Fab Free Writing Workshop Stuff Including “Giant Golden Buddha”

Fab free stuff! That you might be able to bite into! My writing assistants model the concept.

“Giant Golden Buddha” & 364 More 5 Minute Writing Exercises

Recommended Reading on the Craft of Creative Writing
(Updated Master List)

Recommended Reading on the Creative Process
(Updated Master List)

Recommended Literary Travel Memoirs
(Updated Master List)

“Poetic Techniques to Power Up Your Fiction and Narrative Nonfiction”
The handout from C.M. Mayo’s workshop for the Women Writing the West Virtual Conference, 2020

Reading Tolstoy’s War & Peace: A Novelist’s Notes
What does it mean to “read as a writer”? The author of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire (c’est moi) has a go at War and Peace— starting by cutting it in half.

> All Madam Mayo blog workshop posts covering topics from mystery & taste to poetic technique, working library management, material tools, narrative architecture, publishing, attentional focus, and more.

> Click here for C.M. Mayo’s schedule of events and workshops.

Find out more about
C.M. Mayo’s books, articles, podcasts, and more.

Tip Jar? Not Exactly… But you can buy my books!

Patreon and PayPal are oftentimes used by bloggers and podcasters as a “tip jar,” however, for reasons too lengthy to go into here, I do not use either of these services for Madam Mayo blog or my podcasts.

I write Madam Mayo blog and podcast for whomever might happen to find it of interest, whether they be long-time readers, my workshop students, friends, family, or chance visitors. (For more about the idea of creative work as gift, see Lewis Hyde’s The Gift.)

And of course, I hope the writing and podcasts here may entice you to also read my books. You can always buy my books here. If you buy the book new, I earn royalties. If the book is in-print and you buy a used copy, however, Krampus will fart on you. Either way, if you encounter me in meatspace and ask nicely, I shall be delighted to inscribe it for you!

By the way, you can now also find some of my longform essays not-yet-in-print on Kindle, among them: “Dispatch from the Sister Republic or, Papelito Habla” and “From Mexico to Miramar or, Across the Lake of Oblivion.”

On a tight budget? It is also possible that you can find some of my books in your local or university library. If not, don’t be shy, ask the librarian to consider ordering it for the library. Guess what, sometimes they do!

Official disclosure: Madam Mayo blog is an affiliate seller for amazon.com, which means that if you click on a given link and then purchase that book on amazon, I receive a sliver-thin commission. Dear writerly reader, know that these modest sums go not towards additional polar bear fur upholstery for the narwahl-tusk armchairs in the mahogany-paneled library of my trans-Arctic yacht (where all naughty children may slurp hot chocolate whilst fingering the first editions) but rather, towards covering the costs of this blog and the podcasts.

Any links to amazon.com are for books I sincerely recommend and/or by request of many of the authors who appear here in the monthly by-invitation-only Q & As. (That is to say, many of the authors I interview specifically request that I provide a link to buy their book on amazon.com; as a courtesy to them, I do so.)

I am well aware of the problematic nature of Amazon’s outsize market power. If you wish to make your book purchases directly from independent bookstores and small publishers, I would celebrate your doing so by your going to their webpages, which links I provide on occasion, and when not, dear writerly reader, Google or duckduckgo and ye shall find.