For me, life is not truly complete without some creative writing. After a long journey of earning my PhD in English, I finally have more time to devote to my creative writing goals and dreams.
On this page, I’ll share news and updates on my creative writing journey. The goal is to be traditionally published, so I expect this process to be a long one.
Who Am I?
Well, if you haven’t taken a look around my website, here’s a brief bio: I’m a college professor teaching writing and literature courses to undergrads. I recently earned my PhD in English, specializing in children’s and young adult literature. Up to this point, my publications have been academic in nature. My research area focuses on the pedagogical value of teaching children’s and YA lit and their new media adaptations to college students.
What Do I Write?
At the moment, solely picture book manuscripts. I love teaching picture books to my literature students. I look forward to reading picture books to my friends’ kids when this pandemic ends. Now, I’m finally putting pen to paper (or really, fingers to keyboard) and writing my own stories. They feature Cuban American characters and tend to trend towards heart-warming and thought provoking, with humor sprinkled throughout.
Check Out My Aspiring Author Website
December 2021
Won a PB critique.
Submitted my Picture Book Summit pitch.
Met with both critique groups.
Went to the SCBWI Holiday Roundtables.
Did 2 PB critiques with Lynn Marie.
November 2021
Won a PB crititque.
Met with both critique groups.
Sent a few more queries.
Wrote a PB draft for FirstDraftFriday.
October 2021
Did PBPitch. No luck.
Attended a CookiePitch AMA.
Did DVPit. Received a few editor/small publisher likes and multiple likes from one agent. Queried the agent.
Attended Yuyi Morales’ Shaw Lecture.
Registered for PBCritiqueFest. No luck.
Wrote a story for the #FallWriting Frenzy contest.
Attended PBSummit for the first time.
September 2021
Massive revisions to two PB manuscripts.
Wrote a new PB draft.
Did SavvyAuthor Pitchfest. Got one agent request.
Two critique group meetings occured.
Took part in LatinxPitch. Got some agent and editor interest.
Met with my Storyteller Academy critique group.
Took part in PitMad. Got a like from a small publisher.
Prepped for LatinxPitch.
Wrote a new PB draft.
August 2021
Wrote another PB manuscript.
Began Storyteller Academy Term 3.
Attended Storyteller Academy’s Children’s Book Conference.
Met with both critique partners and critique group.
Send out more queries. Currently using three different manuscripts to query.
Wrote another PB draft.
Sent two queries using a different PB manuscript.
July 2021
Created my aspiring author website.
Took part in multiple critique meetings.
Signed up for Picture Book Summit.
Sent out another query.
Pitched an editor as part of SCBWI’s conference.
Attended SCBWI’s BigFiveOh Summer Conference.
Researched PBs to potentially use as comps.
Attended the Find Your Next Reader Summit.
Wrote a concept PB draft.
Revised a manuscript in prep for first critique group meeting.
First query reply received. [Personalized Rejection]
First Taco Pitch.
Submitted 3 more queries.
Started listening to Literaticast podcast.
First meeting with a new critique partner.
June 2021
COUNT: 7 PB manuscripts; 3 are polished
Sent my first 2 queries to literary agents!
Prepared first batch of queries in case I didn’t get a PBChat mentorship. [I didn’t.]
Experienced Critique-a-Palooza! Revised manuscript based on feedback.
Found another CP.
Joined my CP’s critique group.
Wrote a very different PB manuscript than my usual style.
Revising a manuscript based on the amazing critique experience.
Listening to The Manuscript Academy podcast.
Revised 3 pitches in prep for PBPitch. [No luck.]
Great virtual nErDcampKS experience.
An amazing critique session for one of my manuscripts. Plus, a quick query critique for it.
May 2021
Worked on polishing my PB manuscripts.
Received a manuscript critique from a published author.
Wrote my pitches for PitMad.
Read Making the Perfect Pitch.
Drafted another PB manuscript.
Did my first PBParty Train.
More critique work with partner.
Started reading Ann Whitford Paul’s Writing Picture Books.
Submitted a story to High Five magazine.
Applied to a third writer’s mentorship. At this point, it’s a waiting game to hear back. Two of them will post news this month; the third shares news at the end of June. [Edit: No for one. No for two.]
Mostly worked through the KidLit Creator Stack (a bundle of courses and resources about writing for kids).
April 2021
Drafted another PB manuscript.
Applied to two writer’s mentorships. Very excited about both. Won’t hear news for a bit.
Created a spreadsheet of literary agents to potentially query to.
Submitted two applications for SCBWI awards.
Worked on a PB manuscript with my critique partner.
Found a critique partner; still searching for a group.
Joined SCBWI and started going through all their free resources.
March 2021
Drafted two more PB manuscripts.
Started researching SCBWI and checking out library books related to children’s literature writing and publishing.
Started polishing two PB manuscripts.
Drafted two picture book (PB) manuscripts.
Find Me:
Twitter: @EverEducating
Email: contact@evereducating.com
