zero gift guides, zero best of lists
Welcome to Mommy’s El Camino. PAID SUBSCRIBERS: There is one more opportunity this month to attend FRONT SEAT OFFICE HOURS. Monday December 16th, 1pm-3pm...
Hope. Pleasure. Strength.
Welcome to Mommy’s El Camino. Some housekeeping: Last week the newsletter seemed to get stuck in the ether, and I got an explanation from Buttondown about...
preparing for endings
Welcome to Mommy’s El Camino. What’s this all about? Subscribe now Photo by Cecile Hournau on Unsplash An odyssey, going from my house to my mother’s house,...
coming in April 2025
Welcome to Mommy’s El Camino. It’s that time. That time when I ask you, sweet readers, to consider pre-ordering my books, forthcoming in spring 2025. Why not...
our current and temporary trajectory
Welcome to Mommy’s El Camino. Make yourself at home. Los Angeles,CA, 11/5/24 11/9/24 …what to write/how to write into the future that feels so overwhelmingly...
on the periphery of your radar
Welcome to Mommy’s El Camino. Like many people, I’m thinking back to November 2016. Brooklyn, NY, November 2016 My third book, Bruja, had just come out. A...
outside of time
Welcome to Mommy’s El Camino. Dodger Stadium, 10/20/24 You may have noticed that there was no Sunday post last week. I took a spontaneous holiday in...
mini-interview with Taleen Kali
Before the pandemic I was just beginning to get to know Taleen Kali. Btw, I still have the aloe plant from your pre-pandemic tamale party, Taleen tells...
OPEN BOOK DOCUMENT
Welcome to Mommy’s El Camino. note to self Not listed: brainstorm potential reprint launch events. Official publication date of reprints: 4/15/25—my books...
mini-interview with Tori Holder
Subscribe now Recently, subscriber Tori Holder reached out to me via email. Not sure if you remember this, but two years ago you did a workshop about writing...
telling
The purpose of telling.
process: writing log
Welcome to Mommy’s El Camino. It’s been one year since I started a simple writing log in an Excel spreadsheet. my laptop in my office By simple, I mean I log...
novels in verse / review by Lisbeth Coiman
It started when I finished reading Couplets this year. I thought back to The Cyclist, which I’d read so long ago. I had never talked to anyone who’d read it,...
process: reprintland
Welcome to Mommy’s El Camino. In the midst of everything (my partner’s cancer diagnosis and treatment, teaching after a few years off, parenting, and keeping...
Septembers past: 9 photos
when words fail me I always have pictures September 2005, Quito, Ecuador September 2009, Los Angeles, CA September 2012, Will Rogers State Beach, Los...
back to school
Welcome to the Sunday post. In the spirit of back to school vibes, fresh notebooks, and a big autumn to-read list, I offer the gist of my Fall 2024 syllabus...
new teeth
Welcome to the Sunday post. A few days after starting the journal I tested positive for covid for the first time. A few days before I ended the journal my...
mini-interview with Ben Tanzer
Ben is someone I’ve known for about ten years now. He’s the author of many books and has many projects running seemingly at all times. Anytime I have the...
scenes: aug. 15-17
Welcome to the Sunday post. Until next week, Wendy
Process Notes by Tiana Reid
Welcome to the Sunday post. Today’s post is by Tiana Reid. Tiana Reid is a writer, scholar, and educator who lives in Toronto. She is currently an assistant...
the balancing act part 2
Welcome to the Sunday post. view of Los Angeles from Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area When I took the photo above last Monday, I was feeling hopeful. I...
the balancing act
Welcome to the Sunday post. Paid subscribers: The next FRONT SEAT OFFICE HOUR is coming right up on Sunday, August 11 at 10am Pacific. We will meet via Zoom,...
another covid anecdote
Welcome to the Sunday post. Paid subscribers: RSVP for the July FRONT SEAT OFFICE HOUR, where we meet via Zoom, check-in, and co-work for an hour on...
what's that Mommy Wound you got there
Welcome to the Sunday post. Paid subscribers: RSVP for the July FRONT SEAT OFFICE HOUR, where we meet via Zoom, check-in, and co-work for an hour on...
covid dreams
Welcome to the Sunday post. I can’t send this without referencing the increased anxiety among people I know and don’t. If you’re feeling despair, I offer...
books read January-June 2024
Welcome to the Sunday post. I’m writing you from day 11 of covid quarantine. This is the most miserable vacation/exile from everyday life I’ve ever had....
🛌 💌
Welcome to the Sunday post. my view from the last 5 days, except this one with full moon, 6/22/24 I write to you from bed, where I’ve been since Wednesday...
notes on Couples Therapy
Welcome to the Sunday post. Catch up here. Still from the tv show Couples Therapy From notes I took while watching the latest season of Couples Therapy....
artifact
Welcome to the Sunday post. Is school ever really out? High school report card, full of stories and littered with cigarette butts, joints, capsules of...
a strong suggestion, a willful stance, an insistence
Welcome to the Sunday post. What’s this all about? Paid subscribers are invited to the next FRONT SEAT OFFICE HOUR, Friday, June 14th, 2pm-3pm Pacific. We’ll...
mini-interview with Elena Passarello
Elena Passarello When I think of Elena Passarello, I think of an essayist who embodies curiosity, humor, and intelligence, then alchemizes these qualities...
symptoms and cures
Welcome to the Sunday post. Some photos I keep on my phone as reminders—for when I have an unnerving eye twitch, when I wake up at 2am for more than one...
among the stars*
Welcome to the Sunday post. The Spring 2024 issue of Pleiades is out. The Spring 2024 issue of Pleiades on my lap where it lived for much of the weekend. The...
one of my mothers
Welcome to the Sunday post. I just finished reading a printed and bound risograph text, an anthology, called Mommy Wound, and I can’t wait to write to you...
Letter from a reader: Process
Welcome to a Thursday edition of Mommy’s El Camino. After a recent post where I wrote about my ongoing writing process, I received a reply from a reader....
9am pool crew
Welcome to the Sunday post. My heart is with all the people sustaining and supporting the student encampments around the country. Thank you to every person...
call for submissions
Welcome to the Sunday post. What’s this all about? Where can I read every last thing Mommy’s El Camino has published since March 2023? Paid subscribers are...
the blurbs that never were
Welcome to the Sunday post. It’s taking me over a month to fill out this author questionnaire. The bulk of it is answered but I want to take my time because...
The Vickie Vértiz Admiration Society is Now in Session
Welcome to the Sunday post. JOIN US on Zoom on Thursday, April 18th, 3pm-4pm Pacific, where Jessica Ceballos y Campbell and I will be in conversation with...
mini-interview with Nilsa Ada Rivera
It's Mommy's El Camino! Thanks for riding along. Nilsa on a peak in Puerto Rico In 2021, I met Nilsa Ada Rivera via FaceTime. We had both just signed...
re: re: re:
Welcome to the Sunday post. JOIN US on Zoom on Thursday, April 18th, 3pm-4pm Pacific, where Jessica Ceballos y Campbell and I will be in conversation with...
greatest hits
Welcome to the Sunday post. I've just returned from a road trip up and down the California coast. Here are some links to the archives you might find...
book #4
Welcome to the Sunday post. The germ of the idea has been sprouting for years now. After a number of fits and starts, I think I've got a little tail of...
mini-interview with Ursula Villarreal-Moura
Like Happiness, out on 3/26/24 I feel like I've been internet acquainted with Ursula for a long time. She was among some of the people I connected with on...
history with tobacco
Welcome to the Sunday post. Premium Subscribers riding shotgun: the next FRONT SEAT OFFICE HOUR is scheduled for Thurs. March 21st at 2pm PST. Reply to this...
slow reads
Welcome to the Sunday post. Mommy's El Camino was mentioned in Lisa Locascio Nighthawk's newsletter Not Knowing How. Thanks so much, Lisa.🌷🌿💘 Premium...
Mommy's El Camino Turns 1
Welcome to the Sunday post. What's this all about? Where can I read more of what I missed in the past year? Hey, Premium Subscribers riding shotgun: the next...
mini-interview with Lexi Kent-Monning
Lexi Kent-Monning I've spent some time with Lexi Kent-Monning's work--whether it was choosing her essay when I was a guest editor for Joyland, or most...
I Will Not Submit: on literary journal submissions
Welcome to the Sunday post. The shelf of copies of my own books + literary journals I edited or was published in, from about 2000 to today. I have a shelf...
pit stop 2
Welcome to the Sunday post. This is the final week that I have the pleasure of facilitating a nonfiction writing workshop with Tin House, and all my creative...