Joyce Maynard
Meeting Joyce Maynard in Guatemala
Filed in: Guatemala
By Kat Vaughan
In 2001, I was living on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, where I launched PlanetOutreach, non-profit internet cafe, with financial help from the eBay Foundation (read my full story here). Naturally, I met several expats who frequented our cafe and many of them told me I needed to meet Joyce Maynard, an American author living in San Marcos La Laguna for 6 months while writing one of her novels. A friend lent me her latest novel, At Home in the World, and I devoured it. I was taken back by her honesty and humor and quickly read through the book, creating a clear picture of the author's life. One day, returning on a boat from Panajachel, I met a traveler who told me he was attending a Joyce Maynard writing workshop in San Marcos La Laguna. I let him know that I had heard much about her and that I wanted to meet her. This man invited me to return to her house as they were having a dinner party that evening. It was the perfect opportunity to meet this mystery author. This night was the first of many dinner parties and other events with Joyce, over the next several months.
A couple of years after we met, I became the American Director of the middle school in San Marcos La Laguna. Joyce Maynard recruited the help of the Larson Legacy Foundation to organize a basketball clinic in our village and invited Tom Newell, a professional basketball coach from Washington, to help coach the local Mayans. The Larson Legacy Foundation helped to financially host this event, providing basketballs, t-shirts and more for the local teams, in addition to night lights for the town's basketball court. It was a successful and memorable week, one I will never forget.
Joyce Maynard continues to lead writing workshops every year on the shores of Lake Atitlan. For anyone interested in writing and adventure, consider attending one of her workshops in Guatemala. Your life will never quite be the same as you see and experience a world vastly different than the North American way of life, while cultivating your writing skills.
In March 2008, the NY Times travel section covered Joyce Maynard's life in Guatemala, in an article I highly recommend, titled: "Guatemala as Muse and Base for a Writer". Read and enjoy.
In 2001, I was living on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, where I launched PlanetOutreach, non-profit internet cafe, with financial help from the eBay Foundation (read my full story here). Naturally, I met several expats who frequented our cafe and many of them told me I needed to meet Joyce Maynard, an American author living in San Marcos La Laguna for 6 months while writing one of her novels. A friend lent me her latest novel, At Home in the World, and I devoured it. I was taken back by her honesty and humor and quickly read through the book, creating a clear picture of the author's life. One day, returning on a boat from Panajachel, I met a traveler who told me he was attending a Joyce Maynard writing workshop in San Marcos La Laguna. I let him know that I had heard much about her and that I wanted to meet her. This man invited me to return to her house as they were having a dinner party that evening. It was the perfect opportunity to meet this mystery author. This night was the first of many dinner parties and other events with Joyce, over the next several months.
A couple of years after we met, I became the American Director of the middle school in San Marcos La Laguna. Joyce Maynard recruited the help of the Larson Legacy Foundation to organize a basketball clinic in our village and invited Tom Newell, a professional basketball coach from Washington, to help coach the local Mayans. The Larson Legacy Foundation helped to financially host this event, providing basketballs, t-shirts and more for the local teams, in addition to night lights for the town's basketball court. It was a successful and memorable week, one I will never forget.
Joyce Maynard continues to lead writing workshops every year on the shores of Lake Atitlan. For anyone interested in writing and adventure, consider attending one of her workshops in Guatemala. Your life will never quite be the same as you see and experience a world vastly different than the North American way of life, while cultivating your writing skills.
In March 2008, the NY Times travel section covered Joyce Maynard's life in Guatemala, in an article I highly recommend, titled: "Guatemala as Muse and Base for a Writer". Read and enjoy.
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