Q&A: Sarah Burningham talks with YA Author Diana Rodriguez Wallach
YA author Diana Rodriguez Wallach's new book Amor and Summer Secrets is just hitting bookshelves. I got to talk with Diana about the book, what it's like to be 16 in Puerto Rico, and how she became a writer (it involves a psychic!).
Q: You say on your website, that a medium predicted you were going to write YA books. Seriously? You've got to give us the back story!
A: Well, you asked. ☺ It’s a long story, but here goes:
After college, I worked for a couple of years as a reporter for trade magazines, but despite my employment, I always had a nagging feeling in the back of my head that there was “something else” I should be doing. Only I didn’t know what.
One fall, my now-husband and I decided to take a vacation around New England. We stopped in Salem, Mass. to see the witches’ houses, and while there I decided to visit a psychic. I had never been to one before, but when in Rome, right?
So I sat down and the psychic immediately said, “You’re a writer.” And I was; I was a reporter. I told her this, and she asked what I wrote about. Intentionally trying to be cryptic (I mean, she is a psychic, shouldn’t she already know?), I told her that I wrote about “business.” She swiftly rebuffed that and said, “No. I see you writing books, little books, like children’s books.”
I had never considered writing a book before. And, truthfully, after I left the psychic’s studio, I didn’t think about it again for several years. I continued working as a reporter.
Then, 9/11 happened. I lived five blocks from ground zero. And I used that time to reflect on what I wanted from life. I decided to stick out my two-year lease in Lower Manhattan, and then in 2003 I moved back to my native Philadelphia and took a job at nonprofit. I finally left journalism and starting working in an industry that I found more rewarding.
Then, I had a dream. Seriously. I dreamt that I was a young adult author, and I dreamt the entire concept for a series of books based on my experiences in middle school. When I mentioned this to my husband, he reminded me of the psychic’s prediction years earlier, and I took it as a sign. What can I say? I’m Catholic. So I sat down to write my first novel.
That book landed me my agent, though it has yet to still. But I stuck with this career path and went on to write Amor and Summer Secrets, which will now be published by Kensington in September 2008. So, my entire writing career really all traces back to a psychic and a dream.
Q: You're half Polish, half Puerto Rican--how much of main character Mariana is based on you?
A: While I am not Mariana, I did give her my ethnic background. Come on, how many Polish Puerto Ricans do you know?
But seriously, I wanted to write a multi-cultural novel from the perspective of a girl who didn’t quite identify with either of her parents’ cultures. I feel this is a very American story. It doesn’t matter whether you’re half Polish and half Puerto Rican, or half Thai and half Jamaican, I think a lot people (and a lot of teens) can relate being torn between two very different ethnic groups. And often I find that people, including myself, connect more to the culture that they “physically” resemble.
For much of my life, I had a hard time connecting to my Puerto Rican roots because I didn’t fit the stereotype. I have red hair and freckles, and I didn’t learn Spanish in my home. But as I grew older, I chose to seek out those connections. I studied Spanish in school, took a semester abroad in Madrid, visited my family in Utuado, and achieved an overall better sense of self.
So while Mariana doesn’t share many of my personality traits, I did purposely send her on a journey that it took me much longer to take.
And on a superficial level, Mariana lives in a much nicer house than the one I grew up in. ;) But we are both from Philly.
Q: While in Puerto Rico, Mariana celebrates her Quinceanera. For those of us who don't know, what exactly is a Quinceanera?
A: A Quinceanera is essentially a “Sweet 15.” It’s very similar to the American Sweet 16, only Quinceaneras are culturally Latina and often religious. Many Quinceaneras include a Catholic church ceremony, though that’s becoming less popular in recent years. But it always includes a huge party, and it serves as a “coming of age” celebration on a girl’s 15th birthday.
Q: In honor of Mariana, tell us about your own sweet 16. Did you celebrate a Quinceanera?
A: Truthfully, I didn’t celebrate either. As I mentioned, I wasn’t raised to feel culturally Puerto Rican any more than I was raised to feel culturally Polish. I embraced both sides equally with my plantains and perogies on the same plate.
And because the suburb I grew up in had a very small Latino population—and by that I mean, we were the only family with a Hispanic last name in our entire zip code—I didn’t really know much about Quinceaneras. I did, however, attend one for a distant cousin who lived in the Bronx. I think I was eight, and I remember being in awe of the girl in the white dress, but I didn’t truly comprehend to celebration enough to ask to have one when I turned 15.
As for a Sweet 16, birthdays just weren’t very splashy in my neighborhood. I think I had a few friends over, but it wasn’t anything that I would call a “Sweet 16.” Trust me, blowing out candles in my parent’s kitchen would not have been worthy of MTV. But I don’t feel like I missed out on anything. This was the norm where I was raised.
Q: Amor and Summer Secrets is the first in a trilogy and the other books (Amigas and School Scandals, and Adios to All the Drama) are coming out soon! Did you always plan to write a trilogy or did the first book work it's way into three?
A: Actually, when I wrote Amor and Summer Secrets, I expected it to be a stand-alone book. I hadn’t planned on a trilogy, nor did my publisher when I first submitted it.
Amor was originally written under the title “Ay, Americana.” In it, Lilly was 17 and the events of her birthday party occurred at a nightclub. But during the submission process, my agent received a request from an editor at Kensington who was looking for a Latina book featuring a Quinceanera.
So I looked at “Ay, Americana” and thought about whether it could possibly fit this objective. Ultimately, it couldn’t hurt to try, so I spent two weeks revising the manuscript and was shocked when I loved the book so much more afterward. It added an element that I didn’t know was missing. We submitted the manuscript, re-titled as “First Class Chica,” to Kensington and it sold within days. Then, to my great surprise, Kensington said that they loved it so much they wanted to publish a three-book series to expand on the character.
Whenever I write a book, I always think about would happen next to my characters—much the same way you wonder about old friends. So when the offer came in, I already had a mental outline of what the future held for Mariana and Lilly, and I was thrilled to get the opportunity to write it.
Q: Where is your favorite place to write?
A: I live in Philadelphia, so my favorite spots to write are seasonal. When it warm, I often write on my patio and enjoy the weather. When it’s cold, I usually write at my desk overlooking the snowy patio. I also often go to local coffee shops in the winter to mix it up a bit. Writing at home can give you cabin fever.
by F. Scott Fitzgerald - I read this for the first time when I was a junior in high school. I liked it well enough then (it was better than The Red Badge of Courage - sorry, but it's true) but every time I've read it since then, it's grown on me. Now, it's an essential part of my library. Funny story: at one point between Grant and I, we had 6 copies of the book in our apartment. We've managed to whittle it down to 2 after nearly 4 years of being married. 
