Home Repairs Anyone?

Apparently, my real life’s task is to fix things. In the past eight months or so, any number of dated appliances and creature home comforts have hit the big snafu in my house and died.

First it was the garage door. Not the opener, that thing you pop off to Sears and buy another one of. Oh no, it was the actual springs that lift the door. When the springs break (that door you could raise) suddenly weighs its full gargantuan weight and guess what? YOU CAN’T lift it anymore. We called out the repair guy then promptly sent him away. That’s one of those let-me-give-you-one-quote-over-the-phone-then-a-different- and-dramatically-higher-one-when-I-show-up-on-your-doorstep experiences. Picture an unhappy gal, here. I was fuming. My husband, brilliant man that he is, comes up with this great idea; he’ll Google for Internet help. Low and behold, you really can find anything on Google. My door works now. I will say, replacing the springs on a garage door is not for the faint of heart or the weak of upper body strength. Good thing I married the broad-shouldered man I did, and raised the broad-shouldered son I have.

Now the garage door works, so we tackled the dish washer, the dryer, the vent-a-hood, the riding lawnmower, and we, foolish people we are, were feeling fairly confident. What is that saying? ‘Pride cometh before a fall?’

This weekend, naturally because I had planned to attend my friend, Candy Havens’ book-signing something disastrous needed to strike my house. We had this tiny task of replacing the faucet handles in the kids’ shower. Important tip time . . . if you need to replace the handles in the shower, turn off the outside water connection FIRST! Oh, and once the handles have been removed . . . DO NOT TURN back on the outside water connection.

If you want to know exactly how much water you can run down a drain, in a hurry, take off your shower handles without turning off the outside water connection. It looks like a proverbially fountain.

Okay, my hubby did know to turn off the water. So we only had a small fountain.

The problem showed up when he dared the House Repair gods by saying, ‘Don’t worry honey, it’s only a ten-minute job.’ Uh-oh, I heard the thunder crash the minute he issued the curse. In our house, anything that can go wrong . . . DOES. And anything we can make harder, more complicated, more unfixable . . . WE DO. Okay, so we’re consistent with making it tougher.

Nine hours later, the water had finally been restored to my house. Gleaming new faucet handles, an elaborate 3-cycle massage shower head (I’ll never get them out of the shower now), and a sparkling bathtub nozzle had all been installed.

Sure . . . honey, that was really an easy ten-minute job. I’m just not sure whose watch we were using to tell time.

What was the last thing you repaired in your house?

Harm's Way is in PRINT

It’s official . . .

Just visited the Wild Rose Press website and HARM’S WAY has been officially released in print.

Many of you have asked about a book-signing.

I’m working on that now. Yep, it does have to be print released before they’ll set up an e-pub author’s signing. Not my rules, but I live by them.

So soon, very soon, I’ll be posting information on a book-signing.

For those of you off in the wilds (my sister in far north Minnesota and my sister-in-law in the rolling hills of Tennessee), order HARM’S WAY and send it to me. I can’t wait to autograph your copies.

BTW: I did get an advance copy AND it’s beautiful. Holding ten years worth of effort and tenacity in my hands was thrilling.

Thanks for taking this publishing ride with me. For me, it has all been worth the wait.

Another Harm's Way review

Okay, I'm a double poster today . . . try not to hold that against me.

BUT, I just got another review from a fellow Wild Rose Press Author who said . . .

Yay, Sandra!

I agree with the reviewer. I just finished Harm’s Way on the weekend and
loved it! Rom Suspense is my favorite read so there was no question I'd buy
it after I read the blurb.

And your descriptions of the forest in Portofino were dead on. I've
walked through it before, and I felt as if I was there again.

Looking forward to more from the Donavans. I love series.

By . . . Elle Fredrix
Spinning Wildly - Sweetheart Rosette – On Sale Now!

Two great new websites to check out . . . .

This is a Wild Rose Press author website, lots of great books, excerpts and front covers for your review all in one place. This site is maintained by our marketing guru, Stacy Dawn. The woman is marketing amazing. Divas' Books

Also, for those who need help with promotions and marketing and you simply don’t know how to start, go to Jump Start Promotions

Both of these are great writer sources.

Enjoy

Harm's Way Book Review

Okay, so this made my day. The upfront information is just the lingo that must be listed for any book review. Also, if you want to visit Coffee Time Romance for more reviews and book listings, click on the highlighted title of Harm's Way Book Review and the link will go directly to Coffee Time Romance.


HARM’S WAY
SANDRA FERGUSON
ISBN# 1-60154-047-7
March 2007
The Wild Rose Press
www.thewildrosepress.com
E-Book
$5.00
290 Pages
Romantic Suspense
Rating: 4 Cups

Victoria Donavan was once married to a man who valued his career as a DEA agent more than either Tori or his marriage. Now a widow, she vows never to get involved with another risk taker.

Alex Harmon is hired by Tori’s overprotective family when a stalker targets her. An old family friend, Alex has been in love with her for years.

A stalker will stop at nothing to capture and keep architect Victoria Donavan as his own. He has invaded every aspect of her life and it is up to security expert Alex Harmon to keep her safe.

This is a great romantic suspense story. Alex and Tori have a great deal of chemistry and enough bad experiences in the past to keep the tension high. The villain is a particularly crafty one and you never know where he will turn up. The Donovan family seems to feel an unusual responsibility towards Tori. It is almost as if they are trying to make up for the problems caused by the dead Blaine’s selfishness. He sounded like a real prize, and Tori is much better off without him. The author is very adept at describing both Texas and Vancouver Island and has a real gift for bringing all of the characters to life. Each and every one of them is very vivid and real. I hope there are more Donavan stories coming, from the little I read of Boston and Jared, I would like to read more about them.

Maura
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance

Back In The Chair . . .

I’ve been away a few days (sad tale, that I’ll save for another entry), but I knew when I flew back into town it was definitely time to get busy. Amazingly, I followed my own advice.

Re-touched one article (Parenting) and one short (less than 500 words—a type of filler for magazines) and submitted both. Although I use a computer log for when I submit what and where, I’ve decided to start a folder and print out my queries, keeping them in date order. At least, that’s the plan for the moment. I may print out the articles, and put the queries behind them for better organization.

What’s your favorite way to keep track of things?

Still no word from the ezine editor on my Apostrophe article—yep, I am one of those grammar nuts who can find 2000 words to say about the Apostrophe and its correct usage. Besides, I learned how to spell it correctly after writing an entire article on it. Another week or so is all I wait, and then I’ll shop it to another writing ezine.

Now, it’s back to my work in progress (WIP) Trickle of Lies. Want to see an excerpt from Trickle of Lies? Click on the highlighted title and you'll go straight to my webpage.

What are you working on?

Classic Movies

This week celebrates John Wayne's 100th anniversary, and one of the networks is running 100 hours of marathon John Wayne. Does it date me to admit I remember watching his movies for real and not as re-runs?

Tonight they played the classic Red River. True heroism in every sense of the word . . . oddly enough the real hero of the movie wasn't John Wayne, alias Dunston, but the young boy he'd adopted by the name of Matthew Garth. Great hero name--down to earth with real meaning behind it.

A mature Matthew Garth, hardened by the Civil War, returns to Texas and Dunston, his surrogate father, only to find the ranch he loves and help birth in desperate straights. Why? Carpet-baggers and money-grubbers abound in the state of Texas after the war. The only solution is to drive Dunston's herd of 9,000 + cattle further North to a railroad. During the cattle drive, things go bad, as of course, they must for any western to be a classically good western. Unfortunately, Dunston (Wayne) loses his prospective in this die-or-lose-the-ranch campaign. Who's strong enough to stop Dunston when he crosses the humanity line? Reluctant hero Matthew Garth steps in and stills Dunston's atrocity. I'd say any character who could face down John Wayne is hero material for me. It was a great study of heroism for future characters.

The romance (always my favorite) was a bit corny, but true-to-heart and therefore, perfectly redeemable.

Red River was well worth my invested time. How much TV can we say that about these days?

Moving The Kid Home . . .

I’ll date myself by admitting I have a college-aged kido.

I don’t know how she got that old . . . or how I got this old—Yippes, I really need to figure out time travel or at least how to pay for plastic surgery.

The start of the school year was grueling, and for those who lived the turbulent first weeks with me, THANKS for helping me keep my sanity or, at least, finding it when it went missing. It’s impossible to believe an entire school year has passed and suddenly, it’s time to move the kid home again.

On move-out day, we girded ourselves with gas in the tank (way too expensive gas, but that’s for another blog), bottled water and as much fast food as we could stomach and still get our jeans to zip, then headed for Texas A and M. Our trip down was a little slower than my college-age kido normally makes the trip. Could have been the lumbering gait of my 13-year-old van or the fact I don’t drive with my foot through the gas pedal. Despite our slow progress, we managed to hit campus, find a parking place (something just short of a Divenchy miracle) and still arrive at her dorm only slightly behind schedule. I don’t dwell too much on being on time; it simply demands that I stay on schedule and leave when I’m supposed to. Where’s the fun in that?

Did I mention she hadn’t packed before we arrived? Oh wait, there was a suitcase full of clothes and one bag of who knows what thrown together. I suddenly understood her tremendous desire for our speed. She was waiting for the sucker packers—occasionally known as ‘family’—to arrive.

My child and I have different packing strategies—to put it mildly. She wants everything perfectly organized, bubble-wrapped, labeled, and placed for quick recovery. My answer to her wants: I sent her out to get lunch. My packing may not be organized, but it was done—quickly! Hey, nothing broke in the trip home. Of course, there has been the unloading dilemma. She can’t quite understand why her cans of soups were packed inside her socks. Simple—they didn’t rattle around that way. She didn't get the whole alarm clock, toothbrush and fuzzy slippers in the same bag, either. Hello? Morning stuff! I thought she learned something in college. Maybe learning a packing regiment is for her sophomore year.


Has she found everything yet? Nope. After all, there has to be some parental justice in this world. My goal is to torture my children as often as possible. Did I mention, I’m really good at it?

Poetry anyone?

Want to read my Poetry?


Click on Author's Den

Left-hand column will show a listing of my Poetry entries, available Articles, and an excerpt from HARM’S WAY.

Enjoy the read.

Sandra

Climbing Status . . .

This past weekly my editor passed along some rather terrific news.

HARM’S WAY has climbed the ranks and is the #1 Best Seller for the Crimson Rose imprint—that’s the Romantic Suspense line at The Wild Rose Press.

Not possible I thought! It’s a first release, only been out a few weeks. I was sure my editor had spent too long attached to her computer and her eyes had crossed. How could MY book be #1?

I logged into the Crimson Rose page and up popped the CURRENT Best Seller list, and sure-shooting, as we say here in Texas, HARM’S WAY was listed at #1. I’ll admit I did the happy dance around my computer—not a pretty sight, but luckily I don’t have a web cam set up so your sight has been saved.

Then I cruised the Wild Rose Press homepage and there on the right-hand side of the screen HARM’S WAY was listed as #10 on the Best Seller list for all CURRENT books. NOT just for Romantic Suspense, but out of all the books currently released by Wild Rose Press, my book was #10. Okay, happy dance wasn’t sufficient this time. I squealed loud enough to get my kids out of their bedrooms and make the dog bark. This past week I’ve thrilled as HARM’S WAY continued to climb the overall Best Sellers list. Right now, it’s sitting at #6.

Okay, so you’re not a writer, don’t care anything about the publishing industry, what does all that mean?

It means, I say THANK YOU. Humbly and profoundly, to all of you who have been to the Wild Rose Press website and supported my writing efforts, I say thanks. You’ve spent your money to support me. I hope the read was worth your time.

Many of you are my writing buds and to all of you who have too little time and already too much in your TBR stack, I say a huge thank you. As one of my best friends, fellow writer and Golden Heart finalist, LA Mitchell said, ‘Main support—the REAL kind, not just the chocolate-covered words with hollow centers—comes from writing friends.’ Thank you for understanding how hard the work really is, and supporting me through your emails, calls, and book purchases.

Some of you are readers who found the book blurb interesting, the cover art too great to ignore, or simply stumbled across a HARM’S WAY excerpt on the Internet and were intrigued enough to purchase the book. To those who trusted me to deliver a great story, I thank you for your willingness to give a newly released Crimson Rose author a chance.

Some of you have purchased because you’re long-time friends and have graciously listened (no, your eyes didn’t glaze over too often) to me drone on about writing and publishing. To those who purchased simply because you love me as a friend, THANKS for being in my corner and making this publishing ride so thrilling.