Hello My Wonderful Write Queeners,

I hope that the month of September has been treating you well so far. It's back to school for most and back to a regular routine at work for others (don't you miss your Summer allowances already working people?).

Today I have a very grand recommendation to make. I can't even say I recommend just her classes because Caits Meissner herself is a wonderful writer and person. This summer in July, I took a 30-Day intensive writing course called Digging Deep, Facing Self. You may have read many references to this course on my blog over the summer. If you haven't, you can catch up here.

Not only did I have the opportunity to push myself and write pieces I wouldn't have dreamed of writing at this point of my life, I've had the opportunity to work with Caits and a beautiful group of women. Caits is always supportive, creative, and inspiring. She gently pushes and always the mama bear with her wonderful daily messages throughout the course. One of the things I love about her is that she is not afraid to be herself, to make mistakes, and to hear us out despite being the head hancho of the course. Everyone needs the opportunity to work with this wonderful woman!

...Especially when she sets assignments up that lead to pushing you to be brave and speak to your literary heroes. If you are an active reader of this blog, then you know that for the particular assignment that I am talking about, that I ended up speaking with the poet Sonia Sanchez. It was an incredible experience that I carry with me during the rougher days of writing.

I thank Caits so much for being wise and giving us that assignment. If you want to read up on the experience, take a look at these two posts: Open Letter to Sonia Sanchez and The Write Journey: When The Light Shines Back.

The absolute conclusion of that experience came in the mail about two weeks ago. I've been so busy that I haven't had the chance to share, but take a look:

These are the kind of things Caits inspires you to do and the results that come about. I absolutely recommend that you take her courses or work with her in general. The next round of Digging Deep, Facing Self is now open for registration. If you register before September 15, you'll get an early bird special. She is also offering a FREE teleclass called Writing in Technicolor: Editing your poems to full vibrancy on October 1, 2013 at 8PM EST.

If you want to see what incredible writing comes out of this course, please check out the anthology from the July course (and yes I am in it - so a little bias, I'll admit it!). It's called A Thing Of Beauty Painted By Words and it's absolutely FREE and available online for your reading (and sharing) pleasure.

She also sends you awesomely wonderful gifts at the end of the course. I won't tell you what it is, but it's certainly a treasure!

So....what are you waiting for guys? Go sign up for one of Caits' classes today!

Until next time, my loves, be well and write!

Hello Write Queeners,

July, July...oh July was a lovely month! 

It began with my 27th birthday on the 2nd. For some reason, I felt like this was going be the year of things happening. I've been right so far. Though my life still has some major hiccups, I have been experiencing a lot of great things (or at least have learned some really great lessons).

I've been taking a course called Digging Deep, Facing Self. Led by Caits Meissner, it is a 30 day intensive online writing course designed to uplift, heal and transform women into their boldest selves. 

With this course, I have felt a tremendous shift in how I approach my writing. I have ventured into topics that I can only talk about with those really close to me and even ones I haven't been able to mention. The group's support has been heartwarming. I love being in a community setting and knowing that there was a group of ladies out there willing to listen. It wasn't just about writing. It was about healing, growing, and learning.

These women have grown so dear to me. Even days after the end of the course, we are still communing within our super secret space and catching up with exercises, talking about what's next and talking about how we feel about this journey. Some of us have added each other on our favorite social networks and are continuing the bond. 

I feel honored to have been a part of this group. I hope that we do keep in touch and watch each other grow because you are only as strong as your backbone and it never hurts to add more love and strength to it! 

Amazing things have happened to me while taking this course, from getting the chance to speak to one of my poetry idols, Sonia Sanchez to being including in our anthology A Thing of Beauty Painted By Words.

There are two pieces from most of the ladies in our group and let me tell you, it's a wonderful read (not just because I am a part of this group). It showcases a vast range of emotions, especially bravery because for some, this was a new and frightening experience. I am proud to be included and proud of each woman I've worked with. Go click on the cover and take a look. It's FREE! Please share it with everyone you know. This is a group that needs to be read. 

A funny thing about this is that there is a major typo on one of my pieces. I look like a skipping record as two of my haiku are repeated in a series of nine (but I promise there is a III and IV). I read it this morning as I was looking through the anthology and I busted out laughing on the train. It will be fixed tonight though, so go and take a look at our special typo edition hehe!

You must take this course in the fall if you are looking for a new experience in writing and facing self. Find out more about the course on Caits' website: http://www.caitsmeissner.com/course/ 

Other exciting news in The Write Queen's world: I am going to have a couple of poems included in another anthology, coming out some time towards the end of summer or in the fall. It's called Skeletons and it is edited by the lovely Shannon Lynette of Lady Chaos Press. 

I also reunited with someone who has always been a great inspiration and help to my writing. I am a little anxious to see where this relationship will go this time.

I am a little anxious for August too! I hope that the good vibes of July continue this month.

Till next time loves, stay inspired!

P.S. I am running a little fundraising campaign to help offset costs for submitting my manuscripts to contests and small presses. These things can get a little pricey when you are paying bills (especially dental, my goodness I do not like my mouth these days), helping parents, and investing in your freelance projects at the same time. 

I feel weird asking because the territory of donation is new to me. I'm used to giving if I can, not asking so if you can please spare me the awkwardness and donate towards my campaign, it would be greatly appreciated. Anything helps, even if it is a dollar. 

You can go to my Go Fund Me site at: http://www.gofundme.com/publishme to donate.

And I am working on something special to give to everyone who donates, so please don't think you will come away from this empty handed! I give, I have to. I don't feel right taking without giving back. Stay tuned!

Hello my beautiful Write Queeners,

I want to share something very special with you. If you haven't had the chance  to look at my previous post (Open Letter to Sonia Sanchez) from earlier, you should do so now to understand what's going on with this post.

But first I want to share a little story.

This morning, I had a case of the Monday Blues: The Writer's Edition. I felt that I was not being true to myself and the writer in me. I was upset that I did not have the time to write because I was rushing to work. When I realized that I would have no time to draft any of my thoughts, the first thing that popped into my head was: Don't quit your job today. It was a little unsettling. But it continued to drum through my head like a mantra. I had to keep repeating it. To calm this thought, I treated myself to Starbucks, despite my recent vow to save money. This is how low I felt.

Now let's back track a little. My previous post from the twilight hours, which is a letter to Sonia Sanchez, was a part of an assignment from an online writing course that I am currently taking called Digging Deep, Facing Self (whew, run on much?) I had to send a message, along with a poem to someone I greatly admire, but have never met or spoken to.

So I chose Sonia Sanchez.

I sent this to the publicity team of her publisher, listed on her website. I sent it with a quivering hand and let the universe have a go at words she may never see.

After having a mini breakdown in my head, I posted these thoughts in the course's super secret online meeting place. Feeling a little better about sharing these thoughts, I signed into my personal e-mail on my phone, since I was about to take lunch.

I found something that shocked me into almost a crying mess at my desk. There was a response to the e-mail I sent to Sonia Sanchez!

I read it...and then sat at my desk whispering Oh my god, over and over again.

Then I had to go into the bathroom and cry.

As I told my cousin earlier, I have never felt so blessed to receive an e-mail. I didn't even know what to do with myself.

Here's what was said (parts of the e-mail omitted for privacy):


From: Nicholas DiSabatino
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 9:16 AM
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: Sonia Sanchez

Christina,

My name is Nicholas DiSabatino and I’m the publicity assistant at Beacon Press. Thanks for the lovely words regarding Sonia and her work. I’ll make sure she sees your note. Thanks again.

　
Nicholas DiSabatino

Publicity Assistant

Beacon Press

25 Beacon Street

Boston, MA 02108



Then there was a second e-mail:

On Jul 22, 2013, at 12:08 PM, Nicholas DiSabatino [email protected] wrote:

Hi again Christina,

Sonia Sanchez was very touched by your message. She asked me to send you the following response (Ms. Sanchez unfortunately does not use email). Here is her message as dictated to me below:

Sister Christina,

Thank you so very much for your beautiful words and your beautiful haiku. Please continue to write. We need your young words. We need your beautiful words, moving in the light that is peace, love, and justice. I would love to send you an autographed copy of Morning Haiku and one of my other books. Please email us your address .

In love/struggle/peace,

Sister Sonia Sanchez

-
Thanks.



To this I responded:

From: CRod Online <[email protected]>
Date: July 22, 2013, 1:06:32 PM EDT
To: Nicholas DiSabatino [email protected]
Subject: Re: Sonia Sanchez

Hi Nicholas,

Tell her thank you from the bottom of my heart. Her words mean more to me than you ever know. 

I can't stop saying oh my god. People in my office must think I am nuts. 

My address is: Omitted

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

---

Christina D. Rodriguez

Now I want to quit my job because Sonia Sanchez said to continue writing, haha. I kid though. This is such a humbling honor for me, for her to have sent that message. I know I will carry this with me for a while. I wanted to share this to prove that if you take a risk and put yourself out there (whether someone gently pushes you or not), that the return can be pretty incredible.

Let's start taking more risk together Write Queeners. The journey is going to be wild.

EDIT:

This evening I was listening to my voicemail as I (sometimes) do and I just discovered that she left me a voicemail!!! Ms. Sanchez wanted to make sure that I reached out to them with my contact information for the books! And she thanked me again for my words. Oh my goodness!

I cried for 20 minutes after I heard that. I am trying to find ways to save the voicemail now. I am in awe and incredibly touched. 

ANOTHER EDIT - 7/23/13:

I called the number she left this morning, thinking it was the number to the press. It wasn't the number to the press! It was hers! I spoke to Sonia Sanchez on the phone! We had a seven minute conversation (according to my job phone).

What we talked about, I would like to keep to myself because this last surprise in this adventure was totally unexpected and amazing. All I will say is that if I can be an ounce of who she is when I grow older, my life would be complete. She is a beautiful run-on sentence - that's the best way I can describe the experience of speaking with her.

Be blessed!

Dear Ms. Sanchez,

...or may I call you Sonia? I hope that you will call me Christina, if we shall ever have the pleasure to communicate. 

I have long admired you quietly, but thought it time to take the risk and reach out to share.  

I have heard your name for years among the greats. As a foolish, unwise lover of poetry, I did not always pay attention. One day, I was wandering in a bookstore and I saw your name. Attached to your name was the title of a book called Morning Haiku. Knowing that most haiku I have read lacked something I found in my own love of haiku, I proceeded with caution. 

I flipped to the middle of the book. And I was blown.

For the first time in my life, I saw part of myself reflected in a living, breathing writer. Most writers who I admire are no longer on this earth. Have you read Clarice Lispector's Stream of Life? That explains a core I am still trying to scribe everyday. Anais Nin's House of Incest? Scary and beautiful language. Similar thoughts without the whole incest aspect. But I digress. This is about you. 

...and what I have found in you, your writing. Your haiku. I was once told by a fellow writer that he did not care for my short pieces of writing. With this in mind, I've been scared to turn to the simplest form of thought. I thought to myself Who writes haiku these days, especially the way I write it, what I write about? Then I found Morning Haiku.

Your book taught me it was okay to be myself. I am a love poet. A haiku poet. Sometimes I am long and drawn out, but most of the time, I am flashes of light.

I turn to Morning Haiku when I need to be breathless, to study form and format for my own book of haiku, to share with a man who I may want to look into my soul.

Your words are water, sin, light, cupcakes, and kisses. I can dip into your writing and find a prayer to life every time. 
 
Before I was able to buy the book, I would make trips through train and bus to the bookstore and read random pages from it. Afraid to fall in love with something I could not have, I did not read it cover to cover. 

The day I was finally able to purchase a copy, I read the introduction, haikuography as I was slowly making my way to the register, and knew exactly what you were talking about:

from the moment i opened that book, and read the first haiku, i slid down onto the floor and cried, and was changed. i had found me.

I stopped for a moment and did just that.

Thank you for being the epitome of greatness.



P.S. Inspired by greatness and attached with offering & love:

Woman

i.

shy smile
tugs the hearts
of my lovers
 
ii.
curves dragging
eyes from door
to edges of seats

iii. 
caramel sticky
skin wished
for cupped hands
 
iv.
laughter of bells
down to earth
bangle adorned wrists

v. 
ease of lips
etch-a-sketched
in hearts instantly
 

vi.
warm fleshed out
rib cages heave
in tune to banter

vii.
coiled lock
& finger around
the base of your neck
 
viii.
balmy, loose
air of her comfortably
leans into your frame

ix.
i can see why she's perfection. i can nearly love her too...
if it wasn't for you.


Always,


Christina

---

This course is making me braver everyday. I would have never written something like this and then actually send it. I wanted to show you guys what I said. I like to share sometimes, sue me. 

Here's to digging deep and facing myself in more ways than one.

Hello my lovely Write Queeners,

I know the weekend bought upon a range of emotions from the news of the Zimmerman case.

For me, I had a moment of vulnerability where I have a heart to heart with my womb about the fear of having a son, especially a dark-skinned son (if you have seen pictures of my boyfriend, you'll see why).

From there I got into heated debates with people on Facebook. That was exhausting. The only thing I&apos;ll say about that is that some people will never be compassionate towards other cultures and will always have the "victim" mentality.

But I am not here to write about that today. I want to talk about how I have been 'digging deep and facing self'.

I have survived my first week of my writing course. In a short period of time, I have already grown fond of the beautiful ladies that I have been working with. We are all experiencing the pain and beauty of every day life and amazingly have been sharing it together.

The writing assignments have been challenging because I haven't been forced to confront such uncomfortable feelings in a while. I'm learning a lot about myself and some of it, I really want to change.

Today I am having trouble with our prompt. Not because of its emotional aspects, but of how I chose to do the previous exercise. They are related to each other and I actually have to use the previous one to do this one. Without revealing what I am learning from the course (not my material to give away), I have to say how you choose to interpret instructions in the begining will have a consquence if you have to do more on the topic or related to the topic.

You're probably like, "I don't know what's she's talking about since she can't tell me about the exercise." I will share the pieces when I finish the course and maybe give you a hint on how they came about. But if you really want to know, you should take a course with Caits - my awesome birthday twin and a fantastic writer.

I just wanted to share the thoughts with you. I promise that my next post will make sense.

Peace my loves. Till next time.

Write Queeners,

I am going to share snippets of a journey I am taking. I don't know how often, but it will be for the next 28 days. I have gotten through Day 1, a private beginning for now. Day 2...well I already feel like running away so I can write this feeling everyday.

I will only share my thoughts. I will not break the sacred circle that has already formed with my group. But I also feel that you, my readers, deserve a sneak peek into my thoughts at least, because this is going to be a scary journey.

I believe it is my responsibility as a writer to share what I was never taught.

This morning I tried a method called morning pages, writing three pages right when I get up and then not being able to look back.

I shared this thought with the group:

Morning pages will be the toughest for me. I'm scared to be so ordinary. I have this notion as a writer that you must always be brilliant, even though I know it's in the ordinary where beauty can emerge. I am doing it by hand so it's even tougher. Technology has crippled my organic ability to scribe. I replaced methods a long time ago. I'm beyond composition notebooks. I need instant gratification through typing. 

I shut my journal right away, but the thought that has stood with me, which I don't think I wrote quite this way in the journal is:

Eye guck, no glasses, morning relief withheld until completion. 

___

I look forward to seeing how this challenge changes me. I will keep you posted.

Good morning Write Queeners.