Ann Benjamin's Blog, page 245

A little more of this.

If I could do more of one thing in my life, it would be this.

Sunday Sentence.

How on earth did people get married to people they’d only known for a couple of years? Let alone a couple of years only as an adult? How could you fully love someone without having shared their life for as long as Adam and I had?”

Results May Vary, Bethany Chase

I reviewed this one recently, but this was the other quote that stood out to me.  Happy Sunday and happy reading!

Week by numbers.

It’s been awhile, so here’s a roundup of my life by numbers:

56,665 – words on the Queen sequel… Too bad it’s going in a bit of every direction (and I expect to finish the rough draft somewhere in the next 10K words).  [Insert shocked and scared emoji].
183, pages that translates to with…
3, kind of endings I’m working on (oops).
2, Flywheel classes I’ve done in a week!  Trying to covince myself a Bali boday is possible, which is why…
5 days, I’m off alcohol.  I was planning to have a break tomorrow as well, but my social calendar is getting in the way.\
2, awesome posters I finally managed to order from High Life Dubai.
1, year it’s been since I published Life After Joe.  It’s been a bumpy ride.
1, giveaway for my book, Life After Joe.  Have you entered?

Photo of the week:

Life After Joe – Giveaway!

Hey gang – in honor of the one-year anniversary, I started a contest on Goodreads for Life After Joe and would love for you to enter a free copy!  Of course, if you can’t wait, you can always go ahead and buy a copy.

Review: Results May Vary

So, I’ve been a member of NetGalley for about four months now and have enjoyed (for the most part) the books I’ve received.  One recent highlight came in the form of Results May Vary, by Bethany Chase.  I couldn’t remember why I downloaded it (usually, I choose books for one of two categories: research for an upcoming book or fun smut), but for the first time in awhile, it was good to go into a novel without knowing too much.

The cover is the least exciting thing about this book.

And, in the spirit of not giving too much away, I’ll let you know the premise (which you can find online, this is not some sort of huge spoiler).  A man and woman have been together since they were in high school and married for years.  When the husband has an affair with a man, all kinds of everything unravels.

There are soooooo many things that are well done in this book.  The characters themselves are some of the most honest I’ve ever come across — they literally jump off the page with realistic actions, dialogue, and imperfections.  They are well-rounded human beings with emotional arcs and unique quirks.  A story of an affair has certainly been done before, but this version of it feels new.  The heartbreak is still present, as are any number of other questions — some of which are answered, some of which are not.  Furthermore, Ms. Chase has an absolutely beautiful way with language.

As someone who has been married for a wee while (13 years, not to mention the year or so and change we were together before then), there were all sorts of passages that leapt out to me.  Here’s one particularly memorable one:

You might learn that he hates bleu cheese, but you weren’t there the night he got annihilatingly sick on buffalo wings, and you didn’t spend the hours from one to four A.M. slumped against the wall outside the bathroom because he was sure he was going to die and you didn’t want to leave him alone with his paranoia and his bacteria. Patrick might have known that Adam’s father had had a heart attack, but he hadn’t seen his face when he got the news. Hadn’t held him, and felt him trembling. Hadn’t heard the words he mumbled into my hair the night Theodore was upgraded out of critical condition: “I don’t know what would happen to me without him.”

Patrick might have fucked my husband, but he didn’t know him.

And yet. He knew things I didn’t. Things I didn’t understand, because Adam had refused to explain them to me.

While I have not done so yet, I would absolutely pick up another book by this author.  I believe the novel will be released on August 9th, and if you are in the market for a smart contemporary story, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Results May Vary.

Thank you to both the publisher and NetGalley for granting me access to this title.

 

Happy First Anniversary, Life After Joe!

Well, here we are.  Life After Joe is exactly one-year-old today.  To start, what I wouldn’t do to go back and talk to Courtney in July 2015…  No, I don’t think you understand the limits I would go to correct the path I was on… The things I would warn her of and the plans I would put in place.  As you’re probably aware, my books are all on a bit of an imposed ‘time out’ from Amazon at the moment.  While I hit some big milestones at the start of my adventure with Joe, I’ve been extremely hands off for nearly half the time the book has been out.  And I should feel worse about that fact, but as this is the eighth book I’ve released, my attitude has morphed into kind of a ‘just go do your thing book, I don’t have the energy to make sure you figure things out.’  This, by the way, is an absolutely terrible way to go about marketing a book.

Should you want to help celebrate the birthday of Joe, it is available to buy here and for a free preview, here.

And yet…

There’s some little milestones out there that make me think this year wasn’t a total disaster:

Even though it’s not perfect (sensing a theme here, are we?), I did finally release a hard copy of Joe (and yes, this is the first time I’ve announced it).
The reviews are for the most part…quite good.  I’m rocking 4.0 on Goodreads and a 4.3 on Amazon (both out of 5 stars).
There have been some meaningful reviews.
I haven’t stopped writing or editing.

What hopes do I have for Year 2?  Sadly, not that many.  If I get control back of the book (in February 2017), I would like to do another free listing on Amazon.  More than anything, I want to KENP pages back.  I was starting to do quite well before the rug was yanked out from under me.  My optimistic self (as of February 16, 2016) thought all these pages read would generate some great word of mouth and reviews.

So, today is a bit melancholy.  I know there are other things I’ve done since July 2015, things I can be very proud of, but I’m not going to lie and say I’m rather disappointed from where I thought I would be with my book.

 

 

Sunday Sentence.

They had said stupid things. They had kept secrets, nurtured grudges, blown upon the embers of regret. They had worshipped a variety of gods or no god at all. They had awakened in the night to the sound of rain. They had apologized. They had attended various ceremonies. They had explained the history of themselves to psychologists, priests, lovers, and strangers in bars. They had, at unexpected moments, experienced bolts of joy so unalloyed, so untethered to events, that they seemed to come from above; they had longed to be known and, sometimes, almost were.

Justin Cronin, City of Mirrors‏

 

Closer to Fine.

Somehow, in a moment of pure ‘duh’ I realized what my cover was missing — the Union Jack!  I’m much happier with the look of this, but it’s still not 100%.  I mean, these covers are something I could live with, but am not completely happy with (although I realize now that I want to move the title up so it matches with the red bar in the Union Jack).

Your thoughts and comments are always welcome!  I’m trying to somehow interest my potential reader, but also convey this is a steampunk/gaslamp/Victorian style story.  I know, tall order.

Review: The Girl From Everywhere

The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig is ambitious.  There’s a big concept (time travel), which is (for the most part) immaculately delivered and the height of creativity.  Most unfortunately for Ms. Heilig, her characters can’t seem to quite keep up with the journey.  The book started very strong: motivated action, unique idea, lyrical writing, great locations (Hawaii! New York! China!) and (best of all) diverse characters (something I am really trying to work on).

And then…

It’s rare that I am straight up confused by a book.  After all, I’ve been a voracious reader since I picked up my first chapter book and I understand how the action of a book is supposed to go.  To start, I have no issue with one of the supporting characters being the protagonist’s father, but he is also the captain of their ship, resulting in said character getting referred to as her father, the Captain and Slate (awkward, especially when all are mixed up in a conversation).  I’m toeing the line of hypocrisy here, as I have my own Captain, also referred to as Jonathan and Cranleigh (his first and last name).

An additional love interest gets introduced for no particular reason, and, (spoiler alert), he gets to hang around for the sequel.  The bland third party reminded me of my own current manuscript and while I do have a love triangle, I need to do a better job of character development with my third guy.  Right now, he’s got a lot of potential, but after reading this book, I realized he needs to take up a bit more space.

As I mentioned above, there was a point in this novel where I wondered if a giant scene had been cut (I’m not the only one to think this, BTW).  Literally, I had no idea how or why the characters ended up going to a location.  An entire sequence seemed to appear, strangely, out of nowhere, which only added to an unnecessarily confusing end to the book (which I more or less skimmed through).

While I love magical realism (hey, that’s been my game for the past 18 months as I work on the Queen), having magic as a Deus ex machina doesn’t particularly do it for me.  Sure, everyone is allowed a moment of disbelief, but when a crew just so happens to have tons of devices for the sake of getting them out of trouble, instead of working through things, well, isn’t that just lazy writing?  (And yes, I see fingers pointed back at me, I mean, I pull the legendary Excalibur pretty much out of nowhere).

Overall, I think the editor should have stepped up their game by a significant margin.  The structure and bones of the book are in place, but like a strange pinball bouncing everywhere, the novel gets mired down by an uneven cast and a storyline that deviates from where it should.  Honestly, I would love to see this high concept in the capable hands of a better YA/Fantasy/Supernatural author.

Oh well, maybe there’s some good fanfiction out there…

LOVE the cover, ‘meh’ about the book.  I don’t think I’ll be reading the sequel, unless it’s at a reduced price.

 

Leaning into FOMO…

We’re at the time of year where many fortunate people go out into the world to travel and have adventures.  And yes, I’ve been on a trip this summer (I wouldn’t classify it as a holiday, per se, but I was able to get away).  And inevitably, there’s that feeling when you come back from a trip and fall into a case of post-holiday blues (maybe you’re lucky enough to avoid these feelings, but I certainly am not).  Once I had my jet lagged sorted, I began obsessing about new places to go (especially with the Eid break on the horizon).  I thought of Europe, of driving to Oman, of going to the Maldives…all of which were silly ideas given that we had just returned from a long trip.

And last week, a light switched on.  Now, it’s still a daily struggle not to wish I was tagging along with my friends (who, by the way, are quite the world travelers), but I decided I could still get a lot done in July and it was silly for me to mope around, get jealous and basically be unproductive.

My main points of focus will be:

Get back into volunteering!  I’ve been away from K9 Friends for too long.
Writing!  My plan is for 1,000 words a day on The Queen 2.  I’ve gone back and forth about when to start editing the final draft of the Queen 1, but I think it will be best to get back to it once I’ve finished the sequel (which, if I stick to the schedule, should be near the end of July — another 30K or so… Insh’allah!)
Get on top of all my reviews for A to Za’atar — I’m still two behind from my trip home, and I know I’ll have three more this week.
Pitch more. As my food blog is moving along quite nicely, I want to stop deleting the press releases that come my way and make more plans to do something about them.  The summer is traditionally a slow period in the Middle East, but it’s no reason I can’t stay on top of my foodie game.
You know all that stuff you put off for a ‘rainy day?’  Well, in 45C heat, I’m trapped inside and have been going through a few projects that have been overlooked.  Basically, I’m getting all my little duckies in a row.
Excercise.  Daily.  I’ve also decided to step up my game and commit to one class a week (I happen to enjoy Flywheel and want to get into the habit of going at least once a weekend).  With a trip to Bali planned for September, I want to feel better about myself in a bikini.
Cut back on the booze.  With everyone out of town, there’s a lot less focus on going out, which makes this quite a bit easier (oops, Eid plans).
It may sound silly to you, but spending time with my sweet kitty, Nubbins.  She’s getting old, and I want to make sure she’s feeling lots of love (brb, cuddle break).
Enjoying this time for what it is — down time.  Not every moment of every day of every week has to be spent doing something amazing.  It’s okay to read a book, get caught up on laundry, or prep food for the week.  It’s okay to lose myself in a well-done television series or skip a few things on my to-do list in a week.
While comparison can be the thief of joy, I think it’s more positive to think, ‘I may not be there now, but I’m definitely going to go to that place/restaurant/venue in the future.’

I’m hoping everything above will remind me that I have an awesome life, and I don’t need to be so worried about comparing myself to all the amazing things others are doing.

Do you have FOMO?  How do you deal?