What do you do in your spare time?
Yes, I still hold a regular nine to five job. I do not sit around all day sipping coffee, plotting my next masterpiece, watching all the royalties roll in. I’m not there yet as an author, although I do get closer and closer with each passing month. It will be interesting to see what the next year or two brings. In the meantime, I do work a full-time job…did I mention I also have two kids, two cats, a husband and a house??? Yes, just like many others, I have all of that, too. So when do I find time to write? As I mentioned in a previous post, my cell phone is my best friend. Thanks to modern technology and the Word and OneDrive app, I’m able to write little bits here and there. Big chunks are saved for evenings, weekends, and road trips (with my husband driving, of course). It sounds easy, but I’ve also had to make a lot of sacrifices. When friends and coworkers discuss their latest Netflix addiction, of course, I’m completely dumbfounded. I do not watch television. Barely. It’s an event to see me sitting in front of the screen. I also don’t burn hours on YouTube. My internet usage is solely for writing research, uploading manuscripts, and creating marketing materials. Do I take breaks? Of course. But to me, writing is my break. There is nothing more fulfilling than sitting down and writing a scene, plotting another scene, planning my next masterpiece, or reading through and editing a complete scene. In fact, many times it looks like I’m staring at a wall, but in fact, I’m plotting. My kids have learned this…when mom has a smile on her face but she’s gazing at a spot on the floor, it’s because she’s formulating another scene. The secret is to write constantly. Every day. Even if it’s just for ten minutes. This way it’s always fresh. A little trick is to leave a sentence unfinished at the end of a writing session. This triggers my creativity, and helps my brain jump back onto the writing machine quickly, so I can veer back to where my mind was the last time I wrote. It works well. Fortunately, for me, I’ve been writing for so long, that it’s probably part of my DNA now. If I don’t write for a couple of days (it happens sometimes), I almost feel lost. A part of me is missing. It’s like my brain has been sitting around for too long and I need to stretch again. When I’m able to write in chunks, I’m in my element. Often, my husband will take the kids out for an hour or two on the weekends, and I go to town on my laptop. As I finish a chapter, I feel a strong sense of accomplishment. And when the book is complete, it’s such a great pat on the back. So, it’s not a matter of finding time to write. It’s using what disposable time I have efficiently. You may think that all I ever do outside of work is write. Not true. I also exercise for at least ninety minutes a day, take walks every evening (weekends, too), and don’t get me on the phone or I’ll talk your ear off…just ask my best friend and my mom. Plus, our family is a pack of Disney Dorks. We sit around planning our next vacation or discuss previous vacations on a regular basis. I’m one of those people... ...that puts something in the microwave and then finds five things to do while I wait for it to finish. Yeah, one of those annoying people that never sits down…unless it’s to write. Efficiency and using my time wisely. That’s how I do it. What do you do with your spare time? See what other readers do in their spare time by checking out this awesome promo! Proceed with Caution is going Permafree! What does this mean? Well, it means that the book (Book One of the Ford Brothers series) will always be FREE. I'm hoping to go this route so everyone can enjoy the first book in the series, and hopefully go on to pick up the others. How can you help? Proceed with Caution is available at all major retailers for free right now...except Amazon. It sells for $0.99 there. That is where you come in. Amazon does not allow authors to place their book on their site for free (unless they place their book in Amazon Prime). To be free, it has to be price matched. Go to the product page at either Amazon.com, Amazon.ca or Amazon.co.uk, or whatever marketplace you are in, and scroll down to the 'Product Details' section. Click on it and enter the URL where you saw the book at a lower price. This is also how you can pick up your free copy of Proceed with Caution from Amazon if that is your preferred retailer. It should only take a few people to pull this off, so if you want a free copy of the book from Amazon, please feel free to use this method. Thanks in advance for your help! :) Here are links (US) to where you can pick up Proceed with Caution for FREE Google Play Apple Kobo Barnes & Noble Smashwords Also...all the other books in the series have been marked down to $0.99 for all retailers Enjoy binge reading!!!
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I’ve always written something since around middle school. From poems, short stories, etc., mostly poems though, especially for special occasions like birthdays, or if someone, family or friend, was going through a rough time.
Motivation to write something substantial came after my father passed away in 1992 from alcoholism and ultimately suicide. The idea was in the back of my mind for several years, but life got in the way, and it wasn’t until I was on maternity leave in 2006 that I wrote my first biography. That short work took me over a year to write. It was horrible writing and formatting…lol. Because of that and the fact that it was controversial among family some members, I took it out of publication. It was called ‘The Message in Dad’s Bottle’. The second work I completed took me three months, surprisingly. It again was a biography. Horrible writing again, and very short, but that one is still in publication. It’s called ‘I’ll Never Wear a Backless Dress’, and it discusses my experience with Bilateral Scoliosis. In case you’re wondering, I use different pen names for things. The above books are under the pen name Sandy Appleyard, which is also my real name. I also use Sandra Alex, as you know, for steamy romance, and Denice Shaw for self-help books. The third work took me several years to write, but not because it was difficult, more so because it was a collection of diary-like memories saved as my kids grew up. It was the most fun writing this one and watching it grow into what it is today. I still update it from time-to-time. It’s called ‘No Thanks, Mommy, I Peed Yesterday’. Although it doesn’t sell much, my kids just love the fact that their mom wrote a book about them. And it’s hilarious, by the way, or at least most of the readers who have read it think so. After those works, I realized that there wasn’t much more left for me to write about myself at that time, so I started with fiction. At the time, I was torn between writing a suspense and a romance, so I wrote both. The suspense, called ‘The Wife of a Lesser Man’, I loved writing so much, that I ended up writing a trilogy. The second book in that series, called ‘Don’t Mess with Daddy’s Girl’, earned me my first publishing contract with a small press publisher. I later got out of the contract and decided to self-publish for reasons I’ll get into in another post. ‘Blessed and Betrayed’ was my first romance. Loved writing that. But I also still loved writing the suspense novels, since at that time I was a huge fan of the ‘Criminal Minds’ series. So it took me off into a couple of different directions. Today, while I write in many genres, I have completely fallen in love (pun intended) with steamy romance. The Ford Brothers Series has been the best writing experience yet. It has brought me to the highest level of writing that I’ve ever been at, both with the writing itself, and with marketing, selling, etc. Book five, ‘May Explode if Heated’, sold 100 copies within the first week of publication. I’ve never sold that many books…ever. The third book in the series, ‘Handle with Care’ also earned me a five-star review from Readers’ Favorite, a highly recognized and reputable review company. The second book, ‘Enter at Your Own Risk’, reached number 2 on Amazon in its category in January, 2020. None of my paid books have ever reached that ranking. Writing has always been a part of me, and every day, it becomes more a part of me. I love it. It’s hard work but very rewarding, and in my opinion, I think it keeps me young 😊. Wouldn’t we all like to stay young? If you have a question that you would like me to answer, please feel free to ask. You can visit my website at www.sandraalexbooks.com or www.sandyappleyard.com for contact information. Thanks for reading! May Explode if Heated is Coming February 1!
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AuthorSandra Alex introduces the Ford Brothers...five rich, sexy, swoon-worthy men that will knock your socks off! Pick your next book boyfriend! Archives
April 2021
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