Boston, MA
Separated from my family during El Salvador's civil war, by death and adoption, I am an author, filmmaker, and technologist.
Even though February was technically shorter than March, this month has flown by. I ran a storytelling workshop for a group of Central and South American adoptees, worked on a series of blog posts, and explored a new direction for my book.
Despite February being the shortest month of the year, I got a lot done. I wrote a draft of my essay for the NACLA Report magazine, created a workshop on how to tell a personal story and was interviewed for two different audio programs.
It's been several months since my last author update, so today, I'd like to look back at 2023 and also talk about what lies ahead for 2024.
I was dealing with minor allergy-related health issues during the winter and wasn’t sleeping well. The good news is that I'm doing much better, and my sleep schedule is finally back to normal.
My Tia Vilma passed away last week. Since learning of the news, I've been thinking about how out of all the tias and tios I've been reunited with, I saw her the most, and yet, I also feel like I hardly know her.
Links and information about the numerous public speaking engagements.
It's been several months since you heard from me. As some of you may know, I had a rough winter health-wise, but I'm happy to report that the worst seems to be behind me, and I’ve returned to my regular work schedule.
I had big plans for this fall, but unfortunately, I've been dealing with some minor health issues. It's nothing serious, but I have decided to take a few months off from the newsletter and content updates to focus on my health.
I forgot to mention in my last update that I was going on vacation in August. As a result, I didn’t have time to write a proper update this month. The newsletter will return in three weeks with another Beyond the Book post.
As I’ve started to tell people about my book, I’ve had to wrestle with how to describe it or classify it. While it is a personal story, I have fictionalized it in parts, so it’s not exactly a memoir. I describe it as an autobiographical novel, but how is that different from a memoir?
A few weeks ago, I met this amazing human, Priscila, who is also from El Salvador 🇸🇻 and is working at the summer camp I went to for 14 years. I’m not entirely sure why but there's something about knowing someone from El Salvador is working at camp that puts a huge smile on my face.
Over the past month, I queried three literary agents and took the most significant break from the book since I started the project in January 2016. Even though taking a break feels a little weird, it is nice to slow down and give the story (and myself) space to breathe.
Something interesting happened a few months ago when I sat down to work on my book. After years of struggling, I felt like a "writer." I’ve realized that, when comes to identity, there is often a disconnect between the way others see us and the way we see ourselves.
Even after taking most of June to recover from an absolutely crazy spring, I still managed to make significant progress on my book. I met award-winning author Reyna Grande and spoke with an editor who works at a major New York publishing house.
I can't believe it's time for another Author Update. This past month has flown by. Between coaching two ultimate frisbee teams, client work, and working on the website for my book, I haven’t had much in the way of free time. All this to say, I don’t have a lot of news to share this month.
Over the past month, I began writing a query letter, which I will use to pitch literary agents. I also worked on developing a website for the book. Fortunately, there was a lot of crossover between these two items, which allowed me to make a lot of progress on both fronts.
As I’ve worked on my book, I’ve come to understand that spelling and grammar aren’t the same as writing. At the same time, I’ve gained a deep appreciation for the critical role they play in bringing a story to life.
Over the past month, I’ve been laying the groundwork for that effort. Getting a book traditionally published turns out to be quite a complicated endeavor, so today, I wanted to give you a brief overview of what that process looks like.
For the majority of the time I spent working on my autobiographical novel, I never identified as a “writer.” In fact, I’ve had a somewhat contentious relationship with writing for most of my life. But writing the book has helped me overcome my weaknesses and has even led to a shift in my identity.
In January of 2016, I sat down to write a story about reuniting with my birth family from El Salvador and my experiences as I got to know them. Now, almost exactly five years later, I have a completed manuscript of my autobiographical novel. It is roughly 117,000 words in length or approximately
