About:

I was born as a second daughter to a loving and caring mother, when she was 19 years old. Although she was struggling at the time I consider my childhood a very happy one. We were living in a three room apartment in the capital city of Estonia for the longest time. During that period we tried our hands in caring for pets, we had a turtle and a cat at one point, but neither of them stayed with us for very long (due to no fault of ours, I still dare to think!) There was a time we moved around a lot, until we settled into a semi-detached house with a big garden. I always wanted a dog and it was a perfect place for one, instead I managed to bring home a rabbit, who enjoyed hopping on the grass as much as a dog would have!

When I moved out of my parents house, I also moved out of the country to the Netherlands. Now I own my own semi-detached house, with a much smaller garden, and still have no dog!

I have always wanted to write a book, since I was a child, but I never had enough patience to finish any one of my stories. I always told myself, there is time, I’m young, I can write a book later, when I’m older, wiser and have more time. I did always know I would write one eventually, though. My inspiration and commitment to this story came from a friend of mine who loves writing as much as I do. I read one of her books and came to a realization that there is no reason to stall the inevitable. We came up with this story together and would have written in together with her too if she managed to get really busy at that time. I was already hooked, though.

Contact:

https://vicwritesbooks.tumblr.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20863883.Victoria_Liiv

https://www.instagram.com/vikitydruk/

Your writing journey:

I started reading around twelve years old. It was the time when other girls arranged slumber parties, experimented with make-up and discovered new fashion styles; I discovered new worlds! I realized I had a talent for writing a few years after that, when my literature teacher started reading my essays out loud in front of the whole class. I did try my hand at a few short stories, while being at high school, and found encouragement from the feedback of several avid readers. That’s when I knew I wanted to write a book. I just never managed to find the patience to finish one until now.

The hardest part that I’ve always struggled with has been the need for immediate feedback and approval. That was something I pushed aside every step of the way until the story was ready for beta reading. I found most of my beta’s through BetaBooks website. I had 4 more impactful readers that helped me a great deal through the editing process. It took me about a year for the idea of the story to become finalized and a published book.

My first intentions were to get the book published traditionally. I believe it had to do with my constant need of approval that came rushing back and washed over me as soon as I decided I am ready to move forward. I submitted to several publishers, waited patiently, received their „We wish you luck, but won’t be aiding you in this journey“ letters. Submitted some more. Until finally one replied: „We agree your work is well-written with a consistent and absorbing narrative, we believe that your work deserves a chance to reach the wider market.“ and offered a contributional contract. I was thrilled. My work had paid off. I was, however, unable to cover the costs such a contract came along with.

After receiving that email one of my worries disappeared. My work was good enough. I started searching for cover artists and ways to self-publish. I realized pretty soon that paying for a cover by a professional artist was also out of my budget, which truthfully was incredibly small budget to begin with. I tried my hand in photoshoping together several hideous pictures. How ever talented I might be in writing, cover design was certainly not my area. I was pleading to my sister, who had taken web design lessons and was handier with programs like photoshop, but she had computer problems. I had started to feel anxious and in a rush. I had to get it published. I could do it myself. I had already formatted the whole document. It was ready. The only thing holding me back was the absence of a cover! Seeing my horrible design ideas, my partner – my knight in shining armor – decided to give it a go. The final cover is his design and I absolutely love it.

The book is only published for a short while. I ran a free promotion shortly after the publishing. I am still in the process of reaching out to reviewers and looking for author interviews to make my story be seen more widely and spark the interest of the readers. I am finding out the hard way that writing and getting a cover were definitely not the hardest part in this whole process. Promoting my work tops it all. I don’t know if I would still reject the contributional publishing offer if I’d have a chance to do it again.

Your books:

Through Hell & Highwater

In university Volo Noscere, located in Rome, where new academic year brings forth alot of new challenges and questions. When the world becomes increasingly unpredictable, are the humans reason for it all, or is there more to it?

Evyline and Lisanna believe there must be magic behind the changes. Tylon doesn’t care about what doesn’t affect him and RocTar just wants to make it through the year without failing class.

Like it or not, they get pulled into discovering what the world has in store for them.

—

Lisanna had dragged Dylan to the park behind the castle to satisfy her curiosity later the same day.

“Come on, wolf-boy, show me some excitement!” Lisanna said, preparing her rune stick. She had found a perfect sized fallen tree branch to experiment on.

Dylan laughed. “I would think you’d know better than to call me names. Wolf-boy? Seriously? Try that one on Ronan, why don’t you?”

Lisanna grinned at her best friend. “What are you going to do? Tickle me to death? I don’t think so.”

“Try me!”

Lisanna would have, but the piece of wood she drew her runes on burst into flames like the paper on her table had, making her take a step back.

Dylan stared at the fire that was carefully surrounded by a stone circle; he’d made it himself. “Strength, Protection and Destruction runes, you said?”

“Intertwined together,” Lisanna confirmed. “Let’s try it on the rock!”

She placed a piece of brick they had carried with them into the circle of stones after the branch stopped burning. Dylan was shaking his head, but didn’t stop her. He moved closer to see the rune she had created before any more flames ate it away.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55857093-through-hell-highwater

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/through-hell-highwater