Victoria Montes's Blog

Well with my last book "Baited" I tried to get it advertised on Book bub but after three months gave up. They accepted "The Embassy Burned" though so I am happy. So I am about to learn how this advertising works. Also learning something new in the publishing business. One day I might be a pro.

I have written for most of my life and lately I have thought there is not another story left in me. I have thought it is okay I have 10 novels to edit and get out there. You see I am what is referred to as a seat of the pants writer. We don't outline. This would bore us. We write a see where it leads us. To do this you must have a premise and know your characters. You have to let them take the lead. What would he do if confronted with this? How would she handle that.
I am taking a class in writing brick by brick and nothing new is being presented "Show not Tell" yadda yadda yadda but after a call from a friend who is marrying her inmate boyfriend half her age and getting an assignment to come up with a scene using dialog another story idea hit me. Should my friend marry this guy? What has he had to do to survive over 20 years in jail? Is there such a thing as redemption and what does he want with an older obese woman? I have the characters and now I am watching what they are doing. I am letting their back stories evolve and I am anticipating the train wreak ahead without knowing how it will all work out.

It is a new year 2025 and this is the time people generally make resolutions to do something different; try a new diet, do yoga everyday, stress less. It seems like an appropriate time to do just that but what if we just decided everyday to do the best we could no promises to be broken. Yes I'd like to keep doing yoga everyday, lose weight stress less and of course become a best selling author. But what if we made a decision that as the designers of our own lives and the creators and realizers of our own dreams what if we just did the best we could everyday? Make a promise to show up as the best you you can. For everyday is the first day of the rest of your lives. Here's to a happy and dream realized 2025 for all of us. Happy New Year

So I had a book edited but like I said I self published before and have a thousand books that I am hauling around the world so what to do next? I needed to get my books out there. I needed to get my message out there. So I hired a publicist. She didn't like my cover and I had been working with the graphic artist for years so there was a lot of back and forth trying to get the cover right. Then there was an issue with how the titles were put on Amazon. One title was Baited an Espionage Novel for the ebook. The other was just Baited for the paperback. They didn't match. There was miscommunication about the back blurb on the cover. I had sleepless nights trying to work my day job and contacting my publicist and the graphic artist with the time zone difference. I paid for a review on Reedsy's discovery and the book didn't come out on time. I wrote a email telling my graphic artist about all the work troubles and the book troubles and my publicist thought I was talking about her and told me maybe we shouldn't work together. So more 4 am calls to the states to clear that up. Stay tuned next time for more on my journey.

So I had the support of a friend and unfortunately the opinion of others outcries my own. Maybe you psycho analyze this and say, I have always craved my mom's attention. But this isn't a counselling session so my neurosis will have to wait. But my friend like my writing. Like I said I always believed I manifest my own life so it was time to do just that. But where to start? I heard of this site called Book baby where they would help you. I needed to have my stuff edited. Like I said I can't spell and grammar is like a foreign language to me. I received a line edit for my newest book. At the time I called it "A Perfect World." The edit cost me 2110 USD but like I said I was determined to put out a good product and make my dreams of being heard a reality. Tune in next time to see what happened.

I had sort of given up on doing anything with my writing but I am a story teller not a writer. I can't spell and I don't like grammar too many rules. So I need help whenever I write. But I dabbled in film writing. Even made a short film at Met Film School in Ealing Green in London. It is called "A Soldier's Story" and was inspired by my experience in Bagram Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. But back to my writing. I thought I was powerless to do anything with my writing. But there is a voice in my head that has always told me I manifest my life. I was given this one to do the best I could with so I need to do just that and I want my stories heard. So in the summer of 2023 while in Italy with a friend she picked up one of my manuscripts and asked, "Why aren't you published?" That began my journey to look for people who would help me edit, remember I can't spell, market and get my writing out there. Stay tuned for what happens next...

All these years I have written and done nothing with my writing. Well not nothing I did find a company in Hong Kong that would print 700 copies of a book and a graphic artist who would design a cover for me "Late Night Graphics" Steve Hall. Then I put it on Amazon and waited to see what would happen. I still have most of those 700 books. As I travel around the world I ship them with me. So they continue to cost me money. Stay tuned for what happens next....