Also now available on
Kindle from Dancing
Chiva
is the award-winning long essay about a visit to Maximilian's
castle in Italy, "From Mexico to Miramar or, Across the
Lake of Oblivion" by C.M. Mayo, originally published in
the Massachusetts Review.
January 17, 2012 The newsletter
went out to subscribers today. Have a look here.
January 16, 2012 The
Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project has launched with the first podcast,
a welcome and introduction. The podcasts, a series exploring
Marfa, Texas and environs, will be posted on the third Monday
of each month through 2013. Listen in on podomatic, iTunes, YouTube
or Vimeo for free at any time (all links here). The next podcast will
be about Cabeza de Vaca's route through the Big Bend area. Stay
tuned.
December 2, 2011 Gearing
up to launch the Marfa
Mondays Podcasting Project:
Exploring Marfa, Texas & Environs in 24 Podcasts, starting
in January 2011.
SOLVEIG EGGERZ, AUTHOR OF SEAL WOMAN C.M. Mayo talks with
Solveig Eggerz, author of the fiercely poetic novel Seal Woman.
Inspired by the Icelandic fairytale of the seal woman and the
true story of some 300 German war widows brought to Iceland to
marry and work on the remote farms, Seal Woman has been
widely praised and translated into both Hebrew and Icelandic.
The conversation ranges from the author's unusual background
(from Iceland to England to Germany to Alexandria, Virginia),
Iceland's book culture, fairytales, advice for writers, and more.
(Approx 1 hour 7 minutes)
November 12, 2012 New trailer
for the 2012 Marfa
Mondays Podcasting Project,
"Where the Buffalo is Marfa?"-- this one featuring
peas, plastic bags, and a zombie
November 1, 2011 Heads
up: I'll be presenting and dicussing my translation—the
first into English— of Francisco I. Madero's secret book
on November
10th in San Miguel de Allende.
How
to Break a Writing Block
C.M. Mayo on the power on the five minute writing exercise. The
end of this podcast offers an exercise— so get out your
pen and paper. (For more exercises, visit "Giant
Golden Buddha & 364 More 5 Minute Writing Exercises.)
**About 11 minutes. Please note that on
iTunes the timing is only 7 minutes, so if you're doing the writing
exercise, best to listen on podomatic (the button to the left).
"Parque
Murillo," short story by Agustín Cadena, forthcoming
in the anthology Three
Messages and a Warning, edited by Eduardo Jiménez
Mayo and Chris N. Brown (Small Beer Press, 2011).
Techniques
of Fiction: The Number One Technique in the Supersonic Overview From C.M. Mayo's "Techniques
of Fiction" workshop: the number one technique. An explanation
with examples, plus a nuggest of advice from Chekhov. (For C.M.
Mayo's upcoming workshops, and for many other resources for writers,
click here.)*About 8 minutes
September 14, 2011 The September
newsletter, with upcoming workshop news, new podcasts, e-books
and more, is now on-line.
September 9, 2011 New videos: a trailer for my translation
of Francisco I. Madero's Spiritst Manual; another trailer
for the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project ("Where is Marfa?");
multiple updates
on the Marfa Mondays pages.
August
11, 2011 Update
on the events page. San Miguel PEN
and SOL Writers Aloud series,
February 22, 2012. C.M. Mayo will read from and discuss
her introduction to and first English translation of Mexican
Revolutionary leader and President Francisco I. Madero's 1911
Spiritst
Manual.
July 28, 2011 New podcast: Like People You
See in a Dream,
from Miraculous
Air,
my travel memoir of Baja California. Soon to be an e-book! Now
available in a paperback edition from Mulkweed Editions.
July 25, 2011
In-Reads.com
"Author Turned Publisher C.M. Mayo Takes Digital Rights
Into Her Own Hands"
Jada Bradley
interviews C.M. Mayo about Dancing Chiva Literary Arts and the adventure of
digital publishing. July 25, 2010
>Read
more interviews here.
July 21, 2011 Updates
on the workshop
schedule.
"Techniques of Fiction" one day workshop at the Writer's
Center, September 24, 2011, 10am - 3 pm (includes one hour free
for lunch). On-line registration now available.
July 20, 2011 The
July newsletter goes out today, click here to read it:
The
Arc of Writerly Action
From a panel discussion on writing
historical fiction at the American Independent Writers Association
Conference, held at the Writer's Center (near Washington DC),
June 2011. (About 8 and a half minutes)
July 4, 2011 Update
on the Resources
for Writers
page: link to blog post, "Language Overlay"-- one of
the simplest yet most effective techniques of fiction. Part of
the series of every other week-ish blog posts on creative writing.
June 20, 2011 New
podcast page,
for the writing workshops. (The complete list of podcasts is
at the main
podcasts page.)
October 12, 2010 Updates
on the workshop
page.
September 15, 2010 Interview
at Latina Book ClubMaria
Ferrer's NYC-based blog, embracing Hispanic heritage. September
15, 2010.
September 10, 2010 Trailer for the Spanish
translation by Agustin Cadena, El
último príncipe del Imperio Mexicano (Grijalbo
Random House Mondadori, 2010). Approximately 3 1/2 minutes.
Updates on the
publications page. Rip the Page: Adventures in Creative
Writing,
edited by Karen Benke (Trumpeter, 2010), includes C.M. Mayo's
advice to writers and the poem "People Who Pat Me, by Picadou"
P.S. Read Karen Benke's guest-blog post about what it takes to
be a creative writer, for my blog, Madam Mayo, here.
July 20, 2010 Updates
on the Maximilian
von Mexiko page.
July 8, 2010 New podcast:
The Writing Life: A Report from the Field, a panel discussion
at the Artlantic Festival at the Writers Center, May 22, 2010,
with Yours Truly, David Taylor, Alan Elsner, Kevin Quirk, and
moderator Jessie Seigal.
July 7, 2010 Announcing Maximilian ~ Carlota,
my new
blog on Mexico's Second Empire / French Intervention: a resource
blog for researchers, both serious and armchair. Updated on Tuesdays.
A veces en español. Comments welcome.
May 4,
2010 El
Calendario de Todos Santos interview with me by Michael Mercer posted. About
writing The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, Miraculous
Air, and more.
April 30, 2010 New on
the Resources
for Writers
page:Staying
Focused: Writing and Researching the Longer Book Project A PDF of a handout from
my talk at the Writers Center's Leesburg First Friday series,
March 5, 2010. This includes 12 Tips to Help You Hang in There
and Finish Your Novel; 12 Tips to Help You Get the Most Out of
Your Visit to a Library / Archive; and 10 Tips to Organize a
Book in Progress.
April 23, 2010 New on
the Resources
for Writer's
page: handout from my talk for the
Writer's Center's First Friday lecture in Leesburg VA: "Staying
Focused: Writing and Researching the Longer Book Project."
January 25, 2010 New interview with Bethanne Patrick,
The Book Studio, about the Washington DC story behind the story
of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire.
"Once
upon a time, there was a little half-American boy who briefly
became heir to the Mexican throne—until his distraught parents
sued the doomed Emperor Maximilian for his return. As in the
best historical fiction, Mayo's sparkling first novel transforms
a forgotten historical footnote into a spellbinding, heartbreaking
tale filled with drama and fascinating characters." Library Journal
New review:
"The
Last Prince of the Mexican Empire packs a wallop. It is a fascinating
historical account delivered in such sweeping, compelling prose
as to ring more like literature than fact—and, fundamentally,
one could say that it’s both; it proves false that old Dorothy
Parker adage about historical novels being neither novels nor
history. This is an extensively researched and brilliantly organized
book, combining geopolitics, international finance, military
strategy, and, alas, the eternal struggle of a family, a child,
and the human heart in the midst of it all... Mayo, who has lived
in Mexico for many years and has written extensively about its
history and culture, is the author of a travel memoir about Baja
California, among other works. Her literary style is seasoned,
intelligent, and wonderfully informed." Himilce
Novas, Multicultural Review
November
25, 2009 "Coffee
with a Canine" blog— new interview by Marshal Zeringue.
November 14, 2009 New chapters
posted from the Reglamento
y ceremonial de la corte (Maximilian and Carlota's book of court
etiquette, 1866).
November 13, 2009 C.M.
Mayo and The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire will participate
in the Virginia
Festival of the Book
in March 2010.
October 29, 2009 "Twitter
Is,"
my article in Literal magazine's special issue on digital media,
has been posted.
October 11, 2009 Critical
Mass: National Book Critics Circle
Small Press Spotlight: An Interview with C.M. Mayo by Rigoberto
Gonzalez.
September 8,
2009 New events, including two in the
Feria Internacional del Libro in Guadalajara.
September 2, 2009 View
the
poster
for the September 6th event for The Last Prince of the Mexican
Empire at La Sombra del Sabino in Tepoztlan. More Q &
A about the madness of the Empress Carlota here (scroll down to the
end).
And the complete Library of Congress
lecture is on-line here.
The
link is now up
for more information and to register for the one day only "Dialogue
Intensive" at the Writers Center this September 27th.
August 24, 2009 New events, including WNBA in New
York City and Fall for the Book in Virginia.
August 18, 2009 Three new roundabouts
(welcome;
through narrative; why attend a bookstore reading).
July 4, 2009
Posted link
to Rose Mary Salum's blog post about my book presentation at the Mexican
Consulate in Houston last month (includes summary of comments
by John Mason Hart and others).
July 3,
2009 Write
On! Online Debra
Eckerling interviews C.M. Mayo about The Last Prince of the
Mexican Empire and the writing process. July 3, 2009.
New events: readings in Washington
DC, San Miguel de Allende, and Tepozltan, Mexico. Dialogue Intensive
this September in Bethesda MD.
June 15 - June
28th
Author Chat at Library Thing.com-- ask your questions, make your
comments about The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. Click
here to participate.
June 10, 2009
Please
note new time for the reading and booksigning at The Twig in
San Antonio this Wednesday June 10! It is not at 7 pm,
but at 5 pm.
May 27, 2009 Guest-blog
post on the mega book and music blog, largehearted
boy:
a playlist for the novel The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire.
May 25,
2009 Book
tour to Southern California this week, click here for the full schedule of events in Pasadena,
La Jolla, Del Mar, and Los Angeles. Readers Guide now on-line.
April 28, 2009
New time
for "Techniques of Fiction" one day workshop at the
Writers Center (see workshop page). New events on book tour for The Last Prince
of the Mexican Empire,
including readings at the Book Works in Del Mar, Historical Society
of Washington DC, Book People in Austin, Texas and the Center
for U.S.-Mexican Studies at UCSD.
April 8, 2009 Updates
on events. Readings for The
Last Prince of the Mexican Empire at the Book Works in Del
Mar and more. "Techniques of Fiction" one day workshop
at the Writers Center June 14th.
April 6, 2009 New photos:
of Rio Frio
(the scene of many a crime, notably in the novel The Last
Prince of the Mexican Empire).
April 5, 2009 Bibliography for The Last Prince
of the Mexican Empire now on-line. Pub date is May 5th. Click
here
to view the coast-to-coast book tour. Join
the mailing list!
March 25, 2009 Writers'
Blogs: What Works (& What Doesn't) by C.M. Mayo, ForeWord Magazine online
Publishing Insider Column for today. Updates on resources
for writers page.
March 24, 2009 Book tour for The Last
Prince of the Mexican Empire: new events: June 8th @ Blue Willow
in Houston, TX; June 10th @ The Twig in San Antonio. View
events here.
March 18, 2009 Updates on publications
page. ForeWord Magazine on-line "Publishing Insider"
columns, including "Ten Tools for Organizing the Novel-in-Progress".
March
17, 2009 Updates on events
page: Barnes & Noble Bethesda MD reading; June 14 "Techniques
of Fiction" one day workshop, PubSpeak Washington DC in
July.
March 2, 2009 Update
on publications page:Best
of Mexican Fiction, edited
by Álvaro Uribe and Olivia Sears, (Dalkey Archive, 2009),
includes my translation of Álvaro Enrigue's short story
"On the Author's Death".
February 28, 2009 Update
on publications page: "Man High" appears in anthology edited by Robert
L. Giron, Poetic Voices Without Borders 2 (Gival Press,
2009). Reading April
23.
February 27,
2009 Update
on interviews
page:
The Poet and the Poem: Grace Cavalieri interviews C.M. Mayo and
Francisco Aragon from the Library of Congress.
February
26, 2009 New
events in May
for the upcoming book tour for The Last Prince
of the Mexican Empire,
including The Mexican Cultural Institute, the Writers Center,
Mrs Dalloways, Book Passages, Books Inc, and more.
February
12, 2009 Tussie-mussie: a new page for the novel.
February 11, 2009 Re: the
daily
5 minute
writing exercise--- now on facebook. Click
here to join the
Daily 5 Minute Writing Exercise Group (very occasional announcements
and a "wall" to post your responses.)
February 9, 2009 Updates
on events page.
February
2, 2009 Updates
on events page. Details about
San Miguel Writers Conference.
January
23, 2009 New events, including May 17 reading
at the Writers Center and June 13th at the American Independent
Writers Conference in Washington DC.
January 20, 2009
New letter to you, dear
reader, about Miraculous Air.
January 6, 2009
New interviews: Travel'n On Radio interview
about Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion, Miraculous
Air and Mexico's Baja California peninsula, Mexico City,the
forthcoming novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire,
and more.
Following the conference, for the San
Miguel Writers Workshops,
I'll be offering a two day expanded workshop also on "Techniques
of Fiction" February 23-24, 2009.
October 8, 2008 Taking applications for the one day only "Techniques
of Fiction" workshop in Mexico City at Dancing Chiva on
October 18th. It's filling up fast but a few spots still left.
For more info and to register, visit www.dancingchiva.com
July 22, 2008
New workshop listed on events page:
"Flash Fiction" one day workshop on Sunday October
5th at the Writers Center in Bethesda MD, just outside Washington
DC.
July
7, 2008 New updates
on the Maximilian page, including to the
new book by Dr Konrad Ratz, webpage of Mexican historian Dr Patricia
Galeana, and links to more photos of Chapultepec Castle.
February 20,
2008
New events--- Maryland Writers Association
annual conference May 3rd and another reading in San Miguel de
Allende July 2nd.
February
19, 2008
New on the Maximilian page: photographs
from a recent visit to "El
Olvido", Maximilian's private retreat in Acapatzingo,
Morelos (purchased 1866), now an ethnobotanic garden and museum
of folk medicine.
January
17, 2008
New events, including a summer workshop
in San Miguel de Allende, a spring workshop on flash fiction
in Mexico City, and a reading this fall in Rockville, Maryland.
January
15, 2008
New events, including the All-Day Fiction
Writing Seminar at American University, Washington DC, where
I'll be chairing the panel discussion on writers blogs as a new
literary genre.
December
12, 2007
Details have been posted on my events
page--- on February 23rd I'll be leading the breakout session
on creative nonfiction in the San
Miguel Writers Conference.
December
11, 2007 Thanks to a tip from
Eduardo Wallentin, a new link on my Maximilian
webpage: Proceso
de Fernando Maximiliano de Habsburgo, Miguel Miramón y
Tomas Mejía
(The Trial of Maximilian von Habsburg and the Generals Miguel
Miramon and Tomas Mejia) with an introduction by Chantal Lopez and
Omar Cortez. This is posted on Biblioteca Antorcha, a fantastic
on-line library of classic in Spanish and Spanish translation.
December 10, 2007
My essay from Creative Nonfiction (also available as an audio
CD), "The Essential Francisco Sosa or, Picadou's Mexico
City" appears in Lee Gutkind's anthology, Hurricanes
and Carnivals (University of Arizona Press).
November 16, 2007 New Tameme
chapbook, Jorge Fernandez Granados's "Los fantasmas del
Palacio de los Azulejos", translated by John Oliver Simon
as "Ghosts of the Palace of Blue Tiles" is in production.
Pub date is January 2008, in time for the AWP
bookfair in New York City.
October
31, 2007 New events
in Texas, Washington DC, and Mexico. And new interviews.
October 17, 2007 "Techniques
of Fiction" special one day writing workshop
will be held on October 27th from 10 am to 2 pm in Mexico City.
By the way, the Dancing
Chiva website has been redesigned.
August
15, 2007
"Techniques of Fiction" special one day writing workshop will be held on October
27th from 10 am to 2 pm in Mexico City. Updates to events
and workshop pages.
June 20,
2007 Two events--- a reading
and a booksigning--- at the American Library Association conference
in Washington DC June 22 and June 23. Visit my events
page for the details.
June 18,
2007 Baja
California Slide Show--- embryonic version--- up on the "Baja California" page. Photos of
boojums, cave art, Rio Mulege, and more. And more to come....
June 12,
2007 Solutions
Abroad's Umair Khan interviews C.M. Mayo about living in
and writing about Mexico. Interviews
page updated.
May 18, 2007 More
new events
for Miraculous
Air and Mexico: A Traveler's
Literary Companion at the Wilson Center, the Center for
US-Mexico Studies at UCSD, and elsewhere.
New essay now on-line: "From Mexico to Miramar or, Across
the Lake of Oblivion"--- from Masachusetts Review
December 2006, finalist Texas Institute of Letters O. Henry Award
Bvest Magazine Journalism.
April 30, 2007 More
new events
for Miraculous
Air including a reading at the American Library Association
meeting in Washington DC and at the Sombra del Sabino in Tepoztlan,
Mexico. Plus some updates to my resources
for writers page.
January
7, 2007 Mexico:
A Traveler's Literary Companion to be presented in San Jose del Cabo,
Baja California Sur, Mexico this February 18th at Baja Books and Maps. See events page. Also, the Tameme page has been updated with information
about the new chapbook, Agustin Cadena's "Carne verde, piel
negra ~ An Avocado from Michoacan."
November 21,
2006 Workshop page updated. Mexico
City workshop for January 2007 has been filled. No longer accepting
applications. (For other workshops in 2007, please check the
events page.)
October 18, 2006 Finally, I put up a little something about my work as an
economist-- two finance books I published as Catherine Mansell Carstens,Las finanzas populares
en Mexico (1995) and Las nuevas finanzas en Mexico
(1992).
October 9, 2006 New events: Southwest Writers &
Artists Festival reading; Texas Book Festival panels; Mexico
City workshops, and more.
January
30, 2012
Presentación
de la novela El último príncipe del Imperio
Mexicano, novela basada en la historia real por C.M. Mayo,
traducido por Agustín Cadena. 
"C.M.
Mayo on Creative Writing:
The
Building of Quality
Rip the Page: Adventures in Creative
Writing
July
7, 2008
Poder
interview (in Spanish)
Also, my translation
of a short story by Mexican writer 