Guest Blogger with Writer Cindy Villanueva!

Cindy’s got game! She is a goal-orientated gal who achieves her goals at the highest level—as an author, speaker, college professor, and 8th-degree black belt. Did you get that last one? Cindy is an 8th-degree black belt! We met back in WIC 1 in 2020. We were attempting to fine-tune and lean on each other and the community of writers to write and finish our first book. Cindy and I wrote memoirs, but two years later, she branched out with her debut fiction novel, Bread Pudding in Barcelona, to great success.

It is only a few days away before the newest release in her Blooming Series, Something Will Sing to Your Heart. She was so excited that I asked her to be a guest blogger here to hopefully bring in new readers to her heartfelt, wonderfully scripted stories, where she blends romance and friendship that many folks could identify with. The four characters in the series are strong women willing to work hard for themselves and, more importantly, each other through the good, bad, and ugly parts of life.

I’ve been a big fan of Cindy and her beautiful writing for over five years! She is an integral part of planning the Writer’s Retreat in the Cevennes, France, that I’ve been lucky enough to attend, and we’ve met up at other times in Florida. It’s always a pleasure to talk and laugh with Cindy and hear what she is working on because it all sounds so fantastic! Writing can be lonely, but with our cadre of worldwide writers on various platforms and through Zoom writing sessions (especially with the Pajama Cats), we move our millions of words out to the world together! Now, that is something that sings to my heart.

Won’t you join me in buying and reading her newest book? Reviews are always welcome, too, since that is the best compliment for any writer. Without further ado, here’s Cindy’s guest blog post:

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Have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered where the years have gone? And then come to the conclusion that all the best ones are behind you?

But what if they aren’t? What if the truth is completely different—that there are wonderful, exciting, joy-filled years ahead of you?

In 2020, I joined a group called Writing in Community. The premise for the project was simple: Each person would write and post on the WiC platform daily, others would read and comment, and, at the end of the session, each person would publish a book.

Simple…but not easy. And yet many of us (including the amazing Terri Tomoff!) did it. We learned a great deal about ourselves and found that turning 50 or 60 was nothing more than a number.

After I published my memoir/self-help/inspiration book, Don’t Fight Mad: A Black Belt’s Quest to Recapture Joy, I decided to push the boundaries a little more. Just fooling around with a bit of fiction suddenly became a novel—and a contemporary romance, at that! I’d never read a romance novel in my life (unless you count Jane Austen), so it was a little odd for me to write one. But just as Don’t Fight Mad was designed to help mature women overcome significant life challenges, I found myself writing romance for the same group. While most popular romance novels are written for and about young single women, I wrote about middle-aged, professional women who struggled with careers, exes, adult children, and other issues.

Before I knew it, a group of four women emerged, each with her own story, yet inextricably linked through friendship—and the Blooming series was born! Azalea was the first to appear and I published her book, Bread Pudding in Barcelona, in May 2024. Sara is next, and her book, Something Will Sing to Your Heart, launches this month. Susana is third and her book, A Thistle in the Cevennes, will be out next spring. Lauren, poor thing, will just have to wait—her book isn’t yet titled and won’t come out until 2027.

The truth is, life doesn’t end when we pass our thirtieth birthday. I published Don’t Fight Mad when I turned 60. I’m appearing at independent bookstores and art festivals, doing book signing events and readings for the Blooming series and finding new readers who have longed for characters they can relate to.

And romance? After two failed marriages, I had given up on love. I was adamantly single for seven years—not one date, much less a relationship. But while researching Bread Pudding in Barcelona in…well, Barcelona, I had an epiphany. I was standing at the top of La Sagrada Familia, the famous Gaudi cathedral, looking out over my favorite city in the world. It was a beautiful moment, and I was struck by one initially unwelcome thought: Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be standing here with someone I love?

I came home after my month-long sabbatical in Europe and told some friends I wasn’t open yet—just open to being open. Fast forward three years, and there I was…exchanging wedding vows with the love of my life.

Of course, our magical beach wedding had to be canceled due to Hurricane Milton, but that’s a story for another blog post.

The moral of the story? No matter where you are in life, no matter what your age or your past, there is life, friendship, meaning, and love ahead. Defy the society that says you should be invisible. Make a ruckus, make some new friends, make something.

The world needs your voice.

You can follow Cindy on her website, cindyvillanueva.com, and all the socials. She writes Because Words Matter, a weekly essay on Substack. Still a California girl at heart, she now lives with her husband in Florida.

THANK YOU, Cindy!

bSoleille!

Terri

Photos: 1) Cindy in The Cevennes' St. Felix Cafe; 2) Something Will Sing to Your Heart; 3) Cindy and I got in a quick lunch in Titusville, Florida - September 2024