Rocky, better known online as “Blonde with a Book,” is an avid reader and steadfast supporter of marginalized creators, all while juggling her undergraduate studies and managing to write whole novels. She’s now an AGENTED WRTIER and I’m sending acquisition vibes all around because we need her story in our hands. Thus, I badgered her about creativity, community, and her novel.
What was your drive to start your booktube channel, Blonde with a Book?
I initially started my BookTube channel, Blonde With A Book, because I’d revitalized my love of reading but didn’t have many people in my life who read in general, let alone who were interested in the same type of books I was. I’d gotten used to ranting to my parents when I visited home or to my friends in my residency hall, but wanted to have conversations about the books I loved, not just rant about them one-sidedly to my indulgent loved ones. My early videos were mostly based around tags I found online, but I definitely found my groove in reviewing and making the occasion discussion video. Now, I’m grateful to have a platform to share books I find and love with others who have the same passion for literature that I do.
How important is community in the writing community, especially as a marginalized creator?
I think community is incredibly important for writers, especially those of us with marginalized identities. Writing can get lonely—so many hours spent by yourself in front of a laptop screen or scribbling in a notebook or wading through the chaos of a creative brain. On top of that, it’s easy to feel discouraged that your work isn’t enough, or conversely is too much, too drenched in intersecting identities for anyone else to relate to or care for it. The community I’ve found online not only shows me that moments of self-doubt, as well as self-love, are normal and all a part of the process, but that I have reliable friends to turn to when I need another set of eyes to look over my work or have questions about the industry. I’m incredibly grateful to my YouTube and Twitter friends and followers for supporting my creative endeavors and telling my inner critic that there are people out there who want to see me succeed.
How do you decide which ideas are worth pursuing when writing and which ones to keep in the back burner?
As far as picking what project to work on next goes, I’ve actually had the tendency in the past to focus on entirely new concepts instead of messing around with any of my dozens of outlined ideas. I’ve written three completed manuscripts (only one of them has been through multiple drafts and revisions) but all three follow plots I came up with as I started writing the opening lines. However, I’m currently working on an idea I’ve had floating around in my head for about seven years, so things are changing! Yay for growth! Recently, I try to prioritize whatever feels best for me creatively and professionally. For example, I usually attempt to draft new works during National Novel Writing month each November, but last year I chose to work on revisions for that one polished manuscript I mentioned, because I knew in the long-run, that was what I needed to reach the next step in my pursuit of publication and my current focus—querying agents.
You have free reins to collab with another Latinx creative and they’re free and on board as well, who are you picking and what are you making?
Oh my gosh, I would LOVE to work with Nina Moreno on literally anything, be it in my reviewing or writing. We’re both Cuban and Colombian American and it would be an absolute dream to cowrite a YA romcom with her starring characters that share our heritages. But my current—far more realistic—dream is just getting the opportunity to meet her in person one day and maybe sitting down to film us talking about DON’T DATE ROSA SANTOS, OUR WAY BACK TO ALWAYS (which will have a character named after me, AH!), and writing in general. She’s an incredibly talented writer and genuinely kind person, so I want nothing more than to see her and her career continue to thrive.
How does your identity affect your writing?
My identity affects my writing because I didn’t fully embrace all of my Latinx heritage until my later teen years, self-gatekeeping because I’m white as well as Latina and didn’t feel like my culture was mine to cherish. Books like DON’T DATE ROSA SANTOS, THE VICTORIA IN MY HEAD, and NEXT YEAR IN HAVANA gave me the Cuban American representation I hadn’t even realized I’d been so starved for and overwhelmed me with inspiration to provide more Latinx and queer representation for kids out there, whether they share the same identity struggles I did or not. My goal is to center every story I write on queer Latinxs and to pull from my experiences as well as my family’s to create a diverse body of Latinx narratives that dismantles the stereotype that our lives and cultures are interchangeable and monolithic.
Who do you write for?
I’ve always loved the saying “Write the book you needed when you were younger” because I truly do write for who I was growing up; someone who struggled to identify with their various cultures and confusing sexuality on top of everything else adolescence threw their way. I write in the hopes that queer Latinxs see themselves in my characters, or at least find comfort in seeing people who share their heritage and sexuality starring in dozens of stories, even if they experience those identities in completely different ways. I just want to show readers that they, and people like them, are worthy of their own story.
Is there a piece of media (book, TV, movie, etc) created by a Latinx that has helped shape your creativity?
I’m definitely going to max out on the amount of times I can mention Nina Moreno in one interview, but DON’T DATE ROSA SANTOS quite literally changed my life by showing me what being truly and authentically represented in literature feels like. When you see yourself and your family celebrated in a piece of art—your food, your stories, the resilience of your ancestors’ immigration, lingering sense of diaspora, the hope that you can live up to the sacrifices all those that came before you made to get you where you are—the feeling of validation is indescribable. I’ve made it a life goal of mine to provide that feeling for someone else and will be forever grateful that Nina did that for me.
Shoutout a Latinx writer or creator whom you admire!
I could go on FOREVER about Latinx creators I admire, so I’ll give a general shoutout to Latinx Squad (I love y’all ). As far as Latinx writers go, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned Nina Moreno yet? In all seriousness, I love, or excitedly anticipate loving, the work of Laura Taylor Namey, Claribel A. Ortega, Aiden Thomas, Anna-Marie McLemore, Maika and Maritza Moulite, Yesika Salgado, Zoraida Córdova, Raquel Vasquez Gilliland, Olivia Abtahi, Alexandra Villasante, Natasha Diaz, Stephanie Jimenez, Francesca Flores, and Isabel Ibañez Davis.
Anything you can share about your upcoming projects?
I actually just signed with an agent, Thao Le of Dijkstra Literary! So I'll be working on revisions for my coming out/of age YA contemporary following a Cuban American teenage girl as she questions her sexuality in the weeks leading up to senior prom. I couldn't be more excited and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me and the wonderfully expanding pool of Latinx YA writers.
Rocky/Racquel
Rocky, or Racquel, is currently finishing up her final year of undergraduate study as an English major, with an emphasis in Creative Writing and a minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies. She’s also an aspiring YA author and you can keep up with her writing and reviewing on Twitter at @blondewithab00k or on YouTube at Blonde With A Book.