Sarah Gerdes's Blog, page 16
February 13, 2018
2nd book in the month of romance….
As I sit here listening to one of my fav sets from ABGT 200, I’m making sure all of you who have been eagerly awaiting the freebie eBook of Destined for You, the 2nd book in the Danielle Grant series. Get it now, as it’s up for the next five days as a download.
Happy reading (and dancing and trancing)….and a Happy Valentine’s tomorrow. For inquiring minds, who think I am married to a man who does outrageous things (like Will Smith famously sending 5,000 roses..), nay. Rog and I have always boycotted V-day out of principle (as in, what about all the other days where we do nice things? Don’t those count)?
So, we go out the day after because the places are empty, and we are, in fact, hungry. Call us kooky, but better deals are always to be had the “day-after” anything, never, ever, the day before.
February 8, 2018
24 hrs left for Book 1
Just a reminder for the last free ebook #1 in the month of romance….
Made for Me, book one in the Danielle Grant series…ends 2/10
Free download…then the next one up is the sequel, Destined for You. All books available in print at Amazon and B & N a’course if you must have the hard copy.
Factiod: Writing the final book in the series, although I will say more than one reader wants another. Not in the plans, but you never know. What I’m really thinking about is sequel to A Convenient Date, since so many readers have asked for another one (or more) books to follow. We shall see.
February 4, 2018
Getting over it, Literally
There I am, lying in my bed (alone) staring straight up at the ceiling, trying to feel the vibes from my Himalayan salt rock to my left, and all I can think of the report I read on the bar in the Midwest that prominently featured a sign that read something to the effect of: any patron using the word “literally,” will be escorted from the premises, and that they would have no Kardashian here.
In the depth of my recent despair (death of a loved one) you would think I’d have better things to occupy myself with than this, but that’s the irony. Until you have lost a loved one (or two), you can’t guess at the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wringer that’s going to occur. After a while, the body gives, then the mind, and not necessarily in that order.
So, I’m ruminating on girls and a word apparently used in a show (and real life) that I’ve never watched even once, literally. How could this obsession gone so far and wide and deep in to the fiber of middle America to cause a bar owner to literally put up a sign on the window?
This, then, gives way to my own rumination on the word itself. The more I start to think about the word, the more I literally think it’s valid for many things:
a comma, used for a pause in a sense (literally)
a period. He’s an idiot, literally
a question. You think I want you, literally?
an exclamation. I’m so pumped, literally!
Come down to it, those dark-haired, big-bossomed LA gals referenced in the media have it right. Literally is about the only non-offensive word that is used at the White House and an outhouse, what’s more Americana than that, I wonder, trying to will myself to sleep.
Literally.
February 2, 2018
Month of romance/ free books & videos
Cover art inspired as I was sitting by the water on Lake Zurich. The Alps in the background, crazy exotic cars everywhere. it was great inspiration.
In February, the month of all things heart-shaped. Because everyone I know can use more love in their life, (I mean, how often do you hear someone say “I’m full-up on love. Don’t need anymore?) I’m going all in with a four-week give-away of my four women’s fiction books, aka, contemporary romance.
What does that mean?
A free book a week, no download limit (as in, you can download on any device)
You can share the link with your friends (same as above)
You can read and review….and review (did I mention review?)
Lichtenstein Castle that plays a role in the book with Danielle’s man of romance (the first one:)
I’m starting off with a fan favorite, Made for Me. Why? It’s exotic (set in Switzerland), it’s fast-paced and it’s a sequel. So the next book will be Destined for You.
Tap on the title or this link and you are on your way. The full description is below.
Oh! If that isn’t enough, you can read along with me. I’ve started a Made for Me playlist on my YouTube channel. subscribe and you will get notified of new chapters as they are posted.
Another view of the castle. What’s interesting is that the family still lives on the property and we saw the young Prince and his gang smoke cigs and lounging by their small BMWs watching us. It was surreal, funny, sad and a bit weird all at once. Not quite as romantic as I imagined, but I moved on.
So grab your best drink, sit back, read, watch or listen, and enjoy February with me!
February 1, 2018
A free book?
I found five books of A Convenient Date, first edition--it has a few errors (like typos) as most first editions have...I'd hate to chuck them. (print versions are $14.95) If you are interested in a signed copy, drop me a line directly and I'll send it out:) (I always love giving the GR ppl first shot) Thanks!
January 29, 2018
When the world goes dark
Everything seems a bit brighter, and my troubles a bit smaller when in the mountains
This last Thursday, we received the call no one wants. My father-in-law will only live a few more weeks. We were shocked, perhaps because we were hopeful the brain cancer wouldn’t spread so fast…that we would make it to the summer…one more Fourth of July, one more birthday. But one of my mantra’s in the corporate world is “hope is not a strategy,” and sadly, it applies to our personal life as well.
The tears had barely started to give way to a deeper level of grief and pseudo acceptance until Saturday, when I got another call. This time, telling me the husband of our dear friends and neighbors of 15 years had 24-48 hours to live. There was no time to process that–just stunned disbelief and grief. He died this morning, and my husband, who was still in his robotic, I-can-and-will-take-care-of-my-family mode, was determined I wasn’t going to spend another day riding the waves of tears and weepiness. He announced he was taking us skiing, and loaded me and our youngest daughter into the car and up to the hill we went.
I cried for most of the drive, then the liquid seemed to dry up the higher we climbed in elevation. At the top of the gondola, the sunlight blinded me and I had to concentrate on my eight year old zooming down the mountain. The heartache of loss was gradually replaced with the joy of youth, her unfettered happiness of swishing down a mostly empty hillside. Rog caught me in a moment of smiling, that point in time where I forgot everything and just saw the beauty of life.
Taking another look around, I pulled out my phone and took a photo. From above, the grief I experience down below, in the real world seemed so far away.
As we rode down the gondola, the dark clouds weren’t just metaphorical, but very real. My heart constrained again, my eyes blurred, but I didn’t lose it. I felt like a little of the hurt had been replaced with light, not a sunbeam or super nova, but enough to allow me to see through the dark.
January 24, 2018
Author 4 Aspiring Authors
Adults ask much more pragmatic questions like:
How do I get an agent? Do I really have to pay 15% commission and are four types of editors truly necessary to publish a book?
These questions and, oh, about 180 others are answered in Author Straight Talk: the possibilities, pitfall's, how-to's and tribal knowledge from someone who knows.
I promised myself if I ever got to the point of success that I'd pause long enough to put down everything I'd experienced in order to save another (potentially better) writer years of angst, money and rejection. Now I've done it. Yes, it took all summer and fall, but it was worth it.
I'll be running promos and magnets (links that allow free downloads) to get things rolling, but for now, it's out and available. And yes, I published it under my own imprint. The publishers were a wee-bitty pissed off (according to my agent) that I wasn't pulling the curtain back on the kimono. I essentially stripped the kimono bare...and that's the point. As one editor at a top five publishing house said to me: "You are going to make a lot of people mad, because it will be harder to negotiate with agents and authors now, but in the long run, you will make our (the acquisitions editor) lives easier, because the submitted manuscripts will be better and the author more educated."
My personal belief is that all readers are potential authors. If you know or suspect an author may be lurking amongst your friends or relatives, send the link along, or have them follow me here or on my own FB page so they can read the eBook version free. (reviews are always welcome and encouraged a'course).
Author Straight Talk
Happy Wednesday!
January 9, 2018
Swept Away with Romance Bundle starts in 3 days
December 26, 2017
The finishing touches
But I digress. This isn't really about death and destruction It's about finishing up the indexing and final review/approval for Author Straight Talk, the book that both my agent and editor is going to polarize me like Hillary Clinton.
That is not a good way to enter 2018. But here's the comments, directly from my editor.
"On one hand, editors and agents are going to hate you for writing this, because it takes the mystery out of the process. On the other hand, they will love you because you are making their life easier--if the readers listen and apply what you write, then I'll be getting better submissions on my desk."
I pondered this when she said it. Ok, I thought. I'm going to make them grumpy because the prospective author will be able to better negotiate for him/herself. This isn't to win me any friends, but then, I live in Idaho now. Moose are easier to find than friends.
Then she added this line: "aspiring authors may love and hate you as well, because you are giving your experience, across the board, instead of offering up a collection of others' examples.
Well, that's the point. No authors I know were willing to give up their financial figures, or go on the record about the ins and outs of the business, nor excited at the prospect of sharing their missteps or failures. The only person I could talk about was me--drawing in the examples of a few others who would go on the record but not always by name.
That's the beauty and the beast of AST. It's all I wanted to know when I was starting out that non one would talk about it. I might not always have listened, but at least I would have had the option.Author Straight Talk
December 14, 2017
Free book promo: A Convenient Date
If you are looking for a free ecopy of A Convenient Date, the search is over. For a limited time, I’m offering a free ebook copy to those who sign up for my newsletter.
Book jacket info….
Two years after the unexpected death of her husband, Kaitlyn Reid’s life is improving. Her relentless devotion to helping the less fortunate provides a welcome distraction from the emptiness and sorrow.
Just as life begins to feel stable, her world is turned upside down. She receives an unexpected email from her attorney informing her that she is being sued by a woman claiming to be the mother of her deceased husband’s son. A son she knew nothing about…
Reeling from the news, Kaitlyn happens to meet Rick Santos. Rick is a recently divorced financier that has relocated from the San Francisco Bay area. Unaware of her personal turmoil, Rick proposes they become each other’s ‘convenient date.’
Vulnerable, but with nothing to lose, she accepts.
Will she trust her heart to Rick? Will she allow him to serve as her ballast during her times of crisis? Or will she run, fearing a future resembling the dark torment of her past?
A Convenient Date is about discovering real love and the realization that doing the right thing isn’t discretionary or convenient. It may ruin Kaitlyn, but truth and honesty is the only path that will give her the freedom she needs to live again.
Strong, smart, sexy. Is there a convenient date waiting for you?
