This article is part of Palabras, the Latin Post Latino Author Series.

Puerto Rican-American author Anjanette Delgado wanted to know how and why love turns into hate when she began writing "The Clairvoyant of Calle Ocho."

The question was formed when she was being raised by her mother and her abusive and sadistic father in a Puerto Rican caserío, and it persisted even after she, her sister and her mother escaped to New York City during the late 1970s.

At 8 years old, she lived in the Bronx during the time of Son of Sam and landlords torching their own buildings. Despite all of this, she was introduced to great teachers and the love of books. This is how she learned that stories saved lives, and it paved the way for her own writing, which tackles despair.

"I am fascinated by heartbreak. The way we love and the way we fall out of love and how this elusive emotion moves everything. Along with heartbreak, separation, nostalgia, loneliness, and a sense of disconnection are all things I explore in my work. Don't know how these novels of mine turn out funny, come to think of it," Delgado told Latin Post.

"The Clairvoyant of Calle Ocho" began as a single scene, by which a woman who's loved a man for decades realizes that she hates him. Delgado couldn't understand how that happened, though she recognizes that it happens in real life. In figuring out how to answer that why that happened, she realized that it has to do with the willingness or unwillingness to see reality. The rest of the witty and engaging novel stemmed from that. 

"Mariela (the protagonist) is universal in that she has shut herself off from herself with tragic consequences. She is lost like so many of us are. She cannot see herself clearly. But she is authentically Cuban-American in that she understands loss and nostalgia and not really feeling part of any one place in particular."

Mariela Estevez-Valdez, the protagonist of "Calle Ocho," has been described as one part Helen Gurley Brown and one part Sookie Stackhouse. And the sultry clarivoyant, who is allergic to commitment, is forced to dig up her old instinctive skills to uncover whose truly at fault for a crime that she's being accused of.

"'The Clairvoyant of Calle Ocho' is my first novel written originally in English. And though I had a MFA and a great agent and a wonderful editor by the time it was finished, I am proud that I was able to say what I wanted to say, tell the story I wanted to tell my readers out there," Delgado said. 

When discussing Latino literature in the U.S., Delgado took a moment to explain her definition of the the term "Latino" and "Hispanic," stating that they are very different. She indicated that if you were born in a Spanish-speaking country, you are Hispanic and will always be Hispanic. But, Latino is a different story.

"Latino is a much more active term [than Hispanic]. Latino to me is someone who came from a Spanish-speaking country, and is NOW living the immigrant experience in the USA, along with others who came, or whose parents or grandparents came, from a Spanish-speaking country. But it's that experience that makes us Latinos: being here now, having a reason to be in a position to become Americans, not wanting to let go of where we came from. Soy de allá, pero vivo aquí. Here's where I want to be," Delgado said.

Laura Esquivel's novels are not Latino Literature. And, Isabel Allende's "Ripper" is not Latino Literature, according to Delgado. However, Esmeralda Santiago's "The Turkish Lover" is. If they are books about Latinos living in the world, informed by their immigrant experience, it can be called Latino Literature. And those books tend to be about about love, identity, work, life and progress from a unique perspective, rather than revolution.

"As to the state of Latino Literature, I'm more worried that we, the readers, don't hear about the many great stories being published. Please go find 'Hungry Woman in Paris' by Josefina Lopez and 'It's Not Love'; 'It's Just Paris' by Patricia Engel, and, of course, 'This is How You Lose Her' by Junot Diaz and 'We the Animals' by Justin Torres. Amazing books, but Junot's is probably the only one who got publicized enough, not that he doesn't deserve it," Delgado said.

Between work and writing during the evening and on the weekend, Delgado teaches a class called "Finish Your Novel the TV Way," which is informed by years of television writing and developing shows for production companies. Within classroom doors and beyond, Delgado believes that writers who want to complete a novel should "sit [their] butt on the chair and write it."

"Write the book you feel. Don't worry about selling it, or about awards, or about what your agent or your mother will say. Just write your heart and give the world the gift you are able to give," she said.

The author has an upcoming appearance at the Miami Book Fair, and she will be faculty at the upcoming San Miguel de Allende Writer's Workshop alongside the brilliant Gloria Steinem and many others.

You can find out more about Anjanette Delgado on her website, Facebook and Twitter. Find out more about "The Clairovoyant of Calle Ocho" on Amazon.