Cultivating Enthusiasm

Today is my 40th birthday!

This is of course a milestone birthday, and thus I find myself reflecting on this age and time in my life. When I was younger, most of the elders in my family lived well into their eighties and nineties, so it was normalized for me that forty was still quite young, the middle point of your life, especially when my own mother celebrated her fortieth birthday with a big river bash and her first tattoo. However, living through the last several years in which living a long healthy life was no longer a guarantee, I am actually a little surprised to be here. My body has challenged me, and I have had to learn, especially in the last decade, that the ways I cared for myself before are not the same ways I care for myself now. There are many things I can still do, but there are also limitations and considerations I hadn’t always considered, like how much recovery time I will need after a long hike, or how my body will react moving between regions with different climates. And I don’t mourn these changes much any more. It’s just something you adapt to. It’s what I need.

I hold a heap of gratitude to reach this age with the experiences I have had and gratitude for the person I am and am still becoming; someone who is curious, reflective, creative, and committed to both care and fun!

In Chapter 13 of his book, Something in the Woods Loves You, Jarod K. Anderson (shoutout to my friend Lindsey for recommending me this book!) discusses fireflies and whimsy as an antidote to the strictures and sometimes soul crushing weight of practicality, especially practicality under capitalism, stating, “Whimsy is enthusiasm that refuses to defend itself with practicality.” Being whimsical, whatever that looks like to you, can be a powerful, important part of being an authentic human being. Much of what is considered authentic or genuine now is deemed “cringe,” but I hope that we can unlearn that thinking across generations. Being a millennial reaching middle age reminds me that genuine enjoyment is something to be treasured, not scoffed at for caring about something, or someone.

Perhaps this is why I have been grateful to be celebrating the fall, my favorite time of the year, in the Pacific Northwest, a region that now holds a piece of my heart forever onward. It’s a region whose beauty and mysterious natural magic I am reticent to leave. Something about the the forests of old growth trees that lean in close in a moist embrace of moss and foliage to the incredible coastal towns and waterways gives us the best of everything, including fall foliage and cooler weather than we’re used to at this time of year.

It’s been a busy visit for us here in Oregon! There are so many incredible things to do and we only had three weeks to do it in. Much of what we explored here has been filled with fun and whimsy, in ways that others might consider wastes of time, but that we are storing in the memory palaces of our heartminds.

We have spent the last three weeks in Oregon, staying in Salem about an hour outside of Portland. The first week in Salem, we drove to visit the North American Bigfoot Center, as I still had Bigfoot, or Sasquatch on the brain, especially since I just finished watching the last episode of Dimension 20: City Council of Darkness and Bigfoot as hero and defender played a key role in the finale, ie helping defeat the wealthy elites ruining the town of Purpee, Oregon with a bazooka and martial arts.

For an early birthday present to myself, I planned a day trip to St. Helen’s, Oregon for the Spirit of Halloweentown Festival, as this is the town where they primarily filmed the Halloweentown movies. If you know me, you know that Halloween is a big deal for me, and the Halloweentown films were a big part of my tween years, in addition to Sabrina the Teenage Witch and other such shows and films. So on our sojourn to Portland, we drove about thirty minutes away to St. Helen’s, a beautiful little port town on the Columbia River, and indulged in some early Halloween fun. One of the highlights was a boat ride around Sauvie Island with some local ghost lore, and the vendors, costumes and attractions of festival. We also stopped in at Riverfront Books, which had an excellent selection of wide-ranging books, especially witchy and Halloween themed books, and we got a new Halloween puzzle to work on this month plus some requisite stickers for me and gifts for my buddies. We also got some interesting goodies at the antique mall in town, including some DVD’s, as we are trying to build back our physical media collection since streaming has become so expensive and exclusive, and other fun stuff! There were so many antique Halloween decorations that I admired.

Was the Halloweentown festival cheesy? Sure! Was it all a little overpriced? Of course! Did I still enjoy the hell out of myself? You bet!

Speaking of cheese, while visiting Portland, we got to attend The Wedge: Portland Celebrates Cheese Festival and got to buy one of the last blocks of Rogue Creamery’s BluZu cheese, which we have been enjoying for the last two weeks on bagels and crackers alike. I’d just finished reading The Magical Cheese Emporium by Sarah Beth Durst, and was delving back into Ericka Kubick’s Cheese Magic, so this was very fitting.

Of course, while we were in Portland, I had to be sure to visit as many incredible bookstores as I could! I got to make it out to Powell’s City of Books, of course, which was honestly an overwhelming experience. They have so many floors and rooms devoted to different genres, and we didn’t have time to stay as long as I would need to really get the sense of the place, but I did snag a copy of Spook Rivers by Geo Rutherford, the sequel to her first book Spooky Lakes because I’ve been wanting to get it and couldn’t resist! Plus October is Spooky Lake Month for all of us who celebrate, and we have seen a lot of beautiful, and creepy waterways lately.

We also visited Parallel Worlds Bookshop and Midslumber Media on Alberta Street, one of just a few bookstores on that particular street, and I got two shorter horror books I’ve had on my TBR as well as to share my book in hopes they will stock it. While it can be hard to cold-visit or email bookstores you are not in immediate community with, I am learning that dropping in , sharing my work and building these relationships can be helpful for me in the future. I am still a newby to the horror community, but my hope is that folks will remember me in the future and want to stock my forthcoming books.

On the way back to our truck, we passed Mother Foucault’s, where one of the booksellers was sitting in the window display writing on a typewriter, which meant I needed to go in and check it out.

I wasn’t there for five minutes, looking through their rare and antique books selection when I found a copy of Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley in pristine condition! I had been hoping to find a copy online after reading about it last year in The Bookshop: A History of The American Bookstore by Evan Friss. It reminds me a lot of white I love mobile libraries and bookmobiles (I even wrote an article about that Scalawag a few years ago!) as well as the fun I’ve been having playing Tiny Bookshop on Steam.

Outside of our city experiences, we made sure to spend just as much time outdoors, which is what we, and Tajin, all prefer!

This included visiting Silver Falls State Park and walking the trails to the Redwood Observation Deck in the Hoyt Arboretum where we got a preview of some of the Redwoods and Sequoias we will be seeing in California in the coming weeks. More on that in November’s newsletter!

After Portland, we jetted over to spend a couple of days at Cannon Beach, tracing the journey of the Goonies and checking out the tide pools at Haystack Rock.

Walking the beach with Ramiro and Tajin and watching Tajin zoom delightedly across the sand in his spastic, silly way, I felt content in a way that seems ineffable, and sometimes fleeting. A thought shimmered into my mind watching the sunlight flash through the treetops and sparkle on the waves: There are many bad things happening in the world, and much to mourn and fight against, but the world is full of beautiful things too.

This year, this time in my life is teaching me to reconnect to all the whimsical activities, art, media and wonder that have fed me creatively for the past forty years. Sewing, crafting, scrapbooking, collecting leaves and pine cones and moss on our walks, learning the names and calls of birds and how to identify different species of trees, planning new outings with Ramiro and looking at this photographs, playing with Tajin, gaming, exploring TTRPG’s and sending postcards and video messages to my beloveds are not lucrative or practical activities, but they are all vital to enriching my life.

At this big age, all of our visits, excursions and small pleasures remind me that whimsy is a worthwhile, even a vital pursuit. As Jarod K. Anderson asks in Something in the Woods Loves You, “Is the project of my life being guided by what I truly treasure?”

This is a worthy question I hope to spend the rest of my days answering.

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2026 Projects, Workshops and Events

Haunted, Monstrous Women 2 Reading, Sunday, October 25 • 11 AM – 12 PM PDT on Zoom (use Eventbrite link above to RSVP and receive link).

What Happens Inside: Writing Body Horror Workshop with the Writers’ League of Texas on Wednesday, October 28th from 6:30-9:30pm CDT on Zoom.

The recording done of the Strong Women, Strange Worlds Quick Reads event I was a part of in July is on Youtube, so if you missed the reading, you can check it out now!

*More events TBA

My horror collection, The Remedy is the Disease, is out now from Undertaker Books! You can order your copy now using the link above! I got to feature my book and experiences on why I love horror for Becky Spratford’s blog. Read more here!

I’m incredibly heartened to that the book has been received so well by several reviewers. Here are some reviews and podcasts I’ve appeared on lately so you can get a sense of the book:

• You can read a review of the book here in Sinister Scoop!
• Review by H.V. Patterson
• Review by Alex Brown
• Review by Robin Knabel
• Susto Podcast Interview
• The Basement Girls Podcast: The Wolf Man
• The Scares That Shaped Us: The Thing

If you missed the virtual book launch I did last week with two of my favorite writers and supporters, Rios de la Luz and Ryan C. Bradley, you can watch the recorded reading here!

My poetry chapbook, Offerings to the Tumbled Temple, is also out now from Purple Ink Press! You can purchase a copy here. Chapbooks like these make great gifts for your poetry loving friends! You can also order a copy from your local indie bookstore or, if you love your local library, you can request that they stock a copy.

Indie bookstores currently stocking my books:

• BookWoman in Austin, TX
• Red Salmon Arts/Resistencia Bookstore in Austin, TX
• Austin Public Library Shop, Austin, TX
• Lark and Owl Bookstore in Georgetown, TX
• Haunt Happy Books in Lockhart, TX
• Curio Mrvosa in Taylor, TX
• Nowhere Bookshop in San Antonio, TX
• Boerne Bookshop in Boerne, TX
• Interabang Books in Dallas, TX
• Palabras Bilingual Bookshop in Phoenix, AZ
• Word Horde Emporium of The Weird and Fantastic in Petaluma, CA
• Secret Garden Books in Seattle, WA
• Poetry chapbook coming soon to the Open Books: A Poem Emporium in Seattle, WA!
• Coming soon to Thrillerdelphia in Philly, PA!

Open to New Editing Clients for the Fall!

The summer is almost over, and I’m opening up to a few new clients! As a professional editor and mentor, I would love to work with you to support your creative goals and develop your current projects!

I would love to take on folks who are working on poetry manuscripts or novels of all kinds, especially weird, speculative work, but I’m open to all forms of writing! You can read some testimonials from my current clients. I offer a variety of services and rates to fit your budget, so reach out today to schedule a consultation.

What I’m Reading and Watching: Haunted Places and Liminal Spaces

It’s October, my favorite month, and the time for reading all the creepy books and watching scary movies, although I am enthusiastic for horror all year long! I got to feature my book and experiences on why I love horror for librarian and editor Becky Spratford’s blog. Read more here!

For the last two years, I have been revisiting gothic works of literature that have been meaningful to me. In 2024 I re-read Frankenstein and related books. Last year I re-read Dracula and other vampire works (truthfully still working through some of those). This year, I decided to read Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier for the first time, and make this the year of the Haunted House.

Rebecca is not a haunted house book per se, but it does encompass many gothic themes of a dark, foreboding place (Manderley), the mystery surrounding this place and the atmosphere that reflects the emotional turmoil of the protagonist, who is often vulnerable, either because of gender, age or experience, to the isolation and unreality of these places. I had a lot of thoughts about Rebecca, especially about the unnamed narrator and how she is manipulated and used by Maximilian de Winter and how the walls of Manderley, and the people who work there, especially Mrs. Danvers, ensure that Rebecca, Max’s first wife who died, remains in memory and spirit, despite his best efforts to suppress her.

I also re-read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson last year, and love considering how homes, and places in general, can hold the anxieties, fears, memories, love, grief and anguish of those who once lived there, and how much of the gothic style in storytelling is treating the home or place as a character of its own. I still think about Eleanor’s character in that book frequently; her quiet desperation, her yearning for connection and fear of rejection, the life she hopes for but is never able to achieve. Reading gothic stories about desperate women at a time when gendered violence, rape culture and abuse are being treated so callously and marginalized people’s autonomy being under threat seems relevant. I plan to re-watch The Haunting of Hill House Netflix adaption this month as well-very different storylines but no less beautiful!

I also appreciate that gothic literature is expanding beyond the eurocentric definition and legacy to include, as discussed on several panels at Stoker Con, Black Southern Gothic, Asian Gothic, Latin American Gothic (several of which I shared in my September newsletter for Latinx Heritage Month) and other iterations of the gothic across cultures and experiences. They navigate many of the same gothic themes: isolation, mystery, foreboding, grief, loss of control, sense of unreality, combined with racial traumas and cultural folklore about spirits, spiritualities and creatures. For instance, we recently watched Mārama, a film about a Maori woman who travels to a Victorian English manor to seek out more information about her family, only to be trapped in a world of haunting secrets and colonial violence. It is an incredible film, beautiful, empowering, and heartbreaking, and an exciting example of Maori gothic horror. Crimson Peak and Frankenstein, directed by Guillermo del Toro also also gothic films that exude his signature sumptuous, romantic style, both the beautiful and grotesque.

Here is my list of haunted place or gothic books I have read or am reading this spooky season (prioritizing physical copies I already own):

• Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread by Leila Taylor
  • This nonfiction book has been interesting so far, and explores how different places and architecture become spaces of horror. Feels like a fitting read!
• Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm
  • I received a free ARC of this book at Stoker Con and everyone has been raving about it, so I am very excited to read it this month. Palestinian gothic horror! Can’t wait.
• The Spite House by Johnny Compton
  • Johnny is a kind and engaging author who I’ve gotten to meet a few times at local Texas author events. I’ve read some of his other work, and look forward to reading The Spite House, especially because Libby also has an audiobook I may read with my hardcover copy.
• Curdle Creek by Yvonne Battle-Felton
  • This book is not technically a haunted house book, but the description sounded so eerie and weird I had to request it from the library.
• She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
  • Having read some of Tran’s other work, including They Bloom at Night, which I recommended last year, I decided I finally needed to sit down and read the hardcover copy of have of this book.
• Linghun by Ai Jiang
  • I bought this slim novel a while ago and am primed to read it this month.
• Model Home by Rivers Soloman 
  • This will be the third book I read from this author and I imagine it will not disappoint!
• Play Nice by Rachel Harrison 
  • This will be the third book by Harrison I will read and she has become an auto-read author for me.
• Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker
  • I mean, it’s in the title! Plus Baker’s first book was one of the best ones I read last year, and I already put in a request on Netgalley to read her next book, Hell to Pay.

There have been a great many new horror films and shows out on streaming this month, so I plan to catch up on a lot of movies we haven’t watched yet. As a bonus, I also really enjoyed watching Below, the nautical creature show starring Josh Hartnett about a small fishing village off the coast of New Foundland plagued by the ghosts of the past and something that stalks the waters they depend on for survival. Would definitely recommend!

What are you watching, reading and/or playing during this most festive and creepy season?

Writing Prompts

What is the most haunting place you have ever visited? Was it a building, an urban space, a home or a landscape? What feelings did it conjure in you when you were there? How does it make you feel to remember it?

You can journal about your experiences or write a scene or poem in this particular place.

Call to Action: Community Care Spotlight

This space is meant to spotlight communities, creators and activists who are taking action to resist and do caring things for others. This month, I am highlighting a way to support someone in my hometown, Austin, who has been affected by ICE violence:

On September 20, Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan man, was shot in the back by ICE agents in North Austin. Just four hours later, he was released from the hospital into ICE custody, while his wife and attorney were denied information and access. He suffered with a bullet in his neck for almost two weeks before he was able to access the necessary surgery, suffering extreme pain and paralysis. His family is still fighting for proper medical care and his immediate release. This cruelty is state sponsored terrorism. You can donate to support Wilber and his family, and follow updates from Grassroots Leadership on how to support him and other folks who are navigating the impossibly system of immigrant detention and violence from ICE on their “Ice Fuera de Austin” program.

Leticia