Time does fly indeed, specially when it’s the last week of August and you’re trying to get everything organized for the new academic year! El Book de Amanda sold very well during lockdown and has also been selling well during the pandemic, then totally sold out at the book fair.
The second part of the title EL INGLÉS QUE NO SE APRENDE EN CLASE (The English you don’t learn in the Classroom) has been unexpectedly appropriate. Quite truly, I had never imagined this kind of scenario for it. Everything started online with www.elblogdeamanda.com and thanks to all the videos, close to 600, the publishing house PLANETA got in touch with me for writing my book because they liked what they saw in the blog.
To be totally honest with you, I really believe there are many wonderful books out there for learning English... What I think is the game changer are the videos in QR codes in all the chapters. Having so much pronunciation, easily explained in one book, for learning at your own pace and autonomously from home, is what makes all the difference. I used to go twice or thrice a week to either Madrid or Barcelona for doing PRONUNCIATION WORKSHOPS in person, so for me being able to do them comfortably from home, thanks to all the team from Libros Cúpula, PLANETA and my wonderful agent JL, makes me feel very safe and grateful.
Obviously, without the readers and followers all this wonderful adventure wouldn’t be possible. I’ve also been invited for pronunciation sessions to Mexico and Argentina, but have that on hold, hoping the pandemic will be globally under control very soon... For now, we’ll always have the internet!
The following day I drove to Illetes (“Little Islands’”) to spend some quality time with my hubby and some close friends we hadn’t seen since our wedding in 2019. I think I already told you I was raised at the Hotel Bonanza and I like visiting it every year. This makes me look back with gratitude and recall childhood memories. Sadly the Bonanza Park hasn’t opened this year, only the Bonanza Playa. Apparently I was quite a rascal when I was little...
My mum says that when I was barely two years old, I would take off my swimming armbands and jump into the pool screaming “¡SOCORRO, SOCORRO!”, not understanding this was a serious cry for help and thinking it was merely another fun game.
On one occasion a lovely man, who was wearing a suit at the time, without even thinking about it jumped into the pool to “rescue” me. Apparently, “thanks” to this rescue operation, he made a good impression on his lady friend who he was really interested in. He was a LOVELY man and I can remember his voice and smile as if it were yesterday. It’s funny what stays with you from an early age... After reminiscing with a smile, later on that evening, we went out for dinner and it was lovely catching up with good friends after so long and went to my hubby’s favourite restaurant Sa Farinera (“The mill lady”). Look at the big chunk of meat he savoured! I think you can guess what I ate that evening.
After finishing a long but extremely interesting environmental translation into English and German and not expecting any life changing revelations, I met up online with this IT expert my agent had recommended to analyse the stats on my YouTube channel, blog, Instagram and all my social media. It was indeed surprisingly interesting for me to find out my YouTube subscribers were growing steadily, specially among women between the ages of 14 and 44 and that the countries I’m more watched in are Mexico, Colombia, Miami and Spain. To be honest, I created El blog de Amanda for helping out my students with pronunciation and the Documentary MAJORCA IS NOT MAGALLUF (and Magalluf is not Punta Ballena) because both Majorca and Magalluf’s ethos and reputation deserved to be defended.
That was in 2014 and I never imagined they would both give me so much personal satisfaction. Thanks mum for passing on to me your inspiring “ATTA GIRL” attitude for moving forward no matter what. It’s a privilege to be your daughter. Happy birthday!