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 Guadalupe Garcia McCall on Saturday, Nov 1 & 15, 2025, 10am-12:30pm CT, Hybrid, for her workshop: Get to “The End” in Style. In this generative two-session workshop, participants will use various modes, structures, and forms of writing to enhance their stories and, in turn, their own writing process. We will also explore Sequence and Sequel and the cause and effect of a scene–two intimately connected elements that impact our characters, motivations, and plot. Students will apply these concepts to their own writing in class. This course is open to writers of all genres and skill level, 18+.
Describe your first writing desk. How is it different (or not) from your current writing desk?
I would say my first writing desk was my Papi’s lap. Back in the day, when my father started teaching me how to write, he would sit at the small kitchen table, pick me up, and sit me on his lap. There, he would draw images, creating little creatures with each letter and telling me story to go with the image—a serpiente with the letter S, a cochinilla with the letter C, and a bumble bee with the letter B. It was a magical time, and I cherish that first desk more than anything else in the world.
Has your preferred place to write changed over the years?
Oh, yes. When we lived in the country in Somerset, Texas, I wrote on the porch. Out there, with the wildflowers swaying in the breeze, the roadrunner stopping by to stare at me quizzically before dashing off, and the swallows flying in and out of their nests in beautiful, aerobatic dives, loops, and spins, I was inspired to create beauty with my pen as I wrote poetry for Under the Mesquite. Later, when I was writing Summer of the Mariposas, I wrote at a hulking metal desk I bought at the thrift store for 15 dollars. It was old but sturdy, massive but also accommodating, and I lay on it and took micro-naps between scenes because I was writing mostly in the middle of the night when my children were asleep. Nowadays, I write on the couch. I have a beautiful office with a fancy computer my son put together for me, but I still like to curl up on my couch and look out the window at the crepe myrtles in my back yard, as I write. It fills my heart with joy.
What is your secret talent? Does it ever pop up in your writing?
My secret, lesser known talent, is that I like to draw. I’m not very good at it. Mostly, I like to make line drawings of my characters and important symbols in my books. I’ve only done one project that is out there, and that’s the line drawing I created for Summer of the Mariposas. Lee and Low used them to create a resource for teachers, the Summer of the Mariposas Reading Journal. You can find it on the book’s page.
What is the one piece of writing advice that you value most?
When I was a struggling writer, not getting anything done with my writing, I had a moment of clarity at the grocery store. I was rounding the corner with a huge basket of food to feed my three boys, when I saw a colleague who is a marathon runner. He also had three sons to feed, and as a single parent, he did what he had to do to get his runs in. On that day, he was wearing running shorts, and from the sweat stains on his shirt I could tell he was fresh from a run. So, I asked him how he did it all, because I was struggling to find time to write. He looked at me and asked, “How do you do it? How did you become a great mom and also teacher of the year?” I said, “I work hard at it.” He smiled and said. “Exactly. It’s what we give our energy to, what we feed in our lives, that we are good at. So, do it, Lupita. Give your writing the attention it needs, feed it, make
time for it, nurture it, and you will succeed.” This turned out to be the best advice anyone’s ever given me. That’s why I’ve been doing all these years, giving myself
permission to make time for my writing, not just feeding it, but nurturing it, and loving it, even when it’s hard because it heals me, soothes me, and gives me hope to write.
What’s a book or movie that you can watch over and over again and not get tired of?
I have several movies I never get tired of: Pride and Prejudice, Moonstruck, Corazón Salvaje. These are my top 3, but I love many, many others.
What theme or symbol often emerges in your work? Why are you drawn to this theme/symbol?
Nature is always present in my writing. I love taking nature walks, looking at flowering trees and shrubs, and listening to the sounds of birds singing, crickets chirping, frogs croaking as much as the river gurgling and water splashing. My work in progress, the Seasons of Sisterhood series, includes nature in a major way. Since the trilogy is set in the world of Summer of Mariposas, which came out 13 years ago, I decided to name the books accordingly and found just the right small creatures to use symbolically to let me bring the stories of the rest of the cinco hermanitas to life. So Book I is Fall of the Fireflies, Book 2 is Spring of the Cicada, and Book 3 is Winter of the Witch Moth, and they all incorporate themes of nature but also familial love, hope, and transformation.
Do you like things to be carefully planned out or do you prefer to just go with the flow? Does this also apply to how you lay out a story?
Oh, I am most definitely a plotter/planner. This is the way I approach everything in my life. I like to plan trips, events, and daily routines. I’m a teacher at heart, and so my “plans” have to be set before I can begin doing anything. I like to think through all the beats in a story and plan the novel out chapter by chapter before I start writing. Of course, plans are just that, plans, and I give myself permission to be flexible. Once I start writing, if the characters change, shift gears, and go in a totally different direction I stop, think, and reconsider my plan. That is the magical element of writing, that sometimes your characters surprise you, lead you in an unexpected but delightful new direction and you have to be willing to go there—to accept the magical gift that is creativity with love and joy in your heart. That’s how stories come to life.
Who are your favorite writers?
My favorite writers: Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Julia Alvarez, and many, many others.
What are some misconceptions about being a writer that you’d like to discredit?
Writer’s Block exists for a reason. Basically, if you’re stuck, if the well’s run dry and you can’t move forward in a project, that is your writer’s intuition telling you something’s wrong with the story’s structure. Maybe you have a plot hole. Maybe your initial conflict is not strong enough to carry the story through. Maybe your character’s wants/needs have changed. Maybe your characters are doing something that doesn’t ring true because you need to develop them, dig deeper, find ways to show them struggling enough before they come to this particular point in their lives. Maybe you need to seed ideas, create new threads, add little ironies along the way to feed the events that are suddenly showing up in the story. Whatever the case may be Writer’s Block is your brain saying hold on, stop, let’s backtrack and figure out what’s missing. Writer’s Block is your friend, your biggest ally, listen to it, and work with it. Investigate the plot, interrogate your characters, figure out what’s wrong with the plot and fix it, so you can find a way back into the flow of the story. It’s the only way you’re going to finish it.
If people want to learn more about your work, where should they go?
They can go to:
My website: ggmccall.com
Facebook: @guadalupegarciamccall
Instagram: @guadalupemccall

Guadalupe García McCall is the national bestselling, award-winning author of several young adult novels, some short stories for adults, and many poems. She has received the prestigious Pura Belpré Author Award, a Westchester Young Adult Fiction Award, the Tomás Rivera Mexican-American Children’s Book Award, among many other accolades. Guadalupe is currently an Affiliate Faculty in the MFA Creative Writing program at Antioch University LA. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, where she is working on the Seasons of Sisterhood series, three YA novels set in the world of Summer of the Mariposas, coming from Tu Books 2025-2027! Spring of the Cicadas, book 1 in the series, is coming in October 2025!