Mexican Wonders

I just discovered another great and wonderous thing about Mexico - generic Fosomax in Farmacia Ahorro on Calle San Francisco for $235 pesos!  That´s like 20 US bucks!  Fosomax is a medicamento that strengthens bones.  Important for slightly built, British Isle-descended white girls like me.  Getting a bone density test and then buying Fosomax has been on my to-do list for awhile but I've been put off by the price.  It´s about $100 US a month to take the bugging little pills.  Or it is if you buy it by its brand name. 

My eighth and ninth graders blogged again on Thursday.  About what they like about themselves and what they´d change about their school.  WARNING:  Unedited version posted!  That means lots of spelling mistakes.  We´ll edit on Monday.  I probably need to take down mention of a particular teacher they say they´d have removed. Doesn´t anyone want to give my students a thrill and follow the blog?  (encouraging grin)
http://www.siglo21mirror.blogspot.com/

I have a website in the works.  So far my photo is up.  It´s very exciting.
http://www.susanmckinneydeortega.com/

spring equinox

Carla wants to go to the newly opened Cañada de la Virgen, San Miguel´s own pyramid, for today--the spring equinox.  She wants to take advantage of the powerful energy that will be attracted to the pyramid on this day. 
We took a trail ride on Lucky and Brandy (our friend, Rosendo´s horse) yesterday.  Riding to the presa on a tree-lined path, monarch butterflies flitted and flew around us.  Hundreds of them, on their way back north.  It felt magical.
My eighth and ninth graders blogged again on Thursday.  Read what they said about themselves and about how to stay healthy.  http://www.siglo21mirror.blogspot.com/   Remember, editing happens THIS Thursday coming up.
Back to editing Flirting in Spanish!

Release date

The release date for Flirting in Spanish is Cinco de Mayo!  I´ve been reluctant to publish it out of some crazy fear that something would go wrong, but I´m feeling more confident as I edit along.  I´ve also lined up a date for a Literary Sala reading to "introduce" Flirting in Spanish in San Miguel, even though I´ve read from it several times over the past years.  September 8, Posada de San Francisco.  All are invited.
We are working on a book and an author webpage.  OK OK.  I´m believing it!

meditating for Japan

Both my husband and my daughter, Carla, who I´ve mentioned before, have degrees of "seeing" abilities, had premonitions of the disaster in Japan.  Carla, age 16, said one evening about a week before the earthquake, as we prepared dinner, "Something big is coming."   And Carlos, about 2 months ago, dreamed of an earthquake in an Asian country.  Deepak Chopra is inviting people to a global meditation for those in Japan on Monday, I believe.  We, as a family, will participate.  

Photo with my Annette Benning haircut

I tried to upload this photo the other day and it didn´t want to be uploaded.  No quiso subir.  That´s how Mexicans express things that don´t go quite right.  It just, all by itself, happened or didn´t happen.  Nobody is to blame!  Isn´t that a polite and guilt-relieving aspect of the lovely Spanish language?

The above is to show you how great my photog friend JJ Anderson is.  I´m really not that good-looking! 

Editing...what a chore!  I´ve always used double spaces after sentences and am told now I need only one space after each sentence in my manuscript.  How many sentences do you think there are in 213 pages??  I know.  There´s auto-this and auto-that on computers.  I just don´t know how to work anything.

Twitter is an interesting phenomena.  I only pop over there ever couple of days. Meantime all kinds of people "follow" me.  I guess I show up on their suggestion list.  I heard Steve Martin on Letterman last night say he joined Twitter. I saw him on his King Tut tour at Lake Geneva, Illinois years ago. He was hysterical.  And I saw that Kareem Abdul Jabbar twittered, as I looked him up yesterday to make sure I was spelling his name right in my manuscript.  (My dad coached him.)  He was checked for cancer and now says he is clean and doesn´t have it! The things you find out.  Anyway, there´s two people who are way more interesting than Charlie Sheen to follow.  I´m going to pop over to Twitter right now and click their names.  You can follow me by the way. 
mckinneyortega.  I should have a button here.  I´ll figure out how to do that after I finish editing my manuscript....

Italicization

We love to make up words in our house, mostly have a -ation ending.  Like our friend Carolita is Carolation.  Sean´s horse, Andale is Andalation.  You get the picture.  Italicization.  Is it a word or did I make it up?

Italicizing is the question of the day.  I´m reviewing my manuscript.  Do I italicize words in Spanish or not?  Anyone?

hey hey hey

Thursday is blog day for my Advanced English students.  If you look, and please do! keep in mind that we will edit what they wrote yesterday next week.  So you might run into some funny spellings, as these kids are Mexican and writing in their second language. 
http://www.siglo21mirror.blogspot.com/

Meantime, I´m getting together all kinds of stuff to get my book out.  A head shot for one.  My fabulous and talented friend JJ Anderson took a bunch of photos of me last week, and just sent them.  When JJ said, "Smile," I said, "I want botox."   Wrinkles and all (Hey, I live in a high altitude and don´t drink enough water!) JJ made me look pretty good. 

Next...a subtitle to Flirting in Spanish!  I´ll be thinking, thinking this weekend.

My Book

So every year I go to the San Miguel Writers Conference and get frustrated because I get busy organizing the Teen Writers Workshop, and busy in my business, Jasmine Spa, and can´t attend everything I want to, but I always get something out of it.  This year I met a publisher!  Two, actually.  Two small publishers who were interested in my book, Flirting in Spanish. One was Editorial Matzatlan from Mazatlan, Sinoloa, and the other is Antaeus Books of Miami, and I have just signed a contract with Antaeus!  http://www.antaeusbooks.com/

The publisher, Jayne is smaaaart...she´s already come up with this great idea already...that I add a English/Spanish glossary of words of love.  Boyfriend - novio.  Kiss - beso.  Words like that. 

I´m over the moon about this!  I´m copy editing presently, as I get a pedicure.  I will soon have a real hold-in-your-hand book.   I bow down to glorious small publishing!