Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alexandra Diaz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alexandra, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Short answer, yes! Long answer, heck yeah! I love being a creative!

I have never been someone who fits into the mold. Square peg, round hole? Not even close.

I knew from an early age that I wanted to be an author. I loved creating stories and would develop dialogue and scenarios in my head. To support this writing dream, I took jobs I didn’t mind doing and that left flexibility and time for creativity. If that meant babysitting into my thirties or working in a coffee shop to make ends meet, so be it. What people don’t realize is that once the kids have gone to bed, a babysitter is “free” and still gets paid; a barista meets all kinds of “funny” characters, all of which is fodder for writing. Peers and older parental figures asked why I didn’t get a “real” job. I responded that what I did was a real job. It was what I needed to do in order to have the career I wanted: writing books for children and teens. At the end of the day, I may have always been low-income, but I’ve never sacrificed my dreams and happiness for money.

Now, I am an author of several books and a paid creative, despite those trying to “conform” me into unyielding round holes. I’m also a paid circus artist, but that’s a different story…

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have worn many hats in my life. Sometimes these hats have been tossed aside to give way for different hats or shift to fit multiple hats. Other times the hats come back like boomerangs when they are more suitable.

The one hat I have always wanted to wear, even when it threatens to blow away, is being an author. (Okay, yes, at one point I did want my hat to be a tiara so I could be a princess, but all the rules and restrictions isn’t for me.) I started writing as a preteen and hand wrote my first book (120ish single-spaced pages) in a notebook. My writing interest combined an overactive imagination, the desire to escape my seemingly boring and outsider life, and also my curiosity to experience life in someone else’s shoes. I wrote things I wanted to know more about, and topics and themes that interested me or felt personal or important to me. Ultimately, I wanted to write books that I would have loved to have read as a child and teen, and that I would still want to read again as an adult.

With that in mind, I got an MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University in England. While my current books are written for an upper elementary and middle school age range, they are enjoyed and appreciated by many adults who can read more into the subtext than younger readers. My book, THE ONLY ROAD is one of those. It won the Pura Belpré Honor, an award given to the best children’s book of the year that represents Latine cultural and heritage, similar to the Newberry Award. It tells the story of two children forced to leave their home in Guatemala and make their way, on their own, to the U.S. As the daughter of Cuban refugees, the story of loss of family and home is one very close to me. With this book, readers of all ages can not only gain empathy for what is happening in today’s world, but readers who have had a similar experience can see themselves in books and know that their histories and experiences are important and they as people are important.

My other middle grade books, THE CROSSROADS, SANTIAGO’S ROAD HOME, and FAREWELL CUBA, MI ISLA, all published by Simon & Schuster and available in English y en español, have similar immigration themes of separation and belonging, hardships and starting anew. While written for middle school kids, the issues are universal and the situations topical. One of my first readers outside of my editorial team was a 89 year old woman who refused to put the book down and had me cook her dinner even though I was a guest in her house.

My upcoming book, CAMP BIG TOP, focuses more on friendship and empowerment. Remember that thing I said about multiple hats? While writing books is my night job (as a night owl, it’s very hard for me to be creative in the daylight hours), my day job is teaching circus arts to children, teens, and adults. Seriously. I had always admired circus arts. Well into my adulthood, I began taking classes and eventually began teaching aerial silks, trapeze, stilt-walking, clowning, and partner acrobatics. Two of my hats have merged into a book about four kids bonding together to save their circus camp! Because who hasn’t wanted to run off an join the circus?

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

One misconception a lot of people have about authors is that once you’ve published your book, you’ve “made it”: all the doors are suddenly wide open and Hollywood is calling you to make the book into an Oscar or Emmy award winning production.

Or at least there’s the assumption that if you got one book published, you can get another published.

Unfortunately, the former is almost never the case and the latter is not a given. Publishing books is a business and like most businesses, it’s driven by sales. The first book I published, a young adult novel, did not sell well. In fact, my first publisher pretty much told me that due to low sales, they were not willing to publish me ever again. Fine, I thought, I’d find another publisher. I shopped my next book to other publishers, and had one who loved it and wanted to publish it. Until they looked at the first book’s sales and decided it wasn’t worth taking a chase on this completely different book, and on me. No deal.

I thought about changing my name (what’s in a name?). Except I like my name and I’m proud of who I am and what I have accomplished. I wanted to succeed as me, not a version I was pretending to be. I tried other publishers; I wrote other books. I even ghost wrote two books in a series. Anything to get my foot further in the door. Then an editor asked me to write THE ONLY ROAD and it became an award-winning book which continues to sell well. But it’s also a decade old and publishers look at more recent titles’ sales to decide if an author is a good future investment. For the vast majority of us authors, that open door of “made it” is more like a sliver in which we hope to wedge a toe into so we can squeeze the rest of our body through until we come across the next slight ajar opening.

So why do I keep subjecting my poor digits to such agony? Because being an author is who I am and part of my being. As much as I sometimes wish I had multiple me helpers, there is only one me. Therefore, I’m the only one who can tell the stories I have to tell. And there are a lot of them!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Simply put, accept creatives are professionals with real jobs.

More times than I can count, I’ve come across acquaintances from my past who ask what I’m up to these days. When I tell them, I’m met with shock mixed with disapproval, “Oh, you’re writing another book?” Almost like they think I should have gotten the book thing out of my system and now it’s time to return to the reality of life and earn a living with a real job. This really bothered me because I wasn’t asking for their approval, and I definitely wasn’t asking for their, or anyone’s, financial handouts.

I’ve come to realize that most people who put down creatives and artists are those who were told that they couldn’t make a living out of creative work. Maybe they even think they’re doing us a service by warning us about the hardships of not having a steady income. But really the best service would be not bringing creatives down with personal resentment. Just because the creative path wasn’t right for others doesn’t means the same applies to everyone. Support is not limited to financial means; a kind word or recommendation can work wonders. Even a hug of encouragement makes all the difference.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alexandra-diaz.com
• Instagram: @AlexandraDiazAuthor
• Facebook: @AlexandraDiazAuthor
• Youtube: @AlexandraDiazAuthor
• Other: BlueSky: @AlexandraDiazAuthor

Image Credits

Headshot: Owen Benson

Stilts: Matthew Bradley