A Look At Benjamin W. DeHaven & 'Confessions of a Self-Help Writer' @ben_dehaven @GoddessFish #satire

Today we have author Benjamin W. DeHaven visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?
* A Graduate of Columbia College in Chicago, Benjamin DeHaven keeps his heart in Chicago and his soul in New Orleans. He holds a MBA from Tulane and a film degree from Columbia. Once ejected from a community college for arguing Frost cried out for acceptance in Birches, he has since written screenplays, traded futures in Madrid, and was Editor in Chief of the Nola Shopper Newspaper, a free art newspaper and the 2nd largest monthly paper in the New Orleans, MSA. He also has a "shout out" in a Jay "Z" Song.
* DeHaven, who currently resides in Las Vegas began his writing career with Stone United, a Chicago based Film Company, which works primarily in independent film. As an unknown fiction writer, he feels the best description of himself, is a sarcastic one and is as follows:
* Benjamin W. DeHaven was born on a pool table after a Waylon Jennings' concert in 1977. His personal success is outweighed only by his stunning good looks and adherence to unwritten moral guidelines. He has been described as a thinking man's Tucker Max as well as an idiot's Hunter S. Thompson. His goal is to die from an unwavering commitment to be more like Hemingway.
* He and Michael Enzo were friends.

What are you going to tell us about today?
* I'm offering some writing tips and sharing information about my book Confessions of a Self-Help Writer.
* Writing tips:
* Hire a great editor. Commit to write on a schedule like you are going to a job. Because you are. Find a book you hate and read genres you never would consider-never stop learning everything you can. Don’t ask, why is Danielle Steele selling a million books, she’s a terrible writer. Is She? Is Tucker Max a writer? They have sold a ton of books. Write and read what blows your hair back, but don’t be scared to write trash either. Tucker Max and Danielle sell a ton of books, because passion comes through a writer’s hand. Sure the writing is terrible, but it grabs people. It’s not all heaving bosoms and creamy thighs-(Howard Fast’s wife gave me that line). Something in those books keeps readers coming back. Something in there spoke to someone’s soul and if you are honest with yours it will come through. Find your own voice because you would be surprised how many people think exactly like you and wish they had the strength to tell a story. Don’t read books on writing—they are just another way for you to avoid work. That’s not entirely true, I think Stephen King’s book is amazing-just don’t over do it. The best tip I can give you is what my grandfather used to say to me, regardless of my new crazy passion was. He’d ask, “What’s stopping you?”
* From DeHaven's website: Confessions of a Self-Help Writer (The Journal of Michael Enzo) is a work of fiction based on factual events. Originally, I wrote this work as an act of revenge and an act of forgiveness. As one reviewer put it, “The reader of “Confessions” is forced to question DeHaven’s motivation... Does he truly want to ruin Enzo’s legacy or is this an act of love? Reaching out to someone who is still lost.” So in a way, yes, I was trying to flush him out. But that was personal and never meant to be publicized. I hoped people would get a great laugh out of the fiction character who was a con man, and who almost destroyed me. But now if someone found the truth, maybe this would be the last self-help book they would ever read-because it’s the mind of a mad man who was writing those books. Confessions of a Self-Help Writer was the #1 Most Wished For Book of the Year on Indie Bound for over 14 weeks and was getting amazing reviews as a book of “fiction.”

~ Blurb ~ * A ghost, a philanthropist, a con man, a devout Catholic, a gigolo, a savior, an heir, a common man, and an addict are just some of the words used to describe Michael Enzo, who some sources credit with ghost-writing more than 108 self-help books on behalf of celebrities, politicians and business leaders. After failing to make what he considered to be a positive impact on society he began to destroy those closest to him including Benjamin DeHaven, the author of this book, and former collaborator. Defrauding an industry for almost 20 years by exploiting people's insecurities and profiting from them, more than likely these friends contributed more to the field of self-help, while profiting from it, than they will ever know. Believing they could only understand people's problems by suffering along with them, they lived on the razor's edge. If you've ever picked up a tell-all biography of a celebrity or a title from the self-help section at the bookstore, certainly you would question the source.This is an inside look at the mind of Michael Enzo and it is the author's hope that people will start helping themselves again after reading it. Discover what turns someone from preaching salvation towards seeking its destruction. You won't believe this could be true.

Buy Confessions of a Self-Help Writer here...
Kindle | Print - Amazon | Nook/Print - B&N

Find Benjamin W. DeHaven here...
Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Amazon Page | Goodreads

Thank you for joining us here today, Benjamin W. DeHaven! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story.

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