Living the Vida Lola - Part One Kids Activities Blog

Misa Ramirez is a 'burb mom.

She lives in Argyle with her husband and five children.

Oh…and she wrote a novel.

Her book, Living the Vida Lola is being released on January 20.

We are celebrating this historic occasion with Three Days of Lola Cruz:

• Today Misa will introduce herself in her own words.
• On Mon she will share her Lola Cruz' Spanish Rice recipe.
• And finally on Tuesday I volition tell the story of our breezy "interview".   I wanted to find out more about how this funny mom of 5 ended upwards with what Publisher's Weekly is calling a " muy caliente debut".

So without further fanfare, here is Misa'southward story taken from her website.

First, a fiddling background. I was born in Southern California to amazingly devoted and talented parents. (Note to self: A person is never too onetime to give a parent plug.) Dad is a mega superstar Silicon Valley Executive and Mom is an über-talented watercolor artist. I pulled a pretty good parent carte, in my opinion.

The middle child, between ii brothers, I learned early that being the just daughter gave me ˜that special something ™ in my family unit. Mothers and daughters. Fathers and daughters. They are unique bonds that can't be explained. I know that all my books volition have strong female parent/daughter and father/daughter relationships "family is what I value most in life.

My dad's career took united states to Northern California when I was in sixth grade. College, marriage, kids have all been rooted here. Until they weren't.  With a recent move to North Texas, we are now learning new lingo ¦ y ™all , fixin ™ to  [the official verb of Texas, in case y'all are wondering], and chiggers , a fun little problems that bites and bites and bites, to proper name a few.

Go on with information technology, y'all're saying. How ™d you lot start writing? (Notation to self: Stay focused.)

My major in higher was French "for the first year. And then I realized that I was far more than interested in communicating in English. (My aptitude for language is strong "I just didn't want to put in the hours in the lab! Shhh ¦don't tell anyone ¦)

I ™d always been interested in writing, e'er kept diaries "long burned past now. (Notation to self: destroy all evidence of lame beliefs and thoughts.) Once my Shakespeare professor wrote on one of my higher papers, never modify my captivating way . Wow. The power of a instructor is huge.

Unfortunately, power can exist positive and negative. Whatever boost I ™d felt from Professor Levin'due south comments, a grad student who taught creative writing my junior year of college effectively quashed. Once I wrote a story about my roommate stealing her ex-beau'southward truck while wearing fingerless gloves "all completely and pathetically true. I got a C- on the story and the grad pupil wrote, Write about things you know. This is completely unbelievable.  Even though he clearly had cipher imagination, my confidence went out the window.

During college I met a neat guy named Carlos. We dated, bankrupt up, dated some more, broke upward again "typical young dearest. Nosotros eventually got our act together and got married. I went on to teach middle school Linguistic communication Arts. He was an uncomplicated school teacher. Eventually his career ventured into school assistants and nosotros relocated from the Sacramento area to the San Francisco Bay Area. We had two kids by so, some other on the fashion, and I went on hiatus from teaching.

The big question for me was what I could do to continue my encephalon performance now that I wasn't educational activity. The thing that chosen to me, the only affair that inspired me in fact, was writing. I started writing a young adult historical fiction volume "by this fourth dimension I had overcome the scarring of that grad student'due south remarks. (Note to self: burn all college papers) It took me 3 years to finish that book "it's now sitting on the shelf in my bedroom, destined never to see an editor'south desk-bound. (In its defence force, I did ship it out once to Scholastic and received a VERY overnice rejection "no, not an oxymoron "in that location are levels of rejection and a nice ane is a good thing.) Just by that fourth dimension I ™d had my third son and we were moving once more. The book went onto the back burner.

Short stories for children kept my creative juices flowing while I was busy having a daughter, carpooling, moving to and remodeling all the same another business firm, and balancing the busy life we ™d carved out. By pure luck, i of these stories was published and fabricated in to a beautiful volume. I thought I ™d struck golden and found my second career.

Not. Fifty-fifty. Close.

The children'due south publishing world is savage "unless yous tin really relate to kids. Fifty-fifty though I had a passel of them living with me, I apparently didn't. Huh.

Obviously I hadn't nonetheless found my niche or my voice.

We eventually moved back to the Sacramento Valley, I had one more child (in case you lot lost track, that makes five altogether), and had written shut to twenty-five children'due south stories. I ™d had no luck selling any more of them though, and was ready to throw my hands up and quit writing altogether. But it's not that like shooting fish in a barrel to surrender something yous love. I couldn't stop writing. (Annotation to self: find another habit to surrender "perhaps chocolate? Or coffee? Okay, okay, twist my arm ¦I ™ll give upwardly cauliflower.)

A friend and I started an informal Monday night writing group. Since I was not willing to surrender writing altogether, though I ™d given upward whatever thoughts of having a 2d career in publishing, I was stuck. With no inspiration for kids ™ books in my addled encephalon, I decided to write something for grownups. A book with a mystery and love and swearing "and sex.

Oh, it was fun! Heart opening! Liberating!

I wrote the first draft in six months.

And just like meeting Mr. Correct (Note to self: Give supportive married man Mr. Right a kiss), I knew this was the one. Perhaps I would have a second career in publishing after all.

That book, the first in the Lola Cruz mystery series with Minotaur Books, has been through about a gazillion revisions since I finished information technology "and I still love it. I think that'southward a skillful thing, right?

Now that I ™1000 in the Dallas Metroplex area, I ™m living my calling, silly grad students aside. Whatever else happens in my life, I know I was meant to be a writer and nothing's going to cease the story that'due south knocking around my encephalon from being told. Writing has spread its root into the very depth of my heart "and information technology's at that place to stay.

Bank check out Misa's website for details on her upcoming volume signings in this area:
February 6 @ 6:00-7:xxx: Barnes and Noble in Denton
Feb 24 @ 2:00-4:00: Barnes and Noble in Highland Village

Kids Activities Web log is Holly'southward blogging home.

She is the co-author of 101 Kids Activities that are the Bestest, Funnest Always! and The 101 Coolest Simple Science Experiments.

She is the mom of three boys ages 13, fifteen & 17 who partially homeschools. She believes that y'all shouldn't have to buy stuff to accept fun when there is a kitchen junk drawer total of possibilities.

woolfbeheriseed83.blogspot.com

Source: https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/1293/living-the-vida-lola-part-one/