Sept. 26, 2021. New Feature: This blog reaches more than 100 people each week. We have become one, extensive book club, of sorts. Usually, when people finish the book, they have a one (or more) burning questions for Neto or me. What would you like to know? I’ll post one question each week and add a page on my website to chronicle the answers.
Here is the first question for Neto:
Was it hard to stop using drugs? Neto ~ when I came back to Mexico, drugs were already out of my system after spending four months in jail. I promised the judge that I would stop using, and I was determined to do so. I found a sponsor in NA/AA and went to a lot of meetings. I wanted to be a good father to my girls and I wanted to make my father proud of me. Quitting alcohol was a lot harder, but eventually I was able to do that, too.
Oct. 2, 2021. Question for Lynda: What motivated you to write this book?
Lynda: I have always been a writer and a storyteller at heart. I started out writing Citizen of the World because I told Ernesto I would. I believe in doing what I say I’m going to do. As I continued writing, I realized that this was a story that needed to be told.
I wanted to write an emotionally powerful message from a different point of view ~ that of a poor Mexican boy, who loves the ocean, falls in love with surfing, and spends his life in search of the high waves. It is a true story of resilience and redemption. A story that could change your view of the world.
Oct. 10, 2021. Neto, why didn’t you ever go back and find Teacher Becky? You knew where she lived and she was such an important person in your life.
Neto: To tell the truth, by the time I came back to LA, I was embarrassed. I didn’t want her to see the person I had become. I was using drugs and sometimes selling them, too. I didn’t want Teacher Becky to see me like that. I wanted her to remember me as the good, hard-working student she knew when I was fourteen.