Redefining Something’s Purpose
I’m sure folks who’ve visited this blog in the past recognize that Kora Taiman, the hostess of the site, is a lovely and fabulous character from my first fantasy novel, Choices Meant for Gods. She’s the current matriarch of Hleo-Arcana, the estate where a majority of the action and story-development in the novel take place. But, for today, I’m taking over the blog to post some information about a change taking place at ChoicesMeantForGods.wordpress.com.
Namely, it’s going to be used as just a staging area for some character and book release information rather than a site that I stress over updating. In other words, if you’ve stumbled upon it, congratulations, and I hope the information in the few posts that I’ve selected to save are informative. They’re here to lead you elsewhere. The blogs that give you the real scoop, the sites that show you how to order Choices Meant for Gods, the places that give you insight about me (and how psychotic I might or might not be) are located elsewhere. I’ll give you a handy list…because I’m kinda nice like that. 
www.todaythedragonwins.blogspot.com (the writers’ site with the main goodies)
http://sandylender.blogspot.com (the crazy site)
www.amazon.com (the place to go to buy the book! I highly recommend that one, of course. And that’s where there are glowing, happy reviews.)
www.archebookspublishing.com (my publisher’s site, where you can also buy the book, in either hardback or e-book format)
I also have a page on Shelfari.com, at myspace.com/fantasyauthorsandylender, at the Ning community (all dragons all the time, my friends, all the time), in the BookAuthorTour network, and somewhere on Gather. In other words, you can befriend me just about anywhere in the book network if you just seek me out.
Notice that I’m pretty nonchalant about some of those. That’s why this blog is being redefined. Well, it’s one of the reasons. Having an intruder in my home a few weeks ago and someone else trying to break in last night whilst two mortgage companies fight over who gets to hold a foreclosure auction on my house first while I figure out how to get my soon-to-be-ex-husband’s attorney to finish up his paperwork so I can get to the end of paying my attorney’s fees for time and time and time are all sort of taxing my brain power these days. I decided one less blog to stress about keeping up was a positive move. So I’m redefining purpose all over my life. This blog included…
Enjoy the posts that are here already and please visit one of the blogs I’ve listed above. They’re usually useful, sometimes educational, and always entertaining.
Happy Holidays!
From your fantasy author, Sandy Lender
Wet Ink Posts Great Review of Sandy Lender’s CMFG
If you click on http://www.mindunbound.com/newsletters/2007_august.html#fantasy, you can read the wonderful review from EM Sky of the epic fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods by the new fantasy author Sandy Lender. Sky gives a succinct synopsis of a couple of the plots underlining the brisk storyline before diving into her glowing report on Sandy’s poetic style.
I encourage you to check out the review and pick up your copy of this hardcover edition while it’s still available at a fine bookseller near you, or online at http://www.amazon.com/Choices-Meant-Gods-Sandy-Lender/dp/1595071652/ref=cm_cd_t_h_dp_i/104-9089752-5140754. Enjoy this epic tale of danger and heroism!
Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, fantasy author, fantasy novel, mind unbound, wet ink, review
Sandy Lender Doesn’t Recommend Quitting Your Day Job
My fantasy author, Sandy Lender, has written the following guest post for us today to celebrate the culmination of her Choices Meant for Gods Online Book Tour. It’s been a fabulous two-month tour with events nearly every weekday – some days hosting more than one event. So Sandy talks about the joy and insanity of being a writer below.
By Sandy Lender, fantasy author
Northeast Missouri State University, now Truman University, prides itself on offering a liberal arts education to graduates. I got out in four years with a degree in English and a liberal arts education that has garnered me a 15-year career in magazine publishing and public relations/marketing, but my true passion, the “career” I’ve nurtured since I was about six years old, is writing. And I don’t mean journalism. Yes, journalism and editing are what have paid the bills the past 15 years (and will continue to do so), but fiction writing…oh…fiction writing is what has kept me alive.
It’s probably going to be the death of me.
Let me explain. If you’re visiting this site, you’ve probably been drawn here by an interest in books or authors or a writer’s lifestyle or something along those lines. Let me give it to you straight. All writers have a touch of insanity about us (this is normal). We usually carry a muse around with us, but this is not always by choice. We complain about characters fighting for their rights, refusing to conform to our wishes in a scene. We go on writing binges that keep us up until 3 a.m. before collapsing next to our computers just to get up and start typing again when the sun blazes in to wake us around 7, skipping meals, showers, potty breaks and phone calls until some aspect of reality forces us out of the writing cocoon. We will tear a room to shreds looking for a pen if an idea has just struck us. And woe to the fool who gets between us and a piece of paper when we get hold of that pen…
Because I’ve experienced the insanity described above, I’ve been lifted up by hearing stories of people who have enjoyed my first published novel, Choices Meant for Gods. Now I get to read comments on my Amazon.com page of people claiming Nigel Taiman is “by far” their favorite character, or “I want to be just like Chariss when I grow up,” and I feel this lump of pride in my darlings rise in my throat.
That’s the joy and insanity of being a writer. You pour your heart and soul into the work; and pray that someone out there likes it, too. Now here’s the hard part. People have to read it to like it. They have to know it exists to read it. So you have to get it to them. Enter the marketing and promoting aspect of the new author’s job.
I attended the ArcheBooks Publishing’s Professional Novelist Workshop about two weeks before receiving my contract for Choices Meant for Gods, and had attended the Naples Press Club Writers Workshop the week before that, so I thought I had a pretty good idea of the marketing nightmare new authors faced. I was ready. Lay it on me, I thought.
Now I’m on the last day of a two-month online book tour I organized myself, contemplating repeating a moderately successful instore book signing at the local Barnes & Noble that I organized myself, and managing six blogs (including www.todaythedragonwins.blogspot.com) for the promotion of my fantasy novel that I’ve organized myself, preparing a spate of press releases I’ve written myself that I’ll spew forth like water from an erupting sprinkler next week, etc. Do you see a trend there? New authors are on their own. Unless you have the few thousand dollars it takes to hire a publicity firm/PR agency to send out press releases for you, you’re on your own. I don’t have a few thousand stray dollars and I don’t trust people who charge less than professional rates to do a professional job.
I take hope in the fact that even J.K. Rowling was once in the same boat I’m in now. She was down to her last food stamp as the story goes when that fateful call came: Her little story about a boy named Harry Potter had been picked up. I’ve already had my call. Choices Meant for Gods is published and out there. Now I need my lottery winning event to propel me into J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter status, but, for right now, I’m going to just keep writing deep into the night and reading those fabulous e-mails that praise Nigel and Chariss. Because making a living at this would be nice, but, truly, the writing binges that result in someone singing Chariss’s praises are the real joy and insanity of being a writer.
I’d like to thank Kora Taiman for posting this guest blog article. And I’d like to thank everyone who made the CMFG Online Book Tour the raging success it’s been. You know that paragraph above where I said new authors are on their own? I’d like to correct that. We actually have each other. Without each of you, the name Sandy Lender wouldn’t be all over the internet right now, and readers wouldn’t be one click away from http://www.amazon.com/Choices-Meant-Gods-Sandy-Lender/dp/1595071652/ref=dp_return_1/104-9089752-5140754?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1175821346&sr=8-1 to pick up my epic fantasy novel. And new author Sandy Lender is grateful to every one of you. “Some days, I just want the dragon to win.”
Tags: sandy lender, fantasy author, northeast missouri state university, truman university, liberal arts, journalism, fiction writing, writer’s life, muse, choices meant for gods, nigel taiman, marketing and promotion, archebooks publishing, professional novelist workshop, naples press club, online book tour, today the dragon wins, fantasy novel, j.k. rowling, harry potter
The Final Week of the Tour
Summarizing the Weekend and Week
My fantasy author, Sandy Lender, would like to thank Jan Verhoeff and Karina Fabian for the three stops they hosted on the Choices Meant for Gods Online Book Tour last week. These wonderful hosts made touring look wonderful!
This week marks the final six days in the CMFG virtual tour, and my author is both excited and sad. But, now that Monday is here, she has no time to ponder emotions. The week starts off with a bang with a live author chat tonight. Here’s the schedule:
Monday—Join Sandy Lender for a live author chat from 9 to 10 p.m. EST at http://willifordblog.com. The theme of the discussion is “What makes the perfect villain?” There’ll be a contest during the chat to win an autographed copy of the exciting epic fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods.
Tuesday—Meet fantasy character Kora Taiman as she deftly handles her first interview at http://friendsofdragons.wordpress.com.
Wednesday—Join Sandy Lender for a live author chat from 8 to 9 p.m. EST at www.authorisland.com. The theme of Wednesday evening’s discussion is “What makes the perfect heroine?” There’ll be another contest during this chat to win an autographed copy of Choices Meant for Gods.
Thursday—Meet fantasy author Sandy Lender in an insightful interview at www.storyation.blogspot.com all day long. Leave a comment or question and Sandy will respond throughout the day.
Friday—Fellow ArcheBooks author Jane Sutton hosts Sandy Lender for a grueling interview at http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com. Visit and leave gentler questions!
Saturday—We will announce the winner of the 10-questions contest still going on at this site and Sandy Lender will be a featured guest interviewee and guest blogger at sites all over the blogosphere throughout the day. Both Nigel and I will post the comprehensive list at http://sandylender.blogspot.com and here as Sandy confirms the final details. It’s going to be a great last day of the tour! A “party online” she calls it…
Please join us for any or all of these online events. We’re excited to share in this amazing time with you. It’s not every day that a new author gets to celebrate the end of such a whirlwind success of a tour!
Tags: fantasy author, Sandy Lender, virtual tour, online book tour, author chat
Character Portrait: Hrothmund
Character Portrait from Choices Meant for Gods
The God Hrothmund
Character name: Hrothmund
Status: god
How Kora knows character: her uncle; just legends
Defining characteristic: self-sacrificing
Hrothmund in a nutshell: It almost seems sacrilegious to speak of Hrothmund as merely a self-sacrificing god from Mahriket, but my fantasy author, Sandy Lender, says it’s acceptable to write whatever comes from my heart. Yet Hrothmund was so much more than just a god who gave up everything to save the world. If not for his ultimate act, Onweald and all of the mortal world would have been cast into oblivion during the Second War when Julette attacked Mahriket and forced the battle to spill over onto the continent beneath the Sincfage Mountains.
This event takes place more than 2500 years before the story of Choices Meant for Gods, thus I never met Hrothmund. But stories of his heroic deed are told to children in Mahriket while they’re still in their cradles. He will never be forgotten. I wonder if that ever grates on my father’s nerves…
Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, fantasy author, fantasy novel, character portrait, Hrothmund
Chapter 2 Synopsis
Synopsis: Chapter 2 from Choices Meant for Gods
Introduction to Hleo-Arcana
(Hleo-Arcana – you can pronounce this however you wish, but the fantasy author, Sandy Lender pronounces it with a long a sound and long o sound in Hleo; soft/short a sounds in Arcana. The definition and etymology of Hleo-Arcana is in the Word of the Day archives at www.todaythedragonwins.blogspot.com.)
When Chariss and her wizard guardian Hrazon of Mon’dore flee Treown to escape Lord Jamieson Drake, they arrive on the doorstep of Hleo-Arcana, the Taiman estate on the southeast coast of the continent of Onweald. Chariss has overexerted herself performing the feat of teleporting the two of them so far in one day, and collapses near death with telabyrinth poisoning. (You can imagine my distress at having this lovely young lady seeking shelter in my home one minute, and collapsed in a coma the next!)
(Choices Meant for Gods is an epic fantasy novel; the first book of a trilogy available from ArcheBooks Publishing, by fantasy author Sandy Lender; http://www.amazon.com/Choices-Meant-Gods-Sandy-Lender/dp/1595071652/ref=dp_return_1/104-9089752-5140754?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1175821346&sr=8-1)
Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, fantasy novel, fantasy author, archebooks
Getting Technorati Claimed
Just claiming the site with Technorati. Ignore this post and go to the next for the contest.
Tag: Technorati Profile
Character Portrait: Katherine Fair
Character Portrait from Choices Meant for Gods
The Lesser Goddess Katherine Fair
Character name: Katherine
Status: lesser goddess
How Kora knows character: just legends
Defining characteristic: self-sacrificing
Katherine in a nutshell: Because we started this series of character portraits with a goddess, why not just continue with one? I never got to meet the legendary Katherine Fair, but, oh, how I wish I could have! She’s an absolute legend in Mahriket. No one realized she had grown tired of her existence, or so the story goes. She had a beautiful, grown daughter and a gaggle of admirers hanging off her skirts everywhere she went, but beauty and popularity don’t buy happiness. She had grown weary with centuries of immortality, and she sought a grand cause to support in her final moments of life. She looked around and saw The Southlands at war. (This is the southeast region of the continent of Onweald in fantasy author Sandy Lender’s novel.) So, a little more than 500 years ago, not long before I was born, she appeared to the warriors, and became their champion. All of them.
She took her own life. But, you see, when a god or lesser god commits this act, such power is released in the release of his or her geasa that tremendous things can happen. In Katherine’s case, she separated the warring factions of The Southlands (the Lenors and Lorens) and split the earth with a quake that separated the very land itself. Thus the war ended. Countless lives were saved.
This event takes place more than 500 years before the story of Choices Meant for Gods, but it’s relevant because the Lorens and Lenors will play a role in the war my dear Chariss must wage.
Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, fantasy author, fantasy novel, character portrait, Katherine Fair
Synopsis: Chapter 1 from Choices Meant for Gods
Introduction to Amanda Chariss
When Chariss awakes one spring morning in the city of Treown, she finds Lord Jamieson Drake has brought his Dreorfahn Army to her benefactor’s door. She and her guardian wizard have run from this man for sixteen years, and now they must run again.
(Choices Meant for Gods is an epic fantasy novel; the first book of a trilogy available from ArcheBooks Publishing, by fantasy author Sandy Lender; http://www.amazon.com/Choices-Meant-Gods-Sandy-Lender/dp/1595071652/ref=dp_return_1/104-9089752-5140754?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1175821346&sr=8-1)
Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, fantasy novel, fantasy author, archebooks
This Week Around the Blogs
As I’ve mentioned on the Choices Meant for Gods blog in the past, I wish to let you know what’s taking place at the other blogs related to the fantasy author Sandy Lender and her high fantasy novel. I think it would be good to get into a regular routine of that once a week, if I my duties at Arcana will allow it. To at least get a good start, let’s look at what’s going on around the CMFG blogs this coming week.
First, it looks like dear little Henry Bakerson is finally “getting his act together,” as my son would say. He’s launching his character interviews at http://friendsofdragons.wordpress.com Wednesday, June 27. I believe he’s starting with Nigel because my son is such a familiar and kind guest to have, but he’ll venture into guest characters interspersed with characters from Choices Meant for Gods after that.
Abigail Farrier vows to post more frequently from her old diary of her travels back when she left Arcana City at http://AbigailLovesNigel.blogspot.com. That poor child…
Nigel will continue to post his updates about Sandy’s life over at http://sandylender.blogspot.com. I believe he’ll be giving a summary of the goings-on at the charity event she’s participating in today, and that should be a very nice post to read Monday. He might run a cross-post of Henry’s interview on Wednesday in support of his friend. And now I have to laugh at the response he just gave me to that idea. He likes to tease about how frustrated he is with Henry’s participation in marketing Choices Meant for Gods, but I know he’s pleased to have his friend helping out, even when he continues to deny it. Just as he’s pleased to help me get all this computer nonsense figured out. He’s such a smart young man.
Now, at this blog, I’ll be posting the first of the chapter synopses that this site is supposed to be featuring for you. That regular feature will be uploaded each Tuesday (well…each Tuesday that I can get away from Arcana to do it!). Then on Thursdays, I’ll be uploading a character portrait, which you saw last week when I gave you a description of my wonderful friend Mia. This week I’ll feature the lesser goddess Katharine Fair. I’m also trying to convince Sandy to let me post a regular column of stories from when I was a child so I can show you scenes from Mahriket. It’s an amazing city of the gods and I have hundreds of interesting stories and legends and myths I could share with you. If you’ve read Choices Meant for Gods yet, then you know how I love storytime. If you haven’t read Choices Meant for Gods yet, then I encourage you to go to : http://www.amazon.com/Choices-Meant-Gods-Sandy-Lender/dp/1595071652/ref=dp_return_1/104-9089752-5140754?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1175821346&sr=8-1 and get your copy right away.
What other blogs will be active this week? Oh! Nigel says I can’t forget about Sandy’s blog at www.todaythedragonwins.blogspot.com. She’ll post the usual fare…grammar guide, writer’s guide, a new column she’s calling promotional guide, and word of the day. Oh, Nigel tells me we capitalize those when we list them and I’ve neglected to follow format. Well, I’ll be sure I do so in the future.
Sandy Lender will also be appearing at http://ambasadora.livejournal.com on Monday, June 25; at http://greetingsfromthepolebarn.blogspot.com on Tuesday, June 26; and in a live author chat room at www.cassidymckay.com on Thursday, June 28 at 8 p.m. eastern time this week. These events, including Nigel’s interview with Henry at http://friendsofdragons.wordpress.com on Wednesday, are part of the Choices Meant for Gods Online Book Tour, and you are encouraged to visit the interviews and to participate in the live chat Thursday night. We look forward to meeting you!
Have a lovely week with us.
Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, fantasy author, fantasy novel, friends of dragons, Henry Bakerson, Abigail Loves Nigel, Abigail Farrier, Today the Dragon Wins, Nigel Presents Sandy Lender, Nigel Taiman, online book tour
