The Tradition Continues

The Tradition Continues

There are many things and many people to celebrate on Mother’s Day. Each person has their own way of doing it, and for me, it’s always and shall always be important to publish something on Mother’s Day. No matter what life throws my way, no matter the challenges, it’s something that’s important to me…and when something’s important, there is no try. Today I’m happy to report that even with a last-minute push, I was able to deliver on one of several projects I’ve been promising for a while: the all-English version of my bilingual collection, Twenty Veinte.

Beyond just translating the Spanish part, there are some pieces here that have been tweaked or shall we say overhauled. It’s been 6 years since I published Twenty Veinte and in that time, I’ve grown as a person and as a writer so I did allow myself some adjustments on the existing English pieces taking into account what we’ve experienced collectively the past couple of years, even though I didn’t include anything pandemic-specific, because I didn’t feel the need or desire to do so.

Now the Spanish part was interesting to work on…because the pieces in the original bilingual version of the book were FAR from Traditional Spanish and often use very Puerto Rican language. “How Puerto Rican?” you may ask. Well to the point that a text translator was useless as a tool to accelerate or facilitate the process. Then beyond language, there’s context and that’s where it got really tricky with several essays and one particular short story.
 

In plain English, if you’re not from Puerto Rico, you wouldn’t get several references, jokes, and be a bit lost. That’s where the term transcreation came into play and quite heavily.

Transcreation refers to when you go BEYOND language and take into consideration socio-cultural and historic details and add context to make the communication relevant to the intended audience. So imagine going from writing something mainly for Spanish speaking Puerto Ricans and making it relatable and understandable to a global English speaking audience. If it sounds complicated, it’s because it is.

This required me to do several rewrites and do deep dives to overhaul what I’d written originally. It also showed me how I’ve grown as a writer with more recent pieces and how I once upon a time struck gold, and that certain pieces have aged pretty gracefully I might add.

Translating the essays brought the challenge of making everything understandable. That means that for a piece like Puerto Rico Salsa, Puerto Rico Reggaetón I had to explain a bit more of what the title refers to and explain a bit more of where I was coming from in regards to the opinion within that piece. For Lane Change (Cambio de Carril) I had to absolutely re-think a LOT of what is in that story, since it takes place within a car stuck in a traffic jam in Puerto Rico. By re-think, please understand scrapping about 15-20% of the story and rewriting it thinking of the intended audience.

Then came the poetry.

Translating my poetry was very tricky because I love plays on words and doing stuff that honestly only works or works best in the original language it was written. Transcreating 10 poems of varying structure, style, intent, and rhyme structure might not seem like a lot, but it was. It also sparked some ideas for future projects where I explore the concept of living a bilingual life further, except I’ll concentrate on one form rather than re-diving into stories, poetry, and essays in one go.

The Spanish version of the collection has also brought plenty of challenges, though I’m chipping away at it because, again, it’s important to me. As is Mother’s Day.

I am well aware that if I don’t publish anything on Mother’s Day, nothing will happen in the grand scheme of things. I also know that the date continues to be extremely important to me, because of what it means and who I pay tribute to. I am well aware Mom would ask me when I’d get done with the Spanish projects I’ve had lingering for so long…though I’m also sure she’d be happy and proud that I continue to keep the tradition going and all the other things I've done this year.

I continue to receive messages asking how she’s doing, since I often post #CheersMamaEstrada pictures, videos, and pieces and I only regret having to let people know that she’s passed away and that it’s been some time. The regret is because I feel bad knowing people will feel bad they brought it up. I miss her every day though every time I get asked how she’s doing, part of me does smile, because it means I keep her memory quite alive.

Whether it’s a poem, a song, an essay, a book, a character based on Mama, or this tradition, it’s easy to always keep her with me. I know several wonderful people who have lost their moms or other loved ones in recent weeks and months and it hurts to see good people go through something so tough. Still, it’s a part of life and I always do my best to drop a line and invite them to feel whatever they have to feel, to embrace it, and pay forward all the love they received in life. I also invite them to talk to or write to their loved ones and to do it in the present tense. Write a letter as if you’re catching them up with everything that’s happened. Have a hard question to ask or something you need to get off your chest, write it out or tell them. It’s something I do often and it helps me more than you can imagine…as it does to publish something on Mother’s Day.

So here’s to tradition, to goals, to getting things done even when there are challenges in the way, and to doing the things that are important to us. This makes it Book #19…though it only serves to fuel the fire to get to my next projects, so as I’ve mentioned before. When it comes to my books, best not blink.

My best to you and all the mothers who have made and continue to make life better.

Peace, love, and Happy Mother's Day