived immigrants and their children. It’s real simple. Many Latinos are Americans first and possess the same fears as other Americans about heavy immigration, particularly illegal immigration, and the browning of America. Skin color doesn’t matter much or necessarily mean anything. The question of where you stand has to do with culture. Many Spanish-surname Americans or last-generation true Latinos, you might say, are not comfortable with the rapidity with which society has become más Latino. They don’t even speak Spanish. They like Trump’s idea of a wall because they feel overwhelmed by illegal immigration. They do not like America changing in the direction of a culture that is not properly speaking theirs, or not theirs in any real way.

Filed Under: Regal House Titles Tagged With: Pact Press Anthologies, Speak and Speak Again, Steve Gutierrez, Writing Times

Writing Times with Mikhal Weiner

July 12, 2017 Leave a Comment

Pact Press author Mikhal Weiner
Mikhal Weiner

Most writers have day jobs and frequently have difficulty finding writing time. How do you manage it?

Finding time for writing is a huge challenge for me. I have a day job, as do most, and am also a musician, which basically means that I’m constantly trying to maintain three careers at once. Needless to say, this requires a lot of drafting and redrafting of lists. Usually there are two things that help me make sure I make time to write. The first is a project I feel passionate about. This anthology is an excellent example of something that felt extremely important to me, something I didn’t want to miss. The second is a deadline. If I have a hard and fast deadline that’s being imposed by an external source I will absolutely find time to make it happen. In the case of this essay, I had to put in some late nights to get it done, all of which I had scheduled ahead of time. I doubt I would have been so diligent had I not had a hard deadline to meet.

How long have you been writing and do you perceive your writing to have evolved in any particular way that you would like to share?

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but I only decided to write professionally less than a year ago. I think the biggest difference I can point to since making that decision is a more cohesive voice. Part of the reason I began taking my writing more seriously was because I understood that I had a point of view I wanted to share with others, so I’ve been trying to be diligent about having a cohesive voice as I do so.

What appealed to you about being a part of the Pact Press Speak and Speak Again anthology?

The shock, despair, and uncertainty I felt the morning after the presidential election were profound. I truly didn’t know what to do with myself, wandering the streets of New York and looking for a way to explain what was happening to me, my friends, my values, and my country. When my editor from Entropy Magazine sent me this writing opportunity I was immediately interested. I’ve always processed my thoughts and emotions through either my music or my writing and this was a perfect opportunity to work through my confused ideas.

What do you think is the responsibility of the writer in today’s polarized environment?

I think the responsibility of the artist is always the same – to express thoughts and ideas that provoke others out of complacency and into critical thought. As long as there has been society there have been ills in need of our attention, and it’s our lot to point to them, and to encourage others to point to them as well until we’ve come together to create a lasting solution. The artist needs to have an opinion and to express it clearly. Often this is an uncomfortable space to occupy but it’s how societies move forwards – by sharing ideas.

Connect with Mikhal:

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Filed Under: Pact Press Titles Tagged With: Mikhal Weiner, Pact Press Anthologies, Speak and Speak Again

Writing Times with Lily Iona MacKenzie

May 15, 2017 Leave a Comment

Lily Iona MacKenzieMost writers have day jobs and frequently have difficulty finding writing time. How do you manage it?

For me, it isn’t a matter of managing it. Writing is as essential to me as eating, so I must find time to write each day. I’ve discovered, amidst teaching writing part time at the University of San Francisco (USF) and other colleges , helping to raise two stepchildren, serving as vice president of USF’s part-time faculty union, and other responsibilities, that if I write a minimum of one hour a day, I can accomplish a lot!

How long have you been writing and do you perceive your writing to have evolved in any particular way that you would like to share?

I took on writing seriously in my late twenties. I started out focusing on poetry, and it still forms the foundation for my work. But I also am interested in short and long fiction, having written four+ novels and numerous short stories. I also love writing essays, from travel writing to book reviews, to critical essay

What appealed to you about being a part of the Pact Press Speak and Speak Again anthology?

Having grown up in Canada, a country that embraces social justice, I moved to America in 1963 eager to support the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the feminists who were addressing all the inequalities women and others had suffered for centuries. Participating in this anthology seems a natural outcome of my life-long interest in pushing for a just society.

What do you think is the responsibility of the writer in today’s polarized environment?

When I write, I don’t think about the polarized environment I live in. In fact, I never think about audience. As a writer, I try to dive below the social surface and capture some truth about what it means to be human. I don’t write for a particular audience or movement or particular ideology. I write to generate poetry, fiction, etc., that originates deep within myself and resonates with readers no matter what their backgrounds may be.

Do you think that self-revelation is part of the writing process?

I don’t think we can be serious writers without undressing completely, externally and internally, in our works. How else can we explore the vastness of life and its many dimensions? While we may be inventing characters and situations, fragments of our selves can’t help but be embedded in our work.  Some writers are more autobiographical than others and therefore more revealing in that sense. But even in my novel Curva Peligrosa, to be released in 2017, which is not at all autobiographical, I reveal myself in the ideas I explore there. I am not at all like the amoral main character, Curva Peligrosa, but I do share some of her attitudes and beliefs. So the autobiographical gets intertwined with the fiction, and a writer can’t avoid being revealed in the process.

Lily Iona MacKenzie, a Bay Area resident who currently teaches memoir writing to older adults at the University of San Francisco’s Fromm Institute, has published poetry, short fiction, and essays in over 150 Canadian and American publications. Her poetry collection All This was published in October 2011. Novels: Fling! was published in July 2015. Curva Peligrosa will be published in 2017. Freefall: A Divine Comedy will be released in 2018.

Connect with Lily:

Website

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Twitter

Filed Under: Regal House Titles Tagged With: Curva Peligrosa, Lily Iona MacKenzie, Pact Press Anthologies, Speak and Speak Again

Writing Times with Daniel A. Olivas

May 11, 2017 1 Comment

Daniel A. Olivas, Pact Press author
Daniel A. Olivas lives in Los Angeles with his wife. By day, he is an attorney.

Pact Press sits down with Daniel A. Olivas, who offers thoughtful insight on the writing craft and on the duty of writers in a polarized age, with a inspiring message for emerging writers. Pact Press is very proud to be releasing Daniel A. Olivas’ poetry collection, Crossing the Border, in the fall of this year.

  • Most writers have day jobs and frequently have difficulty finding writing time. How do you manage it?

First, I have a very patient spouse who understands my artistic compulsion to write.  Second, I am a compulsive writer.  Third, I derive great joy from creative writing.

  • How long have you been writing and do you perceive your writing to have evolved in any particular way that you would like to share?

I’ve been writing since I learned how to spell out words.  My mother saved some of my very early little books that I wrote…simple stories with illustrations.  I wrote all through school but put aside creative writing when I went to law school and started my legal career.  But even as a lawyer, I wrote constantly: briefs, memos, letters.  I also wrote articles for our legal newspaper here in Los Angeles.  Then at the ripe old age of 39, I started to write fiction and poetry which started to get published.  Now, 19 years later and almost a dozen books to my name along with critical and scholarly recognition of my writing, I’m still in love with the creative process.  In terms of my evolution as a writer, I believe that my stories and poetry are deeper yet more economical.

  • What appealed to you about being a part of the Pact Press Speak and Speak Again anthology?

With the election of Trump, we’ve entered into a very dangerous time in our history.  I feel as though I have a duty to be part of the literary resistance movement.  I will not sit back quietly.  I believe Speak and Speak Again is part of that movement.

  • What do you think is the responsibility of the writer in today’s polarized environment?

As a writer of color, as a Chicano writer, I feel as though I have a duty to speak out in favor of diversity, civil rights, and justice especially during these perilous political times.  Also, I believe that when a person of color gets published, that—by itself—is a political act.  As I often tell students when I get a chance to speak in front of them: if we don’t write our own stories, someone else will, and they will get it wrong.

  • What advice would you offer writers who are just embarking on their careers?

Work hard, read a lot, and don’t let anyone tell you that your voice is not important.

Connect with Daniel:
 TWITTER
 WEBSITE
Daniel’s published work may be ordered through your local bookstore, online, or through the publishers:

The King of Lighting Fixtures: Stories (University of Arizona Press, 2017)

Crossing the Border: Collected Poems (Pact Press, 2017)

The Coiled Serpent: Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes and Shifts of Los Angeles (Tía Chucha Press, 2016)

Things We Do Not Talk About: Exploring Latino/a Literature through Essays and Interviews (San Diego State University Press, 2014)

The Book of Want: A Novel (University of Arizona Press, 2011)

Anywhere But L.A.: Stories (Bilingual Press, 2009)

Latinos in Lotusland (Bilingual Press, 2008)

Benjamin and the Word (Arte Público Press, 2005)

Devil Talk: Stories (Bilingual Press, 2004)

Assumption and Other Stories (Bilingual Press, 2003)

Filed Under: Pact Press Titles Tagged With: Daniel A. Olivas, Pact Press Anthologies, poetry, Speak and Speak Again

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Regal House Publishing is the parent company to the following imprints:

Fitzroy Books publishing finely crafted MG, YA and NA fiction.

Pact Press publishing finely crafted anthologies and full-length works that focus upon issues such as diversity, immigration, racism and discrimination.

The Regal House Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that conducts project-based literacy and educational outreach in support of underserved communities.

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