Recently a student asked me a series of “How many…” questions about Caminar and I thought it might be fun to compile a blog post where I list some of the numbers.
So here we go—Caminar by the numbers:
Number of pages: 200
Number of poems: 160
Number of words: 15,000ish
Number of drafts I have saved on my computer: 5
Number of poems I cut: 30ish
Number of poems I loved but had to cut: 2
Number of people who read various drafts and weighed in (not counting publisher people): 10
Number of months between writing the first word and getting the offer to publish: 27
Number of times I changed the opening poem: 15
Number of times I changed the final poem: 0
Number of characters mentioned by name: 26
Number of novels I’d started before Caminar: 4
Number I’d finished: 0
Number of years I spent researching the conflict in Guatemala: 10
Number of Guatemalan stamps in my current passport: 15