France, ready or not, here I come!

Oy vey. I am so not prepared for this trip but what can you do? I still haven't packed. My flight isn't until tomorrow night at 8:30pm so I feel like I have plenty of time to do it tomorrow. I have gone shopping for all my personal items (soap, handy wipes, toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, et cetera) so I have prepared in that way but I haven't tackled my wardrobe and to be honest, it is a daunting prospect.

If I am to be honest, truly the reason why I have not packed as of yet is because I really don't know what to take. This global warming has me (and the weather) all screwed up. Take us here in Vegas for instance. I don't know how many of you have actually been here in May but usually it's a hot. I don't mean sort of, "oh, isn't it a bit warm?" hot but "Damn, where is the nearest casino/strip mall/indoors place with air conditioning?" hot. We usually have entered the late 90s by this time if we haven't already started on our 100 degree plus days and this lasts until about mid to late September (one year, it lasted until early October).

This year, the weather has been bi-polar. I don't know any other word for it. Perhaps Mother Earth is manic depressive? One minute (today), it is a high of almost 90 degrees. You're blasting your air-con in the car and generally sweltering. Now, it's windy and the temps have dropped into the 60s. Our high for tomorrow? 61 degrees. No, that's not a misprint. A whopping 61 degrees! If that isn't bi-polar, I don't know what is. And it has been like this all month. For a few days, we'll have temps into the 80s and maybe a day flirting with 91 or 92 and then bam!, it's back down to temps in the late 60s and early 70s. WTF?

Now, if I hadn't lived here for the past seven years and didn't know usual Vegas weather like the back of my hand, I would say perhaps it is an anomaly. But it has NEVER been like this as long as I have been here. It has always been no spring weather (not really)... just straight from cool temps to hot temps. And now, my body is all screwed up. I'm actually sweating on days in the 80s when they used to not even phase me. I complain about it being hot when it is a mere 90 degrees (and that is nothing for a city which spends most of June and July with 100+ temps and July is usually 110+).

Mmm, don't know what it is... end of the world, maybe? The temps in France are just as schizo so this isn't purely an American phenomenon. They have highs in the mid 70s and temps at night in the 40s and 50s. Huh? In the spring time? Yes, I know, Paris is a bit north and therefore going to be cooler. It isn't Barcelona or Madrid and I don't expect it to be but then again, it isn't Manchester either. So, what's going on?

Basically, the moral of this story is I will layer and not take many clothes for *hot* days. I will take some thin shirts in case I need to peel off a few layers but I think it is safe to say I can leave my shorts and capris at home.

The next time I communicate with you all, I will be on French time so don't be surprised if you receive blog updates at odd times as they are 9 hours ahead Pacific Standard Time (6 hours for EST et cetera for all y'all living in Mountain and Central). You'll figure it out. I wish you all a wonderful weekend and will be back again soon!

Au revoir... ;-)

Anyone on Facebook you never want to run into?

Yes, I know that was not a very grammatically correct headline (if the newspapers can get away with it, why can't I?) and I apologize to the one follower I have at the moment but read me out. I have been extremely busy this week as my BFF flew down from L.A. to see me for a couple of days (two days of gambling and not going to bed before dawn has made me a not-so-happy-camper). I then only had three days to prepare The Hook Up: Book Two but it was done and posted on Smashwords, Pubit (B&N) and Amazon this afternoon by me. I also worked on the paperback version as well on CreateSpace.

All of this has to be put into perspective as I am leaving on a month-long vacation to France on Sunday to see friends and I still haven't packed. I haven't left my computer all day (except for quick errands that couldn't be helped). I am working insanely long hours between the book and promotion. I try my best to write on this blog at least twice per week (that has suffered this week and for that, I apologize) and I also have a full time life outside my work as an author (who doesn't so no excuses being made).

I have spoken about my divorce (albeit briefly) because it had to do with my books. I changed my name and resubmitted all my work in both my maiden and divorced last names because this series is merely a transition. When I begin the Pop Stars novella series, Benson will be long gone and I will no longer use this hideous name which carries nothing but bad memories for me.

Okay, so what does this have to do with what I was talking about and my headline? A fellow blogger is getting a divorce from her husband (for her own privacy, I will not share her name and unless you follow her blog, you would have no idea). I thought I was pretty much over mine now that it has been more than a year. I would like to believe I am a strong woman; independent and very capable of moving on. In a way I have. I don't date (at the moment) but that is merely because my professional life (divided between university and my more-than-full-time job as a writer and author) keep me very busy. That's not to say there isn't someone special in my life or who could be special but it's only to say at this time in my life, I am merely donating all my time and energy to my schooling and writing. I am living vicariously through my art, so to speak!

So, I sign on to Facebook yesterday and up pops the "People You Might Know" button or whatever it says and there he is. The one person I would rather not see ever again. If I could have lived my whole life and never laid eyes on him, I would have been one happy camper. But no. He's there mocking me, arm-in-arm with a trashy bleach-blonde who looks like an Eastern European prostitute who hasn't escaped white slavery yet (my apologies to Eastern European prostitutes in white slavery; you're probably better looking and much nicer people too!).

He is listed under a different name of course. I always knew he didn't use the name we had as our married name and our marriage was complicated and an absolute mess. I won't say much more than that as I feel like I have preserved his identity even if I have probably massacred my own. I know I sound petty and mean and probably just a spiteful witch who is just jealous. I'm all of those things but most of all, I am hurt. Hurt that I still feel anything for this human being. Hurt that he can still hurt me. Hurt because I am ashamed to admit my feelings to my family but I can tell the whole world literally in cyberspace.

Okay, the pity party is over. Please forgive me but as I am a writer, I'm allowed to be temperamental (Henry Miller and Ernest Hemingway are my heroes).

Without further ado, I unleash the cover of The Hook Up: Book Two of The Beautiful People series now available on Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62547. It should be available on Kindle and B&N tomorrow.

Enjoy and I will definitely update before I leave for France and while I am vacationing there too. I will be spending some much beloved time between Versailles (yes, it has a famous chateau but it is also a suburb home to over 100,000 people; some of which are my friends) and Paris. Have a wonderful weekend and a lovely evening.

Coming by the end of the month...

I have been doing this whole e-book thing almost a month and the only thing it has convinced me of is nothing helps sales like more books. I was going to pace the novellas coming out but as they are completed (they just have to be edited), there is no reason to speed up the process and have them come out every two weeks, or even every week. The only snag is June since I will be France the whole time and I work on two different laptops. My netbook is easier for me to write on but I need my 15 inch to do editing and it has an official "Word" version (as opposed to just Open Office).

So, without further ado, I will release The Hook Up: Book Two before Memorial Day (I leave on the 29th so that gives me plenty of time and as the cover has been completed, it's only a matter of re-editing and proof reading). I didn't want to seem like a rank amateur and churn out copies of rubbish; badly edited and barely proof-read novellas which everyone would complain about quality but at the same time, I no longer have school as the semester is over and I just can't stay on the writer's boards as they are much too depressing. It's better if I were to actually do something with my time (especially since I can't write at the moment).

TBP series is draining all my time and energy and until it's finished and completely published, I highly doubt much will be done on my current novel. This makes me a bit upset as I want to write but at the same time, there is so much that needs to be done and the most important issue is to get myself noticed and to be out there.

I've had my first interview and I love it so much, I am giving a shout-out to the blogger, Nadine. Here's the link: http://www.indieebooks.blogspot.com/. I was interviewed on Friday so I'm below the Osama Bin Laden book. ;-)

An author's work is never done!

Argh! Apologies to the few fans I must have which follow this blog. Not only is it the last week of school (two more finals to go) but I have been trying to turn my novella into an ePub document (without success so far but we'll see how that goes), have also signed up for Barnes & Noble.com, re-vamped my cover for the Kindle version and have completed a ROW edition (Rest of The World for the uninitiated).

If I might try to explain in not so many words, I have a lot of friends who live outside the States and as English isn't their native language, I didn't want them to have to also have a measurement book next to them as they read my novel. For their sakes, in the ROW edition, I use the metric system of measurement and the euro/pound as opposed to the dollar. Yes, it was a lot of work but to me it was worth it.

I also have posted my first Craigslist ad in the Las Vegas section; it was a bit scary at first and I don't know what will come of it (most of the books on sale were from UNLV and CSN; mine lists a link to my Amazon Kindle book page and also has the two new covers I used).

It's a bit confusing because I wanted to use the color version for B&N (and CreateSpace) but the black and white was used. On Kindle, the B&W is the ROW edition;  the color is the U.S. edition. As Kindle is the only place I will be selling the ROW edition, I hope I haven't confused people.

In other news, I leave for France in less than two weeks and I can't even start to get excited about it because I am still preoccupied by my book. As I am the neurotic type, what will I do once uni ends officially at the end of this week?

And the other change, I am claiming my name back. All new editions of my novellas will be written under Blanchard Benson; once The Beautiful People series is over, I will no longer use Benson at all in my writing career. The marriage was dreadful, the divorce even more so; the quicker I can shed that dreary name in public, the better.

Without further ado, here are the new covers. I believe this reflect the essence of the book better than the lovely statues I photographed myself mostly at Versailles. In case anyone is wondering where the photos are from, there are many royalty-free sites where you can find hundreds of thousands of stock photos to use for your book. I use depositphoto.com as they offered a week for free to try it out and I think they are an awesome site!

(Amazon Kindle) http://www.amazon.com/Proposal-Book-Beautiful-People-ebook/dp/B00512EI28/
(Barnes & Noble) http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Proposal/Danielle-Blanchard-Benson/e/2940012571991/
(CreateSpace) https://www.createspace.com/3614624

Contests & Incentives

I troll all the different communities for us self-published writers and it just occurred to me that sometimes, you have to make your own luck. I am in a very comfortable position because I have written a series and therefore I can afford to be a bit generous. So, I decided to start my own Facebook page for my writing and I posted a few contests as well.

*The first fifty people to buy my book will receive a free Amazon Kindle version of The Hook Up: Book Two.

*Of those fifty,  the first ten will actually receive a free autographed paperback edition of The Hook Up: Book Two.

*I am also hosting a contest for the first fifty people and one lucky winner will win The Beautiful People series (I suppose I should have said they win books two through eight as they will have purchased book one).

I suppose what really gives me solace is the one author who said she sold zero copies of her book the first month, twenty-odd copies the second month, fifty-odd copies the third month and more than seven hundred the fourth month. The author said she had sold more than seven thousand copies of her book so far. That is amazing and although Stephen King and James Patterson shouldn't quit their day jobs for fear of this author, I still believe that is quite an accomplishment.

Being a self-published author doesn't mean you have to only depend on Kindle to sell your novel; so far I also have copies of my novel on CreateSpace (where I created a paperback edition that is out of this world and brought tears to my eyes when I received the proof in the mail), my novel is also available on Scribd and Smashwords. For those who don't understand how big Smashwords is, they have a premium site which, if your book is chosen, feeds into Sony and Barnes & Noble amongst other book stores and ebook chains. This opens up the possibility of your book being discovered by the world; the same way as any other author who has to pay an agent, manager, publicist and publisher.

This journey has been so fulfilling (and mind you, I still haven't even sold a copy of my novella . . . yet) that I wished I had started it at the beginning of the year. Life is filled with so many endless possibilities and yet, inertia is our biggest enemy.

I stopped letting fear drive my life. Fear I would be a failure, fear no would appreciate my work, fear my work was not good enough because I couldn't get an agent. I started making my own luck and have never felt so in charge of my own destiny ever.