She Moved Again

My fantasy author, Sandy Lender, now sits in her new apartment amid tons of boxes. It's unsettling. She says the good news is the move is over and her parents have come to town to assist in unpacking. She has an inordinate number of books...

Now, you might ask yourself why on earth would an author select this time of her "writer's life" to change abodes. She's just been diagnosed with a pretty serious illness and is just starting treatment for said illness while still recovering from a major surgery. It seems "odd" at best that she would pack boxes of books and kitchen utensils, clothes and computer equipment to move. As luck would have it (what's that, dear? oh, yes, your luck is less than stellar) As her luck would have it, the landlord from whom she rented the former abode ran into some legal issues with the condominium association and the bank. Both entities are suing him. Sandy's attorney suggested she "get out" immediately if not sooner.

So here we are in an apartment community where she feels confident that the property management company won't go into foreclosure. She says it's worth a heavy sigh of relief because we made it here with minimal loss of sanity. There was a brief moment in the car, as we passed the moving trailer parked at the side of the road, when she said, "well of course our movers are stopped at the side of the road. Why not?" We doubled back to check on them to discover they had not just a flat tire, but a tire that was on the verge of blowing out. Because the key to the lug nuts (I have no idea what those are, but Sandy's helping me and that's what she's called the items that blocked the successful changing of the flat tire) was stored in the front of the trailer, the movers would have had to have emptied all of her belongings out onto the side of the road to get it and change the tire. I find that a bit odd, but, the team elected to leave everything as it was and drive on. Sandy drove behind with her car's hazard lights flashing. As a short, flashing caravan, the two made it to the new apartment and all was well.

She says this is a step up because she gets to rent a garage and non-timid ducks approach her begging for food. I told her all animals recognize her as "a pushover."

Tags: fantasy author, Sandy Lender, writer's life, moving

She's Fit to be Tied

First of all, it's been so long since I sat down to work on marketing with my fantasy author that I had trouble remembering the address and password for this blog. Sandy Lender suggested I begin this post with the book cover just to remind everyone that, yes, there is a fabulous epic fantasy novel called Choices Meant for Gods that she's trying to get people to purchase and read and fall in love with.

And then she walked away in a sort of daze. Or rage. One of the two. She's currently in the midst of a divorce, a move, a foreclosure, and probably about to commit homicide...none of these things seem pleasant when taken alone. I think people in your society require alcohol to handle them en masse. Oh, she's just walked through stating the electric company is getting firebombed before the week's out. Interesting...

So we're taking a poll here at Nigel Presents Sandy Lender. You see, she's upset over the amount of money she paid for her first month's rent at the condo she's moving into, yet she wasn't able to use the toilet at said condo until last night (yes, that would be the 9th day of the month) because it was out of order and she still isn't able to use the kitchen faucet at said condo because it's still out of order. She's also become irritated because she's spending more time scrubbing mold out of the refrigerator and off the blinds and vacuuming up beds of cat hair than she's spending unpacking her belongings.

So here's the poll question:
If you were moving into an apartment/condominium and the landlord had left the place in a shambles, would you request he pro-rate the second month's rent based upon the number of days the place was unlivable during the first month? Yes or no?

It comes out to $29 a day, which, in your society, starts to add up. (Yes, yes, I already mentioned the electric company.) Oh. The $29 a day really starts to add up when the landlord screws up and has the electricity disconnected instead of switched to your name so you have to pay a $220 security deposit in addition to a $15 connection fee to open a new account. (And that's the need for firebombing? I understand now. Do you want me to just go down there with a sword, dearest?)

And that's today in the life of a fantasy writer. If you'd like to help the starving artist pay next month's rent, you can pick up a copy of her novel online at Amazon.com. The direct link is http://www.amazon.com/Choices-Meant-Gods-Sandy-Lender/dp/1595071652/ref=dp_return_2/002-3163519-8684042?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books. You'll love the story!

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, fantasy novel, fantasy author, writers life