Roxanne Rustand's Blog, page 6

Starting fresh!

The world we live in seems to be evolving at such a fast pace these days–it’s hard to keep up. Do you find that to be true as well? The proliferation of technology advances and social media  is mind boggling. And in the writing life–well, blink and you’ve missed so much.

I  just didn’t have the heart for writing during the year after my sweet mom passed away, and during that time so much was happening with Facebook and Twitter and the still-growing array of social media. By the time I got back in the saddle writing-wise, I was hopelessly  behind and befuddled. I’d become newly aware of one thing and suddenly there are two more on the horizon!

In the meantime, the  publishing world was rocked by the explosion of e-books that were taking off….and the way writers and readers connect is evolving as well. I’ve been trying to catch up ever since. You probably have known about memes for ages.  I just learned about them–and what to do with them–couple weeks ago!  Here’s one of mine–it’s rather like a online business card.

My super-patient webpage designer guided me into the latest wave of web page design a few years ago, but already, styles and content have changed,  So, she and I have spent the last couple weeks talking about another revamp, then experimenting with ideas. And now, my website has been freshened up ad revised. I would love to hear your comments and suggestions!

The post Starting fresh! appeared first on roxannerustand.com.

I am sooo excited!

New things are coming at www.roxannerustand.com!  After having this style of website and blog for several years, I have been working with my lovely webmistress, Karen McCullough, who surely deserves an award for her patience as I’ve been sorting through the ideas I’d like to try next.  This site will be down on Monday, while she implements those changes, and by Tuesday everything here should look completely different.

I can’t wait to see it, and hope you will stop by again to take a peek–and let me know what you think! Your feedback means a lot to me, and will help with the final tweaks!

I hope you are having a wonderful winter.  Here in Iowa it has been gray and cloudy and sometimes drizzly…but hey, it’s easier to enjoy an occasional dreary day than shovel snow!  

An Aspen Creek Christmas !

Just a quick hello here, to let you know that I have a new book out in the stores right now.  It’s also online at www.harlequin.com and amazon.com….perfect timing for an inexpensive stocking stuffer!

It’s the third book in my Aspen Creek Crossroads series–and the book I’ve been wanting to write for a long, long time

On another note, Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

I hope you have a wonderful dinner, and a fabulous time with friends or family.  This will be our second celebration–we had our first in Iowa on Sunday, with my husband’s brother and his family, plus our son Brian and his family, and enjoyed it so much.

And now, we have traveled way south to spend the long weekend with our daughter and her husband down in Pass Christian, along the Gulf, where it is now a beautiful, balmy 70 degrees.   While we are gone, our other son and his family are spending their holiday vacation at our house, to have Thanksgiving with her parents.  It got complicated this year and I wish we all could have been together, but it all worked out!

Best wishes to everyone–have a lovely holiday!  Oh, and by the way, if you are in Cedar Rapids or nearby on December 9th, I’ll be at Barnes & Noble, starting at 6pm.  I’d so love it if you would stop by to say hello!

Those who stop by and buy my book can enter their name into a drawing for one of THREE  $10.00 Barnes & Noble gift cards, by simply adding their email address to my e-newsletter. One of those gift cards would well exceed the cost of the book. I rarely do booksigningss, and look forward to seeing some friends and readers there!

About the newsletter: I haven’t sent one out in yseveral years, but now plan to accasionally send it out a couple times a year to share recipes, news, and such.  I would never, ever share those addresses, promise.

Take care, and God bless!     Roxanne

The post An Aspen Creek Christmas ! appeared first on roxannerustand.com.

It’s a Party!

It’s been a while since I’ve been here…lots of traveling, some book deadlines and the usual life of life  in the country with the horses, dogs, cats, and of course…my sweet hubby.  

Howdy!

It’s been a long time….but here I am at last. Lunar Pages locked me out of this site for quite a while, and I just got involved with a lot of other things.

BUT…I wanted to make sure I started off by telling you about the Facebook party today at the Sweet Romance Reads Facebook page!  if you want to join in and try for the giveaways, just go to

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SRRCafe1

A lot of authors will be onboard  throughout the various time slots and would love to meet you!

Happy Valentine’s Day in advance!

 

ROXANNE

The post Howdy! appeared first on roxannerustand.com.

A Writer’s Life…with Budgies! by Patricia Johns

By guest blogger Patricia Johns

I’ve always been a bird person. Not the bird watching type, but the bird petting and snuggling type. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a bird for a pet.

A writer’s life is a solitary one, and having my two birds sharing the room with me makes everything a lot more cheerful. They are budgies–on the small side, too!–and they are quite tame and will sit on my finger. Together. They like to be side by side, no matter what they’re doing, and when I get one onto my finger, the other one will hop up, too, and they’ll consent to be told how very pretty they are.

They know their names, and they’ll obey commands like, “Coco, get down!” when she flies up to the curtain rod where she isn’t allowed to sit. Little Blue has learned the word “bath” in the same way a dog learns the word “vet.” For the longest time, Little Blue wouldn’t properly preen his tail, and so I’d have to give it a rinse under the tap, and he just hated it. So even now, months after he’s started properly caring for his own tail, he still flies away from me at the mention of the dreaded B-word.

I like the companionship. I write better with some company in the room with me, and it’s a pleasant break when one of them starts to chatter at me from across the room, their way of getting my attention for something they want. They might want the door open, or their treat picked up from the bottom of the cage, but they’ll snark way at me until I get it right, and then I get a chirp of thanks and they settle onto whatever they’d been hankering for. I’m well-trained.

I’m married with a school-aged child, but my birds fill a very special part of my heart. Any pet person knows what I mean when I say this. When I write, they are right there, keeping me company, demanding I pick up their treats, and just making me happy. It’s an honor to be their friend.

Here is a link to Patricia’s new book!    A Firefighter’s Promise (Love Inspired)

A FIREFIGHTER’S PROMISE

Love Inspired

By Patricia Johns

When the baby he rescued seven years ago returns—with his widowed adoptive mom—Deputy Fire Chief Matt Bailey can’t turn them away. Desperate to escape the reminders of his failure in the line of duty, Matt is close to leaving town. But one look at Rachel Carter and her son, Christopher, has him second-guessing his plans. Rachel is a mom in need of a hero for her son. But as much as she wants the two to bond, she’s determined to keep her distance from Matt. After losing her husband on the job, she promised never to love another fireman. Yet somehow she finds herself drawn to the one man she should avoid.

http://patriciajohnsromance.com

 

 

The post A Writer’s Life…with Budgies! by Patricia Johns appeared first on roxannerustand.com.

Author Dana R. Lynn….and Unusual Pets!

 

I have always loved animals. Growing up, my family always had several cats and a dog. So when I moved out on my own, it was only natural that I would have a pet. A cat. And after I got married, we added a dog.

What I never expected was how my pet population would explode once the kids came. Cats. Dogs. Chickens. Rabbits. A horse named Misty. For the most part, I was fine with this. We have land, so why not. What I never expected, however, were the rats.

Yes, you read that right. Rats.

Here’s how it happened. When my daughter was nearing the end of her sixth grade year, her teacher decided to hold a drawing for the rats kept in the science class. Any child who wanted to be included in the drawing needed their parents to sign a permission slip. So my daughter came to me with her best pleading expression on her face.

I said what any self-respecting mother would say.

“Ask your father.”

Now, I knew my husband would say no. He had said numerous times we had too many animals. Therefore, I wasn’t concerned when my daughter immediately picked up the phone to call him at work.

Until he said yes.

What?

My satisfied daughter handed me the phone. “Did you really just tell her she could put her name in for a rat?”

“Relax, honey. She’ll put her name in the drawing, but there’ll be so many kids who want the rats, her name won’t be picked.”

Her name was the first name picked.

And so we became the proud owner of a cute little albino rat named Nevaeh. I actually liked her. She was a sweet little rat. Unfortunately, as is the case with lab rats, she didn’t live long. This time, when my daughter came to me and asked if she could get a new rat, I drove her to the pet store myself. We are now on rats five and six.

I’m holding off on the goats, though.

What about you? What are some of your unexpected experiences with pets? Comment on this post to win a copy of Presumed Guilty, my new release from Love Inspired Suspense.

 Here is  link so you can find Dana’s book on Amazon: Presumed Guilty (Love Inspired Suspense)

Presumed Guilty

Dana R. Lynn

Love Inspired

The April, 2015 edition of RT Bookreviews Magazine, Leslie L. McFee gave Presumed Guilty a 4 star rating.   “This is an exciting debut from a promising storyteller. The pace and plotting are ideal for reader engagement, and those readers will anxiously await a sequel.”

 “I’m innocent.”

After four years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit, Melanie Swanson’s finally free. Yet starting over brings a heavy load of challenges.

Nearly everyone believes she’s guilty- including police lieutenant Jace Tucker. Jace’s certainty cracks only when Melanie is repeatedly attacked, and when the people around her are picked off one by one. Melanie’s clearly innocent, and terrified. Someone wants her dead to keep her shattered memories from recalling the crime she witnessed rather than caused. She lost her friends, her fiancé and her freedom when she was found guilty- but proving her innocence could cost Melanie her life.

The post Author Dana R. Lynn….and Unusual Pets! appeared first on roxannerustand.com.

A new cookbook by romance authors– just 99 cents!

Just in time for Valentine’s Day:  ”Recipes of Love–Romantic Recipes by Sweet Romance Reads”  by sixteen sweet romance and inspirational romance authors, for only 99 cents!

It was so much fun to contribute to this project.  Lots of great recipes (four or five from each author), plus tidbits about every author, and each included a short excerpt of her current release.

Here is an Amazon link:      Recipes of Love: Romantic Recipes by Sweet Romance Reads

 

Best wishes to all–and Happy Valentine’s Day!

Roxanne

The post A new cookbook by romance authors– just 99 cents! appeared first on roxannerustand.com.

Selling My Way…..to RWA!

Selling my way to RWA!

 There are several very large organizations for writers. One of the biggest is Romance Writers of America, which holds its conferences in July at various large cities from coast to coast.  It’s educational, it provides wonderful opportunities for networking with other writers, and for meeting with one’s literary agent and editors. It’s also a chance to “give back” to writing community by offering to give workshops or by volunteering in other ways.

It’s also a way to visit other parts of the country…and this summer it’s back in New York. Be still my heart!  Wonderful restaurants.  Broadway shows. Incredible museums. And an exciting vibe this country girl loves in…well, smaller doses before slipping back into her office in a quiet, rural state. :)  Especially exciting is that my daughter, who is also a writer, will be there.  We’ll stay with two of my writer friends at the conference hotel, and enjoy every minute of the conference and the big city.

But, it’s an expensive affair what with airfare, a big city hotel, restaurant meals and the conference fee.

I love consignment stores and eBay…it’s always such a treasure hunt,  as you just never know what you’ll find!  On the flip side of that coin, I enjoy donning my alter ego now and then, as Christiana 116, and providing that sort of experience by listing items on eBay.  All of us have things we don’t really need, and apparently this form of buying and selling is very popular, as there are now many “cash from your closet” type auction sites online.

Years ago, a dear friend set a goal of going RWA based in what she saved via couponing, and she succeeded!  This year, I decided to do the same, only via what I could make selling on eBay.  I’d been quite inactive there for sometime.  Was it even possible?  Well, I’m part way to my goal, and thinning out my closets and shelves makes me feel good, too.  I have had a passion for Coach, Dooney & Bourke, Fossil and Kooba for way too long!  As hard as it is to let them go, sending them off to new homes so that I can go to RWA with our daughter this year is worth it!

So…do you have travel plans this year?  What is your dream trip for the future?

The post Selling My Way…..to RWA! appeared first on roxannerustand.com.

Dachshund or cat…who’s the boss? Guest blogger Tammy Johnson

Guest blogger Tammy Johnson

My first book cover became official just a few weeks ago and I’m anxious to share it and a little about the book with you. Royal Rescue is a story of so many things, but a huge part of the story is a woman who longs for home. Along the journey we learn a lot about what she thinks a home is. I don’t want to give too much of the story away, but there are puppies involved.

I started a Pinterest board for the story when I first began getting ideas and the puppies I imagined where furry little balls of black and white. I didn’t really want them to be purebred anything. I settled on some sort of spaniel mix. I probably picked that breed because of childhood memories of a dog my sister had. It was a Brittany spaniel named Beaner. He wandered down a country road one day and found us and was probably one of the best dogs we ever had growing up. A close second was the dachshund terrier mix we had for a while too. Strangely enough, he found us as well. I don’t remember every detail, but I remember him hiding under our house until we finally adopted him.

In my home now I have one dog, a dachshund. His very unique name is Weenie. In hindsight, we probably could have come up with something a little more original. It does sound a little funny when I’m standing on the back step hollering for him to come in. He started out as just a visitor though and somehow ended up staying for going on eight years now. I wouldn’t trade him for anything now though. He is a fixture in our family.

We have a cat as well. Believe it or not, the cat is bigger than the dog and is definitely the boss of the house.  I enjoy watching them fight for furnace space on cold mornings.  It’s not much of a fight though. Weenie tries to move close and the cat just gives him a look and he backs away. On rare mornings though, they do get along and actually lay together. It’s a winter morning ritual as soon as the house starts to stir they both get to their spot where they can get some heat. Together, they do make our house a home.

I’ve often thought of someday adding a friend for Weenie (other than the cat), but I can’t decide on the breed I’d want to go with. Another dachshund would be fun, but then I’ve always loved the flat faced breeds as well. Having a pug, Boston terrier, or bulldog of some sort has always been a dream of mine. I keep telling myself maybe someday.

What about you? Do you feel a pet makes a house a home and do you have a favorite breed of dog you’ve had or would love to have? What sort of dog do you think would make the best new friend for Weenie?

Here is a pre-order link for Tammy’s new book: Royal Rescue (Love Inspired Suspense)

Royal Rescue is now available for preorder on Amazon and other online retailers and will be available in early April.

 

Find out more about Tammy and her writing journey at www.tammyjohnson.net

The post Dachshund or cat…who’s the boss? Guest blogger Tammy Johnson appeared first on roxannerustand.com.