This post was actually meant to go up on the 16th (I had a huge problem with Blogger, my brother messing with Google, and foolishly forgetting to log out of Google on the home computer, smh) but now I have it up and I'm so sorry Maria and Michelle!
Please forgive me!
Back to the topic at hand! I have a awesome guest post for you guys from Maria Andreu, author of the upcoming YA release The Secret Side of Empty. The Secret Side of Empty will be available for purchase next spring!
Guest Post by Maria Andreu
Getting the courage to write a book is always hard. Getting the courage to write a book on a subject which you’ve kept a secret your whole life is near impossible. That’s why I consider it a minor miracle that my first novel is going to debut next spring. It nearly didn’t happen at all.
The Secret Side of Empty is the story of a teenage girl with a big secret: she was brought to the U.S. as a kid and her parents overstayed their visitors’ visas. So she is what the news calls “illegal.” Without a social security number, there will be no college, no job; no driver’s license… nothing that her friends in suburban New Jersey see as their future. For her, it looks like a blank screen with no options.
I also was undocumented as a kid and, thanks to an amnesty when I was a teenager, am now a citizen. For a long time, that was my deepest secret, which not even my best friend or my husband knew. I intended to never tell it but, as stories do, it kept whispering itself to me. Finally, I started writing what would become my novel, The Secret Side of Empty. Getting the “yes” from my agency was one of the coolest experiences of my life. The acceptance email still sits framed in the living room of my house.
When I first started speaking out about my story in a series of essays and speeches, I faced who I was afraid might be my toughest audience: my (then) 8-year-old daughter. I figured if I was going to go public with this information, I should tell her first. Nervously, I told her my own personal story: crossing the Mexican border at the age of 8, growing up afraid of being deported, finally getting my citizenship certificate with her as a baby on my hip after years of waiting. I braced for her reaction. I didn’t want her to be ashamed of me.
“Wow! That’s so cool!” was her reply. I couldn’t believe it but I was so grateful. It was all the courage I needed to go on.
The 8-year-old is now thirteen (it takes a very long time to get a book published!) and she still thinks it’s cool that Mom wrote a novel and has this interesting backstory. The difference now is that Mom does too.
ABOUT The Secret Side of Empty
It's the story of a teen girl that is American in every way except for in one very important way: on paper. She was brought to the U.S. as a baby without proper documentation, so she's "illegal." As the end of the safe haven of her high school days draw near, she faces an uncertain future. Full of humor and frustration and love, The Secret Side of Emptyspeaks to the part in all of us that has felt excluded or has had a secret too scary to share. What M.T., the main character, finally discovers is the strength of the human spirit and the power that's unleashed when you finally live the truth.
Giveaway Info
Maria is giving away two separate prizes on her tour, a $250 Amazon Gift Card AND a Kindle Fire.
1) For a chance to win the $250 Amazon gift card, OR the Kindle Fire leave a comment on her blog post for that day. Winners will be randomly selected on September 30th.
Maria Andreu’s Bio:
Maria’s writing has appeared in Newsweek, The Washington Post and the Star Ledger. Her debut novel, The Secret Side of Empty, is the story of an “illegal” high school senior. It was inspired by Maria’s own experiences as an undocumented teen. Since becoming a citizen, Maria has run her own business and has become a soccer mom. She lives with her 13-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son in northern New Jersey.
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