I didn’t quite realize it until I started writing this blog post, but I’ve been pretty busy this year, and—surprisingly—I mean that in the best way possible. This year has been one of the best for me both creatively and mentally and I thought it would be great to share some of that joy here in writing. I suppose I should start with the biggest and most recent news of all: I’m published (again!).
Earlier this year, one of the editors over at Lonely Planet Kids reached out to me about writing a short story based on Belizean folklore. At that time I had no idea Lonely Planet—yes, the Lonely Planet—published stuff outside the realm of travel guides but I was absolutely overjoyed at the news nonetheless. A few pages, a couple rewrites, and several months later and now I’m really happy to share that my work can be found in LP’s A Treasury of Traditional Tales, which officially launched this month. The story follows a young boy named Edwardo who has a brief but unexpected encounter with everyone’s favorite forest spirit.
It still feels quite surreal to me and ironically I can’t quite find the words to express just how much it means to have my writing published by such a widely recognized brand. I definitely struggle to celebrate my wins sometimes ( a lot of the time), but writing about it here makes me feel all the more proud.
For anyone who would like to read my retelling of the traditional Tata Duende story (as well as plenty of other amazing tales by writers from across the globe), A Treasury of Traditional Tales is now available for purchase online.
I’ve Been Collaborating With Belizean Artists (A Lot)
Along with plenty of writing, I’ve also been doing quite a bit of collaborating with Belizean creatives. Through my small community project The Write Place, I was able to help out with the publication of a book of art by Aberrant Citrus. Aberrant is such a passionate artist (and one of my all time favorites), and that passion bleeds through her work. I love the whimsical feel of her creations (and she’s a fellow anime fan, too!).
Together with the multifaceted Briheda Haylock, we were able to put together a publication that now sits on shelves across belize. To have been able to not only write the Introduction for Hybrid Imagination, but to help out with the editing and overall launch of the book was new, exciting, and so fulfilling.
Later in May, I started working with Deanni Janae of 5 Minutes With Dee on a poem for International Youth Day. “Our Time Is Now” is a spoken word piece that features 29 Belizean Youth and advocates for young people to take their seat at the table. It’s an inspiring poem and working on it was such a rewarding experience. Amazingly, the video has managed to amass 10K organic views on Instagram. You can check it out here.
Finally in September, I got the chance to work with Taiwanese Belizean visual artist, Yaoling Lee. As a self-proclaimed Yaoling fangirl it was a dream come true! Yaoling’s book Beautiful Belize City features 21 of her urban watercolor sketches alongside text by 22 Belizean writers, including yours truly.
Being able to work with such passionate creatives has been one of the highlights of my year and it’s something I definitely look forward to doing more of in the coming years.
I Started Reading More
The past few months for me have also been all about reconnecting with all the things that brought me immense joy when I was younger. That includes reading! I’m two books away from completing my GoodReads Reading Challenge goal of 10 books , which is a huge improvement from last year.
I’ve been reading consistently and not to mention diversely (I even joined a book club and met some pretty cool people). And while speculative fiction remains my one true love, it’s been fun dabbling in everything from romance to thrillers.
There’s still two more months to go before the year ends, but I’ve been in such a reflective mood these past few weeks that I simply couldn’t resist an early recap (and a new blog post on this website has been long overdue, too). What 2024 accomplishments are you proud of? Let me know in the comments!
Khaila A. Gentle 