I am Natalya, mom of two, daughter, big sister, I work part-time and have a very active social life – I wear many masks, sometimes at the same time, which fulfills and overwhelms me at the same time. It's a complicated juxtaposition, but it's my life. The thread that ties all those personality webs together is that I'm a writer. I have a master's degree and two undergraduate degrees in literature, which privileges me with a very rich background in letters – but it's my children that have made me want to write again. I spent many years traveling around the world, trying to find myself in different professions, languages, cultures. And it was finally in Germany that I planted roots and became who I am: a multi-faceted, multi-tasking, multi-talented woman. By birth I am Colombian, by education I am from Georgia, USA; by madness I am Thai, and for my children I am German. In the midst of all that mess, somehow I am still me: Natalya, the writer. My career as a writer has been quite varied. I started as a poet, publishing my first book in 1999, "No Soy Un Ángel". Then I tried my hand as a novelist, but when the novel was finished (well, the first draft), my computer was stolen in a bus in Bogota; I took it as a message from beyond, as a sign from above that writing was not my future. In spite of that, I started a blog in Spanish, then one in English, then one in German... and then I had a son, and then another, and then a full-time corporate job... and well… priorities changed and time was scarce. In 2014, "Los Viajes del Caimán," my first children's book, poured out of my soul. Three years later, "The tale of how the Elephant stopped being little", my second children's book, came from my heart. Three years after that, "There once was a boy" was born; and three years after that, my latest book, "What Did You Dream Last Night?", arrived. I don't know what's coming next, but you'll notice that every three years I come up with a new story… so let’s see what will happen next that inspires a new story.One of the questions I get asked the most is, "where do you find the time to write?" The most honest answer I can give is I DON'T KNOW. My stories are more or less based on real events, sometimes blended together to create a single story. Then the words spin around in my head and make sentences that become story. Then I write it down: by hand, on a laptop, on my mobile notebook... whatever I have at hand. And then I let it sit for a week. Sometimes two. And I reread it, make some changes – delete something, add something else, not this word, this comma here, yes, oh my God how did I misspell that word. And then I let it sit again. If, when I read it again, it gives me butterflies in my stomach or makes my eyes water, the story is ready. Then I send all those organized words to the illustrator and she works her magic. She looks at my words and draws them, aand those drawings become the illustrations that have brought life to the alligator, to the little elephant, to the little boy who doesn't like anything, and to the grandmother's dreams. The book is uploaded to Amazon and, as if by magic, it lands in your hands. But to answer the initial question more concretely, how do I find the time to write: I don't find the time. The story swirling around my head pulls me out of my daily routine and flows – from my heart, from my soul, from my life – onto the pages I hope you hold in your hands. Take the time to read me, and I'll take the time to keep writing.For my first children's book, "Los Viajes del Caimán," I teamed up with the incredibly talented Cris Motta, Brazilian by birth, Marseillaise by residence. When I told Cris the story of the alligator, she jumped on board without hesitation. With crayons, pastels and watercolors, she gave life to the alligator who took a stroll through Europe. I also have two original Mottas hanging in my home, as I am a fan of her art, and our union to bring the alligator to life was perfeita.My friend Catalina Velasquez Uribe illustrated both the elephant and the little boy book. We communicate almost telepathically, as we both have children in the same age, and we are both Colombian expats living in Germany. We chose KDP to publish our books to easily and quickly reach the whole world, because having lived in 5 different countries (4 continents!), I am proud to say that I have friends and family in many countries, and I want to be able to share my stories with them.My most recent book was a very personal, very real experience: I found my mother telling my children about her dreams. So, of course, I wrote a story about that scene. I knew what the illustrations had to look like, but my strength is the pen and not the paintbrush. I needed a grandmother to illustrate the grandmother story... so the natural thing to do was to ask my German mother, Hilke Siedenburg, to bring my words to life with her watercolors. And that's how the book was born from a dream, between grandmothers.I don't live off my stories, as they (still) do not offer me an economic floor to finance my life. So in real life, I work. For two years I held a very important full-time position in a huge multinational corporation – being offered that position (at that salary!) was invaluable to me as a person and as a woman. I needed to prove to myself that my neurons were still alive, that the synapses were more than biological reactions to protect my children, and that my gray matter was more than mixed colored play-dough rubbed on the carpet. I proved it to myself, I believed it, and when I felt like ME again, I decided to give up corporate stress and Teams calls and Excel spreadsheets and full time, to change my life: I now have a part-time job (and, oh well, a part-time salary) that offers me something I didn't know I so desperately needed: T I M E. So no, I don't live off my literary career. But with the purchase of each of my books, you give life to my dream of being a full-time writer.Read more about this authorRead less about this author