Blog Host Spotlight: Natalie Aguirre

Tiger pitcher, summer wedding, solo work, and famous folks: Literary Rambles blog poster and hoster, Natalie Aguirre

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet the person behind the reliable agent blog, Literary Rambles, Natalie Aguirre

First, Natalie, how do you pronounce Aguirre? Ah-gwire or Ah-gaar-ee? Or neither.

Thanks for inviting me to The Mitten, Charlie. I really appreciate it. My name is pronounced Ah-gaar-ee, like Hank Aguirre’s (from the 1958-1967 Detroit Tigers Major League baseball team ) name is pronounced.

You’re an attorney for UAW Services Plan, which just shut down (according to your post on Linked In.) I did the math: you started in 1988 and you’ve been at it 35 years and 6 months, which adds up to June 2023. After 35 years, could you retire? Are you looking for another job?

I actually was laid off from my job at the end of November 2014. The UAW Legal Services Plan lost its contract with the Ford, Chrysler, GM, and the UAW in 2011 after we went through the great recession with the UAW workers and was under a four-year shut plan to close in 2015. I got my layoff notice six months after my husband suddenly died, which made the process that much harder.

Fortunately, we’d been very frugal our whole marriage, so I did not go through the financial crisis I would have otherwise gone through, which I’m really grateful for. I retired from practicing law when I was laid off. I got a job as a writer on contract for a web marketing firm that creates websites for attorneys in February 2015. I write articles for lawyers in their practice areas.

When I started this new job, I had to try to work full-time, which was hard as a low-paid writer on a contract with no benefits. It was a financial struggle because I was putting my daughter through college nine months after I started the job. Sound familiar?

A few years later, I moved my mom to independent and then assisted living nearby and started taking widow social benefits so I could work part-time, have a more stable income, and have more time to take care of my mom. I enjoy writing, and I get a paycheck every month. Even though it’s not as fun writing as creating stories and I never get a raise, I have made over $100,000 writing since I started this job. I could retire, but I like the income and structure my job gives to my life.

Natalie and her daughter,
 the bride

And, you’ve got a wedding to help make happen in the not-too-distant future. How goes the planning?

The wedding was on August 25^th. It was a beautiful wedding. I’m so happy for my daughter and son-in-law. And it was fun planning the wedding with my daughter.

Casey McCormick started Literary Rambles in 2008. How did she lure you aboard in 2011?

It was the heyday of blogging back then, and agents told everything they needed to a blog. I was reading a lot of blogs and had a lot of blogger friends but hadn’t taken the plunge. I secretly wanted to be Casey’s blog partner, but I was too afraid to ask her if she’d been open to the idea. Then she put out a request for a blog partner, and I told her I was interested right away. Thankfully, she said yes.

How did you feel when she left in 2015? How hard is it to run an active, popular blog like this by yourself?

Casey had already cut back over the years after I joined the blog because she was going through a lot of life changes. It was hard having her leave in 2015, about a year after my husband died. I was earlier in the grieving process and didn’t really care about much of anything back then.

One of Natalie's
favorite authors: 
Jennifer Nielsen

2015 to 2023, 8 years. Did you ever feel like throwing in the Rambles?

I’ve definitely thought of quitting many times earlier on. I lost my husband, then my career, and then became an empty nester within 18 months. My life was turned upside down, and I had to recreate a new life that I didn’t want. So, like I said above, I didn’t care about much for a long time and just went through the steps of maintaining the blog without being very excited about it.

On the Literary Rambles website, you announce your mission “to help aspiring writers and authors on their path to publication.” And apparently throughout the comments section, grateful followers sing their praises to the work you do.

My question: Has Literary Rambles helped you, an aspiring MG and YA fantasy novelist, on your path to publication?

I’ve made a lot of connections with authors and agents through my author and agent spotlight interviews. I’ve also learned a lot about the craft of writing, how to find an agent, and marketing from all the debut and already published authors I’ve had on the blog.

My own writing has gotten a lot stronger in part because of this and also from the help of my critique group. Now, I’m not really sure if I’m writing for myself or trying to get published. I’m not sure I want another career. I just take it day-by-day for now and enjoy the process of creating stories.

Agent Mary Kole
photo by Sarah Scoop

How do you approach an agent for a profile? Have you ever had an agent approach you?

I send agents I’m interested in spotlighting an email or fill out a contact form on the agency website. I look for agents who represent more than one age group and genre so that their spotlight is helpful to more followers.

Yes, some agents contact me to request that I feature them. I always say yes, even if they have a narrow focus on what they’re looking for.

Your goal is to publish at least one Agent Spotlight a month. Have you been able to do it?

Yes, I schedule out my agent spotlight interviews four to five months out. I keep a big list of agents I’d be interested in featuring, so it makes it easy to schedule one to two spotlights every month.

Shadow and Bone
Leigh Bardugo

Are you at all tech-minded? Have you had to do any renovation on the website?

Casey was the tech person and designed the blog. Given the big database, I don’t want to redesign the blog. I have had to learn some tech things since she left the blog. Blogger friends are a great resource when I get stuck. Next year I want to hire someone to help me change the header so that I can swap out book covers every year.

This running-the-blog-thing is all volunteer, right? No stipends or grants or salaries. Why do you keep putting out Literary Rambles year after lonely year? What’s your reward?

Workspace: kitchen counter

Yes, Literary Rambles is a completely volunteer effort. I don’t make any money from it and don’t put ads on the blog. The thing that keeps me going is that Literary Rambles is a service to the children’s publishing industry. Many of the debut authors I interview or have written a guest post have told me that Literary Rambles helped them find their agent and get published.

As a lawyer, I was a service provider and practiced a lot in consumer law. I’m realizing that being of service to the world through my blog means more to me than getting published. Knowing that I’m helping authors and promoting books keeps me motivated to continue the blog.

Author/editor
Cheryl Klein

Your author interviews are personalized pieces, with questions in categories like book promotion, writing process and road to publication. I’d be proud to call them my own.  Typically, how many of those do you print a month. Do you reach out to the authors, or do they reach out to you?

I feature two authors most months. I’d feature more authors, but not as many followers are interested in these author interviews and guest posts as they were in the past. So, I don’t feel I should feature more authors because I wouldn’t be able to help them like I want.

I have been reaching out to the debut authors I interviewed. Some authors reach out to me, and I give them a spot if it’s available and they have a book my followers would be interested in.

I’m changing the blog focus slightly because it’s getting too hard to find the debut authors, and there are many already-published authors I’d love to interview. Next year I’m planning more interviews with authors who have established a good career and will be reaching out to more publicists and publicists at the publishing houses to set my schedule.

In your 12 years’ experience, who is the most famous author you debuted? Which author or agent were you most excited to interact with?

I can’t pick just one person. Here’s a list of some people I’ve been most excited to work with:

·         Cheryl Klein

·         Jennifer Nielson (one of my favorite authors)

·         Nathan Bransford

·         Ginger Clark

·        

Rajani's latest

      Mary Kole

·         Leigh Bardugo

·         Marie Lu

·         Victoria Aveyard

·         Stephanie Garber

·         Rajani LaRocca

 

You mentioned your widow status right in your website bio. How, as a single parent, have you been able to find the strength and endurance to raise a family, work full-time and keep an essential children’s writer website running, by yourself, for almost a decade?

Knowing I’m doing something that is of service helps keep me excited about Literary Rambles. It gives me a purpose in life, especially now that my daughter is an adult and doesn’t need me to parent her like I did when she was a kid.

Can we have some pitches for some of the MG and YA fantasy novels you’ve worked on?

I don’t really have pitches because I never had anything I felt was ready enough to query. I started out writing two short picture books for my daughter. Then I wrote a middle grade fantasy about an adopted girl who found a door to a magical world where her adoptive great-grandmother was from and must save that world, which I revised for ten years and had to put in a drawer. Recently, I completed the first draft of a contemporary YA fantasy about an adopted Mexican-American teen who finds a weird button in her garden that turns out to be a magical implement that claims her.

Please supply any social media contacts you wish to share.

Literary Rambles: http://literaryrambles.com

Twitter: @NatalieIAguirre

 

Bio: Natalie Aguirre is the blog host of Literary Rambles. She joined Casey McCormick as a blog partner on March 7, 2011 and took over as blog host in 2015. She is an aspiring middle grade and YA author and a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She is a retired attorney and part-time writer on contract. Natalie is also a widow and mother of a wonderful young adult daughter.

Natalie's mission is to help aspiring writers and authors on their path to publication whether as a traditionally published, hybrid, or self-published author and to share her love of books with readers. 

 

 

 

Literary Rambles: Behind the Scenes with Natalie Aguirre

Literary Rambles is one of the best known blogs in the kidlit publishing community, but did you know it's managed by one of our own SCBWI-MI members, Natalie Aguirre? Casey McCormick created the blog in 2008 and began the popular Agent Spotlight series the following year, but Natalie has become the engine behind the weekly features to-date. She took time out of her busy schedule to give us the backstory and how the blog continues to be an award-winning, go-to source for writers.

Natalie Aquirre

How did you get started with Literary Rambles?

I knew I wanted to start or join a blog in 2010 and secretly wanted to be Casey McCormick’s blog partner, but was too scared to ask her about it. When she put a call out for a blog partner, I jumped at the chance. I’ll have been on the blog for five years on March 7^th.

How has the blog grown and changed over the years?

Casey made a name for the blog with her fantastic agent spotlights that have helped many aspiring authors find an agent. When I joined the blog, I knew I wanted to spotlight mostly debut middle grade and young adult authors with book giveaways. That has really grown, and I am able to offer a spot to many fantastic debut authors each year. I’m glad we’re getting known for this as well as the spotlights.

The focus on debut authors has really helped the blog grow. Since I’ve been on the blog, I’ve mostly been the one blogging, and we’ve grown from about 1000 followers to over 5000 and have many more comments by followers on the blog posts.

I’ve also started to offer a regular feature where authors and their agents do a guest post, often with a query critique by the agent as well as a book giveaway. Casey just went on sabbatical—maybe permanently—and I am also taking over the agent spotlights because they are such a great service to writers. I’m starting to do them in an interview with the agent with a query critique giveaway instead of Casey’s format.

What are your hopes for the blog down the road?

I hope to maintain what I’m doing—the Monday debut author series, a book giveaway hop with book blogs most months, agent and author guest posts, and the agent spotlights. For me, my hope is to keep some sense of balance where I don’t blog too much. It already takes quite a bit of time each week to do what I’m doing, and I don’t want it to take up more of my free time. I know it could grow into a big book review blog where I would work with more authors and publishers like from Penguin and Harper Collins, but I really do not want the work. I want to provide a good service while maintaining a good balance in my personal life.

I love how you share just a little bit of personal information at the beginning of your posts before getting down to business. Regular readers have learned about joyful times with your daughter as well as difficult times such as the loss of your longtime legal job and your husband passing away last year. In addition to this sharing, you've also grown many relationships by regularly visiting and commenting on other blogs. How do you manage your time to accomplish all of this on top of full-time employment and parenting?

Well, I’m a total work in progress with all of my life changes. I have had to be really purposeful and hard-working to accomplish everything I’ve done, especially when I worked full-time as an attorney, was a swim mom and almost single mom, and a caregiver to my husband before he died. Basically as soon as I get up in the morning, I start my computer and coffee. I read many blogs before I start my work day. I squeeze in reading more blogs when I can and work on the blog after work and on weekends. I have cut back my reading of blogs to mostly Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays because I wanted more of a limit on how much blogging overtakes my life.

Since the fall, 2015, my daughter is in college at University of Michigan, and I live alone and work part-time. For the first time in over 40 years, I have free time and less stress. I’m slowly trying to figure out how I want to use this extra time.

You do such a wonderful job supporting authors, tell us more about your own writing. What are you working on?

I have a part-time job writing non-fiction articles for attorney websites and write 15 to 20 articles a week. Like any writing job, it takes more time than it should. Between that and my blog, it takes all of my writing time. I haven’t written creatively since my husband died, and I’m not sure if I will. 

I like providing the service I do through the blog. I don’t want a second job and more writing deadlines with all the writing deadlines I have every week. Plus I’m going through the challenges of working at home alone that any writer has with the added challenge of living home alone after the heartbreak of losing a spouse. I’m thinking of doing some volunteer work where I work with people on a regular basis may be a better use of time than writing a manuscript, especially with all the other writing I do daily. I’ll have to see what I decide to do as I go through this changing journey of my life.

Thank you for sharing your time with us, Natalie. You have a large team of appreciative supporters cheering you on!

Coming up on the Mitten blog: Illustrating Book Covers, a YA Success Story, and much more! To be included in our next Hugs and Hurrahs feature, please send your good news to Patti Richards at pgwrites5@gmail.com by March 20th.

Have a great weekend!

Kristin