SPEAKER_01 0:00

Every time I saw uh forceful Latina, she was usually this oversexualized, spicy woman. And that made me mad because that's not who we are. I don't want to be represented like that. So with my children, I wanted to show them that they are our strong Latinas and Latinos who are good guys who are powerful but know how to use their power the right way to help people. And that's how I grew up. I wanted my kids to see themselves in those pages so that way they could feel the confidence in themselves and know that they're capable of doing great things.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Welcome to the Write It Scared podcast. I'm your host, Stacey Fraser, a formerly repressed creative soul, turned fiction writer, story editor, and author accelerator certified fiction book coach. At Write It Scared, we tell the truth about why writing a novel is so hard by acknowledging that most writers grapple with two stories: the one they want to put on the page to the best of their ability, and the often subconscious internal story that prevents them from doing it. This show is designed to help you identify and rewrite the internal narrative holding you back while you discover and write the story you want to tell and learn all the tools to help you do that successfully. Join me each week for a new episode where we'll talk about writing to deepen our understanding of the craft and of ourselves as writers. Writing a novel is an inside job that we do not do alone. Welcome to Red It's Scared. I'm glad you're here. Let's dive in. Hey writer, welcome back to the Write It Scared Podcast. I'm your host, Stacey Fraser, and this is where we talk about that vulnerable and brave act of writing our novels so that we can do it with more clarity, more confidence, give ourselves a little bit more grace as we try to do this very hard thing. Today is a guest episode, and I'm talking with author Ivette Diaz. And our conversation was such a powerful reminder of why writing is both deeply personal and deeply communal. We talk about writing hopeful dystopian stories and complicated worlds, as well as the importance of representation on the page and how to keep going when life, doubt, and circumstance try to knock you on your ass and throw you off course. So if you've ever struggled with feeling like maybe you don't belong here, or maybe you've had your life implode in the middle of a big project and it's been hard to get back in the groove and you're questioning whether or not you're doing enough, or you just need a reminder that this is about community and not competition. And that is what truly sustains the writing life. I think you're gonna like this episode. So let me give you Yvette's bio and then we will jump into our interview. Yvette in Diaz is an author of dystopian sci-fi fantasy novels, an entrepreneur and a dreamer who, through the gift of storytelling, strives to provide an element of hope in each story and help each person realize the unique purpose for their life. She has published Rise of Power, Chronicles of Power, and Struggles of Power, all part of the I Am Chronicles series. Her short story, Tiano, an untold story, is featured in the Flame Tree publishing anthology Beyond and Within Latin American Shared Stories, edited by V. Castro. While not writing, she enjoys reading on her swivel chair couch by an open window, lounging in the pool to get away from the Florida heat, and dancing to the congas of her Latin culture while in the middle of her living room. Hey, Yvette. Welcome to the Ride It's Cared Podcast. I'm so happy to have you on to talk about your writing journey. Thanks for being here. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 3:37

I'm doing good. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to talk to you. I love listening to your podcast and you give so much great wisdom. So I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Well, thank you. Well, that's because a lot of people have given me such great wisdom. And, you know, I get to turn around and and share it. So, like we were talking about before we hit record, the writing world is really a pay-it-forward place. It's a, you know, I and I love that about it. And I didn't know that about the writing world when I first got here. I had no clue, you know? But I really do think that we all want each other to succeed. And a win for one of us is a win for everybody, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Yes, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Yeah. So I'm really excited to talk about you and your writing because you write Young Adult Dystopian, which I love. And it's not a genre that we've talked about much on the podcast at all. So I'm excited to dig into that with you. But before we do that, why don't you just share a little bit more about your journey to becoming a writer and a published author with our with our audience?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yes, definitely. I, of course, I think as many writers probably had or most, I was a lover of books first. I wanted to learn how to read. Like the reason I wanted to go to school in kindergarten was to learn how to read by myself. So I just loved books. And then once that started going, then I wanted to write books. Well, more I was this angsty tween who was daydreaming about boys and wanted to just write these sappy love stories that I think my mom kept probably as blackmail one day, but they are so cringy. And I hope nobody finds them. That's so funny. I love that. Well, I I really I loved writing, it just helped me get all my emotions out. So I started writing, I started journaling, and then once I got into high school, they were telling me that writing is not a viable occupation. You need to do something that's more lucrative. So I got into civil engineering and I graduated with my bachelor's in civil engineering. And about a year in, I knew that that was not really what I wanted to do. But of course, have to pay the bills. So I've continued and now I work in a different realm, but writing was just always there. So I had a blog, I was writing things, putting it up, writing poetry, short stories. And I always had these journals that with half-written stories in it. And I finally said, you know what? I am, especially after 2020 when the world just went absolutely nuts. I felt like I need to do something that makes me happy. So I went on this journey of learning how to write a novel properly instead of just all of these crazy emotions that I just put down. And once I did that, I learned how to do the publishing part. And then that's when I eventually published. It was a lot of learning while I was writing. Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

That's amazing. And I think that you know, that 2020 was kind of a turning point for a lot of people in in one way, shape, or another. Yeah. A lot of people I know either kind of embraced writing or just another form of self-expression in a way that they hadn't before. So as much of a shitstorm as it was, we we got some books out of it, right? Yeah. Yes, it was this dark hole that we just don't talk about right now. So your series that is out now is the I Am Chronicles, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Yes, yes, it is.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

So this is why Dystopian. So, what draws you to write in this particular vein?

SPEAKER_01 7:19

I fell in love with books like The Hunger Games. Well, when I was in high school, I fell in love with Sci-Fi, Michael Crichton, and I started reading Jurassic World or Jurassic Park, sorry, Jurassic Park and Congo and all of those that sphere. And I just loved sci-fi. Probably was too young to read them, but for some reason I just loved it and got into it. And then, of course, you you throw the YA in there. And I feel like with YA, for me, I write dystopian with hope. I think we already have enough dystopian without hope in the world we live in right now. So for me, I feel like the young adults, they have such a even my kids, they just have such a more hopeful outlook on life. And so I wanted to embrace that in my stories because I feel like when you get older, you get a little cynical about how you can live life, have this hope about you. And I wanted really that to be played out throughout my series.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

I love that. So share with us what the series is about.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

It's uh genre bending, so it can either be sci-fi or fantasy, but I call it morph sci-fi. But some people think it's fantasy as well, and it's a dystopian romance. It takes place 40 years after an apocalyptic event, and most of the human race is wiped out, and the ones that survive live in a place called the base, and they have superpowers, so everyone has superpowers. But the story centers around a girl named Simone, she's about 20 years old, and she is dealing with a major loss at the beginning of the story. But then, because of that loss, she's thrust into a leadership position that she's trying to figure out how to work because she is very self-conscious, and even though she's a strong female leader, a lightning wielder at that, she just feels self-conscious about her history and her background. So she is dealing with that all while another force is rising out of the darkness, this place called the darkness, and it is coming to upend the world power as it is. So she has to find the faith within herself to leave her home or lose it to this dark power that comes and wants to consume everything. So it's like X-Men meets divergence, but with a happier ending.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

I was pissed about that ending and divergence. Yes. So when I say that, it's like X-Men meets divergence, and I see people's face, and I'm like, yeah, that's right. I hate that ending. Never mind. Happier ending. Happier ending.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

That is so cool. So I know when when we were talking through email, you had mentioned that your dystopian stories were about, you know, ending on hopeful notes that you can go forward into, no matter how bad things get, like they can get better. Is is kind of what I was picking up about it. But that you also mentioned something that you said you enjoy seeing yourself in the pages of your books. And and that part of the reason why your main character is who she is has a lot to do with with who you are and how you've seen yourself or not seen yourself in fiction. So would you care to elaborate on that as to what you meant?

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Yes, I would love to. So growing up, I loved watching, you know, superheroes. We had like Batman and Marvel and Spider-Man and X-Men. And with all of these stories that I saw growing up, I didn't see myself a Latina that with you know tan skin, curly hair in these environments. And it was really disappointing because I wanted to see myself in these stories. And every time I saw um forceful Latina, she was usually this over-sexualized, spicy woman that was there for you know sex, or she was a gangbanger. And that made me mad because that's not who we are. I don't want to be represented like that. So with my children, I wanted them to see a powerful Latina woman or somebody who looks like them because Simone's love interest, Treman, he is who my son can look up to. And I wanted to show them that they are our strong Latinas and Latinos out there who are good guys, who are powerful, but know how to use their power the right way to help people. And that's how I grew up. I grew up that we were supposed to be kind to people, that we were supposed to be loving and inviting to people because we're so family oriented that even if you aren't blood related to us and you're a friend or a god kid or something, you're somebody, we're calling you cousin or something. You're gonna be in our family, whether you like it or not. You're taking it and we're gonna hug you whether you let it go. I love that. But I wanted my kids to see themselves in those pages so that way they could feel the confidence in themselves and know that they're capable of doing great things and that they don't have to always be seen in that path that we're always portrayed in in a lot of movies and books, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Yeah, representation matters.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Yes, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Accurate representation matters, and who better to do that than than you, right? With your lived experience, and and that takes a lot of bravery to put that on the page. Was it hard?

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Yes, so many times. Like, and I've done a lot of book events, and I will see people come by and they'll be interested. And as soon as, because my characters are on the cover of my books, as soon as they see the character, they'll make a funny face and walk away. And I will get a little self-conscious, and I've actually thought of changing the cover and removing the characters and just having this, you know, really cool, generic looking cover. But then I thought, no, I'm I'm not going to do that because I don't want to just sell books. I want to make a difference with my books, and I want people to see somebody else or me represented on this cover. So to do that wouldn't be true to me. And that was a hard thing to come to because it's like, of course, you want sales, you you want to be able to sell your book and you want it to appease to everybody. But if it doesn't appease to somebody, then I I'm taking that as then it wasn't meant to be, they're not meant to be my reader, and that's okay with me.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Yeah, yeah. I hear where you're coming from. That would be a difficult decision, you know. But it sounds like it is based in your integrity and what you truly want.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Yes. It is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

So I know you said that you self-published. And that was a whole nother thing to figure out. I mean, first you're figuring out just how to write the write write a novel, which in and itself, right, is is a feat. But then there's this other arm of independent publishing. I mean, no matter which direction you pursue, there's just a huge learning curve, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Um Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

So so what drove your decision to publish independently and what was the process like of learning how to get it done?

SPEAKER_01 14:20

So with self-publishing, initially I did think I was going to go the traditional route. And then as I started getting into learning about the publishing industry, especially lately, of what everything is going on. And me being such a type A controlling personality, I wanted to control the whole process. For instance, a publisher could say, This person on the cover isn't working, we're going to change it. I don't want that. I want the autonomy to be able to control what I want to control to keep my integrity. There's also an element of faith in my books. I wanted to hold that true to that. It's not the driving force in the plot, but it is a central key point to Simone's character. So I didn't want anything that touched. So there were just certain elements that I knew I wanted to have for myself, just based on my own integrity, my own feelings about things. And then the journey to that was really interesting because I didn't realize how much it took to be a self-publisher. You are pretty much an entrepreneur. You are your own boss, which means you have to do everything. You have to pay everything. So I think in the beginning, the business part, I didn't have a full understanding until recently. But I know that we both know AK Nevermore. She was huge in helping me figure out this whole self-publishing thing. We would get on Zoom calls and I would ask her questions and she would explain all of the different things. Like I didn't know what NetGally was, no idea what that was. So she was explaining about how to get ARC reviews. And so it really helped me. And she even would guide me through certain programs so I could see how I was supposed to do things. And then YouTube videos were a lot of help. That was a lot of help. And just researching and finding other authors to ask, hey, you did this. How did you do this? What program did you use? How much does it cost? You know, did you spend a lot of money? Who's your editor? Just things like that. It's constant word of mouth that you need in order to navigate self-publishing without being burned. Because there's so many people out there who are, hey, I can do your cover for you, or hey, I can be your editor. And then they ghost you and you've just spent a thousand dollars on something that you're never gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Yes. And I mean, you've probably seen all the book conventions as well, where they've just gone horribly wrong, and people have gone there, and the person who is hosting this book convention either takes their money and cancels the event, or it's just not done well. So constantly talking to other authors and saying, hey, what's going on with that, or what's this? Just that really is what helps me navigate this whole self-publishing world because it can be a doozy if you are not careful and it can take your money if you are not wary of what is going on and keeping track of your funds.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Yeah. Yeah. And just a shout out to DIY M FA because that is where you mentioned that you met AK, and that is a good place to go to learn.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Yes, Gabriella Prayer is.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Many aspects of publishing or of writing and publishing.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

That's where I learned how to properly write my novel, was taking her online classes because I couldn't afford to go back to school. And a lot of people made it seem like you had to go back and get your MFA. And so with writing, it's not like, and that's something she said. Writing isn't like being an ER doctor. You don't need a degree in order to write. You can be self-taught. So that is something that one of the hurdles I had to get over because I thought I needed to have yeah, I was in engineering, so I you have to have a degree. So I felt the same way. Well, I have to have this degree in order to be viable. Like I'm actually an author. No, it's writing and putting your work out there that makes you an author. But I did do my homework and how to properly write a novel to give my readers something good, not something I just slapped together and threw out there.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Yeah, and I totally get it. That was a mindset shift for me too, because I have a similar kind of background. You know, I have have a degree that created a vocation for me, right? Like exactly. And so there were steps and certifications and things to get before I reached a level of proficiency I could perform and be comfortable with, right? Writing is different. It it's not to say that you can't go that route and there's nothing wrong with it if you want to. Had I had it to do all over again, maybe I would have. But as I sit in my something, something 40s, I'm not doing that. You know, but I face the same question. When I became serious and wanted to know how to write a good book, what do I do? Do I go back to school, which is the method I had always used to become the next thing of whatever I was going to become, you know? So yeah. So I mean, I think it's a valid point. You do not need a literary degree to write a great novel. You need dedication and you need to practice and stick with it and do your due diligence, just like you said. But how you do that, there's lots of different ways and lots of different avenues. So totally well said. Well, that that kind of leads me into the heart of the podcast, which is talking about why writing a novel is so hard. And not just on the craft side and all the things that we have to learn, but also on the mental and the emotional side. And I think a lot of us have in unhelpful internal narratives that pop up as we're trying to pursue this goal, this very difficult goal of creating a work that we are proud of. And those unhelpful voices are things like, you know, it's never going to be good enough, or you're too late, or you're never going to figure this out, or, you know, whatever they may be. But I think that pulling things like that out into the forefront, hearing them, hearing the other people go through that, and they still come out the other side, right? Helps to create empathy and compassion within our community, within ourselves, and so that we stick with it, right? And we continue to do the thing that that makes us happy. That, well, not always happy, but often happy, sometimes miserable because we are writers and we like a certain slice of misery, you know. We must. Yes, we must. Or I would have been like pulling out my hair this morning over the same paragraph, right? Well, I was revising. But anyway, so having said all that, would you mind sharing about a time when the writing has gotten really hard for you, when you struggled and what it was like and and what helped you get through it?

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Yes. So Twists of Power came out August 2024. And September 2024, my husband got very sick to this day. I'm we're really not sure what happened, but he was he lost 20 pounds in two weeks, and we were trying to figure out what was going on. We were in the ER on our anniversary, which was wonderful. And at that time, I was supposed to be marketing choices of power. I didn't. I was supposed to be writing the next one, which was struggles with power. I had started it, but I was actually struggling with the story. I knew where it was supposed to go, I knew the outline of it, but I just couldn't connect with the characters. Funny enough, at the time I was in a really, you know, I was in a happened place. I had just published my first novel. And so I I had told AK that I said, I'm in a really happy place and I'm having a hard time with Simone because she was in a dark place, starting off with book two. And I said, I don't want anything bad to happen because then I'm gonna have then I'm gonna understand her point of view. Well, something bad did happen. So I really struggled, but during that time, I didn't really write between September and December. I didn't do much marketing. I didn't really do any book stuff. I was just trying to survive. And you had posted something about giving yourself grace and that sometimes in life you just have to be okay where you're at. And I saw that, and it was literally my lifeline of getting through what I was getting through because I felt the imposter syndrome. I'm not doing my book stuff. I'm not an author. My book is gonna flop. All these voices were getting in my head, and I was getting angsty and angry and bitter because I was stuck. And that time was really dark, but there was just those pinpricks of lights that would help me. Okay, let's take the next step. Let's take the next step. And I know you've mentioned it before, having a community of other authors that you can talk to that can help you during that time is so key because we've all gone through those dark times and all gone through that struggle. So in January, when he was finally better and going back to work, because he was out of work that entire time. And you still don't know.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Yeah, it was really, it was really tough because I was the one I had to still work, and I was working partly from home, partly at work, taking care of him, taking him to doctor appointments, and you know, paying out all the bills because he didn't have much money coming in. So it was tough. But I'm grateful he's a lot better now. Everything's fine, he's awesome. But he was uh a big, he's a big part of my life where at home we juggle things. I'll be helping the kids with homework, he'll be cooking, he'll throw laundry in and I'll put it away. We're we're very on the same page with having how we break everything up. So then having all that following me was really hard. But remembering that I had to honor where I was, I had to honor my current reality. And so instead of writing the novel, I wrote a short story about a Taino girl who was half Spanish half Taino, set in the early 1500s. And I just wrote the story about her and submitted it, and it ended up getting picked up by an anthology for Flame Tree Publishing. Didn't expect that at all. And this was during this crazy time, but that's all I could do at the time. And then when January came, because I've had dealt with all this darkness, I feel like struggles of power really has all of my emotion just poured into it, and so it just came out emotionally so strong, and the characters are just so you can connect with them so much because my rawing emotions were just with each one of them as they were going through their arc story. So it was challenging, but I think that that's why it's so important. And I'm the type of person I will go into hiding when I'm struggling with something, I will not reach out to anybody. I can deal with it on my own. I can handle this, and that is just the worst thing you can do because then all the negative voices are in your head telling you all these things that you're doing wrong, that you're not doing good enough, and realizing that and reaching out to different people, they really got me through. And it was in all aspects. Personally, I had somebody I reached out to business-wise, I reached some out to somebody, book-wise, I reached out to somebody, and just all these different people just helped me little by little, step by step, get through. And I think that's what's important is you don't have to take big leaps. You can take micro steps, literally micro steps, and that's okay in your journey because eventually you'll be it'll all add up to bigger leaps. But you have to recognize where you're at and be okay with it.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

I love that. And thank you for sharing that. And it took me sometimes I still don't like this particular lesson, but sometimes the way to fight the dark is to let in the light through other people. Yes. And unfortunately, it takes a huge level of vulnerability, which also takes a huge level of strength because you have to be willing to be seen when you don't want to be seen.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

You know, when things are shit and when, you know, you look, I don't know, just when your insides don't look that great, right? And you don't want anybody. I completely understand. But this is this, and this is why I tell like the writers of my group coaching community is like learning to be willing to be seen by the right people, the people you choose, yes, being willing to be seen both in struggle and in triumph are their skills, both are skill sets and both are vital. You know, because you do need to share about the times when you're winning and when it's great, right? That's what gives other people hope. But equally, what it what gives other people hope is when they see you share when you struggle, because that lets them know it's okay for them to do it too. Now, again, you gotta put a container of safety around this, right? Not every asshole in the world needs to know what you're struggling with. So you want to do it in a safe, supportive, nurturing environment. But I well said. Yes. I love that. Well, when you look boundaries are key. Boundaries are key and they are hard to learn.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Boundaries are key. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Oh my goodness, yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

Okay. Well, I'm so happy. I'm glad for your husband, who I assume is now okay. Is he doing okay?

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Yes, yes, he's perfectly fine now. Back to being his wonderful self who annoys me sometimes. But no doubt. You just keep it. We annoy each other. I enjoy annoying him. I think that's half the fun, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Is annoying each other. I think it is.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

That's that's the whole reason you get married, is so that way you can get on each other's nerves on guard.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

It was my 20-year anniversary yesterday. Oh, congratulations. That's awesome. Yeah, and we're really good at annoying each other at this point. We don't even have to communicate to do it. We don't even have to use words. No. No. Okay. So I'm so glad that you guys moved past that. And now there are tell remind me again of how many books are in your series and what they're called.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

There are two major books, and then there's a prequel. And the prequel is Rise of Power. The first book is Choices of Power, and the second book is Struggles of Power.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So so you had this huge, you know, from what I heard is that you learned all this about self-publishing and and you worked really hard to put this first book out into the world. And then the world tells us, you know, we we're independently published, we need to follow that up quickly with the next release, right? And you know, life had other plans. That got derailed, but end all be all, it wound up putting you in a position to where you could actually write the story that was meant to come out in struggle with power. That's it's amazing with the lens, like when you sh when you it feels so terrible in the moment, right? In the in the time that you're in, and when you're in that struggle, but then later on you can kind of look back and reflect and and see how maybe there was something bigger working in the grand design of things that you just couldn't see. And it all worked out.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Right. Struggles of power seems to be aptly named because it was a strong.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

I was able to write pretty much 75% of the story within 45 days. Just I could just at that point get it out. Whereas the first 25% took about three months or months, maybe more. So it's funny how things just again compound over time. I had so much of that within me. It was able to come out and yeah, it all worked for the good. So that's what I'm grateful for.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Yeah. Yeah. So when you look back, you know, over the last several years and you look at the doubts that you struggled with as a writer, maybe when you when you first got serious about writing a novel for the purpose of publishing it, versus the doubts that you deal with now. What uh what has shifted? What have you learned?

SPEAKER_01 30:30

So the doubts that I had before, they would literally take me out, where I would just wouldn't write for months, years, because I would just get all these these the imposter syndrome is like my best friend sometimes. He just sits there on my shoulder saying, We are buddies forever. So sometimes I have to flick them off and say, No, you're not, get off me. Or somebody else does it for me, which is awesome. My husband is somebody great who does that, but he's not the really nice person to do it. He's the you tell that thing to shut up. You are not like that. Get up off your butt and go do something. Sometimes I need because I like sell, you know, pity parties, and I will literally throw a huge pity party and sob and cry. And he's like, Okay, you've had enough. Let's go. So now if something big happens, or if I feel that imposter syndrome, if it is pretty big, I will just go off into a corner and I'll kind of try to gather myself. Sometimes I'll cry lately because I'm 39.99 with paramenopause. I seem to cry all the time now. Oh, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

You're almost in my box. Welcome, welcome. I also I also cry often over here. So yeah, just come knock on my Zoom door.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

Guys, we'll cry together. We just we're we're all crying right now. So yeah, it's really interesting because my husband and my son both do not like when I cry, and they like they have a meltdown. What's going on? How do we make you not cry anymore? Just let me cry. I'll be all right, healthy, getting all the hormones out. So I'll I'll go and I'll kind of handle that. Sometimes I'll tell my husband he'll kick my booty back into shape. And then I don't take a long break from writing. I get right back into it, even if I'm feeling crampy, even if I feel like I don't like where this story is going. I think this is stupid. I just write. One of the things that Gabriella Pereira said from DIY MFA that really struck me early on in my writing career, because I kept going back and trying to change the story. She said, Stop doing that because you'll never finish your book. Just write from beginning to end and get it done. And you can always go back and edit later. So I just started doing that. I let me just keep writing. So I kept writing. And even if I don't like it, maybe I'll highlight it and say, I'll come back to that later and deal with that later. But right now I just need to write. And there'll be some ugly parts, maybe a chapter or two that I can go back and fix. But eventually I'll get back into the motion and then it all works out. But I would say definitely I do not like to take a long time from not writing.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I mean, feelings, feelings aren't necessarily facts, especially feelings about our writing. You look back, what would you what would you say a piece of writing advice or creative advice is something that you've held on to that's been really really meaningful to you?

SPEAKER_01 33:32

I mentioned one where it was about continuing to write and not go back and revise, just write all the way through because you can always revise later. And the other big one, which I think is bigger, is that as authors, we are not competing with each other because readers read faster than we can write.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

No, go there.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

I cannot so true. Yes, I cannot put out all these books that can match the reader's voraciousness. It's just not going to happen. So if I'm feeling like I'm competing with other authors, then I don't glean from them all the important information and knowledge that they have. And helping each other. And that and I think that's what makes this community so beautiful is that when we realize we're not competing with each other, because I know there's some authors that think we are, but we're not. When we realize we're not competing with each other, then we can complete each other and we can help each other. And I had an event on Saturday where me and a bunch of our my author friends, we were at this event. A girl came up to me. She asked me what I wrote. She's like, Oh, I hate sci-fi. I was like, you know what? That's okay. What do you like? And she said, I love dark romance. I said, Oh, I have two people that you would love. You should check them out. And so I sent her to where she could find a good book. But I've also had my those same author friends refer somebody to me. So it's it's just not everybody's gonna like your stuff. That's okay. They sent them to a friend that they would love, and then that friend also sent them back to you. And it's I scratch your back, you scratch my eyes. Is that the right saying anymore? I don't know. That feels kind of creepy, but it's me helping you, helping me, you know, just helping each other, and that's what makes this community.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

It's the spirit of unity and togetherness. Yes, it totally is. Like what you said, I I I this is I'm gonna pull this nugget out for sure. You said if we don't compete with each other, we have the chance to complete. Yes, and to be complete. And I just dude, that's that was a beautiful truth, mom. So true. And like you said, like we I read voraciously. Like you can't like some like the romance series I'm reading right now. Oh my gosh, like I'm like done with one in a day or less, you know. So yeah, it I think it's there's two things. It's like one, it's funny because when we write, you know, we're writing for us in a lot of ways. Yes, right. Yes. But at some point we also turn it around and we write for the reader, we consider the reader because the book becomes a product. And when you think about it that way, like what's best for your reader? One, it's not quitting. That's not best for your reader because you're writing a great book, right? And and two, it's not competing with anybody else because there's they read far faster than any one writer could ever keep up with. I I just loved everything you had to say, and I have nothing more to add to it that won't just mess it up. So we'll just cut it right there. Just one other question before we wrap up. I ask every guest, like, what wish would you like to impart to your fellow writers? What thing of hope would you like to communicate to them to help them maybe if they're sitting in a tough spot like you have been in the past? What would you like to say?

SPEAKER_01 36:56

You are doing enough. I think that's so many times we do not hear that, especially as a mom, as a wife, as uh all the things, worker, full-time worker, and then this writer. I always am wondering and asking, and I that's this question that we ask deep down within ourselves. Am I doing enough? And I just want to say to fellow writers, you are doing enough, even if it's just a sentence a day. Uh, you have life, we have things going on, and life can be really hard. And I think when we try to do all the things, we get burned out, and then we can be of no effect to this world. So if you can look yourself in the mirror, and I've had to do this because I am so guilty of this, but I've had to look myself in the mirror, and I had somebody tell me this look yourself in the mirror, point to yourself and say, You are doing enough, you are enough. And when you tell yourself the affirmation every day, you'll begin to believe it. And I still struggle, of course, but I and sometimes I have to pull myself aside and say, You're doing enough, you are enough. And that's I think the major thing that a lot of people, not just writers, but everybody needs to know. You are enough, you are doing enough, you are awesome just as you are.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

And you are worthy.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

That's I think the that's the dedication in my second book that you are worthy.

SPEAKER_00 38:21

I love that. So, is there anything that you're currently working on that you would like to share about at this point?

SPEAKER_01 38:29

Yes, I just finished another prequel to the I Am Chronicles. Don't know when that will be released. I I just had to get out of my system because it has to do with side characters and everything. But the major next series I am writing, I started writing, and that one is about a young woman who, and I love this one because in the I Am Chronicles, it's very much post-apocalyptic. There's, you know, desolation everywhere. Whereas this world is more in an urban city, and I get to embrace more of my culture. So they'll be speaking Spanish here. You have a really overbearing mother who is way too much in your business. We have a brother and sister who are very close, and he calls her Quita, which is short for Mariquita, which means ladybug. And then there is a handsome stranger that is helping them. So it's part of the same world, but different. And I'm really excited about writing that one and really being able to show my roots and my culture in that one. And that'll be coming out publishing next summer.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast for just being so open and authentic and vulnerable. It's it's appreciated by me and everyone who listens. Seriously. So we can look for tell us where we can find the I Am Chronicles and your next next work when it comes out next summer.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

Yeah, I am Chronicles is on Amazon. It's on Kindle Unlimited, and it's also on, since now they're allowing it, Hoopla and the libraries and things like that. And I also have signed copies on my shop page, eventnds.com, spelled I V as in Victor E, T as in Tom, T S and Tom E, N as in Nancy, D as in David, I A Z and Z Bra.com.

SPEAKER_00 40:18

I will make sure that I put those links in the show notes so that people can find you. I wish you all the best, and I hope to have you back again when you have more books out next year.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

Yes, thank you so much for having me. I loved talking to you today.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

Thank you for listening to the Write It Scared podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please make sure to hit the follow button so you never miss an episode. And please leave a review. Reviews help other writers like you find the voices and messages they need to hear to continue to write their stories. Let's lift each other up. Remember, you can be scared and still be unstoppable. I'll see you next week.