By: Rose Albert
Posted In: News
Photo credit: Maria Garcia
Maria Garcia, a junior, is a published author.
For her first communion, Maria Garcia received a diary as a present from her brother. She began to scribble down some of her ideas in the little book, and she soon developed the habit of writing in it every day. After some time passed, Garcia looked back at her entries and realized that she was writing her personal experiences in the form of short stories.
Garcia, a junior majoring in Psychology and Neural Science is an exchange student from Mexico, and is a published author. At the age of fifteen, Garcia wrote her first story “Malditas Paginas”, or “Cursed Pages”. She entered a short story annual contest in her hometown of Monterrey, Mexico, but she unfortunately did not win. Garcia did not let this loss discourage her; she sent her pieces to editors, publishers, and writers all over Mexico, asking them to read and rate her work. Months later, Garcia started receiving response e-mails that contained constructive criticism from the professionals. One editor told Garcia that she had the talent and potential, but her writing style was incompetent and needed improvement. He suggested that she continue to practice writing if she wished to improve her craft. Garcia followed these words of advice and continued to write and submit her works to editors. Her hard work finally payed off in the year 2007, when another editor contacted her saying that he was very interested in her work. In that same year, Maria had entered an international contest in Spain and won third place with her short story “Despuecito del rio” or, “After the River”. Garcia’s talents were further recognized when the book “Tres narradoras” (“The Three Narrators”) featured Maria and several of her short stories. Stanford University contains a copy within its library. In 2008, Garcia began the process of writing her first novel, “Lo que resta da la vida” or “What Is Left of Life”. The story is about a girl named Gavi, whose brother Ernesto is born with Down syndrome. The struggles and devastation that the family encounters pushes Gavi’s mother into an alcoholic stupor, and causes her father to abandon his wife and children. Gavi acts as a caretaker and mentor for Ernesto, and in the process she ends up learning from him about the importance of life. The publication of the story is set for December 2010. “Knowing that my stories could reach someone and make a difference makes me happy, and I write for that because I have something to say and it is my way of being heard,” she said Garcia is currently working on her next project, a children’s book written in English titled: “When you imagine.” The book will present the imagination of an artistic child in contrast with the real world. Garcia would also like to translate her previous book, and is currently in search of an editor to help her with the process. Garcia’s philosophy is that everyone can write because each of us has something important and unique to tell. Even when there are obstacles,Garcia believes in the inner writer.
