Ann Benjamin's Blog, page 249

Author Challenge, Day 8: Shelfie

*Raises hand* My name is Courtney Brandt and I rarely never buy physical copies of books.  Honestly, shamefully I do not even have hard copies of all of my books.  Essentially, goodness do I like adverbs this morning being an expat for 9 years, lugging around books is difficult and expensive.  It’s why I love e-books and will never go back.

Week by Numbers.

….Zoom.  That’s all I can say about this week!

1, first draft finished!  The Queen of England: Coronation is complete (for now).
19, beta readers I’ve sent the manuscript to.  I’m already curious to see what they are going to say!  (Please let me know if you would be interested and I’d be happy to send one your way).
1, dress that does not fit.  I’m going to the K9 Friends Puppy Ball tomorrow night and used the Dubai version of Rent the Runway.  Coming home today I found I couldn’t zip it up.  (Really, I did not glamour size myself…  I’m off tomorrow to see if I can find another dress, sobs).
A lot, of steps I took today visiting the Arabian Travel Market 2016.

Gif for the week:

Author Challenge, Day 7: An Outdoorsy Photo

Since you asked…  Here is Grímsey Island, off the coast of Iceland from summer 2015.  Not related to writing, but good to know places like this exist.

Author Challenge, Day 6: Favorite Review

As an author, I may not have sold the most books, but I have received some truly incredible reviews.  Over the years, two stick out to me:

With the release of the final book in my marching series, a reader commented (with love) how she couldn’t wait to pass these books along to her children.  Seriously, I was crazy excited.
With the release of Room 702, I received a private and very personal message.  In the book, a character goes to the room to end their life (but in the end, chooses not to).  Apparently, this reader had a nearly identical experience and had never know how to share that moment in their life with friends and family.  Reading the chapter was a way to bridge what happened and talk about it openly.  I cried.  In fact, I still tear up thinking about it.
Bonus!  As the subject of Life After Joe is a sensitive one (the journey — literally and figuratively — of a widow), I’ve been very happy with the reception from real widows.  Their opinions mean a lot to me.

Slothilda knows what’s up. Imagine this is me when I get a positive review.

Author Challenge, Day 5: Your First Author Photo

Lucky for me, I am friends with an INSANELY talented photographer.  Enter Heidi Ryder who was just starting her amazing career in 2006.  She gifted me with a fantastic selection of photos…which served me well.  (And was kind enough to do my most recent author pictures when we were home in the States last year!).

There are a few things I would tell this chick…

The Case of the Missing Freckles.

So, I’ve moved past editing my ‘red pen’ notes and am (more or less) finished incorporating the larger notes for The Queen of England: Coronation (as for the history, er, um…what’s that over there?).

What has changed thus far?

I moved a lot of stuff around.  A LOT.  In my hopes and attempt at keeping the plot moving, I brought a ton of stuff forward.  In this, I believe the action moves more quickly.
Added two new characters!  They were both necessary to a few missing plot devices.
Cut 1700 words (I have a scratch page open for scenes I wanted to include, but just can’t seem to find a home), however, I…
Added a few too many words.  Now weighing in at 74,755 words (239 pages), this is roughly 8K over where a traditional YA book in the same genre would clock in at.  I’m not particularly married to any word count, and I think the manuscript ‘reads’ fast, however, I’ll have to see what my beta readers have to say…  There are a few scenes I can see ending up in the bin.  For the record, the majority of words came towards the end of the book (which still needs work).
A further commitment to magic.
Realized I gave my protagonist freckles in the first few pages and then NEVER MENTION THEM AGAIN.  Poor freckles.

I’m starting to feel good about parts of this book.  I think the opening is quite strong, but I have a significant lack of an antagonist which is kind of killing me.  I’m happy with some of the ‘intrigue’ I added, but am fairly certain my characters are underdeveloped.  I want to add more steampunk and Victorian elements, but can’t find the motivation to do so.

What happens next?

Well, not entirely.  While I find beta readers for this draft (let me know if you’re interested), I’m going to pick up the sequel (which I left at like, 15K).  As much as I would LOVE to leave the world of the Queen, there is too much evidence that a series is best done, y’know, in a timely manner.  Also, I haven’t written my book yet this year.  Also, I feel like writing something new and the thought of editing is yuck.  So, sorry, A.U. you’re just going to have to wait until later this year or early 2017.

I’m also going to ramp up the preplanning of marketing the book for when it’s finished.  Oh, and maybe even finalizing the cover.  And still reading any YA steampunk that sounds good.  So, the next 6 weeks will be interesting.  If I am being realistic, I will most likely not pick The Queen (Book #1) until my return from the States in mid-June.  This date feels like the right amount of space to give myself so that I can get pumped for the final draft.

What are you working on these days?

Author Challenge, Day 4: Your Published Works

To date, I have 8 books published:

As Courtney Brandt

The Line

A Fine Line

Keeping in Line

The Line Up

Confessions of a Teenage Band Geek

Major Pain

As Ann Benjamin

Room 702

Life After Joe

I also have four unpublished novels (2 YA, 2 Adult), a novella, and a few books I have conceptualized but not yet written.  I’m hoping to release my next book, The Queen of England: Coronation later this year (under Courtney Brandt).  I’m also hoping to finish writing book two of the series (planned trilogy) this year.  I tend to write a book a year, and it’s almost May!

Author Challenge, Day 3: My Inspiration

I find inspiration everywhere (songs, lyrics, scraps of other novels, movies, television, podcasts, artwork, seriously, have you seen my Pinterest account?).  There is not one specific place it comes from, nor would I expect it to.  I do not write for someone or some higher ideal.  I suppose I write for readers, wherever they may be…

What inspires you?

Sunday Sentence.

I had to.  :(

Also, from the Notorious gold mine: “Your magazine probably won’t print this,” Prince said in response to a question about his youthful appearance, “but I don’t believe in time. I don’t count. When you count, it ages you.”

The world is a little less fabulous, interesting and talented a place without Prince in it.  RIP.

Author Challenge, Day Two: Favorite Dedication

Erm, I’m not so good at dedicating my own works.  The first couple of books got very specific and highly crafted dedications, but since then… Well, there is no rule that says you have to dedicate a novel to someone!

Instead, I’ll put forward this one (sorry unknown author, I don’t know who you are, but I love you).