Ann Benjamin's Blog, page 253

Week by numbers.

A busy week for sure!  I know I did a lot, but not sure the numbers reflect this.

17, pages edited (this is hard work – but fun fact, I learned Queen Victoria liked to eat her meals in 30 minutes)
???, kgs. Our scale is broken, so I have no idea if I’ve lost weight this week.
1, review posted with FooDiva (check it out!)
1, very successful If highly random) visit to Abu Dhabi
1, new grocery store that’s opened within walking distance (game changer, guys!!)
1, invitation to be on the local radio to discuss food – more details next week!

Gif of the week:

Italian Fashion Event leads to drinking saffron, and other parts of an unexpected Monday night adventure.

So, when an invite came across to attend an ‘Italian Lifestyle Journey’ at the St. Regis Abu Dhabi, I was intrigued.  Promising ‘a true immersion into style and fine dining’ AND a fashion show, I gave a call to one of my trusted wing women in the capital and plans were confirmed.  On the night of the event, we got dolled up and with really no idea what to expect, went forward.

Starting time? 7:30 (on schedule).  I guess?  Things were definitely ‘started’ when we arrived, but the whole evening lacked definition.  Some people spoke.  Food was served, but not announced, and at 8:20, there was a short fashion show.  While not everything has to have a schedule, I found it strange there was no real master or ceremonies, head PR person or even someone who could be counted as ‘in charge.’

Refreshments?  A very strange selection of hors-d’oeuvres to start, including lukewarm chicken bites, lukewarm cheese and deep fried eggs.  Yup, because runny egg yolk and fashion definitely go together and of course I got some on my dress.  At the start, we were a bit devastated as no alcohol looked to be on offer.  Lo, thirty minutes after we arrived, wine was finally brought out which we nearly had to run down someone to get.  There was also a buffet, with (apparently) some of the better Italian chefs in the Emirates (??).  With nothing particularly signed, no place to sit and not enough tables to balance a plate, it was a very awkward dining experience.

I mean, I guess it can’t all be bad if there is a Cannoli station.

There was definitely a miss on drinks – this would have been an easy time to showcase prosecco or serve a signature drink (I was thinking a Negroni, which is kind of having a moment right now).  It doesn’t always have to be about alcohol, but as Starwood was clearly listed as one of the main sponsors and the event was at their hotel, the whole thing felt very cheap and last minute.

Location?  St. Regis, Nation Tower (ballroom) and for the accidental ‘afterparty’ the highly originally named, St. Regis Bar.

Messages?  And here is where the Glitterati and I had some fun.  We still have NO IDEA what the night was about, what our takeaway was supposed to be, or what the organizers wanted from the attendees.  We didn’t have to sign in or up for anything, no business cards were collected, nor were there any materials to take home.  There was no branding, no hashtag to use, no clever social media tie in.  It was a textbook ‘what not to do in PR’ event.  We wondered if it was some weird pet project of some senior Italian official, but I guess we’ll never know for sure.

I wish you could’ve seen this dress in person (or that I had taken a better picture). We dubbed it the ‘champagne dress’ and it was an absolute stunner!

In the end, we decided it was an event to showcase what the Starwood brand was capable of…in Italy??

Personal reflections?  The evening took a decided turn towards the positive near the time we decided to leave.  We were approached by two restaurateur types, where the conversation took equal turns into what the hell the evening was about and stylish (and comfortable) men’s shoes.  Deciding on a night cap, the Glitterati and myself mentioned we would be at the bar, not really expecting to have anyone join us.  Thirty minutes later, we were rejoined by aforementioned restaurant guys, which is how we ended up drinking a lot of prosecco, cosmopolitans and strange saffron drinks.  We spoke of celebrity doppelgängers, real life twins, and, of course, relationships.  I think my takeaway here is that ‘one for the road’ is probably not good for your liver, but can lead to a fun story.

Swag?  An Alitalia branded purse holder and a very nice glass jewel thing (by Pauly) that should make for a nice necklace.

Bottom line: Getting dressed up on a Monday night can lead to some strange adventures.  The journey continues on Thursday, where Glitterati and her hubby will enjoy a meal as a guest of the restaurant, Circo.

Ciao bella!

All that can be accomplished in a month.

So, it’s been a month.

One month since I left NYUAD for the (still) sunny shores of Dubai.  There is much that has been accomplished.  I finished my ‘half’ first draft of The Queen of England: Coronation (and have now started the very arduous task of incorporating all my notes and questions).  A 3 bedroom apartment is now set up as a 2 bedroom villa (WITH trash pick up and regular maid service).  I have a new residence permit.  I started volunteering.  I’ve got some food reviews lined up.  I took my cat to the vet, just to check her healthy levels.  I’ve made it to some new restaurants.  We’ve met up with old friends.  I thought about trying to lose weight.  All in all, it’s not been too bad a month.

Do I miss my old job?  I can tell you honestly — not even a little.  I carry no regret, guilt or emotion towards the work I did.  It’s almost as if (with all puns intended), it was a chapter in my life.  The chapter ended and I’m onto the next one.

I think the biggest struggle for me has been how to balance everything I want to do.  I am a person who feels inherently guilty when I am not working on my book.  If this year off was supposed to be about writing and editing, then why am I not doing more?  Of course, there are limits, but when accepting other opportunities, it feels like I’m cheating on my manuscripts.  Therefore, I’ve been trying (and kind of failing) to reserve one day during the week where I am at the house all day to work on projects.  Thus far, it’s been a bit theoretical, but I think this anchor day is a key to balance.

For example, today I volunteered from 9-1PM, exercised a bit before that and came home to work 2 hours for my PT job, write an article I wasn’t expecting to, and thus far, fail to look at my poor manuscript.  To you, that might not sound all that stressful, but for me I feel anxious and unsettled…and it’s hard to break that mentality.

Of course, I have consistently been engaged with this WIP, and while maybe I’m in unchartered territory and still trying to find my way, I’m doing better than I thought I was.

Any thoughts on transitions and balance are welcome!

Sunday Sentence.

“I’ll do the baked scrod,” Evan said.

Marie Force, The McCarthys of Gansett Island

This sentence is nothing but an inside joke for my sister.  Also, I think ‘scrod’ is one of the funniest words in any language.  What are some of your favorite silly words?

In which I rate my current WIP a D- and realize I’ve been writing in the wrong genre.

From February 7th, I have been hard at work editing pages of the manuscript I wrote last year (The Queen of England: Coronation).  Today, I finished my edit.  While everyone has their own technique, I tend to print out a copy and mark it up in red pen (this time, pink ink).  Having wide columns allows me to make notes to myself, write additional dialogue and add questions for research and follow up.

I think this novel is firm evidence that writing while working an extremely full time job is a very bad idea.

It’s not that the book isn’t salvageable — I do believe there are pieces that have promise, but it is going to take a lot more work than I originally anticipated.  I was lazy.  I believed future Courtney would clean up my mess.  I started plots that went absolutely nowhere.  I have no real antagonist.  There is a telepathic unicorn (I promise, this one makes sense).  I have a good premise, but one that is not delivered or realized.  Poor Queen J.

Furthermore, when writing the book, I was convinced it was a steampunk novel.  Guess what?  It’s not!  Upon further research, I realize that a much better fit for the book would be as a Gaslamp Fantasy.  Gotta love crazy subgenres, right?  Stumbling into this definition actually made me feel a lot better.  For all the steampunk I’ve been reading, I know the audience is a smart one and very protective of the title.  While I might have a few steampunk elements, in no way are there enough details to classify the book as true steampunk.  To do so would’ve alienated people.  Now, I have a subgenre that is a much better fit.  If you like steampunk, you would mostly likely enjoy The Queen, but I’m not going to force it as something it is clearly not.

So, what happens next?  Well, the giant stack of marked up papers is going to eventually become a first draft.  I’m debating whether to move everything into Scrivener or simply edit in Word.  (Yes, these are the decisions of my life).  I anticipate it will take longer than the three weeks this effort took, but by the end, I should have a much more streamlined product with some much needed scenes and cuts — one that I will (gulp) be ready to share with others.

Latest cover effort. Damn I need to license this image!

What’s your latest creative effort?

Week by numbers.

Amazon has made this week utter and total shit.  A rant-y post coming up in the next few days – you have been warned.

199, pages edited – so close to finishing!
1, garbage can delivered!  (I know you are jealous).
2, nice dinners to look forward to this weekend.
1, UAE residence permit – just waiting on my Emirates ID and then I am finished!
4, decent homemade dinners I made this week.
0, kgs, ounces or any sort of weight I lost this week (I blame Amazon).
2, number of boxes of Triscuits I bought (a very happy occasion).

Gif of the week:

In honor of the Academy Awards…

I thought I would share a chapter focused on the Oscars from Room 702 (this is the second half of the evening).

Enjoy!

CHAPTER TWELVE

February 26, 2:35 a.m.

Having seen her mother safely to her room next door, and, given how many hours she had been in heels, Kat isn’t surprised to feel extreme relief after removing her shoes and sinking into the luxurious mattress. Since leaving the Winchester so many hours ago, this is the first chance she’s had to be alone … with him.

The statuette is heavier than she had thought it would be. Of course, that’s what everyone says.

Kat flips on the television, finding the E! Network and leaves the channel on, hoping they will replay her speech. The newly minted Oscar award winner is doubtful; after all, there were some highly memorable events throughout the broadcast, and hers was not among the highlights.

Other than the fact she now has an Oscar, the whole evening feels like a dream. Somewhere within her champagne-soaked brain, she recognizes this is reality. The statuette is hers, forever, a permanent memento of all her hard work and dedication—of sixty-hour weeks, of getting through the glass ceiling.

The statue sits in the middle of the pristine white comforter.

She realizes this would be the point when anyone in her position might question, wow, has everything I’ve given up over the years been worth it?

For her, the answer is an instant and unequivocal yes. Standing on the stage in front of her peers and being recognized in the best way possible is worth not having a “normal life.”

With her emotions spent and the remaining alcohol waning from her system, Kat slips off her dress, splashes some water on her face and crawls into bed with the small metallic man, more content than if any flesh-and-blood person was next to her.

Here’s hoping, Leo!

My thoughts on newsletters (yes, I have a strong opinion).

Below ‘conversation’ was originally posted by The Middle Finger Project.

A person, going into business for themselves for the first time: How can I get found?

The world: Start a newsletter!

Person: What, like a weekly bulletin?

The world: No, like a newsletter.

Person: So, like, write a bunch of updates about me, me, and me?

The world: Yeah! A newsletter!

Person: Every week?

The world: Yeah! Content is king!

Person: And then ask customers to actually request to receive something I wrote all about me, me and me?

The world: Yeah! Opt-in!

Person: But will anybody care to read something all about me, me and me?

The world: Um…yeah, it’s a NEWSLETTER, DUH.

Person: But who even reads those?

The world: Everybody.

Person: You mean nobody?

The world: No, we mean everybody.

Person: Half the time I can’t even get my husband to listen to me–why will anybody else?!

The world: You have to create epic content!

Person: Epilepsy?

The world: EPICCCCCC CONTENNNNNTTTTTTTT!

Person: What does that even mean?

The world: You really need to invest in yourself.

Person: How do I do that?

The world: Sign up for an online class.

Person: How do I do that?

The world: Opt in for somebody’s newsletter.

Person: What if I don’t want to opt in for anybody’s newsletter?

The world: You probably don’t have the entrepreneur mindset.

Person: What’s the entrepreneur mindset?

The world: Do what everyone else is doing and then call yourself an entrepreneur.

Person: That explains a lot.

The world: It’s all about the mindset!

Person: I thought it was all about the newsletter?

The world: Yeah I’m a little confused myself; I’m waiting to see what everybody else decides and then I’ll let you know.”

For a long time, I’ve been hearing/reading/absorbing that I need to start a newsletter.  Should I want to be successful, I am already too late to the game.  That I need not hundreds, but thousands of followers – specifically in the form of a newsletter.  Mail Chimp.  Automated responses.  Sign ups.  Opt in.  Facebook Ads.

You want to know something?  All these words stress me out. I don’t know about you, but my average junk e-mail allowance is somewhere between 50-70 per day.  Many of those are companies I once bought from…five years ago still send me stuff.  I rarely (if ever) sign up for newsletters.  Why?  Because I have plenty of digital clutter.  If I want to find something, I know where it is.  I have enough distractions without someone else’s stuff adding to the mix.

Therein lies the question.

If I hate digital clutter so much (seriously, go try Unroll me, if you want to do something productive today), why would I hypocritically create more?  I love my blog, but is the content so great that thousands of people should subscribe?  No, it’s not and maybe I should look into that. In all honesty, the amount of effort it would take to create and coordinate extra content versus the few extra sales it would add has not reached a tipping point where I see the value.  Links to my books are all over my blog.  I mention my books every couple of posts (hopefully not too many to be obnoxious).  I feel like that is enough.

As I struggle to finish editing my current manuscript, worry about not starting or working on another book, try and launch some other projects I’m interested in and balance the other parts of my life, I don’t have enough time to maintain a newsletter.

‘The stresses of maintaining a newsletter’ – does it get more first world problems than this?

This is one of the gifs you get when typing ‘newsletter’ into Giphy. The more you know.

How about you gentle reader?  Can you direct me to a well done newsletter?  Is there one you find a lot of value in?  Would you like to see one from me?

Some musings on moving from an Abu Dhabi apartment to a Dubai villa…

Feeling in a list mode this afternoon:

You can live without garbage pick up for more than 3 weeks.  You might have to secretly hijack the neighbors garbage can and throw your stuff away in theirs, but whatever.
Always ensure there is wine somewhere that can be consumed.
Dubai is much larger and complicated than it was in 2011.  Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes that’s a bad thing.
If something is to be delivered to your new place, the hours to wait will be between 9-6PM.  Yes, you will have other things to do.  Yes, they will not come until late afternoon.  Potentially, they will not show up at all.
Saving money by living in a new development might seem like a good idea, however, approximately no one will know where you live or how to get there.  BTW, there are no landmarks.
No less than four men a day will come to your villa and offer landscaping services.  Accept one, but be sure to haggle on the price.  At least say ‘best price?’  Or completely forget that’s how things are done and be convinced you were screwed over on the cost of bamboo.
Inevitably, you will need to visit Al Wasl Road no less than three times a week.
Your new neighbors will actually be awesome.  There is a hokey facebook group where people tell each other good morning.  An immediate neighbor will bring you Swiss treats because they just welcomed a baby girl to the family.
There is a hidden Modesh in one of the nearby yards.
Google Maps is simultaneously your best friend and worst enemy.
You can do everything and nothing and feel bad about both. FOMO is a real thing, y’all.
One can spend 4 hours at MOE and make friends with the employees of both Apple and Crate & Barrel.
Remind yourself daily that you are healthy, your husband is healthy and so is your 20 year old cat.
The first time someone cleans your apartment, you might want to weep with gratitude.

To be fair, the view is worth it.
Happy cat is happy.

Have you made the move?  Any observations to share?

Sunday Sentence.

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.

Harper Lee

A fitting quote today and one that I feel deeply.  RIP, Ms. Lee.  Thank you for giving us a perfect novel.