Kaitlyn Ikumi DelaCruz
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kikumi67.bsky.social
Kaitlyn Ikumi DelaCruz
@kikumi67.bsky.social
180 followers 220 following 64 posts
Japanese-American 🇯🇵🇺🇸
Writer 📝
High School English Teacher 👩‍🏫
Book Lover 📚💕
Owner of a dog named Katsu 💜🐶
Querying: SOMEWHERE IN-BETWEEN (YA Contemporary)🫂🌸
WIP: TILL DEATH DO US PART (Adult Upmarket Speculative Fiction)💍💒
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kikumi67.bsky.social
Kaitlyn Ikumi DelaCruz @kikumi67.bsky.social · Nov 5
Japanese-American teen Misa navigates abuse at the hands of a deceased family friend, risking her family's clean image in their culturally insular community—where silence is conformity—if she speaks up

🎌Immigrant story
🌸Coming of age
🫂Family tension
❤️First love

#QuestPit #YA #OWN #Q #agentguide
kikumi67.bsky.social
Moodboard for Somewhere In-Between my YA Contemporary story! A summer filled with nostalgia and grief as 16 year-old Misa confronts cultural expectation, first love and trauma she cant’t forget.

#QuestPit #writesky #amquerying #writingcommunity #Q #YA #own
A collage of pictures from kids laying in the grass, people celebrating the obon festival in Japanese kimonos, sunflower/cherry blossoms, a couple holding hands with sparklers, three members of a family silhouettes standing and facing each other, a couple at the aquarium, a child playing with a floor fan, a grandmother and her grandchild bent over some fields and a quote about the culture diaspora experience (never being enough).
November 5, 2025 at 6:19 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
Japanese-American teen Misa navigates abuse at the hands of a deceased family friend, risking her family's clean image in their culturally insular community—where silence is conformity—if she speaks up

🎌Immigrant story
🌸Coming of age
🫂Family tension
❤️First love

#QuestPit #YA #OWN #Q #agentguide
November 5, 2025 at 3:00 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
I’m going to assume this is my post from #10Queries until my feedback email comes in 🤞🏻if not welp 🤡 either way, however, I’m excited and grateful for the opportunity to get editor feedback! Thank you to all the editors who participated and #RevPit for organizing! 🤗
October 26, 2025 at 11:53 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
Just got back from Japan where I took some engagement photos! May or may not be inspired for a seaside story in lieu of the magical realism in works from Makoto Shinkai 💕 Think Weathering With You and Your Name 👀

#writing #writingcommunity #author #writesky #japan #travel
October 15, 2025 at 6:34 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
I just entered #RevPit #10Queries. Enter now for a chance to win free feedback on your query and 1st 5 pages. Here's to hoping odds are in my favor *fingers crossed*
October 10, 2025 at 11:20 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
Never "Japanese enough" or "American enough" to finally belong, 16 yo Misa may have to break her family apart to belong as she confronts repressed abuse and her culture and family who expect her silence. Feat:

🎌Immigrant story
🌸Coming-of-age
🫂Family tension and identity

#DVPit #YA #ASIAN #OWN
October 8, 2025 at 10:16 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
MINARI x THE FAREWELL

16 yo Misa confronts her sick grandmother who wants her to be the perfect Japanese, and the abuse she can’t forget—but her culture expects her to—all while trying to revive the Japanese community she ran from

🌸Coming of age
🫂Family
❤️First love

#DVPit #YA #ASIAN #IMM #OWN
October 8, 2025 at 3:49 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
The summer before senior year, Japanese-American teen Misa navigates her repressed abuse at the hands of a deceased family friend, risking her family’s clean image in their insular community—where silence is conformity—if she speaks up.

🎌Immigrant
🌸Coming of age
🫂Family

#YA #OWN #ASIAN #DVPit
October 8, 2025 at 1:43 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
MINARI x THE FAREWELL

Japanese-American, Misa navigates abuse at the hands of a deceased family friend, risking her family's clean image in their culturally insular community—where silence is conformity—if she speaks up

🎌Immigrant
🌸Coming of age
🫂Family tension
❤️First love

#DVPit #YA #CON #OWN
October 8, 2025 at 12:00 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
My next project:

FREAKY FRIDAY x MARGOT’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES

26 yo Iris is stuck at home with her divorced, disgruntled mother when a mysterious email sends her back in time into her mom’s body during her wedding. Iris tries to stop the wedding, even if it means Iris ceases to exist

#DVParty #A
October 7, 2025 at 11:59 AM
kikumi67.bsky.social
Japanese-American teen Misa navigates abuse at the hands of a deceased family friend, risking her family's clean image in their culturally insular community—where silence is conformity—if she speaks up

🎌Immigrant story
🌸Coming of age
🫂Family tension
❤️First love

#ya #own #amquerying #agentguide
October 3, 2025 at 2:02 AM
kikumi67.bsky.social
Moodboard for Somewhere In-Between my YA Contemporary story! A summer filled with nostalgia and grief as 16 year-old Misa confronts cultural expectation, first love and trauma she cant’t forget.

#DVParty #writesky #amquerying #writingcommunity
October 2, 2025 at 1:58 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
MINARI x THE FAREWELL

The summer before senior year, Japanese-American teen Misa navigates her repressed abuse at the hands of a deceased family friend, risking her family’s clean image in their insular community—where silence is conformity—if she speaks up.

#YA #CON #OWN #IMM #preDV
September 29, 2025 at 2:16 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
The summer before senior year, Japanese-American teen Misa navigates her repressed abuse at the hands of a deceased family friend, risking her family’s clean image in their insular community—where silence is conformity—if she speaks up.

#YA #CON #OWN #IMM #preDV
September 29, 2025 at 1:55 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
Another snippet from my short story about Japanese incarceration in America, where being American is only a dream for some.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #amwriting #author
September 15, 2025 at 9:26 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
Late post after full day of teaching with kiddos! But, I love this excerpt where my MC starts to question her way of thinking when the male lead asks her to join him in karaoke ☺️🎤

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #author #amwriting #authorlife
September 13, 2025 at 2:24 AM
kikumi67.bsky.social
Escaping the crowd at the aquarium 🐟

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #author #amediting #booksky
September 9, 2025 at 10:14 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
An intimate scene after a summer of yearning, tainted by dark feelings the main character is grappling with ❤️

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity #amwriting #author
September 7, 2025 at 6:48 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
A childhood memory in my WIP Somewhere In-Between where mischievous competition goes south ☀️🌸

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #amwriting
September 6, 2025 at 9:09 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
Subbing "faith" for "believe" in a short story I wrote, inspired by my research on the true story of a Japanese-American man who was killed in the Tule Lake camp. Here, my character Keiji questions how we define greatness in America.

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #amwriting
August 31, 2025 at 7:24 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
Below is my #1stlinepit ! Follow me on Instagram so we can further connect ☺️ My username is k_ikumi67

#writesky #wip #writingcommunity #ya #con w/ #romance #agentsguide
August 30, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Kaitlyn Ikumi DelaCruz
denshoproject.bsky.social
In recent weeks, the Smithsonian museums have come under political review and critique. Some of the nation’s most visible historical institutions are being pressured to change how US history is presented, including which stories are told and how they are framed. This matters. 🧵
August 28, 2025 at 6:14 PM
kikumi67.bsky.social
The camps where Japanese-Americans were incarcerated is an important piece of my story. Influenced from my personal research after learning more about my own grandmother's incarceration. This excerpt is inspired by true events I hope we can talk more about.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #own
August 29, 2025 at 12:50 AM
kikumi67.bsky.social
For context, jiichan means grandfather and baachan means grandmother in Japanese. One of my favorite excerpts from my project 🌻

#writingprompt #writesky #amwriting #writingcommunity
August 27, 2025 at 3:09 AM
kikumi67.bsky.social
The core of my WIP Somewhere In-Between in this excerpt

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #amwriting
August 25, 2025 at 12:05 AM