Indie Life: The Challenge

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.

Hello everyone!  I have to apologize for the late posting. I’m going insane. >_< More insane than last month actually. 

Release day came and went of course.  It was a great relief and the two week blog tour after that was fun and entertaining.  I’ve got some great reviews out of it which pleases me. ^_^  I’ve also met some cool people and really enjoyed the interaction after months of solitary writing and editing.  

It probably wouldn’t have gone so well if I hadn’t had the wonderful Mel over at Girls Heart Books Tours.  She is so efficient it’s scary and rather relieving as well.  She’s definitely an indie lover which is great and her prices are SUPER reasonable which is weight off my shoulders. 

So now about the crazy part.  I’ve got my first book out, it’s reasonably loved, what could be so crazy now?  Well, let me tell you.

Shannon Delany, author of the 13 to Life series, and Weather Witch posted a challenge on her Facebook that she wanted to do with friends.  I’d be a fangirl poser if I called myself a friend, but we’ve had some decent chit chats so I’m not a stranger.  Anyway, I digress.  

The challenge is 70,000 words in two weeks or fourteen days if you’re looking at it the way I did.  In my arrogance (I’ve got a book out this shouldn’t be too hard) I took her up on it. Here’s a link for the exact details.  

Today is day four of this insanity and while I feel like I’m DYING I am holding my own pretty well. I set aside four hours to write everyday and with my outline I’m getting it done.  There are times, while I’m at work or driving when I think of the finer details of the chapter I’m working on but so far I’m staying consistent on the word count.  

As much as I’m in a love/hate relationship with this I’m recommend trying it for my indie friends.  Why?  Because if you’re like me and you work a day job to pay the bills you don’t have the luxury of getting stuck.  It really helps to put down the ideas.  Trust me it’s not pretty.  However, it’s very effective at getting a basic draft out.  Especially for the procrastinators.  (I am one, I take no shame in the claim.)

I’ll even do it again with you if you let me know when you’re doing it.  >_< Just wait until May/June so I can get some sleep first. ^_^ Who would like to volunteer first?

Much love,

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Release Day

As the day winds to an end I’m filled with the profound sense of relief.  Release day is over.  The stress of getting it right, of participating blogs in the blog tour is over.

Do I have any sales? No.  

Does that discourage me? Not at all.

Instead I’m thankful.  I’m thankful for all the people that supported this endeavor.  I’m thankful for all the blogs participating in the blog tour in this coming week.  I’m thankful because I made it to today. 

I will be frank.  I wanted to give up.  There were moments when there was nothing I wanted to do more than give up, trash the entire manuscript and go about my life as if I wasn’t plagued with visions of a story that wouldn’t type out correctly.  

Instead I had friends that threatened me in all manners of ways if I gave up.  Friends that believed even when I didn’t.  Friends that didn’t call me crazy, but instead called me… well crazy. Lol. 

Even with the way things stand at the end of today I feel successful.  I am successful.  I am successful because I finished.  I am successful because I never gave up.  Even if I make nothing from this, I’ve learned so much from this experience there is no way for me to feel anything other than successful.  

It’s time to start on the second book, and hopefully not make the mistakes that I made for the first one again.  I’m hoping to make new mistakes, so I can learn from those as well.  A lessoned learned is always an accomplishment in my book. 

I’ve even posted a cute little status bar thingy in the margin.  To keep track of progress.  For myself and for anyone that wants to see.  Each word is progress.  And progress is, well, always an accomplishment.  

What I’m trying to say is thank you, I’m not giving up and I’m moving forward.  For everyone that made this the best day of my life. (To date).  You are great, awesome, wonderful people and you mean a lot to me. 

And as Confucius would say (or maybe it’s Aristotle) “The only way to fail is not to get up when you fall.” Or something close to that. (I’m not looking it up.).  To everyone that’s struggling and thinking about giving up – don’t.  Keep going.  You’ll make it.  I’m sure of it. 

P.S. For those that want it - You can make purchase on Amazon for both Ebook or Paperback HERE.

Indie Life: Winding Down

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.

 

Before I began I would like to make note that moving day is in two days.  At this time I’m packing, getting everything ready for release day in seven days and making sure I remember to eat, since that’s not very high on priorities at the moment.  With that being said…

 

I AM CRAZY. 

I really shouldn’t complain.  The book is done and ready to go.  I’ve got a giveaway up on Goodreads and got my bookmarks swag in the mail.  I want to get more swag, like pins or something.  What other kind of swag can/should I get? Where should I go for it?

Being a debut Indie author is hard.  Lol.  I’ve learned a lot from this process.  I’ve made a bunch of mistakes that I won’t make again as well.  But overall, it’s a learning process, and there’s a learning curve.  I’m happy to say I don’t think I’ve made the same mistake twice at least. 

The most important thing I’ve learned so far is expect rough water.  This is not a smooth sailing process.  There are going to be hitches.  It’s my reaction to them that is going to make it a huge deal or a small one. 

I’m thrilled I hired a cover artist.  While, I am exceptional skilled in Photoshop, I’m just too close to the story to create a cover objectively.  I found an awesome artist relayed my vision and poof  - beautiful cover.  All with minimum fuss.  It gave me the time to focus on what was really important: telling my story. 

Beta readers are super important.  I don’t think I would have all the detail I do without my betas.  I’m really pleased with how that turned out and look forward to using them again.  Though, I did find this service called “Fresh Eyes Critique” that I may add in after the Beta process just for an additional pair of unclouded eyes. (I read this one at least a dozen times trying to get it right.  I’m hoping with the next to only have to read it half of that.)

I’ve also learned that while I love writing I hate editing.  I’m currently conversing with several people for editing purposes.  I can tell a story, but don’t ask me if the grammar is right because I honestly couldn’t tell you. Even now, after all is said and done, I’m still not sure if some of the grammar is correct. >_<

Overall, though, it’s definitely something I’ve learned from and hope to apply in the future to the sequel.  It’s been really fun, even with the chaos, and the glitches and the setbacks.  But that’s to be expected I think with any Virgin run. I’m still not sure if all my “T”s are crossed or not but I’m okay with that.  I’ll deal with situations as they come up and hope for the best. ^_^

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GIVEAWAY!

Goodreads giveaway is finally up! ^_^ PLEASE share with friends!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Of Gaea

by Victoria Escobar

Giveaway ends March 20, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I'm so excited! Who doesn't love a FREE AUTOGRAPHED book? ^_^ Please enter.