MY LITERARY BIOGRAPHY

As I entered the Public Library in Lima, Peru, I was but a kid of thirteen years of age. I couldn’t help but feel a wave of excitement wash over my entire mind and body. I knew the potential that surrounded me, and I wanted to take it all in.

As I curiously gazed around, I noticed an abandoned book sitting on a table, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Even though I hadn’t heard of the book before, I opened it anyway. I took in the words almost as if I was under a spell, captivated by the characters and their stories. I read it from start to finish. When I was done, I knew I wanted to be a writer.

From that day on, I imitated Mark Twain; I wrote whenever and wherever I could. I wrote on the bus, in my room, and even at my high school (militarized Colegio Guadalupe), where machismo prevailed and writers and poets were unwelcome. Nothing could stop me; I was determined to become the next Mark Twain.

So, when at 16, I came to study at Columbia University; I kept writing, taking on all the never-ending challenges that came with it. I wrote countless stories, poems, and countless other things, always striving to make my work better.

A particular episode with Professor Morton Smith, a renowned scholar and professor of ancient history, remains indelibly in my mind. When I handed in one the assigned essays, Professor Smith wrote in red letters, “not bad, but you could do better. Focus on the topic assigned and do not go on tangents. A-” Here I was in my freshman year and writing in a second language that I was just beginning to immerse myself in. Yet, most of my fellow students got lower grades. The rumor was that the Dean had passed a memo to the undergraduate faculty that grade inflation was a problem at Columbia. The solution to the problem was for the professors to award A+, A, and A- grades to only ten percent of the class.

Here I was competing with native students and holding my own in the writing of English. Happy, if not elated, and encouraged by the A- grade I went to the library and checked out Professor Smith’s books, hoping to learn perhaps some hidden gems about writing from such a prolific author. My effort paid huge dividends because I discovered he had a peculiar way of beginning his sentences. I copied many of the examples I found and archived them in a notebook that I have kept for many years and that I labeled “Sentence Openers.”

I kept pushing, and eventually I published my first book. Now I have 124 books translated, edited, and many of my imagination. And all this in my gained language that is English.

One doesn’t have to be a brilliant popular writer like Mark Twain or a dazzling academic writer like Professor Smith. Just becoming a writer is a source of great joy, pride, and happiness.

This story is proof of the magic I found in the Public Library in Lima, Peru that prodigious day of my teen years. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer did more than just give me the courage to become a writer; it gave me the courage to pursue my dreams and keep going even when the journey seemed impossible.

God knows I have tried, but I am now living proof that we can achieve even the impossible with enough dedication and hard work.

When I became a college professor, I instilled in my students the passion for learning and the mastering of the English language. I would often admonish them, “I was born in Lima, Peru, South America. When I came to this country, the Spanish language had already shaped my mind, but with patience, dedication, and effort I learned to write English. If I can do it. You too can.”

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My articles are first written by Writesonic (AI) and then I edit them. Of all the AI software out there, Writesonic is the best and most economic.

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