C. M. MAYO
Author of Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution, etc.

EXPLORERS . MEXICOPHILES . WRITERS
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BOOKS | Short Nonfiction | Short Fiction | Poetry | Translations | Audio CDs

Literary Travel Writing + Book Reviews + Misc. Articles + Interviews

The Secret Book by Francisco I. Madero, Leader of Mexico's 1910 Revolution
Edited and expanded transcript of my talk at the Center for Big Bend Studies, now a paper in the Journal of Big Bend Studies, vol. 29, 2017.

This Writer's Distraction Free Smartphone
Madam Mayo blog, January 14, 2019.

Remembering Ann L. McLaughlin

A tribute to a dear friend, the novelist and reknowned writing teacher. Originally published in Madam Mayo blog, December 18, 2017.

Prologue to the book by Luis Reed Torres, El Libertador sin Patria
Reconsidering Agustín de Iturbide and the question of what it means to be Mexican. Read the prologue in English or in Spanish.

Dispatch from the Sister Republic or, Papelito Habla

A longform essay on the Mexican literary landscape and the power of the book. July 2017.
Now available in Kindle.


Tulpa Max or, Notes on the Afterlife of a Resurrection
Catamaran Literary Reader, summer 2017

The Secret Book by Francisco I. Madero, Leader of Mexico's 1910 Revolution
Edited and expanded transcript of presentation for the panel on the Mexican Revolution, Center for Big Bend Studies Conference, Sul Ross State University, November 2016

What the Muse Sent Me About the Tenth Muse, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Madam Mayo blog
, March 20, 2015

Email Ninjerie in the Theater of Space-Time

Madam Mayo Blog, December 12, 2016

Adios Facebook! The Six Reasons Why I Deactivated My Account

Madam Mayo blog, August 12, 2015

Why Translate? The Case of the President of Mexico's Secret Book

Transcript of my talk for the annual conference of the American Literary Translators Association, November 15, 2014

Why I Am a Mega Fan of the Filofax Personal Organizer

Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools blog, November 17, 2014.

Thirty Deady-Effective Ways to Free Up Bits, Drips & Gimungously Vast Swaths of Time for Writing
Madam Mayo blog, July 2, 2014

Twitter Is

Literal: Latin American Voices / Voces Latinoamericanas: The social network. Digital utopia / Las redes sociales. Utopía digital. Summer 2009.

In Celebration of Literal: Latin American Voices / Voces Latinoamericanas
A talk by C.M. Mayo at the Feria Internacional del Libro, Guadalajara, Mexico, December, 2009 (Madam Mayo Blog)







A Traveler in Mexico: A Rendezvous with Writer Rosemary Sullivan
Inside Mexico, March 2009 Now also available as a free podcast on my "Conversations with Other Writers" page.


Heady Xalapa: Into the Heart of the Veracruz Coffee Country
Business Mexico, March 1999

Underground Art in Lower California
Wall Street Journal, March 5, 1998. Finalist, Texas Institute of Letters' Stanley Walker Award for Best Work of Journalism in a Daily Newspaper, 1998
(Note: the title is not mine; the cave art is not underground.)

Old California, Missions and Murals
Los Angeles Times, April 6, 1997

 Guest-Blog Posts

Upstate New York and the Mexican Revolution
An excerpt from the opening of Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution for the New York History Blog. October 27, 2015.

It's Not Navidad without Piloncillo
Curled Up with a Good Book Blog. December 2010.

The Top 5 of the Tussie-Mussie
Book Drunkard, November 19, 2010

The Story of the Story of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire
Girls Just Reading Blog. November 2010.

Haunted Historical Fiction: The Curious Coincidences Concerning Senator Claiborne Pell's Mansion
Hist Fic Chick October 15, 2010.
New: now
a podcast, free on iTunes.

What Connects You to the 1860s?
Beatrice.com

A Book Group Meeting Menu
Reading Group Guides, June 8, 2009

Playlist for The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire
Largehearted Boy, "Book Notes," May 27, 2009

VCCA Guest-Blog Post

Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Blog, May 5, 2009

Potomac Review Blog

About "The Darling of Rosedale" (from issue 44 of the Potomac Review) the first chapter of the novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, guest-blog post, May 5, 2009

My Favorite Bookstore? C.M. Mayo Celebrates a Batch of Bookstores

Red Room Author Blog, November 4, 2009
Other Articles and Guest-Blog Posts (Mostly on Writing)

Guest-Blogging:
A Flourishing New Literary Genre and a Powerful Tool for Promotion (Plus 10 Tips for Coming Up with Your Own Guest-Blog Posts
First Person Plural, the blog of the Writer's Center, May 5, 2010

Translator's Toolkit:
One Dozen Tools for Organizing a Translation-in-Progress

Two Words: The Blog of the Center for the Art of Translation, September 9, 2009

Twelve Tips to Help You Hang in There and Finish Your Novel

Work-in-Progress blog, April 23, 2009 and First Person Plural, May 13, 2009

Literary Travel Writing

The Writer's Carousel, winter/ spring 2009

Writers' Blogs:
What Works (& What Doesn't)

ForeWord Magazine Blog, Publishing Insider Column, March 25, 2009
Link temporarily down

One Dozen Books for the Novelist's Bookshelf
ForeWord Magazine Blog, Publishing Insider Column, March 11, 2009
Link temporarily down

Ten Tools for Organizing the Novel-in-Progress
ForeWord Magazine Blog, Publishing Insider Column, March 18, 2009

Use an Egg-timer if You Must:
The Five Minute Cure for Writer's Block
ForeWord Magazine Blog, Publishing Insider Column, March 4, 2009
Link temporarily down

Break the Block in Five Minutes
A Writing Life, November 5, 2009

On Publishing the Literary Short Story:
Some Advice & Reflections

Part-Times, (the newsletter of the Johns Hopkins University Part-Time M.A. in Writing Program) 2001; also published in The Writer, winter 2003 and in the American Translators Association Chronicle, winter, 2003

More articles for creative writers here.
For many more blogs and podcasts, see also Digital Media.