Rebecca Balcárcel's Blog
March 25, 2023
Book news — new novel in the works!
In Fall of 2022, I started drafting a new novel about an adoptee who visits her home country of Guatemala to meet her birth family for the first time. With ten chapters and an outline, my agent submitted the book, and by December we had a handshake agreement.
Now it’s official! Neal Porter Books will release SUNCHILD in fall 2024. I’ve just finished the first draft, and it’s on my editor’s desk. (which always makes me nervous! will she like it?)
Next steps: Editor Taylor will analyze the whole book — characters, themes, and wording — and send me feedback. After a couple of rounds of editing, we can move on to copyediting, proofreading, and cover design. Hopefully, we’ll have a new book on the shelves in Fall 2024!
(banner photo is Arco Santa Cristina in Antigua, Guatemala)
March 11, 2023
Staying Motivated to Write — how I do it!
These are tricks that are worked for me as I slogged through my newest novel draft.
March 10, 2023
Abacus Method
THIS is how I made it through the long middle of my novel draft!
September 13, 2022
I interviewed Anika Fajardo!
Today is release day for Anika Fajardo’s MEET ME HALFWAY, a romp of a book that will entertain and inspire. I mean it! Check out my interview with Anika here: https://www.lasmusasbooks.com/blog/anika-fajardo-meet-me-halfway
I wanted to write a book that made readers feel like they’re on their own adventure. I also want kids to see that families can be lots of different things and that we can’t always know what’s going to happen when we first meet people.
–Anika Fajardo
July 26, 2022
I was interviewed by Terry Catasus Jennings of LasMusas!
“The spark for this book was meeting my real-life half-sister.”
-Rebecca Balcárcel
buying pan dulce with my sisterJump to the whole interview on Lasmusas!
May 1, 2022
Sophomore Social
I did another podcast with Las Musas!
Listen in to learn about how the editing process and publisher support went for my sophomore book as well as the books of Laekan Zae Kemp and Jonny Garza Villa here.
March 27, 2022
The Sophomore Book Slump
When I talked to other authors who had one book out, we discover something: we all struggled to get that second book finished!
For some of us, the problem was coming up with a second idea worthy of a novel; for others, it was writing a whole second book only have it rejected by the publisher. All of us struggled with fears over whether this book would be as good as the first. Would readers shake their heads, saying, “Too bad. Her first book was so good!”?
Join me and author friends Anika Fajardo and Laekan Zea Kemp for a discussion of the slump that often happens when we go write that sophomore book. THANK YOU, Las Musas, whose Sophomore Social podcast series includes this episode to which I was graciously invited: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5rarIG0zVRhuYyqgj7QSXc
Happy ending: all three of us did succeed in writing that second book, and they all come out this year, 2022!
September 14, 2021
Cover reveal for SHINE ON, LUZ VÉLIZ!
I must admit: I squealed with joy a couple of weeks ago to learn that Mr. Schu, THE John Schu, had agreed to host the cover reveal of my new novel on his blog. A rock star of the kid lit world, a teacher and blogger, Mr. Schu has done posts about almost all of my favorite middle grade books! I did my fangirl dance in private, lol.
John Schu, cover revealer!
But the next thing I did would be very public. My mission: answer his interview questions in a way that would connect with the audience, make my book sound fun and interesting, and also wouldn’t take up a dozen screens! No one wants to scroll forever, no matter how clever my writing is!
Well, how did I do? Check out the interview and let me know! I hope you enjoy the tidbits about the book and especially its cover! Artist Caribay Marquina and the Chronicle design team deserve a 60-second round of applause and probably ten pounds of chocolate, but my deep gratitude will have to do. 
