Ann Benjamin's Blog, page 291

Writer’s Retreat!

This past week I was lucky enough to meet up with a very important out of town guest.  A bit of backstory…  The lovely Dr. Elena Sandovici and I have been corresponding ever since she wrote to me about my book back in February.  She is the author of Dogs with Bagels and a  talented water colorist.  While she teaches in the States, she often spends summers in Europe (much closer to the Emirates).  When she suggested a visit to my warm shores, I was delighted!  It’s funny to correspond with someone for so long and then finally meet them.  Some of my favorite things I learned about Elena?  In list form, please!

She types one handed!  I was in awe of this fact.
She speaks 5 languages.
She is a wonderful person to talk about characters with.
She knows her way around the La Mer counter!
She has great fashion sense – I’m still jealous of the red dress she bought!

The authors thinking about their characters at sundown.

As an author, and especially a self published one, it’s been wonderful to connect with another author going through a similar process.  The ups and downs – the little victories.  I’ve enjoyed this growing friendship immensely.

Hoping we meet again soon!

Book Review: The Unexpected Waltz

Another day, another book where the husband is dead.  Such is my life.  As I love dancing, I was very excited to read this novel, but now that I’ve finished it, I can’t really say how this book left me feeling.  I wasn’t particularly drawn in by the protagonist (especially her presentation as a widow), nor did the sections explaining dance speak to me.  As a dancer, the backdrop of the strict dance studio and the world presented didn’t resonate with my own experience.  It’s not that my own dancing trumps anyone else’s, it’s just I think the sequences could be done better.  I’ve only tackled the act of ballroom dance in a few short stories, so I know it’s difficult to translate the passion, movement and tempo of what takes place on the dance floor to the page, but again, I felt that if a non-dancer was reading this they wouldn’t necessarily be taken away to the magical world that is ballroom.  To go on a bit of a tangent, treating dance as something only accessible by (expensive) private lessons seems a bit unfair.  If you possess any amount of rhythm, you should be able to go out to a club or event that caters to this sort of crowd and pick a lot of it up on your own.  Unless you were going to compete, social dancing is a fairly easy scene to get into.  (And for the record, it’s an activity that crosses religious and racial boundaries – salsa dancing in Qatar was about the only fun thing I did while there).

I digress…  Back to the book.

The good?  Excellent supporting cast.  And I’ll admit it, any dancing is better than no dancing.

The bad?  Meh lead character.  Literally no character development of the dead husband.  Numerous unresolved issues.  This felt more like a self-published book than it did a novel from one of the publishing houses.

The random?  I really liked the book club questions at the end of the book!  I might have to do something similar.

A look at Amazon reveals positive reviews (4 – this book came out recently) and as usual, Goodreads slightly lower (more realistic?).

Decent, but a $5.99 price feels more appropriate (and $18.00 for the hardcover seems out of control).

‘Book’ bags.

Not real posts are so much fun to write!  Also, terrible pun is terrible!

I recently started following the ‘Book Love’ Pinterest board by PopSugar, which has a lot of great book recommendations.  They also had a section with some really cute pairing of books with bags…which gave me an excuse to look for bags to go with my novels!  And also find an awesome Tory Burch that I now totally want.

For Room 702, I thought classic, but quirky (just like the Winchester).  I ultimately decided on the Paul Smith (for those with more masculine tastes) and Kate Spade (for those with more feminine tastes).

For my Line books, I wanted something a bit more fun.  I found some great inside joke references, but ultimately decided on the below option – a backpack I think any of my young ladies would carry.

 

 

 

Book review: The Widow’s Guide to Sex and Dating

After a break from my grief books (thank you Life After Life, for a fantastic detour), I picked up The Widow’s Guide to Sex and Dating: A Novel by Carole Radziwill (a work of fiction).  To begin with, this is the second book I’ve picked up where the (dead) husband is a philanderer.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the novel – but I don’t understand why this plot point is necessary.  Thus far, the books seem to kill off the husband by either mostly ‘tragic freak accident’ or ‘long debilitating illness.’  With the freak accident storyline, the dead husband has been cheating on his wife (now widow).  I’m not really sure why this is.  In working on my current manuscript (so close to being finished), I never once thought to make Joe someone who cheated on my protagonist.  It would feel very cheap to do so.  While she (I’m still debating the name) does learn plenty about her husband after his death, there are no ‘other women’ waiting in the wings.  Do the other authors make this choice to justify their characters sleeping with new men?

I was also a bit intrigued with the chosen voice of the book.  It’s very…atypical.  I warmed up to it at the end, but having the narrator be…no one involved with the story, I wasn’t sure why Ms. Radziwill would choose to present the book this way.  Additionally, while I was sympathetic to the protagonist, I never connected with her the way I have with others.

Would I recommend? Maybe, but I think the price needs to drop about $5.

As always, I’m curious what reviewers think.  The readers seem mostly happy with this book, although the average is currently lower than my own Room 702 on both Amazon and Goodreads – where ouch! the readers are truly brutal.

Googlism.

In case you didn’t know – at Googlism.com will find out what Google.com thinks of you, your friends or anything!  (I did this with my real name as well and was pleased with the results).

Googlism for: Room 702

room 702 is a luxurious junior suite at a fictional hotel

room 702 is not for them

room 702 is a collection of short stories and little dreams that weave a rich world of whimsy and undercurrents

room 702 is a double

room 702 is supposedly inhabited by a ghost

room 702 is an easy read

room 702 is where john lennon and yoko ono held a week long “bed

room 702 is next to the american corner on the

room 702 is a double double suite at the roger smith hotel

room 702 is said to be haunted and there have even been images captured of this ghost

room 702 is on the corner and has a great view

room 702 is amazing and the outdoor terrace is perfect to enjoy and

room 702 is the north

room 702 is beautiful

room 702 is a good family sized room?

room 702 is a great room great views and very large and comfortable

room 702 is nice and quiet and right by the pool

Okay, so not all of them make sense – but I think most have to do with my book.  Whoo-hoo!

I’m hoping to get back to real posting soon.  I have an exciting meeting with another author I met through my book next week!  She is coming to the Emirates and I’m super excited.

 

When Ann travels…

This is how I roll!

Given I tend to make 2-3 long haul RT long haul trips a year, I’ve got my routine down to a bit of a science.  Although I usually am fortunate enough to fly business class, I do make the (very) occasional coach class flight – and I’m looking at a 13+ hour flight tomorrow with Emirates to Boston.  Fortunately, I think the world of Emirates and there’s no one else I’d rather be making the flight with.  I’ve secured my favorite seat (first bulkhead, directly in front of the bulkhead = no one behind me) and have fingers crossed that seat showing next to me will remain open so I can spread out.  So, what does my carry on contain?

1.  First and foremost, my Beats.  I hate most noises, so these are essential for cutting out most sounds.

2.  Ear plugs – yup – I double up!  You never know when the screaming baby is going to be seated near you, so I pack these just to be safe.

3.  Disposable socks (an unused pair usually left over from a previous flight).  Put on over socks – discard after flight.

4.  Hand sanitizer.  Sharing germs for that many hours?  Seems necessary!

5.   iPad mini loaded with books.  I never know what I’ll feel like reading – so, I have 5-6 books to choose from.

6.  Eye mask.  Although my entire flight tomorrow is during daylight hours, I might want a snooze.

7.  Pack of Kleenex (for inevitable spills and needs that arise).

8.  Spare shirt (for when I arrive).

9.  Fleece jacket/pashmina.  It can get cold, or I can use my jacket for a pillow.

10. Laptop for writing.  I usually manage a decent writing session on these types of flights.  I’m hoping for a little over 2,000 words tomorrow.

11.  Podcasts/relaxation app.  Sometimes you just want to zone out.  Podcasts are perfect for this, as is the Pzizz sleep app.  Even though it’s very rare for me to sleep while sitting up, the Pzizz app is a great way for me to kind of zen out for as long as I want (you can set the time that you want it to run).

12.  E-gate card (I skip those lines whenever possible!)

Keep those fingers crossed for an upgrade tomorrow!!!

1 Year: Room 702.

So, it’s been one year since I released Room 702.

As you might be aware, things did not go how I thought they would.  I didn’t have the sales I expected.  I did not reach my goal.  I did learn a lot, but I’m stuck wondering how to feel.  Do I feel successful?  Yes and no.  My last minute effort to trigger book sales (the KDP Select free e-book dates) was in line with my ambition and the feedback I’ve received for the book is almost all positive, but my sales are much (much!) lower than I expected them to be.

What happens next?

Honestly,  I don’t know.  When I first published, I thought, “I will give this book a year and then let it go.”  And now, I don’t know.  I have a few things lined up, but is a year enough time?  Didn’t I get into this knowing that it’s about the marathon and not the sprint?  Does the book have enough momentum to carry itself?  Isn’t there time to market Room 702 along with my six other books and work on my new projects?  Another part of me says I should at least carry on until I break even.  Additionally, given that I’ve actively thought about this book every day for over a year, marketing the book is a difficult habit to break.

Either way – I feel I should say, “Happy Anniversary, Room 702!  Thanks for all that you’ve taught me.”

Out of the habit.

Preach it, Snoop.

I’ve been on a temporary hiatus from my book (mostly due to work, preparing blog posts, life, and general excuses).  I hate it when this happens, because it takes me FOREVER to get back into the groove of writing.  I’m very much a creature of habit and when my schedule gets interrupted it’s difficult for me to bounce back.  Looking at the next few weeks, it appears life will make it tough for me to get into the final push of my work in progress, but I’m going to try.  I have two very long flights where I’m hoping to get some serious work accomplished.

Not a real post.

Book review: Farewell Trip.

In my ongoing review of grief books, I struggled this week to get through Farewell Trip.

Good parts?  At first blush, it’s a creative take on the widow story.  I enjoyed the use of first person.  There was a clever title (the dead husband is named Trip).

The bad?  Neither the protagonist nor the dead husband are particularly lovable.  Like, they are kind of terrible people (they both cheated on the other, but neither would admit to this).  I also think, even as someone who loves expletives in her own life, the use of the word ‘fuck’ is well overused.  Awkward, stilted writing between the various timelines doesn’t help the story, it considerably hurts the flow of the novel.

The weird?  The marriage didn’t strike me as particularly solid, good, or worth writing about.  The couple, who are childless – by choice – have some fundamental issues about communication (on everything from career, to affairs to having children).  And since one of the characters is dead, there is no way to resolve this issue.  Additionally, the book actually calls out and sort of knocks on P.S. I Love You, which got me wondering – am I allowed to do that?!

I forced myself to finish – not really caring what happened to the widow and not seeing resolution of any kind.  There were some really lovely moments, but not enough to overcome for the awkward story.

I’ll also put this books on the list of, ‘This was traditionally published?!?’ and ‘It took two people to write this?’

Avoid.