Marytza K Rubio is a fiction writer from Santa Ana, California and the founder of the nonprofit Makara Center for the Arts. Makara offers free library services, writing workshops, community meeting space, and free arts & culture programs to Santa Ana communities.
Also watched Avengers with the racoon and Deadpool2. Bought popcorn and saw Sorry to Bother You and Jurassic World sequel in the theater. Totally disappointed Jeff Goldblum was only in it for like a minute.
Put on a bunch of animal shows for background noise/company. The Malaysia episode of Wildest Indochina is my top pick. Crocodiles & carnivorous plants, mangroves and monkeys.
I'm making dinner for about a dozen friends next week. Half of them are vegetarians so I can't rely on my go-to blackened shrimp tacos or BLT pasta. I'll attempt to make a vegetarian moqueca.
I've skipped the fish and made it with plantains once before, but this recipe with hearts of palm and pumpkin looks delicious. A local Argentine market sells the malagueta peppers and dende oil, so overtime I make it, I get to see that beautiful warm orange and the kitchen fills up with the scent of coconut and an acaraje puesto.
A good friend sent us Tommy Orange's novel after he heard about THERE THERE on the news. It was at the top of my list so getting it in the mail with a lovely inscription from our friend was a welcome surprise. I love reading this book.
Another intuitive friend gave me LIVES OF THE MONSTER DOGS. She said it was wacky and I would enjoy it, and she's right. She gave it to me a few days after our family dog died, a sweet English bulldog named Roomba, so I am grateful to have more dogs running around in my imagination.
My agent's assistant named BROWN GIRL IN THE RING as a comp book for the novel I'm working on. We have it in our library so I started reading it the day I got my notes instead of cataloging a small mountain of books. The strong and steady voice was exactly what I needed to study in order to identify and correct my shortcomings with pacing. I'm an impatient writer and tend to rush through the action and relationship building. This book is teaching me how to slow down to better maintain an aura of strangeness.