Ana María Rodríguez

I invest heart and soul in all my books. Each book project becomes an ocean in which I completely submerge myself from beginning to end. I take a deep breath and dive into that imaginary body of water (I am Pisces, right?) from the moment I conceive the idea, through the planning stages, the bibliographic research, the interviews, and the photo research. Then I break the surface and take another deep breath. The next dive is for writing,and re-re-re-writing. This time the water gets murky, very cold, and creatures from the deep editing depths emerge and chase me toward deeper, darker waters where I struggle to make sense of the load of materials I collected. Thankfully, the sun rises every day, so I know that if I accept the challenge of the abyss, there is hope I will eventually reach clear, sunny waters with a book on my hands worth showing to my readers. So when reviewer Wrapped in Foil writes that The Iron Butterfly is "Mesmerizing.This memoir is an inspiring testament to the strength of one woman’s spirit that will stick with you long after reading it," I feel that diving like a haenyo (sea woman) was worth it. Thank you, Roberta! Click on the book cover on the left to read Wrapped in Foil's review.