THE DIRTY GIRLS SOCIAL CLUB — THE STORY CONTINUES

Well. Here we are, friends.

You loved them. Hundreds of thousands of you loved them. You wrote to me — for years — asking when there might be more from them. And here’s the answer: now. Finally.

The six beloved women from my hit novel The Dirty Girls Social Club are back — written by me, their original author, now 20 years later. They’re still friends, and they’re still living lives a lot like yours and mine. And yes, they’ve aged right along with us.

They were 28 when you first met them. Now they, like so many of us, are older, living in a vastly different world — but no less amazing. I’ve lived with them in my head and heart all these years, just as I’ve watched my real-life friends and myself navigate the messiness, beauty, heartbreak, and joy of living a full and meaningful life at every age.

I felt it was time — past time — to bring the Dirty Girls back into our modern world, because they have a LOT to say about life, love, family, friendship, identity, and the wild, weird country we’re living in now.

This Substack is my love letter to them — and to you.

This is a subscription-based newsletter — but I’m keeping the cost very low (just $6 a month — enough to help me sustain the work, but accessible to most). Because this is a BIG commitment from me — I’ll be writing daily chapters, diary entries, and vignettes from each character’s life, all in first person — but it is also a labor of pure love for my characters and the real women they represent.

I know many of my core readers are older now too — and deserve to see a reflection of where we are now as human beings who happen to be Latinas in America, in middle age, navigating the complexities, epiphanies, and triumphs this stage of life brings.

But don’t worry, young and new readers — the Club has grown. There’s now an entire cast of DGSC offspring — teens and young adults and maybe even a grandbaby or two — living with (and sometimes in reaction to) their mothers, or starting their own independent lives.

The Club is now multigenerational — with all the messy, beautiful, loving adventures that only family, biological and chosen, can bring.

My hope? That you’ll see yourself in these characters — whether you’re 28 or 58 — and feel part of a community that sees you right back.

Why Substack? Because I wanted this to feel immediate — like checking in with old friends. Like a text chain with Your Girls. In 2003, this wasn’t an option — traditional publishing was the only path. But the world’s changed, and traditional media isn’t always friendly to “risky” voices like mine anymore.

I want to own my voice, my characters, my stories — 100 percent.

Your subscriptions will help me make a living doing this work — and allow me to build a digital brand I can eventually turn into a TV series myself (as many of you know, the book’s been optioned by big studios multiple times — but has always hit walls with, let’s be real, racist and sexist gatekeepers who don’t see us or get us).

It’s time for us to own our own stories — and to produce them ourselves.

So — if you’ve ever wondered what Usnavys Rivera is doing as she nears 50, wonder no more. I gotchu. She’s as fierce and fabulous as ever — and yes, she’ll remind you: her 50 is a JLo and Lauren Sánchez 50, okayyy?

The Dirty Girls aren’t slowing down — they’re leveling up. Owning more of their own lives. Living for themselves, not just for others. Figuring out what comes next in a world that doesn’t always like to think women exist past motherhood.

Come along. The story continues.

With love and gratitude,
Alisa