Telling Stories, Mastering Motherhood, and Writing Freelance with Amaris Castillo
Manage episode 377843248 series 3459380
In this illuminating episode, host Ashley Cisneros Mejia chats with Amaris Castillo — an award-winning journalist whose roots trace back to winning a storytelling contest in elementary school and whose prowess led her to be hired as an NPR Public Editor in Research at the famed journalism school The Poynter Institute. As we explore Amaris' journey, join us for an intimate look into the interplay among journalism, fiction writing, and motherhood.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Ways to draw from your personal experiences and passions to fuel your freelance writing journey
- Strategies for diversifying your writing specialties
- Methods to manage time efficiently
- The potential silver linings and unexpected opportunities that can arise during personal challenges
About Amaris Castillo
Amaris Castillo is an award-winning journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her writing has appeared in La Galería Magazine, Aster(ix) Journal, Spanglish Voces, PALABRITAS, Dominican Moms Be Like… (part of the Dominican Writers Association’s #DWACuenticos chapbook series), and most recently @Quislaona: A Dominican Fantasy Anthology. She has new work forthcoming in Sana, Sana: Latinx Pain and Radical Visions for Healing and Justice, out in July from Common Notions Press. Her short story, “El Don,” was a prize finalist for the 2022 Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writers’ Prize by the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. She lives in the Tampa Bay area with her family and dog, Brooklyn.
Connect with Amaris on Instagram and Twitter.
Full show notes here.
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Chapters
1. Telling Stories, Mastering Motherhood, and Writing Freelance with Amaris Castillo (00:00:00)
2. How Amaris Castillo fell in love with Journalism (00:04:22)
3. Amaris’ work at Poynter Institute (00:10:32)
4. How Amaris ventured into the world of fiction writing (00:15:02)
5. How Amaris finds time to write as a busy mother (00:21:43)
6. How Amaris turned her bout with COVID became a makeshift writing retreat (00:25:49)
7. The battle between chasing a dream and being a Mom (00:29:53)
8. Handling Motherhood the best way we can (00:36:29)
9. Amaris’ tips for finding time to write (00:39:39)
10. Balancing a full-time career and freelance (00:49:30)
11. Amaris’ biggest lessons from her freelance journey (00:56:49)
32 episodes