The Writer’s Desk features the desks and writing practices of Gemini Ink faculty, visiting authors, teaching artists, volunteers, students, interns, staff, partners and more. Receive new posts in your inbox by subscribing to our newsletter at bit.ly/geminiinknewsletter.
Join Leticia Urieta on Sunday, March 28, 2026, 10am-2pm CST, at the Gemini Ink office, for her workshop: Climb Inside Other Minds: Exploring Persona Poetry. This course is open to writers of all genres and skill level, 18+. In this one-day generative workshop, participants will learn about persona, call-and-response dialogue, epistolary techniques, and how to apply these to our own writing.
Hello Leticia! We’re so excited for you to come into town for your workshop on persona poetry. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us about your writing life.
Has your preferred place to write changed over the years?
Right now I am traveling full-time on the road in an RV, so my writing space shifts a lot! Most of the time I like to write at our kitchen table because it is next to the window and I can lookout and get a lot of natural light. I also find myself going to work in libraries sometimes or, if the weather is good, sitting outside and writing in my notebook if the campground we are staying in is particularly beautiful.
Do you have any habits or routines that you follow before writing?
Living in the state of the world right now, I find that I have to give myself ample time in the morning to wake up and read a chapter of a book, usually nonfiction or poetry, to get my brain moving and keep me from doomscrolling. Then I get up, take my dog out, make coffee and breakfast, and stretch. That is when I feel my most ready to begin a writing session for the day.
What is your secret talent? Does it ever pop up in your writing?
I have a few talents, but knitting, crocheting and sewing were something I learned to do before I even learned to read very reliably when I was going to Austin Montessori School as a kid. Those skills have thankfully stayed with me, and I’ve gotten back into crochet and embroidery projects to ease my anxious mind and be creative in other, low stakes ways. I even crocheted myself a new case for my Ereader!
What is the one piece of writing advice that you value most?
Recently, my friend and I were having a virtual chat and she told me about being gentler with herself around her writing practices as opposed to implementing discipline or shame to force herself to write. Instead, she invites herself to the page, or to read a book that might inspire her, or some other creative activity, and often finds that this simple mindset change makes her writing much more engaged and productive. I really liked this idea and am trying to keep this idea in mind when I am working on a project. Writing is often challenging, but it should also engage us in a way where we don’t resent it as a practice.
What theme or symbol often emerges in your work? Why are you drawn to this theme/symbol?
I’ve been reading and writing a lot about the natural world lately, so birds like crows and owls continue to appear in my work a lot. I also made a goal this year to learn the names, both scientific and folk names, for plants, fungi and trees that I encounter in our travels, especially when we go hiking. So certain trees, both familiar and new are showing up in my work in unexpected ways. I’ve met a lot of trees!
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve heard or read recently?
I am reading How to Fall in Love with the Future with Rob Hopkins and that has been uplifting and inspiring as both a person and a storyteller.
What is your next project?
I have several projects I am currently working on across genres, including my monthly newsletter, Leticia’s Creative Obsessions, a historical novel with supernatural elements, a fantasy graphic novel, an ecohorror/speculative short story collection which is really new territory for me, and a mixed media poetry project in collaboration with my husband using photography from our current cross-country RV travels.
If people want to learn more about your work, where should they go?
They can visit my website, https://leticiaaurieta.com/ and subscribe to my monthly newsletter, Leticia’s Creative Obsessions, for creative musings, writing prompts, book recommendations, resources and more!
Leticia Urieta (she/her) is Tejana writer from Austin, TX. Leticia is a graduate of Agnes Scott College with a BA in English/Creative Writing and holds an MFA in Fiction writing from Texas State University. She works as a teaching artist for adults and youth and offers a variety of workshops for all ages.
Leticia writes across several genres, including poetry, comics, speculative fiction and horror. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Lumina, The Offing, Kweli Journal, Medium, Electric Lit, Uncharted Magazine and others. Her chapbook, The Monster was published in 2018 from LibroMobile Press. Her hybrid collection, Las Criaturas, from FlowerSong Press was a finalist for the Sergio Troncoso Award for Best First Book of Fiction 2022 from the Texas Institute of Letters and a finalist for the 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Short Story Collections. Leticia’s dark fiction collection, The Remedy is the Disease, is forthcoming in 2026 from Undertaker Books. Leticia loves her husband and dogs who are terrible work distractions. Despite all that, she is fueled by sushi, horror movies, and pug videos on Instagram.
