I wrote Chicano Frankenstein in 50 days, starting on October 10 and completing it on November 29, 2023. Because I have a demanding day job as a government attorney, I wrote in the early morning and in the evening, then during the weekends, and over the Thanksgiving holiday. But as any writer knows, much of the "writing" occurs away from the keyboard. About a year before I started the actual writing, I got the idea of addressing our country's continuing xenophobia through a modern retelling of a classic horror novel where the true "monsters" were those in power who wanted to eradicate those who are classified as "the other." Mary Shelley's Frankenstein seemed like the perfect fit, a novel I read when I was young. So, I listened to the audio book several times while walking and relaxing. Over time, my version of the story started to take form in my imagination. Finally, after about a year of thinking about it, I was ready to write, and it came out in 50 days. I note that the Frankenstein monster of the Universal Pictures films was decidedly not an inspiration for my novel. Though I loved those movies as a child, the "monster" of the novel is eloquent, while the one from the movies only grunted and said a few strained words. Shelley's monster is so much more interesting and nuanced, something I wanted to capture in my own novel.