I had a lot of plans in 2021.

E and I had just moved back to Miami after 11 years in Austin. We bought a new home, made plans to DIY renovations, and were very much in “fresh start, new life chapter,” mode.

I made (what I thought were) very reasonable creative plans. Since it’d been 3 years since my last novel for adults came out, I thought, I’ll start my next adult novel this year.

It was June, and I told my agent I could have a draft to her by the end of 2021.

Oh, my sweet summer child.

Every time I sat down to write I was filled with dread. Even when I pushed through, I didn’t get any sense of fulfillment or accomplishment from it.

What I felt instead was a creative emptiness. Life had been (and remains) so hard, for so many of us, in a collective but also deeply personal way. I was weary, worn down, and had little left to give to my writing. Turns out, moving to a new state, getting settled into a new home, grappling with physical and mental health issues and a pandemic were not the ideal conditions for me to thrive creatively. There were moments when I honestly wondered if I’d ever write another book again.

One weekend—one of those rare ones when you have some time to relax and actually take time to relax—I was laying on my hammock in the backyard reading Chantel Acevedo’s middle grade novel Muse Squad: The Mystery of the Tenth when I came across a line that made me laugh so hard that I thought, “Oh my god, how fun would it be to write a book with Chantel?”

In every other version of my past selves, it probably would’ve remained a hypothetical.

But in 2021, in this pocket of joy and warmth I’d found laughing on my hammock amidst so much fear and uncertainty, I wanted to gravitate towards fun.

Chantel and I had met a handful of times at that point, and we shared a familiarity and ease that made me comfortable enough to reach out.

So a few days later I just…asked her if she wanted to write a middle grade book together.

“Muse Squad + Random idea?” was the subject line of the email.

She could’ve had other book plans. She could’ve just been straight up not interested. She could’ve had a thousand legit reasons to say no.

Instead, we met up for lunch and at the end of it Chantel said, “Let’s play.”

So we did. We took turns writing chapters. It felt like literary tag—every time a new Chantel chapter landed in my inbox, I dropped everything to read it with the same anticipation of a child opening gifts on Noche Buena. We brainstormed, wrote (and rewrote!) more than a couple drafts. We went on road trips and writing conferences together. And we grew a friendship and a sisterhood that I treasure above all else.

A week from today, our co-written middle grade novel, No Way Never Sisters, will be out in the world. It’s about two rivals who learn their parents are getting married and scheme to break up the wedding so that they never have to become sisters. (You can pre-order it here in hardcover, paperback, audio or ebook. I’d be so grateful!) It’s also about navigating uncertainty amidst big life changes, and what happens when plans go awry and surprise us. Funny how that works, no?

If you’re in Miami, I hope you’ll join us on Saturday March 14 at Books & Books in Coral Gables for our launch. And if you’re not in South Florida, you can still order a signed copy from Books & Books and we’ll be sure to personalize it for you or a tween reader in your life!

But also: I wrote today not just to say Hi! New book 🙂 Please buy it or ask your library to purchase it.

I wrote because when I started this newsletter, I promised to sporadically share one true thing. And the one, truest thing that co-authoring with Chantel has taught me is to gravitate towards the fun, even and especially when the world feels bleak, empty, or hopeless. Not because we should ignore it, but because we still have so much joy to give, no matter how many forces try to take it from us. To channel Bad Bunny and Alysa Liu—in times of hardship, embodying playfulness and unapologetic joy can be earth-shifting.

Wishing you many pockets of joy,

Natalia

events & more fun news…

Chantel and I have lots of spring events (& road trips!) that I’ll be sure to share on social media. We’re especially excited to visit schools to share No Way Never Sisters with students. If you’re an educator or librarian, please get in touch.

We’re giving away 2 sets of 2 copies of No Way Never Sisters on Instagram. Enter to win a set for you (or a young reader in your life) and a friend!

P.S. That adult novel I promised my agent in 2021?! It’s going to be published in 2027 by Little, Brown, with the same editor I worked on for Everyone Knows You Go Home. I finished it in 2025…four years late and right on time. Read more about it here.

books I’ve written