A Coffee Break with Author Roxanne Snopek & A Giveaway

Roxanne Snopek is the author of ten books, more than 150 articles, and has had short fiction published in several anthologies. She is currently serving as Vice-President of the Romance Writers of America Greater Vancouver Chapter. She and her family live in the Pacific Northwest, where she’s at work on more love stories for Entangled Publishing.

 Roxanne Snopek has been writing professionally for more than two decades and is the author of eight books, more than 150 articles, and has had short fiction published in several anthologies. Her non-fiction has appeared in a wide variety of publications, from The Vancouver Sun and Reader’s Digest to newsletters for Duke, Cornell and Tufts Universities. She's done corporate copywriting on topics ranging from pet food for Iams/Eukanuba, to employee profiles for VersaCold to air-conditioner maintenance for Home Depot. 

In 2006, her first novel Targets of Affection was published by Cormorant Books, under the name RGWillems. When her editor asked for more, she happily wrote the second and third in the series, certain she was on her way to fame and fortune. Then the economy fell apart, her editor stopped taking her calls and Roxanne realized it wasn't going to be that easy. 

After some wallowing and navel-gazing, she found Romance Writers of America, one of the largest professional writers' organizations in the world, and began to seriously study the craft of fiction writing. Roxanne is currently Vice-President of the Greater Vancouver Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. They voted her in, so they can’t complain.

In her spare time, Roxanne is also the human resource manager for a veterinary hospital. She and her family live in the Pacific Northwest, where she’s always at work on the next book.

On a personal note:

Take a look my blog*, in which I open up a tiny window into the uncharted landscape that is My Brain, while dancing between the boundaries of Too Much Information and Oops, Now I Need a Pen Name. Mostly it's just Real Life, family, art, writing, yoga and why some mornings, you just shouldn't talk.

*or don't. Really, it's up to you.

 

Find Roxanne Online:  

Website * Twitter * Facebook

 

Coffee-Break

Somewhere in the back of my mind, a voice chirps “not until you’re caught up on Twitter.”

Koffee Klatch. Anyone remember that term? Oh come on, now I feel like a dinosaur. Well, for you youngsters, think Ladies Who Lunch, only in a picket-fenced neighborhood of stay-at-home mothers wearing aprons and curlers, sharing recipes and husband-seducing methods involving Saran Wrap.

At least, that’s what I imagine.  I suspect it was in fact an essential way of surviving motherhood while being car-less, income-less and saddled with housewifery. Koffee Klatches and valium. Whatever works. Times are different now, what with mom-vans, cell phones, telecommuting and home security systems. More empowered in some ways, more isolated in others. 

Recently, an out-of-town friend called. She was here, did I want to meet for coffee? I did, of course – I’m not a complete hermit – but the whip-cracker in me argued that I didn’t have time for self-indulgence, I needed to work more, work harder, finish my to-do list. 

Then the blood-pressure part suggested I think again. Hm. On one hand, vanilla rooibos tea latte and conversation. On the other, stroke.

We met at Starbucks.

We talked, as women often do, of how easy it is to fall into the trap of doing the urgent at the expense of the important. A ringing phone feels urgent. But what if that recorded message interrupts a conversation with a troubled child? That volunteer task that “will only take a few minutes” feels urgent. After all, if I don’t do it, it won’t get done! But if it keeps me from exercising, or meditating or finishing that book I’m reading – or writing! – then I’ve chosen badly and will pay the price sooner or later.

I came home, got into my grubbies, and spent an hour in my garden. The sun was shining, the burning bushes were the most brilliant shade of crimson and my dog was overjoyed to have someone to play with. I dug, mulched, weeded, transplanted until I was sore, tired, bug-bitten and incredibly satisfied.

Then I came in, renewed and revitalized, ready to write that next scene.

I’ll check in on Twitter and Facebook once I’m done the important stuff.

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The hero in my book Fake Fiancé, Real Revenge, has spent a decade building his career, only to realize that he’s been chasing money and status at the expense of love, family and meaning. Rediscovering the things he used to enjoy – like horseback riding and campfires – were key to finding his way back.

What five things would you do more of if you only had more time? Be specific. Post the list on your mirror. Do two of them next week. 

Here’s my list: 1) write down my dreams in the morning; 2) bake that cinnamon-streusel coffee cake I love; 3) go to yoga; 4) finish the painting I started in summer; 5) walk through the fall leaves.

Anyone want to share their list?

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Blurb from the author ~

Real-estate tycoon Mitchell Granger has a problem. In order to secure a lucrative deal with an eccentric client, he told the teeny white lie that he was engaged…and now he needs to prove it. Even worse? The only name that came to mind was Sabrina Becker, the girl he was never good enough for growing up, and who still lives near his family ranch.

Sabrina doesn’t mind posing as Mitch’s fake fiancée—no, she doesn’t mind at all. One, she’ll make him pay with new construction for her business. And two, Sabrina’s got a plan to exact revenge on her first love, the boy who left her and Three River Ranch behind. She’ll pretend so well, he’ll fall in love with her…and then he’ll get a taste of what true heartbreak feels like.

But as Mitch sheds his corporate skin and picks up his dusty jeans and cowboy hat, will both his and Sabrina’s grand plans get derailed by love?

 

Publisher: Entangled: Bliss

Genre: Romance, Contemporary

Format: ebook

Release Date: August 12, 2013

Buying Links:  Amazon * B&N * iBookstore

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Tour Wide Giveaway 

Roxanne also has a special treat. She is giving away an iPad mini (black, 16GB) and two kindle sleeves to one lucky winner! Enter below. Please read my Giveaway Policy.

 

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