Tag: Hernandez

Our class had the pleasure of having Carlos Hernandez come and speak with us about digital publishing and how he got to where he is today with his career. We also had the opportunity to ask him questions and really get our questions answered about him. Although I was not able to make it to his book reading, I am really glad he was able to come and speak with our class.

He started by giving us some really good insight about poems and digital publishing along with some tips for those who want to become writers of all kinds for later down the road. Our class found out that publishing poetry is expensive in print due to all of the line breaks but in digital publishing the cost does not change. Digital publishing also allows for much more interaction than paper publishing because of links and hypertext. He specifically talked about his one poem “In Lieu of the Stories My Santera Abuela Should Have Told Me Herself, This Poem”, and actually read it to our class for everyone to get the chance to listen to it. He took real life scenarios about his family that his mother told him and turned it into a piece of work. He made us realize that a lot of writing comes from hard things that have happened in peoples lives.

Not only does Carlos have poems and short stories but he also just signed a 2 book publishing deal with Disney. He told us that this all started by someone reading his works and passing it along to people and before he knew it he was signing a deal. This is where one of his major points came in to start writing now and take the rejection and build on your skills and grow as a writer to improve and make connections because you never know who is reading you work on the web. His final touch was on how writing and publishing is a new world for women and people of color because it is allowing them to tell their stories. They have the ability to use their own voices and tell their own personal stories instead of having someone do research and write on a topic they are not really familiar with.

Overall, it was a pleasure to have Carlos in class and I gained a lot of great insight about digital publishing and how great it is to have and know. He gave great advice to our whole class and hopefully those who want to become writers or poets got a lot of great insight on what they need to do to succeed and grow their careers.

When author Carlos Hernandez visited Stevenson University, he gave the fellow students and I great advice on writing in general. Although I am not seeking a career solely in writing, I enjoy the task very much and his advice still applied to me. During his book reading, a student asked how can they eliminate writers block. Hernandez responded by saying that one should just start typing words because usually writer’s block indicates one is overthinking their response so by completing the thought with anything allows one to remove writer’s block.

Although, I do not wish to become a writer I would not mind merging some form of writing with my Computer Information Systems degree. Previously, before Hernandez visited our class I did not think it was possible to combine the two. Hernandez told the class about his video game writing experience and how his partner made an exception for him to write for the game being that he lacked coding experience. His partner made a program for him in order to help him still use the proper methods when writing for the game. Honestly, when Hernandez shared with the class this experience I became excited because this could be a new opportunity for me as well. I enjoy both coding and writing, so to be able to merge the two would be great. Without Carlos Hernandez visiting I still would be unsure of what exact route I would take career wise after graduating but now I have start.

Writer Carlos Hernandez came to class on Wednesday 2/27/19 to talk about his work, career, life in general, and to answer any questions we may have had regarding any of these topics. Carlos gave great insight on varying topics in class and it was a great experience to hear him talk.

Carlos talked a lot about digital publishing, which pertains a ton to our class. He gave great insights on the advantages a disadvantages to digital publishing. One advantage was that white space isn’t very relevant as it is in print. Meaning that you could waste all the white space you want to when you publish digitally rather than if you were to publish in print. A disadvantage to publishing digitally was that to most writers and authors, it’s sort of a bucket list or an accomplishment to publish in print. To most authors and to Carlos himself, print has more sentimental value.

Another aspect of Carlos’ talk that intrigued me was his game design/development experience. As someone who is very much involved in video games, and will hopefully work in the industry some day as a developer, it was very interesting to see his thoughts on the whole thing. I, as a developer, was also very impressed with his programming knowledge. I was not expecting someone who has a been a writer their whole career to understand the nuances of python.

Lastly, Carlos gave some great general life advice. He was talking about when/where should you publish as a beginner. And he said that you should publish everywhere and send out your writing to everyone you possible can. The piece that was important was what he said about rejection. Carlos stated that rejection is a necessity for growth, and the fast/earlier you rejected, the better you will get. So send out your writing, and don’t be afraid to get rejected! This advice not only applies to writing, but anything you may be passionate about.

 

I was upset I could not make it to Hernandez’s book reading, but enjoyed his talk in class and gained a lot of insight. A few things stood out to me about different aspects of the talk like digital publishing, how Hernandez got to where he is, and writing.

The main thing that stuck out about digital publishing is that it is changing a lot about who can get published and why. It is allowing more people to get published. Minorities, like women and people of color, are getting invited and welcomed to tell their stories and self publishing is opening up and getting easier for everyone digitally. They are even getting nominated and winning awards because of this opportunity. Another thing about digital publishing is it is cheaper. Hernandez mentioned that long poems take up a lot of space because they make so much negative space, for printed works, this mean more pages and ink which means more money, but digitally those factors disappear therefor it can be produced for less money.

I was very interested in his process of getting to how Hernandez got to where he is and the decisions he had to make to get there. one point he brought up a few times, the prestige of the print or publishers. He did not care as much if he got published digitally or physically, but he did care about the prestige of who was publishing it. His training as a poet also helped get him to success. Though he also writes short stories and he liked writing them for two reasons. You can send one to a publisher and then later send another to keep the connection going. It also pushed him to not be boring as a writer because he only had so many words to write an interesting story beginning to end.

My final note, Hernandez talked about putting your work out there and it really stuck with me as a fictional writer and a graphic designer. He encouraged writers to go to conventions and learn more about the community, to search for open markets, to hope to get published and paid, to get feedback, and to not give up. Put your work out there as soon as you can, someone right will see it, read it, and love it enough to get published. Hernandez reminded us that we will get rejected, but take the feed back and keep trying. And I think that was strongest point I took away from the entire talk because it is important to anyone in any field, keep trying.

 

Having the opportunity to meet and hear the wisdom of Carlos Hernandez was an incredible time during which I felt I learned a great deal about the world of digital publishing and much more. First of all, I enjoyed listening to Hernandez speak about the way he writes and why he creates his pieces the way he does. These details had a lot to do with his background and his knowledge of the world that he has accumulated throughout his life. For example, he wrote his poem with slant rhymes and Spanish words in a piece mostly written in English to illustrate his cultural heritage, personal life experience, and how he has been influenced by other Spanish poetry (i.e. the slant rhymes). I think it is incredible how you can tell how much thought he puts into every word and phrase he uses within his writing.

Another part of Hernandez’s talk that I enjoyed was when he explained his relationship with his friend who he created the video game with. It is amazing when people are able and welcomed to join in on a project that they may not even have the “proper” experience to work on. The fact that his friend went out of his way to create a space for him that gave him the ability to write for the game goes to show how amazing of a writer he is. Friendships, random interests, and networking truly are great ways to jump start connections that could help you along your path, and Hernandez proved this in his stories of the people and friends he had that gave him incredible opportunities to further his career.

One last part of Hernandez’s talk that I remember well is when he explained the significance of digital publishing as it has affected people of color and women. It makes me so happy to know that people who for a long time had to jump through dozens of hoops and face rejection because of who they are now are at the highest ranks of writing in some settings. Hernandez explained so well how the best people to write about a culture are the people of that culture. People like Carlos Hernandez are an inspiration to writers of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels, and it was a pleasure to be able to hear him speak on matters that he cares so deeply about.