Victoria Escobar's Blog, page 3

Indie Life: Final Stages of Writing

Hosted by the Indelibles, Indie Life is a monthly feature on the second Wednesday of the month.  This is a chance for indie authors to post about indie life, find each other, offer support, encouragement, news, helpful hints, and anything else that makes life as an indie author a little easier.


I seem to be in a continuous state of panic as of recent.  My debut book is due to be published in March and I’m in the process of cutting all the loose strings and polishing to a sheen.  Nothing has gone according to plan for the last two months. Not to say it’s been bad, it just hasn’t been to plan. 

I started with ten Beta readers that were supposed to have their input in by February first.  I got three. >_< But I’m not letting that hold me back.  I’ve taken it in stride and I’m working on the final editing with what I’ve got. 
Thankfully, all three of the Betas said nearly the same thing: I need to fix my sentence structure and I tell a powerful story once they figured out what I meant.  Which of course, pleases me, but I wish, oh I wish, I had an editor that could point out all the sentence flaws.  
And when I mean sentence flaws I mean I write my sentences half-assed sometimes. For instance I wrote:
“Damia’s face flared in indignant rage and for a moment Ari was prepared to shout a warning of an oncoming attack but instead Damia stomped away.”
When it makes a lot more sense being written like:
“Damia’s face flared in indignant rage and for a moment Ari was prepared to shout a warning.  Damia, however, stomped away instead of attacking.”
:Besides being the worst kind of run on ever it just doesn’t flow neatly.  The even worse part about it is that it’s every other sentence I have to fix. >_< So it's going very slowly. 
Thankfully the story itself is sound.  So I don’t have to add or change any content.  I would probably cry at this point if I did. I’m beyond ecstatic that I don’t.
It’s a learning process though. Especially with it being my first book and I honestly had no idea –still don’t know a lot of – the process of publishing other than the writing part.  I’ve had some great help along the way and I know I still have a lot to learn about this process as I go along. 
My goal for next time is to find a bit more reliable Beta readers: does anyone know of some? And maybe find an editor –what kind of editor I need I have no idea – to help along the way.  
I’m having fun though.  Even with my nerves being scraped raw and my fear of missing my deadline I’m having fun.  For me, that’s what’s most important.  As long as I have fun, no amount of stress will keep me down. ^_^



P.S. The next Indie Life post is seven days before release day. – I’m interested to see how frantic I will be by then. 

Join In the fun and excitement?:

Semi-Sad News

Hey everyone,

I have some semi-sad news to share with you tonight. What we thought was a minor editing snafu with the book turns out it’s going to take some time to fix. So, we’re going to have to postpone the release and adjoining blog tour for now.

I want to thank you all so very much for your support. I do have good news, though. The book will be released on March 20, 2013 now. We’ll be booking the blog tour starting the 20th and it will run until April 3rd. We’ll be looking for reviews, character interviews, excerpts, spotlights and/or author interviews. If you’d like to book a new date now, contact me and let me know.

Thanks again for all your patience and support, it means a lot.

It's been quiet...

Too quiet...

Actually I've been working with my editor hand in hand to hammer out the last of the edits from the beta readers and to finalize the cover reveal.

(Thank you all that have signed up to participate.)

Then, to top it all off, I've caught a cold, that I think is the flu, but everyone assures me is a severe cold. So I'm not on my "A" game though, I am trying. >_<

ARCs will probably be handded out the week of Christmas so for those that want an ARC please leave me a message during the Event so I can add you to the list or leave a comment here. ^_^

Cover Reveal

Hello everyone!

Starting out is a little slow with the Thanksgiving Day holiday but hopefully as we start December things will slow down.

I am "planning" (and I use the term loosely) to have the cover reveal some time in December along with a few giveaways and an author event before the release.

I'm working closely with my critique partners and editor to iron out all the details for everyone. If you would like to participate in the cover reveal or receive an ARC please feel free to contact me.