Category: Written Word

Last Farm Standing

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Barbara Kingsolver.  San Miguel de Allende.  What could top that? 

Heady following Barbara’s keynote address at the Writers Conference, my daughter Kate and I climbed the steep path by Juarez Park leading to the house we had rented on Chorro.  Checked my day’s email before shaking up a batch of margaritas, and the email from Banks Smith proved more exhilarating than her talk.  Banks reported that the board of the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund had voted to proceed with publishing the book I have written about Max and Minnie – The Last Farm Standing on Buttermilk Hill.  A portion of the couple’s former dairy farm is San Antonio’s newest park – Phil Hardberger Park.

So my first book (not counting the cookbook I edited in the 1980s, Savory Memories of San Antonio) should be in print by late summer.

San Miguel Writers Conference

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As I spend much of my spare time “living” in the 19-teens while working on a novel about Hedda Burgemeister and Otto Koehler, the opportunity to hear Barbara Kingsolver (The Lacuna most recently) and C.M. Mayo (The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire) numerous times throughout a five-day period was irresistible, as though the setting of San Miguel alone would not be tempting enough.  My daughter Kate discovered it – the San Miguel Writers Conference – while exploring C.M. Mayo’s website or blog, and my amazingly-generous husband Lamar decided to give the experience to the women in his family as a Christmas present.   

Barbara Kingsolver and Kate
Barbara Kingsolver signs a copy of Lacuna for Kate.

 

Although I make my living “translating your thoughts into words,” I had not thought that much about the mechanics of writing since my last class with Mrs. Masterson my senior year in high school.  The conference was well worth the journey, and, hopefully, my clients will benefit. 

Note added on March 4:  Literary agent Nathan Bransford blogs about his conference experience in San Miguel de Allende. 

Note added on March 15:  An attendee at an evening event we unfortunately missed describes the “street food” served and throws in a photo of Barbara Kingsolver taking a swing at a Stalin pinata. 

Also:  Sandra Gulland’s notes from one of Barbara Kingsolver’s talks during the conference in San Miguel de Allende.