Discussing the Lit Blitz: Jesús Baldemar Liévano's "Hidden"

In Discussing the Lit Blitz, previous finalist Annaliese Lemmon talks with the finalists from our most recent contest about their work.

​This interview has been edited for clarity.

Annaliese Lemmon: Welcome everyone to the Mormon Lit Lab podcast. I'm Annaliese Lemon, your host for this series where we discuss the 14th annual Mormon Lit Blitz. Today I'm joined by Jesús Baldemar Liévano, author of “Escondida”, or in English “Hidden.” Welcome, Jesús.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah. Thank you, Annaliese. Thanks for the invitation.

Annaliese Lemmon: Thanks for coming on. Would you like to introduce yourself and explain what your experience is with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah, of course. Well, I am 47 years old. I am from Chihuahua, Mexico. It's just in the north by the border with Texas. I am a father of six and me and my wife, we moved here to Utah eight years ago, kinda. So my native language is Spanish and I wrote “Hidden” in Spanish, of course.

So, I don't consider myself a writer. Actually, I wrote a book, but it was a sales book.

Annaliese Lemmon: Okay.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: But there is a group that I'm learning from, a teacher in Mexico. His name is Rafael Vásquez. And we start improving. He helped me a little bit to think outside the box, you know. And I start to improve myself in writing. So I'm pretty sure that's why I was able to be part of this amazing contest. 

Talking about my experience in the church, I grew up as an LDS, I served my mission in the south of Mexico. I got married a long time ago in the Ciudad Juárez Temple and I serve… I was talking with my wife this week about our service in the church, and we were counting a little bit about the years. And I noticed that probably I served around 15 years between bishoprics, the stake presidency or high council, and my wife served at least five, six years being part of the presidency of the Primary or Young Women, or Relief Society, either in the ward or the stake. So probably the whole time we were married, we were, she or myself, were serving in this kind of calling.

So we enjoy the Church. We enjoy the environment in the Church. We try to teach our kids about the gospel principles. And well, we're a happy LDS family.

Annaliese Lemmon: Nice. How does it feel to be selected as the audience choice winner for this Lit Blitz?

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Well, that was a great surprise. I'm not sure if it was a good short story or just because a lot of people know me. I don't know. But at the end, I enjoy a lot to be selected. I enjoy a lot experience to grow that story because it was quite an experience to think outside the box, you know?

And I was trying to figure out how to write something different. And I think I made it because a lot of people voted for that short story.

Annaliese Lemmon: Yeah, I think James Goldberg has said that, yeah, there is a little bit of popularity contest in the audience votes. But it tends to be the ones that are consistently in the top four ranked that win the contest, no matter which or who brought them in to vote for them. So yeah, you should be proud of that.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah, I am.

Annaliese Lemmon: Okay. And I really liked this story and the juxtaposition of the mundane children’s game with this sacred vision of Christ in the temple. So what made you decide to put those two things together?

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: So it's interesting because at the beginning it came to my mind, imagine a little girl inside the temple watching that sacred moment when Jesus Christ just introduced himself in front of Joseph Smith. I mean, I was just imagining that moment, and I started from the end to the beginning.

I don't know if that makes sense.

Annaliese Lemmon: Oh, it does.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah, I was trying to put all the things together. But at the end, that was the center of the story, that sacred moment when our Lord just turned. And so their eyes get close. I don't know how they translate that. In Spanish it's pretty easy for me. I'm sorry.

Annaliese Lemmon: Okay.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: But that moment was the moment that I imagined, and then I tried to build a story to achieve that beautiful imaginary moment.

Annaliese Lemmon: Hmm. Yeah. I thought it was just a beautiful illustration of how God always knows where we are and what we're doing, but also just how much he loves children. Like I think that's what I really loved about that image.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah, if you try to do the same with any other kind of people, it doesn't make sense. I mean, if you are talking about, I don't know, a construction worker, that was there by mistake or any other person. It’s not that beautiful illustration. Because as you mentioned, children are so special for our Lord.

So that's why I think the story was so significant for me because I imagine a little child and that beautiful moment.

Annaliese Lemmon: Yeah, I really like that. And then the lead up to it with the hide and seek, I didn't expect it to go where it did, and so I was really pleasantly surprised with that. 

And you said you didn't know how it was translated, so do you know who translated your story? I don't think I saw it on the website.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah, I mean, I saw the translation was really good. Sometimes for me, it's hard to remember the words in English. 

Annaliese Lemmon: Oh, okay.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: So, I have the story in my mind in Spanish, so sometimes I try to explain myself in English, so it's a little tricky. Only that.

Annaliese Lemmon: Okay. That's better than my high school Spanish that I've learned. Was there anything else you wanted to mention about this story? 

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: I think the idea came to my mind, thinking about, it's hard to know how many sacred experiences the children of God live. Probably, and we have no idea because the good, feeling the spirit in our lives is not only for the leaders of the church or not only for the prophets. Probably every day there is somebody, members or even non-members of the church get closer to God because they have a sacred experience--some kind of communication, feel the Holy Ghost. And I was thinking in that like, how many sacred experiences are there and we have no idea. So that's why I start thinking and the idea came to my mind to illustrate that moment that we already talked about. 

Annaliese Lemmon: Yeah. I'd like to hear more about this writing group that you have with Rafael. How did that get started and how many are in your group?

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah, probably, we were there for some months the good thing is he helped us to think, as I mentioned, outside the box. So, for instance, this short story, it was a beautiful one, you know.

Annaliese Lemmon: Mm-hmm.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: But we wrote any kind of things, like horror stories or he told me even if you're writing something about the Church, don't think, like all the time, like a straight LDS, active in the Church. Try to think different, try to think in the experiences that the members of the Church have and so we write several stories and exercises and he helps us to improve and to get it better. Because at the end he said, you are not writing for the Ensign magazine. You’re writing because you like to write. And sometimes you need to think in different stories, different situations. 

Actually, we published this book in Spanish, of course, it's called Horror Vacui and those are short stories about different kind of fears. And it was an interesting exercise that we all, part of the group play with and work with and Rafael helping us to improve.

So I think I couldn't write a story like “Hidden” without his help.

Annaliese Lemmon: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I know he has been a previous finalist in the Lit Blitz. 

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah, actually, in the group, we, yeah, we have a couple finalists from the group, yeah.

Annaliese Lemmon: Okay. Nice. And yeah, I totally agree with the idea that you're not writing for the Ensign. Because that's one of the things I really like about the Mormon Lit Blitz, is that you get beyond that ideal image that is so common when we talk about things across the pulpit. But so many of us are not ideal, and it's good to have some of that representation as well.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah. Yeah, I'm agree.

Annaliese Lemmon: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So what is a piece of media or literature, any format, any genre that you recommend for our audience?

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah, I was thinking in that question because I just started not long time ago, my journey about the writing about all that. So, I’m not an expert. It was hard for me because in the past I used to read only nonfiction books, only self-esteem and that kind of books. And Raphael is helping me to try to improve.

So something I will recommend is actually Raphael's book. I think you can find it only in Spanish, but I understand it's in the work on translation right now. So he wrote a book called Eleusis and this is an amazing novel about the story of four generations in the members of the Church in Mexico. And something I like is his showing the daily experiences that we have as members of the Church. Like not only the good things, even the problems and the challenges and the how sometimes we feel when we go in to the church building and we feel like, oh, they are judging me because I'm not worthy. You know, that kind of situations. He made a great job in that book. So, I think when this book is completely translated to English, it will be a great novel to read. I enjoy it a lot. I read it like three or four times already. Yeah. I love it.

Annaliese Lemmon: Okay. Can you say that title again for me?

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah. Eleusis.

Annaliese Lemmon: All right. Thank you,

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah. No problem.

Annaliese Lemmon: All right. And do you have any other projects, that you're working on or is there anywhere online that people could find you?

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah, actually I'm working right now. I'm writing a book. This will be my first book, because the past book I wrote is a nonfiction one, talking about sales. But this one I'm trying to build a story in the times of The Book of Mormon. So I'm writing some kind of, trying to build some stories in those years and try to combine the information we can find on The Book of Mormon about places and dates with a modern story on those days.

So I’m working on it. Probably, I wrote around, I don't know, 8,500 words only, but I hope to get it ready soon. And of course I will try to polish it and see. I hope that people can enjoy it. Yeah.

Annaliese Lemmon: Yeah. So The Book of Mormon does cover a long period of time. Is there a specific story you're paralleling it with?

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yes, yes. Actually, it is really specific period of time. It's during the war of the army of Helaman, the 2,000 Lamanites. Yeah, it’s in that period.

Annaliese Lemmon: It's a very exciting period.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: It is, yeah. It is.

Annaliese Lemmon: Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us and it was great to talk with you.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Uh, no, it is my pleasure. I'm sorry. English is not my native language, so I still struggle to express myself properly, but I enjoy a lot talking with you. Thanks for the opportunity.

Annaliese Lemmon: Uhhuh. You're welcome. And hope to see you again in the Lit Blitz.

Jesús Baldemar Liévano: Yeah, I hope so. See you.

Annaliese Lemmon: Yeah. Yep. We'll see you.

To receive updates on the Mormon Lit Blitz and other contests, please subscribe to our newsletter. If you would like to support the Mormon Lit Lab, you can do so on Patreon.