The Mixquiahuala Letters

I was very impressed by the unique use of language that Castillo uses throughout her book.  Particularly, I was drawn to the conversational tone of the letters.  Theresa addresses Alicia in a very casual, informative way and writes as if she is speaking to her as they are sitting down having a glass of wine.  There is lots of rambling and jumping from topic to topic much like somebody may do in a conversation.  She conveys much information easily and doesn't seem to struggle in the transition from topic to topic.  Within my own writing I feel like I struggle over this entity.  I know it is mostly due to being to choosy over my language.  I constantly ponder over word choice, but maybe I should write more passionately from the heart and just write as thoughts come to me, which looks like what Castillo does, even if she is fully concentrating on her word choice.  Being able to be more conversational within my own writing helps to convey information in a simpler, easy to understand fashion. 

Castillo also has a flawless way with her sentence structure and the ideas she creates. This is seen early on in the first letter when she states, "At thirty, i feel like i'm beginning a new phase in life: adulthood: The twenties were a mere continuation of adolescence.  But as grown-up life begins, society wants to make one believe that thirty is the beginning of the end" (21).  Those are very powerful words, and words that resonate with me.  I am in that similar stage in my own life and to a certain extent it seems to be true.  The fascinating way that she conveys her ideas is something that I would love to strive for in my writing.  To sit there and have somebody read even just a small piece of my work and just say, "wow, that's good stuff" would be amazing. However, as stubborn as I am I need to realize that writing is a process and cannot even be close to perfected, but I just need to continue to work towards and ideal product.