North Branch Library Book Signing/Discussion July 20, 2013

Thank you Friends of the North Branch Library for inviting us to your event on Saturday!  We shared TIMBER with the audience and appreciated the questions and comments.  Another author, Bud Hoekstra was also sharing his book The Life and Times of a Railroad Engineer.  Sounds like a good read for those interested in hearing stories about working on the railroad.  Trains are a huge part of our country's history.  The Friends felt having our book paired with a book about trains would be an interesting and appropriate pairing because of the role the train played in saving lives in The Great Hinckley Fire. 

Not only are there lots of interesting stories to read, there also seems to be some brave and heroic folks that have worked for the railroads.  In the case of the Great Hinckley Fire, several engineers including James Root and William Best performed strategically and bravely to save hundreds from the fire storm.  Depot agent Thomas Dunn lost his life heroically transmitting the catastrophe.  Porter John Blair repeatedly went to collect and save many children from the fire ignoring the danger to himself.  There are many wonderful survivor and hero stories I will strive to share in future posts.  Many of the people we meet at book events tell us they had relatives who survived--amazing.  We're coming up to the anniversary of the fire September 1, 1894.

Thursday, July 25 we're in Duluth for a book signing at The Bookstore at Fitgers.  Stop and see us if you're able; we're excited to be there!

June 22, 2013 Dorset's Festival of Authors and Artists

Sandy was invited to participate in this annual event to promote her debut novel TIMBER; Fire in the Pines.  It's the eighth year of this fun event where writers gather to meet with store patrons to discuss and sell their books.  We were pleased to be part of this unique event along with about 30 other authors including William Kent Krueger, Lorna Landvig and author friends Mary Donlon and Marilyn Rausch who just released their new book "Love can be Murder."  

                                                        

 Sally Wizik Wills and A.L. (Sandy) Sanderson

Sister Wolf is a seasonal bookstore open for the summer tourist season near the Park Rapids area of Minnesota.  Sally Wizik Wills is the owner of this cool little gem of a store.  In an article I read about this interesting lady, she states "I'm a reader.  Either you're a reader or you aren't.  I are."  Hurray for indie bookstores and hardworking booksellers!  Sally also owns Beagle Books and Bindery in Park Rapids.

  Dorset Store: Cabin built circa 1890's by a Swedish Lumberjack

Our recent trip to Dorset included a visit to this quaint little Stained Glass store.  The lady that owns it is a talented artist who creates beautiful stained glass; Sandy bought a lovely piece there.  Turns out this little cabin was built by a Swede back in the late 1800's who was also a lumberjack!  Talk about coincidence.  New book idea...Shades of Thor!

                                           Shades of Weird!

Parked outside a Dorset restaurant, this dead animal adorns a motorcycle.  Another interesting and weird tidbit--the mayor of Dorset is 4 years old.

July 13, 2013 Mooselake Art in the Park

Art in the Park in Mooselake, MN during their Agate Days is a BIG deal!  There were tons of people strolling along; we didn't have a gorgeous day but we had a mostly dry day and for that we were grateful!  Sandy had a great time meeting folks and signing books.  I believe we were the only authors there!  Maybe we started a new tradition.

Mary Donlon and Marilyn Rausch were sharing our booth and being with them was a lot of fun as well.  They just released their new book "Love Can Be Murder" and did well selling it and the first book "Headaches Can Be Murder" as a set.  

Our readers often ask when Sandy's next book will be released.  We are into our second printing of TIMBER and hope to release the second book late this year or early next year.

We also did a free drawing for a hand crocheted (by Sandy) afghan!  Sandy Morgan won the drawing.  We did a drawing once before because it goes with our marketing theme:

                    Curl Up With A Good....Lumberjack!

Our next event is tomorrow at the Eden Prairie Senior Center's Thursday Book Club.  I've met some of the members--all men!  Surprisingly (maybe) older gentlemen are amongst our biggest fans!  On Saturday July 20, we're off to North Branch Library for a reading and discussion.  Next week we're in Duluth July 25 with the Tall Ships!  Good tie in with TIMBER, the prologue begins with Thor's ship voyage.  August is looking busy as well, August 10 we're in Sandstone at Cheri's Flower Basket during Quarry Days!  August 17 we pair up again with our favorite team of author's Donlon and Rausch at Excelsior Bay Books.  Please come and see us if you're in the area!

TIMBER at Turtle Town Books July 6, 2013

From Lake Country Echo and Pine County Journal 7/1/2013:

By Mary Miller, Owner of Turtle Town Books and Gifts

Eden Prairie author to sign books at Turtle Town

When I got a call from a local author’s representative this winter, I wasn’t entirely enthusiastic. Every year I get several requests to read a particular book, and not all the stories are compelling. “I’ll give it two chapters,” I said. “If I’m not hooked, I’m putting it down.”

“Timber,” it turns out, is a compelling read. It is the story of Sarah Stewart, betrayed and suddenly penniless, who leaves Boston to search for her father, who abandoned her mother before her birth.  Her journey takes her to Minnesota’s timber country in 1893. In order to continue her search, Sarah needs money, but the only jobs available to women are as wives or as disreputable saloon girls.

Disguised as a boy, she hires on as a cook’s helper at a lumber camp run by the handsome Swede, Thor. Although the story line seems unlikely, Sanderson makes it work.  At one point in the story I thought the book was going to turn into a predictable romance. Not so. This historical fiction gives readers a look into the colorful life of a Minnesota logging camp and the fully fleshed-out characters who make life interesting. Sarah is a likable character, gutsy and hardworking, and the plot is unpredictable.

Finally, it is the Great Hinckley Fire of 1894 that decides so many fates.
Sanderson is a retired attorney living in Eden Prairie. She will be at Turtle Town Books & Gifts in Nisswa on Saturday, July 6, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to sign copies of her book, available in paperback.

Sandy had a great time signing copies of TIMBER at Mary and Doug Miller's lovely store on Main Street in Nisswa, MN on July 6.  They were busy and fortunately the day was a bit overcast so lots of people were in town giving the fish a much needed respite.  

We met a bunch of friendly folks, several of whom were excited to bring the book to their book club to read!  We are looking forward to fall when groups start meeting again.  Please contact us if you'd like Sandy to visit your club.

Sandy and I appreciate Mary writing such a glowing review on TIMBER; Fire in the Pines!  I especially like the fact that she thinks the plot is unpredictable.  It's true!   I realized she was referring to me "the author's representative" after reading the first sentence.  

It's true Mary wasn't thrilled about carrying the book last winter.  Finally after about 3 months (of my polite stalking) she agreed to read two chapters and put it down if she didn't love it.  I said "I'll take it!"  Because I knew the story would hook her.  It was the ultimate compliment that not only did she begin carrying the book she reserved one of her busiest days of the summer for us to sign books on.

My daughter Andrea and best friend Sarah from Phoenix were also in attendance so it made it that much more special to be in Nisswa together.  The kids are proud of their grandma Sandy the author!

            Andrea posted this on Facebook, it's a copy of the book review.
 

July 2013 Team TIMBER!!

Sandy and I have taken most of June off.  We've been attending graduations, visiting with grown kids and grandkids and lots of gardening.  We rented a cabin on Sand Lake in Mooselake which was beautiful!  We enjoyed food, family, fishing and great times together.  The weather was pretty darn nice too!

The cabin itself was super cute, kind of shabby chic with an "up north" twist.  We went out on the pontoon lots because in addition to swimming and fishing off it we watched for Bald Eagles and Loons.  No our state bird is not the mosquito, it's the LOON.  We should have purchased stock in a bug repellent spray company because we used a ton of it.

                                               

TEAM ARTISTS Grace and Kira

We surprised Sandy with everyone in our group wearing a "Team Timber" T shirt and presented her with her own "Team TIMBER" T shirt.  There were 3 teams participating: Cook Shack, Pine Crescent and Indian Camp.  The designs were created and hand painted by myself, Kira (age 10) and Grace (age 20).

This was a fun project for us to do. For those of you who don't get the significance of the team names I can only recommend you read TIMBER!!!  

Because of all our gallivanting around the state my blog posts will be published out of chronological order.  Please bear with me because I've got some good stuff to share about our events and marketing/publicity efforts for TIMBER!

I hope all of you are enjoying the summer as well!  Upcoming events for TIMBER:

• Eden Prairie Senior Center Book Club, 7/18 
• North Branch Library, sponsored by the North Branch Friends of the Library 7/20
• Fitgers Bookstore, Duluth 7/25
• Cheri's Flowers and Gifts, Sandstone 8/10
• Excelsior Bay Books, Excelsior 8/17