Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Whenever You Want

This is an especially proud day for me.  I wrote this book in 2006-2007, and it had a very nice run as a free book.  Finally, it's in paperback and ebook on Amazon and everyone can enjoy the magic.  It's especially wonderful because it's a book about an escort and one of the tags for the book is 'clean and wholesome'.  I know.  How did I accomplish that?  Well, there is only one way to find out.

Normally, this first introductory post would be about the synopsis on the back or an excerpt from inside, but not this time around.  This time I'd like to talk about the cover.

I always do my own cover design, but I do not create the piece of art I use as the central focus.  Instead, I check out various artists' work and choose something that has already been created that suits my purposes.  I pay them and feel pretty awesome about the whole transaction because I love supporting starving artists. 

For the cover of Whenever You Want I started doing just that.  I found myself particularly drawn to images that were gold and black, but most of the pictures I gathered lacked a much-desired depth to them.  Not only that, but they failed at being complex images.  They were images that focused on hair or eyelashes that didn't translate into an atmosphere.  I started thinking that I should contact a more experienced graphic designer than myself when my brain suddenly clicked.  I do know someone who is a better graphic designer than me.  She had over a thousand followers on Sketch before they shut it down!  So, I called her up.  By 'called her up', I mean that I asked her to come upstairs from the living room.  I drew a little pencil drawing of the basic idea of what I wanted and then I told her to do it her way.  This was the image she brought back to me.

Needless to say, my daughter, Kait, is an awesome graphic designer.  She's still in junior high!  I am so proud.  This is not her usual style.  Her flexibility in making an image to suit a brief stunned me.  And before you ask, yes I paid her.  In hats, but also in money.

Because this has been free for 13 years, an ebook of it is still free.  Here's the link to download your free copy.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/987116

For those of you who prefer paperbacks, here's a link for where you can order one if you live in Canada, and right after is the link for where you can order one if you live in the USA.  Remember, Christmas is coming!

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1700538322/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Whenever-You-Want-Stephanie-Orman/dp/1700538322/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=whenever+you+want+by+Stephanie+van+orman&qid=1572462673&sr=8-1
 


Friday, October 18, 2019

Trick Number One

Today is the last day for promoting A Little like Scarlett.  My, the time does fly.  Here's today's excerpt.

I used to get tricked into going on dates with guys I didn't like.  A guy, usually a guy who had a girlfriend, would call me up and ask me if I wanted to come on a group activity.  A bunch of kids were going to do something fun and I could come along with no date? Awesome! Except I'd show up and it was a single date or a double date and I was paired up with someone I never would have consented to go out with if Mr.  Matchmaker had been honest.

On this particular occasion, I was distinctly repelled by something about my date's mouth.  His name was Stephen and I was really not into Stephen's mouth. His lips were enormous in a way that just rubbed me all wrong.  

But I tolerated the rollerblading date and thought pleasantly that it would be over soon and I would no longer be around this guy I was actually repelled by.  He drove me home, by himself. We were alone in the car and I was not thrilled by that prospect. I didn't know him and I had not agreed to a single date with him.

We drove in silence.

“Isn't there anything you want to know about me?” he asked.

“Nothing's coming to mind,” I replied.

“Don't you even want to know my last name?”

I straightened.  Yeah, I did want to know his last name in case he attacked me and I needed to file a police report.  “Okay,” I said. “What's your last name?”

He told me.

And I immediately responded with, “What's your grandfather on your dad's side's first name?”

Again he told me, and I snorted.

“What?”

“We're cousins.”

He gawked.  “No, we're not.”

“Yes, we are.  Your grandfather and my grandmother are first cousins."  I started listing his first cousins, one of which was Wyatt and I suddenly made the connection.  The reason I didn't think he was attractive at all was that he actually had lips like two of my brothers.  Those really pronounced lips; my dad had them too.  

“We're third cousins,” I announced.  “Little too close for me to want to date you.”

He didn't believe me, but I didn't really care.  I sent him home to ask his daddy. It was a little weird when I got to the single adult ward after high school and I heard the ladies gushing over him.  Yeah, like he was my brother.

Here's the link for Amazon.ca
amazon.ca/Little-Like-Scarlett-Partial-Autobiography/dp/1694390489/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=a+little+like+scarlett&qid=1571422105&sr=8-2

Here's the link for Amazon.com

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Caught by a Chaperon

Today, and next week, I'll be posting clips of my new book A Little like Scarlett. It's a collection of my dating stories from when I was a teenager. Here's a link to my author page on Amazon.com. Let's jump right in, shall we?

I was at a dance once where I was slow dancing with this adorable boy named Wyatt.  We were laughing and flirting and suddenly he got this amazing expression on his face, and I thought that he wanted to kiss me, but there were at least half a dozen chaperons and so nothing special was going to happen.  

I looked up and questioned, “What were you about to say?” Pretending to be stupid.

He shook it off.  

And I was like, “Come on and tell me!”

We went out into the hall and I finally got him comfy enough to make his confession.  He couldn't look at me when he said it and missed all of my signals that he had to shut up.  There was a chaperon coming.  

Except he missed all my frantic hissing and said clear as day, “I just really wanted to kiss you.”

And the chaperon was right behind him and he said loudly, making Wyatt jump almost clear out of his seat, “You two should head back into the gym.”

I got up and started walking with him.  I said something about how it was too bad and cute little Wyatt executed a perfect wall slam against the church wall.  That's when a guy neatly pins you against the wall either with the purpose of kissing you or yelling at you. He was about a centimeter off laying that kiss on me when that chaperon was back with his booming voice, “You'd better head back into the gym!”

I just about leaped out of my skin and the moment was completely ruined.  I think both of us were too embarrassed by getting caught that second time to spend much more time together.  I got home and contemplated his last name. The next day I made a call. Yep, he was my cousin.  

Here's a link to my author page on Amazon.com.


And here's the link to the book page on Amazon.ca

Thursday, October 3, 2019

A Little Like Scarlett Release Day

Hello Joyful Readers!


Today I am posting the links to my new book A Little like Scarlett.  It is a compilation of real-life tales from my teenage dating life.  It is available for purchase as an ebook and a paperback on Amazon at https://www.amazon.ca/Little-Like-Scarlett-Partial-Autobiography/dp/1694390489/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=A+little+like+scarlett+by+Stephanie+Van+Orman&qid=1570132432&sr=8-3

Here's another excerpt:

There was a boy who lived down the street from me who was very popular.  I had friends who used to come to church with me just to watch him bless the sacrament.  I enjoyed the company, but I didn't see what they saw in him. He was adorable, the cutest thing really, but if I had to describe anything more about him, I would be at a loss.  Maybe it was simply that I never had much to do with him, so I didn’t hear what he thought about or understand who he was. Also, I am not soulless enough to fall in love with a boy based on looks alone.  As far as I could tell, he was a perfectly fine guy. He just didn’t set my heart aflutter.

One foggy, icy day I was walking home from school for lunch and this guy was walking five steps behind me.  Four steps behind me. Two steps behind me.

And I just couldn't help myself.  

I slipped on the ice and he caught me, much to the fluttering of my heart.

I love this memory because when I intentionally slip on the ice or do a baseball slide, I do so with intention.  If he had not caught me, I would have cracked my head open. Instead, he helped me up and I felt like the little devil I knew I could be and walked the rest of the way home with him.  

I love dating stories. Please check out my book and let me entertain you with mine!

Cut Like Glass

One of the things I really enjoy writing is novelettes.  I wish I had discovered them sooner.  They are SO MUCH FUN! 'Cut Like Glass'...