Sandra Alex's Blog, page 2

Finding Time to Write

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!!!

How I got started writing

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

January Rafflecopter Madness!!!!

May Explode if Heated is Coming February 1! 
​Guess how we're celebrating!Yes, it's the final (maybe?) book in the Ford Brothers series, and it's going out with a bang! Five minutes in a room with the right person can be life changing…

He’s rugged, rebellious, stubborn, relentless with his work as CFO of the airline that he and his brothers run, and he’s a genius.  Jack Ford has thumbed his nose at his four brothers for falling in love and getting married seemingly at the drop of a hat, swearing that he’ll never marry; that he’s a born bachelor and that he intends to stay that way, putting his work front and center always.  He’s sworn that he won’t catch the same marrying bug that has caught the other four siblings…until a sweet, troubled young Russian girl waltzes into his life…and her sister, too.

Kristina and Yolanda have seen their share of trouble.  Being born in Russia and raised in more than one home, they’ve struggled in ways that most haven’t.  Still sharing a bed in their twenties, these girls have stuck together through thick and thin.  Through the horror and life altering choices that they’ve had to make to stay alive, these sisters protect each other from everything, including those who have threatened to take what little they have together away.  So when Kristina meets Jack Ford, will her younger sister Yolanda let him get close to her, or will she protect her from the only person she has left in life?

During an interview, in the five shocking minutes that he’s alone with Kristina, Jack learns something horrifying about her that changes the way he looks at the young Russian girl, and women, forever.  He makes a choice and his brothers don’t support what he wants to do and at times, Jack questions his own actions.  Until one night when he has no choice in the matter and the tables turn…Jack needs Kristina’s help.  And she’s the only one who can help him. 
​
A powerful, unexpected, tumultuous love story that will heat up your ereader!  Jack and Kristina’s story is the final book in the Ford Brothers Series, and this series is going out with a bang!  All the books in this series can be read in any order.  These sizzling love stories are not for the faint at heart.  Pick up your copy today!Read MoreGet in on the Rafflecopter madness while it's hottt!a Rafflecopter giveaway There is VIRAL SHARING enabled on this one...!Happy Reading!!!

November Rafflecopter Madness!

To celebrate the release of Book 4, which is coming December 15, I've started a Rafflecopter sweepstakes!!Get in before it's too late!  Enter for your chance to win an Amazon gift card!!a Rafflecopter giveaway Good Luck!!!  If you haven't followed my Facebook page, do so now! 
​Winners will be announced there!Follow me on Facebook

I Do Love to Tease...

Here is one of my favorite parts of Proceed with Caution....enjoy! Proceed with Caution
​Whatever just happened, I want more of it.  At first, I wanted to slap him, for ravishing me like that in a broom closet.  But then, I let myself melt into him.  Never in my life have I been kissed like that before.  That wasn’t a kiss.  It was a full body ‘come-to-me-baby’ lip tease that extended from my mouth to my toes.  If that was a preview of what he’s like in bed…mercy.  Legs like jelly, lips swollen and throbbing…other things throbbing, too, my panties were soaked from ten seconds of Colton’s touch.  What came over him, I have no idea.  I just went in to get a stack of trays, and I left feeling like I’d been through a hurricane…hurricane sexy.
Then he apologized?  What the hell for?  And he said it wouldn’t happen again?  Good Lord…I hope it does.  Not in my wildest fantasies have I ever been ravaged so deliciously, begging for more.  Colton is my wet dream.  A dream I never knew I could have, or experience in the flesh.  Flesh…hot, sweaty flesh…man, I’m getting ahead of myself.  Okay, need a cold shower.  Or another five minutes with Colton.  Maybe it wouldn’t even take that long. 
Colton is one of those guys you dream about.  Gentle but hungry, sexy as hell but he doesn’t know it.  That man hasn’t got a conceited bone in his body.  Wait…bone.  Yeah, I could feel his girth on my belly.  Raw, ready, there’s no telling what might’ve happened if Dan hadn’t walked in and interrupted us. Doing it in a broom closet seems cheap, but no, this was, and would have been…closet ecstasy.  Worth the rumours and looks.
But then Dan comes in and ruins my only moment of lust since…ever.  Colton runs out of there like he’s trying to catch a purse snatcher.  I follow him out a few seconds later, after I adjust my shirt and catch my breath.  When I get closer to the front door, I see Colton forcing a guy against the wall.  This guy looks like he lives in a trailer park; he’s wearing a hat that says ‘Cheetah’, but it falls off the moment Colton takes him by the scruff of his shirt.  I can tell Colton has his knee pressed up against the guy’s balls, so he’s pinned and can’t move.  Colton’s shirt is strained with the flexing of his muscles.  It turns me on even further, making me feel kind of guilty for the response at such a time. 
“Tell me, you son of a bitch!” Colton seethes, pushing his body further into trailer park boy.
“I…I don’t know him, I swear!  He paid me a hundred bucks to ask!”
Bingo has opened the other side of the door, and is letting people in through there, while Colton grills this guy for information.
“Who?  What did he look like?” Colton’s nose is pressed up against his.  “Tall?  Dark hair?  What?  Tell me or I’ll shove my knees so far up your balls, you’ll have to go in after them!”
“Yeah,” Cheetah pants, wincing.  “He’s got dark hair.”
“What kind of car was he driving, asshole!”
“A sweet lookin’ Charger.  Who the hell’s Julia, anyway?”
“None of your fucking business.” Colton says, letting him go.  He takes off into the parking lot at lightning speed. 
“Ma’am, you need to stay inside.” Bingo says to me.
“What?  Why?”
“Colton’s orders.”
“Okay.”
Watching Colton run through the parking lot, Cheetah turns to me.  Winking, he licks his lips, like he’s about to take a bite out of a Porterhouse steak. He looks me up and down like I am one.  “You must be Julia.  He your boyfriend?  The guy who wanted to know if you was in here?”
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” I say, suddenly feeling the need to take a shower. 
“Oh, it’s you alright.”  Cheetah is pleased that he’s figured something out by himself.  
I remain silent, distracted by Colton’s absence.  He isn’t visible in the parking lot anymore.  Part of me is nervous that John and Colton, if John is, in fact, here, would get into a fight.  Colton could handle himself, but with John’s temper and jealousy, there is no telling what he might do. 
Liz walks up to me.  “Hey, what’s going on?  The tables in there are going nuts; this is the first chance I had to come check it out.”
“I’ll tell you later,” I mutter, not wishing Cheetah to hear our conversation.  He’s still leering at me, waiting for me to talk to him, as if I owe him. 
“Oh, this little chicky here has some score to settle with some guy out in the parking lot.  Paid me fifty bucks to ask if she was here.” Cheetah brags, lifting his fifty dollar bill.
Liz’s eyes widen at me.  “Shit, is he here?  Now?”
“I don’t know.  Colton went running out into the parking lot to find him.”
“Oh, he’s here alright.” Cheetah interrupts.  “He still owes me the other fifty.  I ain’t leaving until I get it.”
“Shut up, Cheetah.” Bingo says, growing tired of hearing him.  The incoming crowd on the other door has thinned.  “I’ll kick your ass.”
“You will not.  You’ll get fired.  It’s against the rules.”
This spurs Cheetah on.  “Ah-ha!  See, I’m right, aren’t I?”
“I won’t get fired if I kick your ass.” Liz states firmly.  “And don’t think I won’t, either.  I’ve got a thirteen year old boy who’d kiss your ass, too.”
Seconds later, a red Charger drives too slowly out of the parking lot.  The tinted window on the driver’s side slides down.  I see the chillingly calm look on my ex-fiance’s face.  He stops for a moment, glances at me, as if I should say something, and drives away grinning.
“What the hell did he want?” Liz says.
I don’t answer.  Cheetah tears off after him, screaming that he wants his money.
When Colton appears, he says five words that both thrill and terrify me at the same time.  “You’re staying with me tonight.”

 
Read more

Rafflecopter Madness

The last Rafflecopter draw I held before the release of Proceed with Caution was a huge success.  So I thought I'd give it another whirl.  Enter at Your Own Risk comes out on September 1, so the draw ends August 31. 

I'll be choosing 2 winners, who will each receive a $10 Amazon gift card .  Entries are easy; you can choose between sharing, placing the book on your to-be-read shelf, or following me on certain platforms.  Each action is worth one entry 'ballot'.  

If you would like to enter the draw, you can do so here.  

I recommend you also like my Facebook page , as that is where the winners will be announced.  You can like my Facebook page here.

As of the time of this post, there is just one day left to enter, so if you'd like your chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card, do it now!  

Good Luck!!

How I come up with titles

With this series, I really struggled to come up with a good theme for the titles.  Since the genre is generally erotic romance, I wanted to come up with something fun yet catchy and easy to remember.  After researching dozens of other authors who had great success with themes, I finally came up with something unique. 

When I started putting together story ideas, I had also just finished completing a course on Occupational Health & Safety, and, I thought to myself, why not do themes based around hazard warning signs?

It's kind of kinky, in a way, because heck, let's face it, sometimes sex can be hazardous ;)  Depending on what you're into, that is.  Some of the content in my books can be considered dangerous...so I titled the first one in the series Proceed with Caution , keeping it cleaner and less obvious.  The second, of course, is Enter at Your Own Risk ....a little more obvious that it's erotic romance.  The third one is called Handle with Care , and, of course, you can't do hazard warning sign themed titles in the erotic romance genre without using Slippery When Wet , which is the title of the fourth in the series.  

I haven't come up with a title for the fifth one yet...at the time of this blog, the fourth in the series is just in production.  But stay tuned...I'm sure I'll come up with a quirky one that hits the nail on the head!

​Any suggestions? lol....