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Writer's Conference meeting
Committee meeting at the Biblioteca. It’s been a while since I last wrote but I’ve been really busy and recently sick with ‘the revenge’ and time has just flown.
Busy may seem like an oxymoron here in Mexico, since our perception in America is of a more laid back existence which is still true to some extent, except for us crazy gringos and some hardworking Mexicans.
To start with, I volunteered to help the San Miguel Author’s Sala (www.sanmiguelauthors.com) which has recently absorbed the annual Writer’s Conference scheduled in February. I’ve committed myself to selling their book Solamente En San Miguel, an anthology of fiction, essays, memoirs, and poetry about San Miguel, to Bed & Breakfasts and other outlets around this area as a way to raise money and awareness of San Miguel and the Writer’s Sala.
The other key committee I’ve joined is the Writer’s Conference underwriting group. We meet often at the Biblioteca, a beautiful historic building in the center of town (centro) [img={img_src} center} which houses one of the world’s largest English language book collections outside of America. We have dynamic and stimulating discussions about how to take this small conference and make it huge…this coming February! In other words,
Hardy's house
This is their small home with large pool. taking it from 250 people attendance to 600 or even 800 (we are all thinking big)!
They’re also transforming this conference to an International one, rather than just a more local English speaking event, which will include Mexican writers and anyone else in the world who is interested. This time we’ll be hosting a bi-lingual event that includes the use of a simultaneous translator and Spanish speaking breakout sessions and two day workshops. We therefore are heavily targeting Mexico and its writers on a National level.
The key factor in our success currently rests on one keynote speaker…Carlos Fuentes. So far, Carlos is very busy somewhere in England and he just can’t seem to give us an answer one way or another. We’re also inviting Barbara Kingsolver, (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A year of Food and Life) but we really want a well-known native Spanish speaking writer and Carlos is the MAN! So, for us to go out and solicit big money we wish to throw out big names…but alas, our hands are tied as we have no commitments yet from anyone. Any day is the word so far…
We also host a monthly Literary Society to bring
View
View from Hardy House. readers and writers together. My job is to sell the anthology, and since I missed last month’s, I’m definitely planning on going this Thursday.
If there’s any writers out there who would like to join us for the conference it’s February 19 - 23rd here in the heart of beautiful San Miguel! Please visit www.sanmiguelauthors.com for more information.
I’m also taking Warren Hardy’s Spanish classes. He and his wife Tuly are icons here in San Miguel. It seems to be an initiation for most new expats to immerse themselves in these classes. They’re three hours long three days a week, with approximately three hours of homework each class. Needless to say, my brain is overwhelmed but by gosh, some of its actually sticking! Now that I have some basics down, I just need to practice. I’ve recently hired a native speaker to help me with conversation and I’ll also join Warren’s conversation classes as soon as I’m finished with level one, which is next week thank GOD! I need to go from memorizing words to actually putting sentences together and then feeling confident enough to speak. I say very small choppy words to people, and don’t really understand
Hardy's personal offices
This building is the Hardy's personal offices and one guest's quarters. what they’re saying back to me. But it’s like an unfolding of a world I previously never even considered…entering in to another culture and actually understanding them is truly mindblowing and incredibly exciting!
Warren and his wife Tuly always have a potluck at their home and last Wednesday we all met after class at their estate.
They met 25 years ago and drove around Mexico in a van for six months before settling in San Miguel. Warren is a handsome trim man about 60ish, who in a previous life was a painter. Tuly is a pretty, youthful woman who I can’t really guess her age, who is an artist in progress. She painted a mural on her garden wall, and they both have their artwork displayed along with many other beautiful pieces.
They are both very spiritual and gentel people, warm and loving, and their home showcases their spiritual journey as well as their creative and healthy sides. They have a huge walled in compound and all their tall mature trees were planted when they xerriscaped their land 20 so years ago.
They have a small doll house they originally intended as their guest
Tuly's garden
Tuly's garden and recent wall mural. house but they liked it so much they kept it as their main home. It sits next to a huge oddly shaped pool which was a water cistern at some ancient time in the past that they converted to a pool.
They built separate offices for themselves and a guest house, so each has their own creative space
, and Tuly has a wonderful garden she planted in a symbolic design.
They have four dogs and I was happy to see they’re all spoiled as they have dog beds and dog houses everywhere. They seem to enjoy a tremendous amount of inner peace and solitude within the walls of this lovely compound, and it emanates in everything they do.
We had a lovely potluck on a gorgeous day, and it was so fun to get to know my fellow students.
Warren Hardy has classes for visitors as well as the locals, so anyone interested in a well organized Spanish school should consider them. More information is available on their website - http://www.warrenhardy.com
One more thing I’ve added to my already intense schedule is Tribal Belly Dancing, which is good exercise and
Classmates
We all enjoyed a fabulous potluck and good company! very primitive and beautiful but I may have to drop that for now…it’s just been too much and learning Spanish, the Writer’s Conference and building our chiropractic clinic are really enough commitments for me to handle for now.
Felice viaje!
Nancy
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