May 2020 News

Hello and welcome to another edition of “What is Claudia doing?”

I’m about to finish this elearning experience, both as a teacher and as a parent. It’s been quite a ride. I think I’m going to survive, but I confess being in the classroom with my 5 and 6 year olds is much, much better than this online learning.

The families have been working hard to complete the activities and I am proud of every one of them. I have to say that building relationships with families is one of the most important things any teacher must do. It’s, I dare say, the secret to success. The kids need everyone to be on their side, you know?

Let’s move on to my updates.

Starting with the writing. Good things are happening. Some controversies, too.

* I am currently revising book 5, Vampire Lost. I’m about 70% done before I start editing it myself and getting it ready for the editor.

* I bought the SPF course Writing a Bestseller. With it, I will try to complete my five book YA series about a team of girls with super powers. I haven’t done much, only a bit of plotting, but it sure looks interesting. I’m excited about the course and about finally launching this idea. It started as a comic book I drew and wrote when I was sixteen years old. It should be fun.

* My editor and I have been working with book 2, Werewolf Phenomenon. We’re almost done. I feel it should be done in May and I can safely predict a release date of June. Stay tuned!

* One of my editor’s friends offered to proofread The Recruit, she has sent few but valuable input. I am going to make some minor changes to some typos and sentences (about 12 in total) and will update the book. I won’t be doing an update to all devices, since Amazon won’t let me modify such small details, unfortunately.

As Claudia Alonso:

* I released my Starving Larva book and did a promo. A controversy ensued. I have always considered it a parody of Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Most people seem to understand it is a parody, but some seem to think it doesn’t qualify as a parody. The book is still different enough and fun. I personally think it’s hilarious. Also, I’ve read the hand-drawn version to my kindergartners for twelve years and they have a blast. Can you believe most can’t even imagine what the larva will become? So I decided to pull the book from publication and instead I’ll offer it for FREE as my reader magnet for my new newsletter. You can subscribe to the English or Spanish newsletter here and get a free digital copy of the book.

* In May I also released the first book in my new original series, Moose and Cow. I can’t tell you how much my mom enjoyed the book when she got it. She had so many things to say about it. But she’s my mom, so I don’t think she counts. She insists I should forget about writing about vampires and focus only on the children’s books. I won’t, but it’s a nice thing to say. I love my urban fantasy books.

* I am also going WIDE with the English edition of Moose and Cow Are Friends, so it’s been interesting learning about Kobo, Apple Books, and Google Play. I’m staying away from Barnes and Noble because it’s too complicated to work with them. Sorry, peeps.

* A big part of May I used to create a website and newsletter for my new pen name. You can check out what I’ve done with the website at www.claudia-alonso.com.

* Next, I will create worksheets for both my larva book and the Moose and Cow first book, Moose and Cow Are Friends (Alce y Vaca son amigos).

* My next two projects are the next book in the Moose and Cow series, Moose and Cow and the Curious Duck (Alce y vaca y el pato curioso), and a retelling of the Gingerbread Man in Spanish because we NEVER have enough Gingerbread spin-offs in Spanish when we do out Gingerbread Man unit. It should be fun. I have a lot of writing and illustrating to do.

Me as an artist:

* Most of what I’m doing now is to illustrate my picture books. My ballerinas are on hold. Although I can say I got a new iPad for Mother’s Day and I downloaded Art Studio Pro. I’m excited about learning more about that.

Me as a TpT store owner:

* I’ve been working on uploading my new Spanish consonant blend packets I created for our elearning to Teachers Pay Teachers. The packets have a bubble map, a word bank and two passages with comprehension questions. They are $1.50 each and I’m excited about this product. I will announce a bundle soon.

* My next project are weekly progressive passages for the kindergartner classroom (I may do 1st grade, as well), and then some leveled non-fiction passages with comprehension questions because every year we struggle to find good Spanish resources for our students when we get to our research unit. It is a challenging project, but I’m ready to take it on during the summer.

* When I’m done, I will continue creating fluency pages because I have a lot of requests from buyers. 

Me as a gamer:

After finishing all the Tomb Raiders, I am not playing Final Fantasy VII Remake. It is much different than the original and I’m not done playing it, but I am enjoying it a lot. I highly recommend it. When I’m done, I’ll play Mario Odyssey and then I’ll start with the Assassin’s Creed series.

Me as a viewer:

We aren’t watching many new material during the pandemic. We are mostly watching old movies with the kids. We watched Titanic, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, The Abyss, Superman II, True Lies, Empire of the Sun, Oblivion.

And I finally watched the new Little Women. It did not disappoint.

it really is a bummer movie theaters are still closed. But, at least they are playing the movies on TV. And that was my first world problem of the day, folks!

Winding down:

Life has so much to offer and this creative has a lot of things that she still needs to do.

Cheers!

Claudia

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