Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalia Lazo.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My relationship with writing started at age eight when I learned how to use Microsoft Word on my dad’s computer. My family had recently went through a traumatic incident that left my mother sick, and I felt very alone and conflicted. I was a child dealing with complicated emotions and I did not know where or how to express these big feelings. However, when I sat down at the computer and typed, it was as if the words would flow from my brain to the keyboard in a matter of seconds and I finally felt some type of relief in the midst of chaos. I fell in love with writing because as an introvert, it was difficult for me to reach out and ask for help directly. Writing became a vessel for me to share my story with people around me. As I grew up, I would fill notebooks up with poetry and short stories, never knowing that one day I would finally have the courage to consolidate them all into a book. I Iearned to channel my thoughts, and whether they were positive or negative, I wanted to write it out. I always found sources of inspiration to pull from thanks to my various experiences and rich cultural history being both Black and Hispanic in southern California. As a teenager, I rarely shared my poems with anyone. Now, I have opened up my heart to the world.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I became my own obstacle. My fears and self-doubt used to control me to the point where I exchanged my dreams for comfort, causing me to procrastinate putting my book on sale. Furthermore, self-publishing my book on my own would present its own challenges. I had to brainstorm promotional tools and advertisement ideas without a team and fund everything by myself. It took truly believing in myself and the message I have to offer to push me to taking chances, betting on myself, and investing in this dream.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am an author and I just launched my first book, a collection of poetry called SOARING on October 2, 2020. Typically when you think of authors, you may think of them in boring business suits and libraries. I set myself apart by presenting my authentic self- a young woman in her mid-twenties who doesn’t fit into a box. To coincide with the book, I launched a website where I blogged weekly leading up to the book release so that readers could get to know me personally as they followed along the countdown journey. My poems aren’t about just one topic- I wanted to take readers on a ride with me through the ups and downs of life. I want readers to resonate with my words, to feel less alone because I went through it too. I am most proud of the way I was able to arrange my thoughts to touch on various topics such as racial identity, heartbreak, childhood trauma, relationships, positive self-talk, and affirmations. I structured the chapters to be in an order where as soon as I take the reader on a sorrow trip, we’re rising up again in the next chapter. I wanted it to be metaphorical to how we always get back up in life and how when you keep going, you will eventually soar.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Looking back, there were a lot of ways I could have decreased my spending budget as a self-published author if only I knew I could rely on my own talent. I probably would have launched my own store within my website instead of sharing royalties under my current set-up. However, it is never too late for me to figure out more ways to produce and share my book and I hope to keep expanding my options in the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nataliacamillelazo.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: wzrdnatalia
Image Credit:
Julianna Salinas, Isabel Lazo
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