Behind the Story: My Daughter's Eyes and Other Stories

In 2002, I discovered Curbstone Press after reading "Yo Soy La Avon Lady," and it changed the trajectory of my writing journey. To get published by them, I had to submit my manuscript to their Mármol Prize for First Latina Fiction. At the time, I was working as a professor at NYU School of Social Work, nearing the end of my tenure there. Prior to that, I had left my deeply rewarding yet emotionally demanding role as Director of the Diagnostic Center at Andrus Children's Home, a trauma center where I listened to the stories of children and families for over a decade. Writing and art became my sanctuary, offering me the strength to navigate those experiences.

In 1995, after completing my dissertation, I joined a writing group in Tuckahoe and began crafting the stories that would eventually form my first book. By 2002, I felt ready to submit for the Mármol Prize. I submitted in 2003 and 2004, and while I made it to the finals, I didn’t win. Then, I read an article in Poets & Writers about reworking a manuscript of short stories into an interrelated collection—one that reads like a novel. Inspired, I reshaped my manuscript, connecting the stories more deeply and structuring them using a “sandwich technique” described in the article. I took the last story, “My Daughter’s Eyes,” and split it into two: the opening and closing of the book. It became the frame through which the stories unfolded, with Mia’s daughter reflecting on her mother’s life, her untold stories, and the past that shaped them both.

In 2006, I submitted the revised manuscript for the Mármol Prize once more. This time, in 2007, I won.

As a writer and therapist, I am always exploring the dynamics of relationships—the connections and disconnections inherent in them—especially within families. I am fascinated by the experiences that shape us, the seemingly minor events that carry profound weight, and how they influence a child’s path into adulthood. This collection of stories reflects those themes, tender and unguarded, much like a first book—a beginning.

I look forward to sharing excerpts of My Daughter’s Eyes and Other Stories here. I hope these glimpses inspire your own musings and creative explorations.

The Storyteller

“In the morning when the sunrises my mother, Mia, wakes up and does her morning meditation. She always does this before she goes to work. I always know for a fact that by 6:30 a.m. she will be facing East, towards the sun, her face covered by sunlight.  She’ll be in lotus pose legs folded like a Buddha, hands open with her palms facing the ceiling, and both folded neatly the left on top of the right. She always faces East, and she takes in the rays of the sun because they are healing, she says.

Sometimes, in the evening when she does her meditation, I will sit with her for five minutes and then when my legs have had enough, and the fantasies in my head begin to feel real, like I’m getting married to Usher and he writes songs about me, it’s time to go and I slowly get up and leave.  My mom says that a person becomes disciplined by taking baby step. You do a small thing every time that becomes a big thing.  Later, I will feel a deep warm feeling in my heart that makes me feel that there is nothing to fear, and that life is good, beautiful and it makes me want to tell stories.

I watch her now, I have her Maybeline eyeliner in my hands and I will ask her soon to do my eyes, I want them just like Jennifer Lopez, but I know she’ll put up a fight and say that I am too young, thirteen to be exact and she’ll remind me of sometime in the past when she was thirteen and she’ll go on and on as the present is the past, as if she’s forgotten what it was to be thirteen. Often, I wonder if in those meditative moments she remembers the past, back then when I was not born yet, and she was about my age and thinking of boys?”

To read More:

Báez, A. (2007). . Willimantic, CT: Curbstone.