This month of April of the initiative #UnAñoDeAutoras is dedicated to this romantic genre author, and her opinion of women visibility in literature.
The Author
Let’s start getting to know you better as a writer. Did you read a lot before you started writing? When did you decide to pass from reader to writer? Was there a book that inspired you?
The truth is that I have spent all my life Reading. Is one of those things that I learned from my mother. She had always a book in her hand, and made sure that I do too.
When it comes to writing, which came later. I started writing short stories when I was a teenager, and I didn’t start to take it seriously until I was 17 or so. They were always short stories, and in Spanish. You can still read some of them in my old blog.
Some years later I started to read in English and decided to try writing too in that language, and here I am now!
Is there any experience as a novel writer that you might want to share? How was facing the publication of your first work? Did you have trouble finding a publisher?
I must recognize I was lucky. One of the publishers I used to buy books from (Dreamspinner Press) posted that they were interested in publishing romances set on different countries of the world. I told myself: This is my opportunity! I send them my proposal about a romance set in Pamplona, they accepted and here I am now.
When it comes to facing publication. What I did was surround myself with friends, some of them also writers, which supported me all the way. And keep writing.
Why did you decided to write in English instead of Spanish? What brought you that decision?
I chose to write in english thanks to the call of Dreamspinner Press, as they only publish in that language (eventhough they translate). It has brought me many things. It has given me many opportunities that don’t exist in Spanish, like working with small publishers dedicated solely to romance with LGTBQIA+ characters.
And over all, it has given me the chance to make great friends that I have been meeting along the way and that already are part of my life.
You might be interested in knowing just recently a specialized LGTB+ publisher opened its doors in Andalusia. Check La Calle.
Her work
Everyone talks about how we can help but putting part of ourselves in the characters of our books, especially when we start. Is there any of your characters that you think resembles you?
Probably many. I think there is some of me in every one of my characters. For example Erik, the protagonist of The Sun Still Rises, has anxiety. Which is based on my own and how do I live it. The same happens with the protagonist of the project I amb working on right now.
Other characters have my curiosity, my sense of humor, or my love for books and animals.
Everyone has a favorite child. Which of your books has a special place in your heart?
This one is hard. They all have an special place in me, but The Sun Still Rises was my first born and opened my world to a world I couldn’t have dreamed to be a part of.
What can romance bring to a writer from another genre? Do you think we all should read it at least once?
I think that in romance you explore peoples interpersonal relations in a way and depth other genres might not. I am of the opinion that we all should read everything, as long as we do it for amusement and not for obligation.
The initiative
What proportion of books written by women do you have in your library? Do you think is necessary to increase the visibility of others women work?
Digital or physical? In Spanish or English? Right now and without stopping to count all my books one by one -because I want to end this interview today, if possible- I think the proportion is fifty fifty.
But yes, I do think it is necessary to bring more visibility to women, especially in where they are not so usually seen, like mystery or fantasy.
What do you think of #UnAñoDeAutoras? And of similar initiatives like #Adoptaunaautora or La Nave Invisible? Do you know them?
I know the first one (obviously), and the second, but I never heard before about La Nave Invisible. I must investigate it one I finish with this, because I am curious by nature.
I think they are wonderful initiatives and whit which whom you give visibility to authors when they might not have the one they deserve.
The LGTBQA+ collective suffers to of a lack of representation. Is there any initiative for them similar to #UnAñoDeAutoras? Tell us about it.
Right now, no. Not that I know for being sincere. But I think it would be interesting to make one, especially now. We need visibility.
As an anecdote I will tell you that last year, when I was studying my master to be a teacher. A master where they teach us to deal with teenagers daily, in any moment we talked about sexual diversity, or gender diversity, except to talk about the male-female dichotomy. There’s still a lot of work to do, but I believe that if we all put or part of the deal it can be done.
You might be interested in checking then Empotradoras or Iridiscencia. They are not initiatives in themselves but they are aimed to bring more visibility to the collective, in form of anthologies.
Miss Spoiler 