I have a bit of amazing news! Well, it's amazing to me and has made my week. I got a beta reader for my upcoming book! I haven't worked with this writer, but he is working on a similar book, YA fantasy, which is set in the East Coast. Mine is YA Magical Realism, but we are trying to capture a similar audience. The premise of his book is great, and I can't wait to read it. Prior to that, I found a beta reader in another writing group, but I have not been able to reach her, probably because she is in her writing cave. Still, I am so excited, because we are exchanging work! (And I am sticking to my $0 budget.) I am also going to work with my friend Brett on the next two projects, so he can design the covers. I have enjoyed working with Adrian, but I need to reduce the spending on books and focus on advertising and professional copy editing. Anyway, that is freaking awesome! On the writing front, this morning I wrote the first chapter of The Awakening (Book #3 in La Bruja del Barrio Loco). I have to brag that it is shaping up beautifully. But that is all I will say because I have to go craft a flier for a scholarship event. Celebrate great moments in your writing process and career! #Resist!
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The beginning of this draft goes a little something like this: Chapter 1: The Awakening in Pittsburgh Alexander Cobarrubias sat against the wall of his dark apartment, cradling a near-empty bottle of Bacardi. He fidgeted with his wedding band, rotating the ring, and took another swig. It was almost 6a.m., and his phone had been vibrating for the last thirty minutes; he knew it wasn’t the hospital paging him because he had three more days of leave left. Leave, he pondered on that word, but stopped as the phone irritated him into sobriety. It was his mother, no doubt, with her sixth sense, constantly checking in on him. At one point, she had offered to stay with him, but he had refused. I’m a grown assed-man he had thought when she asked, but politely declined. She was always hovering over him, even though he was 35. Yet he worried she would tell him, and Alexander didn’t want him to see this, an empty husk of a man, an epic failure, unable to protect those he loved most. He swallowed the rest of the contents in one punishing drink, and turned off the phone. Sounds good for a draft, right? This morning, I'm going to take a leap of faith and grow a pair of balls. I'm going to ask for an extra beta reader from a writing group that is more serious and active than other groups I belong to. I don't have an editor anymore, and parted amicably, but hopefully, I will be able to find a couple of reliable people to read my work. Yes, I will quid pro quo that shit. Ideally, I would love to trade copy editing. That's it folks! I'm going for it. Yesterday, I also went to the local library and dropped off my bookmarkers. I also found out the library does review self-published books to put on the shelf, and I am going to submit a copy of La Bruja del Barrio Loco. Now, I haven't been to the Harold Washington Library in downtown Chicago in a long time, so this will be a treat. If you have never visited, it is a wonderful library with a great kid's section. They also have a gorgeous top floor where they host events. Anyway, I will keep you posted on how that endeavor goes. That is all for today, sadly, I got up at 5a.m. to write a little bit because I have to grade these amazing diagnostics. I have such a fine group of students this semester! I know I always think highly of my students, but this group is truly awesome. Their writing says so. O.K., have a fantastic writing day! #Resist! First of all, I want to thank everyone who downloaded their free copy of La Bruja del Barrio Loco for the big Labor Day Weekend giveaway! For my first giveaway, I think it was a great success. Supporters, friends, and fans downloaded (drum roll please): 23 copies! I hope to get some positive reviews, even star reviews. This Labor Day, was was chock full of writing victories:
So, in that vein, I am taking the advice of another writer who suggested that I set the novel aside for a while. I am doing that because I need to get into the rhythm of writing and revising. And I have three more projects for September and beyond: (1) The Awakening (Book #3 in La Bruja del Barrio Loco Series), (2) A set of three magical realism novellas for young adults; I am 2/3 done, and (3) My short story collection Down South Where the Water Is Warm, which I need to revise. As you can see, I have my work cut out for this month. I will have more news as I complete my next book. OK my friends, have a fantastic day! Believe in your writing; believe in yourself as a writer. #Resist! First of all, thank you all who have put up with my numerous posts about this novel saga, a 20 year novel saga. I finally finished my novel draft today, on Labor Day, 2018! At first, I was comparing the completion of this project to my dissertation. That's not quite accurate. Let's just say, I am not so deflated as I am freed. My shoulders are lot less tense, and now I can move onto the revision, the pitching wars, and other short projects.
The novel is currently 24 chapters 110,371 words. Of course, I will have to lengthen some of the chapters, and this version will look different than the final version. Now, I have to develop a revision and writing schedule because I want to have this book accepted for publication or self-published by summer 2019, no later. I can't say enough about how much your support means to me. With that said, have a fantastic Labor Day Weekend. (If you haven't done so, download my free book La Bruja del Barrio Loco. Today is the last before before the big Black Friday event in November.) Celebrate with me! #Resist! The Labor Day Weekend book giveaway of La Bruja del Barrio Loco is going strong! I won't tell you how many folks downloaded my book until Tuesday. Thank you everyone who has downloaded my book thus far. I look forward to a favorable review from each of you. :) If you want to share the link, here is the book description below: Thirty-year-old Elisa Sandoval wants nothing more than to get her graduate degree in Women’s History and hopefully, marry her boyfriend Greg. But, when she encounters a real witch in a Mexican supernatural shop, and she slights the old woman over a seemingly trivial matter, Elisa’s life becomes an unimaginable hell. Stalked ruthlessly for weeks, Elisa comes face to face with magic and chaos straight out of the cuentos, fairy tales her mother told her as a child. Yet, she must set her logic aside as the nightmare continues, and Elisa is incarcerated for a murder she did not commit. Yesterday, on a whim, I also tried something new and boosted my post on Facebook, but I think it has too many words for the sidebar. There should really be a preview option. I am learning. I think for the future, short punchy ads will be better. OK, with that we are going to church, where I suspect I won't be able to pay attention because the kids are full of spunk. My writing goal for this evening and while heading to our destinations is to write one more chapter. Keep writing and experiment with your marketing! #Resist! That's right! Chapter 21 of The Harvest is done: The end of this twenty year writing saga is near! The gods are also conspiring in my favor this morning because Aaron slept until 9a.m., and instead of going to a local corn festival, we are going to stay in, watch cartoons, and go out to eat, then shop. That means I will be able to crank out one more chapter this morning. This morning, I also decided to boost the giveaway on my Facebook author site: https://www.facebook.com/drmariajestrada/. Supposedly, Facebook is going to reach over 400 people. I will let you now how it goes. Though, to be fair, more people are being reached, and I just posted it ten minutes ago. One of my metric goals is to get 100 new followers by September. I have 68 new ones so far, and yes, they are mostly other writers. We have to stick together, right? John Green who I've promoted before, recommended hometown reads as another venue to grow a reader base: https://hometownreads.com/books/the-long-walk-with-paranoia-the-corrido-of-andrea-quinta. I posted links to my Amazon books there, too. Not the books obviously but ways of getting back to Amazon, much like Goodreads. However, the site aims at promoting local authors, so they also link the books to local bookstores and libraries. I'm working on that too. It is a great cyber-project, and I hope to buy a t-shirt to promote it. I have enjoyed looking at other local authors' books. The funny or not so funny thing is that I can pick out with almost 100% accuracy those books that are self-published because of the covers. Well, that's enough marketing and promoting for the day. Oh, the Labor Day Weekend giveaway is going well! The giveaway is going through Monday. What? Did you miss my previous ads or blog posts? Well, you can get La Bruja del Barrio Loco on Amazon for free. If you like what you read, give it a short, positive review! In the future, I plan on doing a Black Friday price reduction on printed and e-books for the week, but first, back to my novel. Stay the course! Even if it takes 20 years+ to finish your novel, ahem. #Resist |
Jesú Estrada
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