Hi everyone!  I hope you all are enjoying the start of the holiday season.  In our house, since we have a child with a December birthday, we will just this week begin to put up decorations and preparing for Christmas.  I'm looking forward to it.

This year was a very busy one with many challenges and adjustments.  I am very much looking forward to the new year to see what it will bring.  Let me share some of the upcoming events and changes.

CONTEST

This is an ongoing event.  The 12 Days of Chica Lit Blog Tour.  Catch the dozen+ Christmas stories by some of the hottest Latina authors from December 11th until December 24th.  As a bonus there will be recipes and a contest give away each day.  Check out the days and the authors.

12.11.07: Mary Castillo, author of Switchcraft

12.12.07: Berta Platas, author of Cinderella Lopez

12.13.07: Mayra Calvani, author of Dark Lullaby

12.14.07: Caridad Pineiro, author of Holiday with a Vampire

12.15.07: Lara Rios, author of Becoming Americana

12.16.07: Caridad Ferrer, author of It's Not About the Accent

12.17.07: Margo Candela, author of Life Over Easy

12.18.07: Kathy Cano Murillo, author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul

12.19.07: Tracy Montoya, author of Telling Secrets

12.20.07: Jamie Martinez Wood, author of Latino Writers & Journalists and Rogelia's House of Magic (coming summer 2008)

12.21.07: Misa Ramirez, author of Lola PI: Living the Vida Lola (January 2009 from St. Martin's Press)

12.22.07: Sofia Quintero, author of Juicy Mangos

12.23.07: Toni Margarita Plummer, author and editor

The winner of the summer contest for the autographed Route 66 book bag was Jessica Gugel!  Congratulations, Jessica!  I'll put that in the mail for you this week.

NEW NAME

As many of you know, I will writing under a new pseudonym as well as under Lara Rios.  My new pseudonym will be Julia Amante!  I'm very excited about the name and can't wait to see it on a book cover.

THE FAT CONTEST

My next book, The Fat Contest is another item in my life that will undergo major changes.  The focus of this book will not be weight, as I had originally planned.  Rather, it will deal more with the generational differences between first generation immigrants and their adult children.  Not only in the way they assimilate to the American way of life, but also in the way they view love and relationships, and loyalty vs. personal dreams.  Geesh, this sounds like it’s going to be a non-fiction book.  It’s not!  Though it will come out under a new title and with my new name, it will continue to be women’s fiction.  I hope to have the new title by Spring of the new year.

2007 UPCOMING EVENTS

Remember that you can go to www.booktour.com in the coming year, and plug in my name (Lara Rios or Julia Amante) and see where I’m going to be.  This will have the most up to date information.

I’ll continue to list my events in my newsletters, but since these only come out once a quarter now, booktour.com will be the best place to check recent additions.

CONTACT ME

Do you have questions or comments or do you just want to say "HI"? I'd love to talk to you. Email me at: lararios@earthlink.net I promise to get to your email within a day or two!

I wish you all a very  happy holiday season.  I hope all your dreams come true.

Much Love,

Lara Rios

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