One Reminder. One Announcement.

Okay, let’s do the reminder first. :)
Don’t forget, I have a book signing coming up! October 10th at the Barns and Nobles in Fresno California. Just ten more days. (flutter of nerves) You can find all the details on the EVENTS page of my website.

Now for the announcement.
I got a Christmas book signing! (woohoo!) Yes, I know, you guys are going to get tired of me getting excited about every book signing I announce. Let’s just say that I have to get up a lot of nerve to call bookstores and ask, so I celebrate these moments as a victory. ;)
Anyway, I’m going to be at the Borders Books in Fresno California on December 5th. More details will be posted later, but I’m still just happy to get one during the Christmas season. God is good.
So, if you’re going to be the Central Valley area of CA during either of these events, please come see me or send anybody you know in the area over. I’d love to meet you.

If you would like a signed book, but can’t get to signing, just send me a message at emilyannbenedict@gmail.com.

Have a great week. :)

Visit my Contest Blog to learn how to win Barns and Nobles and iTunes gift cards.

Have you heard of it?

I found a new book I’d really like to read. I know, you’re probably wondering why I’m bothering to tell you. Well, I’d like to know if you’ve heard of it.
I hate buying books that turn out to be a waste of my time and brain cells, or worse, a great story, but totally ruined by inappropriate language, etc.
To avoid this waste I’m driven to do drastic things, like check copies out of the library. It’s not that I have anything against libraries….it just that, well, I worked for our particular branch for a while and I have certain “cleanliness” issues with it. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. :P
Anyway, the book is called The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde. It’s advertised as a great book for lovers of British literatures, (raise hand) particularly Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (raise hand high and wave).
So, if you have heard of it, or if you just want to tell me how much you understand joy at the prospect of a new book, leave a comment.
I do so love sympathizers. ;)

Shock and Awe

I watched a Joyce Meyer Ministry program yesterday on their current outreach goals around the world and was struck by a rather odd moment. Instead of just showing pictures of the different areas they work in, they chose to show in bold lettering as many statistics as they could find. The staggering number of people who are starving. The staggering number of people who go without shelter. The staggering number of people who don’t have basic medical treatment.
As strange as it sounds, the first thought that struck me was, “My dog has a better life.” Seriously.
Though she might try to convince me otherwise with her big, soppy brown eyes, she never goes hungry. When she is sick or injured I take her right to the vet. At night she sleeps on my bed with her pillows and blankets, air conditioning and heating. I might like to think of her as my little girl, but the fact of the matter is she’s just a dog…whose life is about a 100 times better than half of the world’s population. Does that not just make you want to scream in frustration sometimes?!
Trust me, I’m not saying we shouldn’t have pets or pamper them. Anybody who knows my family knows we will be taking in “last chance” dogs until the final trumpet sounds.
The point of the program was simply DO SOMETHING! Find a way to help, even if your contribution is small. It is still valuable.
And if you are hesitating right now or continually putting it off, just ask yourself this question: Can you really justify treating a dog better than a human being?

Twitter and Beyond!

My agent called last week and began spouting the benefits of Twitter. I began to protest. That was one thing I was sure I’d never do. But as I protested my brain replied, “Oh, shut up. You know you are going to do it.” ;) So, yes, I am now on Twitter.

By: Twitter Buttons
Honestly, I’m serious considering applying “I’ll never do that” to something I really want to do and see if that makes it come true. Well, that’s how things have worked so far.
Hm…that’s it, I am never going to England! Now I’m going to go sit back and wait for the tickets to arrive. :)
I did declare I’d never blog. Now I not only blog, I design them.
And I was sure I’d never end up on Face Book.
Emily Ann Benedict

Create Your Badge
Perhaps I should just mourn my apparent lack of resolve. ;)
In the meantime, if you find me interesting follow me on Twitter and if you’d like to chat send me a friends request on Face Book.
(In case you’re wondering, I use a picture of my dog for my profile because a lot of people recognize me by that picture. I probably should be disturbed by that.)

Visit my Contest Blog to learn how to win Barns and Nobles and iTunes gift cards.

Do monocles and magnifying glasses go with cowboy hats?

This is a follow up to my confession that, after years of disliking westerns novels and movies, I now find myself inclined to write one. Startling, yes, but the reaction of my family has been nothing short of…amusing. ;)
When I told my sister, who always reads my manuscripts first, she sighed dramatically and moaned, “Fine, but you know I wouldn’t read it in real life.” She will watch western motives, but won’t read novels of the genre. Of course, I don’t think she’s ever read a western…
Nothing could beat my mother’s reaction. She scrunched up her nose and began to beg me not to! I’m serious! She started listing all the other time periods that I could write about. That’s when I remembered that, while my previous opinion of westerns was general dislike, hers borders on abhorrence. Why? She grew up in a family that loved westerns in all forms and somewhere along the way she went into western sensory overload, declaring that it was impossible for her to like one.
I asked her if she would approach my manuscript begrudgingly because of the genre. Ever honest, she said yes, then sighed and added, “But knowing you I’ll probably end up liking it.”
Oh, the horror of possibly liking a western! Anything, anything but that! LOL
Well, we will just have to see if I can write a western that my critics can like. I am noticing, as my notes spill out before me, that I am being heavily influenced by some of my favorite British authors, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers in particular. Perhaps a bit of P.G. Wodehouse as well. (We all need a valet, right?)
Sherlock and Lord Peter are particular favorites of mine (I love eccentrics), and their fingerprints are getting all over my storyline, but then I don’t think I’ve ever written a novel without a British author floating around in my head.
Hm, I do think I will end up doing my mother a service by reintroducing her to the western. During our conversation on why she doesn’t like westerns we discovered she can’t pronounce the word Bonanza. ;)

Visit my Contest Blog to learn how to win Barns and Nobles and iTunes gift cards.

You Mean Me? Never.

I have said on this blog that the words, “I’ll never do that,” are unwise to say. Yet, I did not listen to my warning and consequently found myself leaning over my notebook yesterday, writing words I never thought possible.
It all started with a decision to expand my sphere of reading. I’m a life-long mystery reader, but with the wide variety of Christian fiction at my finger tips I began picking up novels from all genres: romances, historical novels, comedies, even dramas. But there was one genre I was sure I’d never try. The western.
My joke about westerns has long been, whether movie or novel, I find myself enjoying it until they reach the prairie. ;) I’m just not much of a roughing it, dust and dirt sort of girl. Though a life-long horse lover, my style and saddle has always been English. (Honestly, I can’t really lift a western saddle over the horse.)
My certainty on that matter wavered a bit recently when I happened upon a book by Cathy Marie Hake. I knew it was a western, but it sounded interesting…so I brought it home. Still, as I flipped open the cover, I kept the price sticker on the front. Something told me I would get bored within a few chapters and regret the purchase.
Imagine my surprise when I read the whole thing in three days and thoroughly enjoyed it. (gasp) Then shockingly I picked up another novel by the same author and now find myself reveling in it, even in all its westerness. (gasp again)
I am faced with only two options. Either there really are good western stories out there or I’ve suddenly developed a liking for cowboy boots. (momentary though) Nope, I still prefer Cinderella’s slippers. I now acknowledge the existence of good westerns. (gasp loudly)
But what has left me outright shocked is that as I flipped through the pages my brain suddenly said, “How would I write a western?” That’s how all of my stories start! :O I wrote Only Angels Are Bulletproof after watching an FBI show and suddenly found myself wondering how I would handle a bank robbery story.
Me? Write a western? Not more than a week or two ago I swore I’d never write an historical novel and that particular discussion had nothing to with westerns.
Yet, there I sat yesterday, sketching an outline for a story that sprung to my head.
Does anyone else hear The Twilight Zone music?

Visit my Contest Blog to learn how to win Barns and Nobles and iTunes gift cards.

Two Good Things

I just wanted to give you a heads up on two good things going on in the blogosphere.

1.) Fellow blogger Christian Banks is celebrating her one year blogging anniversary but giving out a signed copy of Mark’s Story by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. So head on over to her blog, http://christinabanks.blogspot.com/, to see her newly designed site and find out how you can enter to win.

2.) If you like digital scrapbooking you need to run on over to http://elisasbits.blogspot.com/ because she has three of her beautiful scrapbooking kits on sale for $2.00. It doesn’t get much better than that.
(And if you don’t know what digital scrapbooking is you need to go to her site to see how much fun you are missing.)

So there you go. Two good things. ;)
Have a great day!

Visit my Contest Blog to learn how to win Barnes and Noble and iTunes give cards.