I am reading The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras.

I am enjoying seeing more literature by and about undocumented Americans being published, such as Solito by Javier Zamora, Illegally Yours by Rafael Agustin, The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Dear America by Jose Antonio Vargas, My Underground American Dream by Julissa Arce, Diary of a Reluctant Dreamer by Alberto Ledesma, and of course, my own books: The Distance Between Us, A Dream Called Home, and Somewhere We are Human.

I would pat younger Reyna on the back and tell her she is doing an amazing job of not giving up on her dreams. I would tell her to not be afraid, and that the future holds great things for her as long as she doesn’t stray from her writing.

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, We, the Animals by Justin Torres, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.

The biggest one is not promoting their books enough. Oftentimes this is where we fail the most because we are made to think that our job is to write books. But the truth is that the other part of our job is to sell books. Many writers make the mistake of immediately starting a new book as soon as they are done with the previous one. What I like to do instead is to focus on a promotional plan for the book I just finished and then spend at least a year after publication promoting the heck out of it before I fully commit to a new project. This has been the secret to my long-term success as a writer. The other trap, which is connected to the one I just mentioned, is thinking that your publisher is going to do everything they can to promote you and your book. They never do. They prioritize their resources for a selected few. So, in order to avoid being disappointed and angry that your publisher isn’t looking out for you, just accept that no one cares more about your books and your career than you.