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It’s my three-year-authoriversary today!! 🥳
It feels way longer than that though. I started writing Blood Awakens in 2014 after I binged True Blood in like a week. I was finishing grad school, had just returned from a study abroad trip where I felt like I’d found my home away from home, and I was feeling…just...empty, on so many levels.
I missed the family I’d lived with in Guatemala. I missed the characters I’d come to love in True Blood. And I was TERRIFIED of starting my career after graduation.
So, I started to write.
It wasn't the first time. I'd written a few short stories as a child, and attempted a couple of novels in my adolescence. In fact, when I was in 1st grade, if you'd asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, one of my answers would've been to write books. But I was told one too many times about the "author struggle", I internalized that fear of failing before I even began, and I stopped writing. And this was the first time in almost a decade that I finally decided fuck it. I figured, maybe nothing will come of this, but I have this need right now to write down these ideas, and if this is where my creative energy is, then I'm going to follow it.
It started as a list of superpowers, but from that, the characters just sort of breathed themselves to life.
Graciela and Santiago, the Guatemalan siblings who had stood together when the world ended, even though one of them was being hunted for his superpowers.
Mara, the fierce Italian exchange student who was trapped on US land when the world collapsed and had to rely on her newfound powers of charm to survive.
And Sean, your regular ol’ nobody who emerged into leadership after losing his brother early on in the Awakening and vowing to provide a safe haven for others adapting to their new powers.
I don’t talk about this series much because...well, for a million reasons. I get embarrassed because I’m aware that an author’s first book is never their best work, so part of me is always hesitant to put it out there because I'm afraid to be judged by it—even though of all my books, I believe that it's still the one with the highest ratings. I also feel weird talking about it because it's an unfinished series—one that I promise I will finish eventually!! But after working on it for seven years straight, I needed a break...and that makes me feel guilty too.
But even after not writing these characters for the past couple of years, they are still the ones I know most intimately. The ones I'm proudest of. The ones who I'm most excited to see their triumphs!
In celebration of my authorversary, the first two books in the series—Blood Awakens and Puppets Dream—are one sale for $0.99 each! If you’re into apocalyptic/dystopians and characters with magic/supernatural powers, or you simply want to show your support for my work, go check them out!
Also, I will say that I have the third and fourth books drafted and hope to get back to writing them soon! Honestly, especially after writing this post, I feel like I’m finally ready to revisit this world that pulled me out of such a dark moment 🖤