I'm going to start blogging again

Back in the early 2000s, when I was a stay at home mom of four children under the age of six, I decided to start blogging. My blog was Cheboricuas (Che for Argentina and Boricuas for Puerto Ricans to show the mixed heritage of my young family). I gave my children the cutest nicknames to preserve their privacy: Gorgeous Boy, Swan Princess, Cangri, and Chubbers. My little one wasn't born yet but he would've been Babycat.

I followed a variety of parenting blogs (mainly, Ben and Birdy, Frog and Toad are Friends, Antique Mama, etc.) and soon I became part of a wonderful community of other bloggers. One thing led to the other, and I pivoted to writing fiction. 

Instead of documenting my family's adventures or my daily musings, I talked about my writing journey, and met wonderful friends who are still in my life to this day (hello, Amparo Ortiz, co-editor of Our Shadows Have Claws!). But then, social media took over and blogs started becoming obsolete. I documented my writing journey on different platforms, met my agent, became published, and connected to a lot of wonderful communities. I loved the early years of social media, especially because I could connect to my fellow mommy bloggers in a more personal way. But, what goes up must go down, and recently, a lot of my mutuals stopped using some social media platforms. I'm active on Instagram and Twitter (I refuse to call it X), and I dabble on Threads and Facebook (I actually closed my Facebook account for a long time and recently opened a new one). I have aTikTok handle (@YamileSMendez), but that platform isn't for me. A lot of fellow authors write newsletters, but soon I found I didn't have time to read all of them, and the thought of writing one became overwhelming. 

The algorithms change constantly. A lot of my posts go unseen or have minimum interaction. It's so disheartening to lose my community and not have access to readers! Last year I did a series of Instagram lives called matecitos. I drink mate and share something I've read that  week and some news. Those did create a lot of engagement, but I was sick with pneumonia for most of 2025, and stopped making them. I want to still go back to them, and I might... But, I also wanted a venue to engage real people in real conversations. So I thought, why not? Why not revive my blog and build a community slowly? 

If you're new here, say hi. Ask me questions. Recommend me your favorite books or shows or movies or music! I have so many things I want to share with people and I hope this will be a good way to build lots of bridges. 

I'll go first:

My name is Yamile (pronounced sha-MEE-lay) and I was born and raised in Argentina. I'm an author of books for readers of all ages. I'm the mother of five children, 4 of whom are adults (OMG, how???) and a new teenager. I'll have to think of new nicknames for them. I'll announce them next week. I love music but I can't play any instruments. I write compulsively. I love to travel, and I love fútbol (soccer) and all sports, really. I've been married to my Puerto Rican husband for almost twenty-seven years, and I live in Utah. I love the mountains with all my heart.

Now it's your turn! Leave a comment below <3