Car Shopping, A Driving Tale by Joan Reeves

I woke up at 4 AM this morning and remembered I needed to blog on Smart Girls Read Romance.

Yesterday, we car shopped in 97 degree heat, from 9:30 in the morning until 6:15 in the evening. After getting home, I was too tired to do anything but collapse into a recliner in the air conditioned comfort of home.

BIGGER PLEASE

We had a Lincoln MKX SUV for the last few years. Although it was an excellent vehicle in every way, I wanted something larger. We take a lot of road trips and something larger is simply more comfortable.

We knew what we wanted and Darling Hubby, CEO of all things automotive, had done his research and consulted with me. "Hey, do you like the look of this?" Me: "Okay."

He was ready to go, all but rubbing his hands together in glee. He loves test driving cars and negotiating a purchase. Me? Not so much. Especially not in the summer.

In 2004 for Valentine's Day, he bought me a retro-styled Thunderbird manufactured as a limited edition by Ford from 2002 to 2005. My T-Bird is Merlot Red—tan interior and tan convertible top— with a removable hard top via a hard hoist in our garage.

I mostly drive it with the top down. I love that car and love to drive it on the winding roads in the hill country.

(Although my car is not the pink vintage model shown in this picture, I thought this image was so cute I wanted to share it.)

Now, back to our car shopping adventure.

DAVE BARRY NAILED IT

One of the funniest things I ever read was Dave Barry's riff on car buying, Stalking the Wild Car Price. This treatise on the game of car buying is hilarious and includes such classics as buyer makes offer, and sales person says: Let me talk to my manager.

How many times does the sales person say this? Yesterday, it was only 5 times I think. Our sales person was a polite, friendly young woman. (I think Hubby missed the challenge.) While our Sales Person talked to the Manager, Hubby and I traded jokes from Dave Barry's routine.

The other classic is the sales person calling the buyer by name. In Barry's classic, here's what happens when the Sales Person asks his manager if he can reveal the price.

SALESPERSON: He wants to know if it's more than $9,500. Can I tell him?

MANAGER: How many times have you called him "Dave"?

SALESPERSON: 1,672 times.

MANAGER: Not yet.

 

The deal was made quickly since they made a good offer to Hubby for our trade-in sight unseen.

DRIVING ACROSS HOUSTON—ALL DAY LONG

But we had a complication. We'd loaned our Lincoln SUV to our daughter whose car was in the shop.

We'd driven from our home in the northwest part of the Houston Metro area to the dealership in the southwest part of town. Then we test drove the larger SUV. 

Once we had the deal made, we had to drive  home to pick up the title. From there, across to the northeast part where daughter lives.

We parked the truck which we were driving at daughter's home. Had a quick lunch with her, moved all of the crap from the car into the truck, and then drove back to the southwest part of the Metro area, arriving a little after 3:00. By then, the day was a scorcher and rush hour was beginning.

The rest was all paperwork. You'd think paying cash for something would make a car purchase fast. Nope. Not in today's world. Since this was such a "speedy" transaction, the car which had arrived on the lot the day before, had been sent to the make ready shop. Long story short, they gave us a loaner and said they'd deliver the car to us at home the next day and drive back in the loaner.

So, we don't have our new wheels yet. *LOL* Welcome to today's world.

BACK TO MY T-BIRD

I loved my sports car so much that I featured it in one of my books, Romeo and Judy Anne, a sexy romance about taking control of life rather than becoming a doormat.

In this book, the Romeo drives a T-Bird like mine.

This book is a Kindle Unlimited selection in case you're a subscriber.

Review: "I can't recommend this story enough. The characterization is deep and the end as satisfying as the reader could hope for." —CRich, Vine Voice

99¢ SALE

This month Heat Lightning, a steamy romance wrapped around a suspense thriller, is on sale for only 99¢.

Review: "Reeves has deftly created a page-turning suspense with strong visual imagery and characters that tug at your emotions." —Morgan Review

HAPPY SUMMER READING!

Thanks for dropping by. The month is passing fast. Remember to take a little time just for you—relax and do something you love.

Joan participates in Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, affiliate advertising designed to provide a way for websites to earn advertising fees by linking to products on Amazon. She may receive a small commision at no extra cost to you.

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IMAGE CREDIT FOR POST

Shake Hand, Buy Car by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay 

Car, Auto, Valentine's Day by Image by Terri Cnudde from Pixabay

Driver, Traffic, Man, Vehicle, Angry by Azmi Talib from Pixabay

Life Goes On by Paty Jager

Most people believe a writer can pick up and write whenever they want and they play a lot. I can vouch for the fact writers take writing as serious as any other job where the person gets paid an hourly wage or a salary. Only a writer gets paid once a month, if readers buy their books. We have no guarantee that there will be money at the end of the month to pay the bills that need paid.

Yet, most serious writers will spend 60-80 hours a week writing, researching, promoting, and doing the business side of writing. There are few people who are as dedicated to their job as an artist. We spend hours away from family and friends to create and do the business side of things for little and sometimes no monetary compensation.

However, you'll never hear an artist complain about the creative part of their endeavor. I enjoy creating characters, settings, and coming up with the plot of a story. It's like a painter drawing the lines that will eventually become a colorful picture.

The business side is a whole 'nother set of the writing that very few writers like. I find it time consuming and hard to stay focused on. I just want to create.

Several weekends ago, I was attending a conference. Day two of the conference, I caught the nasty virus going around. I was miserable, but I persevered, found medicine, and made the panel I was moderating. I wished I was home so many times, but I knew I had to do the jobs I'd signed up to do at the conference. Just like any other employee, I made sure I was at "the job of the day". You have to push through everything and continue on if you want to make your way in this dog-eat-dog world of publishing.

Writing Different Cultures Panel

I have company- four grandkids ages 1 year to 11 years-old that are visiting. While they do their homeschooling, I work on my writing. I have a book to get out this month and can't stop the writing flow for two weeks to play.

How do you see the writing life? Glamorous or like any other job?

patyjager.net

Writing into the Sunset 

So Many Stories To Tell... @JacquieRogers #newrelease #NoSmallTempest

Website | Pickle Barrel Gazette | Amazon

So Many Stories To Tell... 

by Jacquie Rogers

I would guess most readers expect that an author writes a story, sends it off, and writes another. At least, that's what I thought writers did before I jumped in with both feet.  Oh, how we wish that were so!

But no.

Most of us have several stories in various stages of development. Caroline Clemmons has books plotted ahead, and several to write in 2015.   I have four major projects, plus we might very well be moving this year.  We don’t know.   Sound Transit has claimed our house under Eminent Domain so we’ll be moving sometime soon.  Moving.  Writing.  Those two don’t mix very well.  My critique partner already tried it last year.   My guess is the move cost her an entire book, at least.

Just to give you an idea of a typical workload, here’s what I have on the slate right now:

Lucky Hundred-Dollar Bill – This is a short story that’ll be published in Wolf Creek: Luck of the Draw (Western Fictioneers, under the house name Ford Fargo). Those of you who have read Sleight of Heart will recognize the hero, Burke O’Shaughnessy. This story takes place when Burke was nineteen and first on his own. Status: submitted to the publisher (should be released anytime now).

Muleskinners #2: No Small Tempest – Elsie and her eight draft mules continue the journey to Oregon despite a heckuva storm, Indians, and bandits. Status: released today!).

Hearts of Owyhee #5: Much Ado About Mustangs – Remember Josh McKinnon? (Kade’s younger brother) He’s in for quite a ride when the seller of the ranch he wants will only sell him half. You’ll never guess who bought the other half! Status: I’m still feeling my way along with this one. It’s at 12,000 words and now working on the structure and timeline. We have photos to submit to the cover designer. In fact, I made banner for Google+. Wanna see it?

Muleskinners #3: No Title Yet – Still working on story development, but I need to get that done so that once I’m finished with Much Ado About Mustangs, I can tear right into it.

New western (sorta) series – In development. I’ve written the first scene of the second book (yes, I always start too far in and have to go back), and am now working on the overall story arc. This should be done by the time I’m finished with Muleskinners #3 so I can... you guessed it... tear right into it.

Marketing – While all that is going on, I have a minimum of four blogs to write every month, plus tweeting, Facebooking, G+ing, and now Tsuing.  The latter two don't get all that much attention, for sure.  I belong to a marketing group so I have to hold up my end of the bargain there. And I’m probably forgetting something huge, but I don’t want to think about it too much.

Still and all, I can't help but feel that I'm lucky beyond my dreams to get to do what I do and to participate in the reader community.  We all love to read books.  Some of us are blessed with the wherewithal to write them, too.  Bonus!

You Could Win!

How about you?  Got any big projects in the works?  Another critique partner sent me a cool link for faery garden supplies.  Springtime brings all kinds of new ideas for books and every other thing.  (Plus baseball!)  And I'd love to know what you're reading now.  

One commenter will receive a digital copy of Muleskinners #2: No Small Tempest.  Drawing will be Friday, March 7, 2015, at 9pm Pacific Time.

Hearts of Owyhee

Much Ado About Madams

Much Ado About Marshals

Much Ado About Miners

Much Ado About Mavericks

coming soon:

Much Ado About Mustangs

Amazon Author Page

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