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Author: Kay Castaneda

Kay Castaneda is retired from a career as a college English instructor in Indiana. She received a B.A. and M.A. from Indiana University. Her articles about education and sociology are included in Sage Publication’s Education and Society Reference Book. Her poetry and creative nonfiction have been published in literary journals. Kay is currently researching the history of Ireland and Scotland for a novel based on her ancestors, in addition to editing her poetry manuscript. Kay’s hobbies include reading biographies, memoirs, traveling and baking.
WritingBlogs

Literary Quotes-Who Said This?

Kay Castaneda, March 12, 2025March 14, 2025

“All you had to do was pull a book from the shelf and open it…

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Poetry

Literary Quotes-Who Said This?

Kay Castaneda, March 4, 2025

Who Said This? In What Book Can You Find This Quote? Give this quote a…

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Author Newsletters

Happy New Year!

Kay Castaneda, January 4, 2025

Hello! I’m Kay Castaneda whom many of you know from writing groups, classes, blogs or…

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Blog Tours

Day 4 of the Wordcrafter “The French Winemaker’s Daughter” Book Blog Tour

Kay Castaneda, December 19, 2024December 19, 2024

Hi! Welcome to Day 4 of the Wordcrafter “The French Winemaker’s Daughter” Book Blog Tour….

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WritingBlogs

Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge, Specific Form, Shadorma, 11/19/24

Kay Castaneda, November 21, 2024November 21, 2024

The author reflects on participating in Tanka Tuesday, exploring the Shadorma poetry form while expressing profound concerns about war, its history, and personal experiences.

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Blog Tours

WordCrafter’s “Midnight Garden: Where Dark Tales Grow” Book Blog Tour Day 7

Kay Castaneda, October 13, 2024October 13, 2024

Hello everyone! We are on Day 7 of the WordCrafter Midnight Garden Book Blog Tour. The…

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Characters in Writing

Woman holding her skirt down while she jumped on 911

Kay Castaneda, September 11, 2024September 11, 2025

Never Forget It is the 23rd anniversary of September 11. Whenever I hear the number…

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Writing About Art

Let’s Go to the Museum Writing Challenge #4

Kay Castaneda, August 6, 2024August 7, 2024

                  The Homecoming Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945)…

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author interviews

Val Penny Author Interview The Writer’s Life

Kay Castaneda, July 31, 2024July 31, 2024

The Writer’s Life  Today for the series The Writer’s Life, I am featuring an interview…

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Writing About Art

Let’s Go to the Museum Writing Challenge #3

Kay Castaneda, July 5, 2024August 5, 2024

Homeless by Thomas Benjamin Kennington 1890 Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia. Writing Challenge For this…

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  • The Beauty Lesson
  • Short Sweet Life
  • I Am Your Guardian Angel Stephen
  • Memoirs of a Shark
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Kay Castaneda, Author
8 hours ago
Kay Castaneda, Author

The Beauty Lesson

Kay Castaneda,
September 17, 2025

I still fume when I remember a boy in my 5th-grade science class. That was a very long time ago. I was shy and silent at that age and everything bothered me. My mom had moved my sisters and I away from Indianapolis to Detroit after she and my dad got a divorce. It made me sad and angry to leave my dad and other relatives here.

A mean boy told me one day that my hair was dirty. At the time, I didn’t care about hair or clothes because I was too young and depressed. When he told me that, I went home and scrubbed my hair VERY hard and soaked in the tub in steaming hot water for an hour. I poured some of my mom’s perfume, Evening in Paris, in my wet hair and went to bed. The next morning, I brushed it 100 times because I’d read that in Good Housekeeping magazine. It was so shiny! He sat next to me. I wanted to sit somewhere else, but the teacher wouldn’t let the students change seats. The boy sneered at me and didn’t complement me, but he did tell me I should use curlers. My hair was stringy, according to his opinion. What did I do that night? Of course, I curled my hair! I borrowed Mom’s brush curlers and fastened them to my head. I slept in them and tossed and turned all night because the pain in my scalp was so bad. I took them out slowly because that was the advice from Redbook magazine. I combed gently and applied tons of hairspray. The next day, that boy didn’t compliment my curly hair.

He insulted me even more when he told me I had fat lips. I used to have full lips, a lot fuller than I have as an adult, especially now as an older women. If I showed you my school picture from that year, you would see what I mean. Anyway, the boy laughed at me, and even pointed at me to the other kids. That night I practiced ways to make my lips smaller; keeping them closed and not talking to anyone, covering them with several layers of Mom’s foundation and keeping my head turned away from him.

He insulted me in many ways. According to him, I didn’t have any breasts. I was a bit confused about that one because I was obviously a girl. I went home and asked Mom to buy me a bra but she didn’t have the money. I put one of hers on and stuffed it with socks and toilet paper to make them “big”. No compliments from him, of course. I endured suffering from him about my body until Mom decided to move back home at Christmas. I never had to sit by him again.

“A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.” Coco Chanel

I thought about him the other day, and I don’t know why. Maybe it was when I washed my hair and used the curling iron. Hurt lasts a long, long time. Those people who were abused when they were younger make me feel sympathy with them. I secretly rejoice when the bad guys get outed. But those celebrities and so-called important people escape to sex-addiction clinics with equine therapy, yoga, gourmet meals, and other luxuries at the $30,000 six week stay. Six weeks to ride horses and have aromatherapy massages? Baloney! Caca in Spanish.

Now many people are coming out of the woods to bring the evil to light, and it is evil when somebody assaults a person sexually, emotionally and physically. Words can hurt. I wish I would have said something to my Mom or a teacher about that boy.

And I wish I could have told someone about abuse at my jobs as an adult. That is another story…
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The Beauty Lesson

Kay Castaneda, 
September 17, 2025

I still fume when I remember a boy in my 5th-grade science class. That was a very long time ago. I was shy and silent at that age and everything bothered me. My mom had moved my sisters and I away from Indianapolis to Detroit after she and my dad got a divorce. It made me sad and angry to leave my dad and other relatives here.

A mean boy told me one day that my hair was dirty. At the time, I didn’t care about hair or clothes because I was too young and depressed. When he told me that, I went home and scrubbed my hair VERY hard and soaked in the tub in steaming hot water for an hour. I poured some of my mom’s perfume, Evening in Paris, in my wet hair and went to bed. The next morning, I brushed it 100 times because I’d read that in Good Housekeeping magazine. It was so shiny! He sat next to me. I wanted to sit somewhere else, but the teacher wouldn’t let the students change seats. The boy sneered at me and didn’t complement me, but he did tell me I should use curlers. My hair was stringy, according to his opinion. What did I do that night? Of course, I curled my hair! I borrowed Mom’s brush curlers and fastened them to my head. I slept in them and tossed and turned all night because the pain in my scalp was so bad. I took them out slowly because that was the advice from Redbook magazine. I combed gently and applied tons of hairspray. The next day, that boy didn’t compliment my curly hair.

He insulted me even more when he told me I had fat lips. I used to have full lips, a lot fuller than I have as an adult, especially now as an older women. If I showed you my school picture from that year, you would see what I mean. Anyway, the boy laughed at me, and even pointed at me to the other kids. That night I practiced ways to make my lips smaller; keeping them closed and not talking to anyone, covering them with several layers of Mom’s foundation and keeping my head turned away from him.

He insulted me in many ways. According to him, I didn’t have any breasts. I was a bit confused about that one because I was obviously a girl. I went home and asked Mom to buy me a bra but she didn’t have the money. I put one of hers on and stuffed it with socks and toilet paper to make them “big”. No compliments from him, of course. I endured suffering from him about my body until Mom decided to move back home at Christmas. I never had to sit by him again.

“A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.”   Coco Chanel

I thought about him the other day, and I don’t know why. Maybe it was when I washed my hair and used the curling iron. Hurt lasts a long, long time. Those people who were abused when they were younger make me feel sympathy with them. I secretly rejoice when the bad guys get outed. But those celebrities and so-called important people escape to sex-addiction clinics with equine therapy, yoga, gourmet meals, and other luxuries at the $30,000 six week stay. Six weeks to ride horses and have aromatherapy massages? Baloney! Caca in Spanish.

Now many people are coming out of the woods to bring the evil to light, and it is evil when somebody assaults a person sexually, emotionally and physically. Words can hurt. I wish I would have said something to my Mom or a teacher about that boy.

And I wish I could have told someone about abuse at my jobs as an adult. That is another story…
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Kay Castaneda, Author
2 months ago
Kay Castaneda, Author

You can read my latest post on my blog.

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Short Sweet Life - BOOKPLACES

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BOOKPLACES Short Sweet Life
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Kay Castaneda, Author
2 months ago
Kay Castaneda, Author

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I Am Your Guardian Angel Stephen - BOOKPLACES

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BOOKPLACES I Am Your Guardian Angel Stephen
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TWITTER

Kay Castaneda Author Follow 625 1,839

Author of Emmie of Indianapolis, historical fiction set in the Midwest. WIP is a mystery series. Go to @kay_castaneda for my opinion on the world. 📒👩🏻‍🎓🎄

KCastanedauthor
KCastanedauthor avatar Kay Castaneda Author @KCastanedauthor ·
7h 1968227161871106117

https://substack.com/@kaywriterwarrior/note/p-173829177?r=q4mfg

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Reply on Twitter 1968227161871106117 Retweet on Twitter 1968227161871106117 0 Like on Twitter 1968227161871106117 0 Twitter 1968227161871106117
KCastanedauthor avatar Kay Castaneda Author @KCastanedauthor ·
7h 1968226141103419723

https://substack.com/@kaywriterwarrior/note/p-173829177?r=q4mfg

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KCastanedauthor avatar Kay Castaneda Author @KCastanedauthor ·
22 Aug 1958706305348289009

"The quiet novel. Rather than climactic plots and thrilling storylines meant purely to entertain, a quiet novel speaks more to our inner life. They are contemplative works of art that derive meaning from silence rather than spectacle." Poetic Outlaws
https://open.substack.com/pub/poeticoutlaws/p/subtle-thunder-ten-quiet-novels-that?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=q4mfg

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KCastanedauthor avatar Kay Castaneda Author @KCastanedauthor ·
2 Aug 1951546175653335422

My latest post is now published on my blog. Thanks!

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Short Sweet Life - BOOKPLACES

BOOKPLACES Short Sweet Life

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