Rogue's Angels Present: Once Upon a Time, Bitches by

Please welcome  author of Once Upon a Time, Bitches

Branden LaNette will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Once Upon a Time, Bitches

byBranden LaNette

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GENRE:   Self-help

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INTERVIEW:

1.    I have been writing for as long as I can remember. There is not a moment or person that inspired this, I think my love of reading just naturally grew into a voice of my own. I had an elementary teacher, named Mrs. Eddie who encouraged me as a writer and that encouragement grew with college professors as well. 

2.    My genre is self-help / personal development. Necessary components for a self-help genre include a personal desire to grow and to help others do the same. My book, Once Upon a Time, Bitchesis meant to be used as a tool to speed up the process of self-discovery. We can’t sit back wishing for things, we have to make them happen.

3.    The idea for writing this book came to me as I was fighting my way through toxic discoveries in my personal development. As far as I thought I had grown, I still had a lot of issues. Have. Sh*t, we will always have something to work on.  I was just wishing and dreaming for things to happen, thinking fairytales weren’t real because of the work that was required in building them. Then it hit me, we can have that fairytale life if we decide we are the hero. I wanted other women to understand no one was coming to rescue them. They had to save themselves.

4.    My writing is raw and blunt. It comes from being an expert of my own life, and calling myself on my own b.s..I am everything I always needed in my life. 

5.    I am a Hallmark movie addict, especially around Christmas time. I don’t think you would find that in my bio. 

6.    I am working on the second book, and then a third after that, a fourth. For sh*ts and giggles, I would love a future where I could flirt with writing fiction again. I was terrible, but it is fun as hell. 

7.    There is no if, when it comes to choosing a character. I wouldn’t want to be anybody else but me. That’s the magic of reading this, you will be excited to be your own hero one day! 

8.    This book is going to give you seven maxims/truths, for creating a life that brings you joy. It’s simple, but if you haven’t taken responsibility for it as of now, it will be one of the hardest things you read. I don’t sugarcoat anything, the truth is, you have to show up for you. End of story. 

9.    I do not belong to a critique group, it would hinder my writing. I am a tunnel vision kind of person, I work better when I keep the blinders on.

10.  I was at the point of giving up as a writer, and my last shot was going to be self publishing. I randomly asked a speaker at an event who he had published his most recent book with and he introduced me to my current publishers. Our first conversation went as expected, I was rejected and questioned if I was going to really be able to ever pull this off. Then my publisher messaged me for a second conversation and that turned into a contract for the book. They took a huge gamble on me and I will always be grateful. I made a choice to reach out after years of rejection, knowing that it could be a no. Just like Cinderella made the choice to walk into the ball when she doubted herself on so many levels. Show up. After the magic fades, amazing things can happen.

11.  The best advice I’ve received is to treat the book like a baby, right now I have to hold it to introduce it to the world, and soon it will grow into a toddler who can walk a little bit on its own. 

12.  I do not outline. I just write. It is messy and my ideas are all over the place, and I am grateful for an incredible publishing team with amazing editors to sort through my b.s.!

13.  The fact that I am always reading, or studying personal development, this is the fuel to maintain creativity, this is where ideas come from. When something stands out – I can run with it.

14.  My favorite character in the book is me. I have taken on a level of self love that nothing can ever touch. Because of that, I’m an amazing mom, a great wife, an awesome leader, and a good friend. 

BLURB:

That’s Branden on the cover. Yes, she has a boy’s name, a Mom bod, and her tattoos are not photoshopped. She doesn’t look like your typical author and she sure doesn’t look like the next self-help Instagram sweetheart. 

However, besides being a wife, mom to six kids (plus others with fur), coach and business owner, Branden is the author of the new book, Once Upon a Time, Bitches. It’s a fast paced, in your face, expletive laced, nothing held back message to women everywhere: There is no magic fairytale, but if YOU work at it enough you can come pretty close to creating your version with a happily ever after. 

But first, no more whining and no more damsel locked in a tower, bullsh*t. Is it possible to design a fairytale life? Control your destiny? Be the hero in your story? Branden thinks there is and she wants to help you.

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EXCERPT:

Ever since I was 8 years old, I dreamed of an easy life. The problem with my dream? I expected that fairytale life to be handed to me. And when it wasn’t, I decided that fairytales were bullsh*t. Not that you can’t have a fairytale life—you can. What I understand now, however, is that to get a fairytale life, you’d better be willing to work your Cinderella-ass off for it.

Still, I held on to the fantasy of having an easy life handed to me. I wanted to be saved. To be specific, I thought I needed a guy to be my hero. So I went about trying to find one.

I dated a lot of guys. Lots of guys. 

But as they came and went, I always ended up disappointed. Not a single one of them ever made my life easier. Things weren’t going the way I’d planned. WTF? Hadn’t anyone read the f-ing script? It was right there on page 43: 

“Tall handsome guy with tight ass, great pecs and a 124-foot yacht named “Sh*tload of Cash” enters stage-left and sweeps Branden off her feet, and they sail off to Barbados.”

Even in my adult years, I would find myself just wishing—not just for prince charming to appear (which he eventually did in the form of my husband, minus the yacht and gobs of cash) but wishing for things in every area of my life. Even today, in my writing/coaching career, I find myself drifting into wish-mode: Why isn’t this easier? Why can’t things just take off and grow overnight? Is it always going to be this hard?

And when it comes to parenting, it’s the same thing. Why can’t parenting just be easy? And in my marriage, too: Why do I have to keep asking for things? Can’t my husband just read my f-ing mind? 

One day I—still 8 years old—had the most terror-filled realization in a simple yet profound truth:

No one is coming to save you.

F**k. No one is coming to rescue me. Ever?

My heart broke. More like shattered. Yet, after taking some time to mentally digest this fact, I found this realization liberating somehow. Why was this liberating? Because it meant I could stop waiting for something outside myself for my salvation. 

It put me in control. Newsflash, bitches: No one is coming to save you, either. Get it? No. One. Is. Coming. You’re going to have to save yourself.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Branden LaNette doesn’t look like a typical author but she has long ignored what she “should” do, say and look like. On her own at a very young age, Branden eventually found herself with the wrong guy, the wrong job, and a bleak future. The fairytale she was promised as a child never materialized.

Finally, Branden decided that she wanted something different for her life, and realized no one was going to do it for her. Prince charming wasn’t coming to save her—she’d have to save herself.

Step by step, decision by decision, through major trials and tribulations that would stop most people in their tracks, Branden learned how to turn heartbreak into happiness and self-judgement into inner joy.

Today, Branden LaNette is an entrepreneur, coach, speaker, wife, and stay-at-home Mom to six C-section babies (ages 1-16) and way too many f-ing pets. Somehow, however, she manages to juggle all of this effortlessly (a blatant lie) while pushing her way through the kinds of fear and self-doubts that whisper within all of us (totally true) to achieve her goals. Her most recent dream come true is this book, one that is destined to have a major impact on millions of women across the globe (or at least nine people in Michigan.)

Through it all, she has found her happiness, her joy, and more importantly, her voice. 

Contact Info:

Website: BrandenLanette.com

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Branden.Lanette

Twitter: @Branden_Lanette

Instagram:@@Brandenlanettel

Hashtags: #OnceUponaTimeBitches #OUATB

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Once-Upon-Time-Bitches-Fairytale/dp/1947814869/

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:

Branden LaNette will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3232