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Out Now: Insurrection (Crystal 3)

Dayo Benson

Insurrection_Amazon etcHappy Saturday!

Insurrection (Crystal 3) is out now. I hope you’ll check it out. If you haven’t started Crystal’s series yet, book 1, Searchlight, is currently free at all online retailers.

You can view my Pinterest board for this series here. It’s ‘in progress’ so if you see any pictures that you think I should pin to the board let me know. I’m looking for a picture that would suit Luke’s character. He’s probably the hardest to ‘cast’.

As always, if you’re reading this series, get in touch to let me know what you think. I’d appreciate your feedback.

**Get your copy of Insurrection (Crystal 3) at Amazon UK, Amazon US, iTunes & Smashwords

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Pinterest – Check out the Crystal Series Cast

Dayo Benson

CrystalSocial Media really isn’t one of my strong points. I have Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts, but post only once in a blue moon. Ya’ll probably didn’t know I was on Pinterest, did you? I’m most active on Twitter, but I post book covers on Facebook, and I have started adding more pins on Pinterest. The picture on the right is the pin i chose for Crystal. I’m finding that I quite like Pinterest. The pictures of food…mmm. They make me salivate. It’s torture.

Anyway, I have 3 boards on Pinterest. Actually I have lots of boards, but only three of them are public. One of them is for my Crystal Series. It only has nine pins on it so far, but I’m going to try and add two pins a week. Let’s hope I do that, because I know I’m no good with social media. If you’ve already read Searchlight, feel free to check it out HERE. If you haven’t read the series, don’t look. Honestly, you need to form your own mental picture for each of the characters so please don’t look 🙂

***If anyone wants to add pins, let me know (dayo.benson@ymail.com) and I’ll give you access.***

I’m planning to do boards for all my other books too. The Beauty for Ashes Series will be hard as some people are in love with Jace Washington so I probably won’t be able to get someone that makes everyone happy, lol. Oh, and just to let you know, my boards are ‘safe.’ I cropped out washboard abs and the like. Faces only, ha ha.

Writing update

I finished writing Allies (Crystal 4) on Saturday morning. I was happy, but I didn’t get the rush I’ve gotten each time I’ve finished a book in the past. I was just like ‘next’ and created the file for the next book, which I started writing this morning. I want the rush back 🙁

Publishing update

I’m going to try and get Insurrection (Crystal 3) published sometime this week. Sorry for the delay.

Dayo xx

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Cover Reveal: Insurrection (Crystal 3)

Dayo Benson

InsurrectionOoh, I am loving this cover so much. I got it on Friday and I was so excited, but my weekend was really busy so I’ve only just managed to sit down to blog about it. It was my husband’s birthday yesterday so Saturday was spent getting his present (I need to stop leaving everything ’til the last minute), and I took him out yesterday. He says he enjoyed his day so I feel like I did a good job 🙂

Anyway, so back to Insurrection. It’s about Crystal and her team trying to bring down the SOT. If you’ve read Surrender (Crystal 2) you know who her team is.

I send my books out to a few people before I publish them, and they give me feedback, so I’ve been reviewing their notes on Insurrection. I’m shocked at how much my beta readers like Juda in book 3. Every one of them want Crystal and Juda to be together. I didn’t see that coming, since Juda is what he is and he does some pretty awful things in this book. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I thought people really wouldn’t like him. Here’s the synopsis for Insurrection (Crystal 3):

Crystal has survived eighteen months of trauma at the hands of the SOT. She now has two options: she can either fade into obscurity, or fight. She chooses to fight—along with her team of unlikely alliances. But as their plans come together, doubts are never far away. Can she really trust her team, or will they give up at the first hurdle? And, are they on a suicide mission, or can they really bring down the SOT?

I’m hoping to get it out before the end of the month. If you haven’t subscribed to my new-release list yet, Click Here so that you’ll be notified the minute it’s out.

If you would like to be one of my beta readers and read my books before they come out, send me an email (dayo.benson@ymail.com). You need to be good at spotting plot holes and pointing out things that need to be improved.

Blessings xx

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Happy 2015!

Dayo Benson

2015For some reason I’m really excited about 2015. I’m not quite sure why. I just like 2015 and feel like it’s going to be a great year 🙂

I’ve been thinking about my resolutions and what I want to achieve this year, and as usual I have so many things. I’m pretty private about my goals. I know some authors will write about all their goals on their blogs, but just the thought of doing that gives me chills. I will share a few of my goals though. Not just writing related ones.

Prayer

Last year, I didn’t do so well. Because I’ve been going to church for as long as I can remember, and I made my personal decision for God when I was nineteen, a day doesn’t pass when I don’t pray in some form. But I also set time aside to have more focused prayer. Last year I had a rough time in the first quarter of the year, even ending up in hospital in March, and after that I got stuck in a rut where my praying was more daily adhoc prayers rather than dedicated time. I felt horrible about this when I was taking stock a few weeks ago. I have to get back on track this year because prayer really is my sustenance. Occasionally I would set a day apart and tell my husband I’m praying, but still, it wasn’t good enough. I think daily dedicated time is best for me.

God is so faithful. He still inspires me even when I haven’t been faithful to Him or given Him priority in my life.

Writing

I’m the kind of person who likes to set aside large chunks of time to write. On a Monday and a Tuesday I can write for about eight hours each day. On a Saturday I can probably snatch four hours to myself to write while my husband and my eldest daughter go for the evangelism programme at church (I stay home with our youngest). This year, I’m going to try to write for two hours every day. The reason for this is, if something comes up on one of my heavy writing days I lose all that time and my word count for the week suffers. Also, it’s hard to stay in the ‘flow’ if I’m having a writing binge at the beginning of the week, then not writing again until Saturday. If I just write two hours a day, there’s no need for a binge, and I figure I can write almost a full book each month if I stick to two hours a day. (Although I love my eight hour writing sessions).

So, there are two of my goals. I have more spiritual and writing goals, as well as marriage/family goals and workout/diet goals. I’m not trying to lose weight (I just want to make that clear in case my mum or dad read this, ha ha. Mum thinks I’m too skinny). I’m just trying to be healthy because I eat too much junk i.e. sweets. I’m trying to stick to water and healthy snacks this year. I’m trying to be a good example on this for my kids too. I can’t really tell Rhema off for always eating sweets if she knows I keep a stash of mentos, chewits, haribos and lollipops 🙂

I also have a big birthday coming up this month so I’m evaluating my life and where I’m at. A few months ago I was dreading this birthday, but I’ve come to terms with it now and I’m looking forward to it. Partly because the husband and I have some cool plans. I’ll try to get Insurrection (Crystal 3) published this month. I’ll do a cover reveal soon.

What are your goals for 2015?

Dayo xx