Sandra Ardoin – Tour My Office – Part 1 of 1

Shannon here: Sandra Ardoin takes us on a tour of her office. Comment or answer the question in this post to enter the drawing for an ebook copy of  her Historical Romance, Unwrapping Hope. Deadline: Nov 2nd, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Sandra:

Welcome to My Corner Room by Sandra Ardoin

My husband and I are empty-nesters. Having an only child causes a couple to hit that milestone in life fairly quickly. When she lived at home, my “office” was crammed into a corner of the guest room. Not ideal, but it was private. However, when she moved out to begin her adult life a couple of hours away…

I moved in.

My husband likes to say I moved my office into her old bedroom so fast our daughter had barely removed her things before I had it painted! Not true.

Okay, it’s close.

Long ago, during my singlehood, I’d wanted to decorate my bedroom in peach and a soft green—green being my favorite color. I never got around to it. Decades later, I was able to apply those colors to my corner room—one to the wall and the other to some accessories.

Most of the furnishings I scrounged from other areas of the house, but you well know that decorating a new room means visiting various stores for the must-have trimmings. I found this little decoration and knew it had to go into my office—perfect for a romance-writing author, don’t you think?

I also found this wall quote that I thought was appropriate.

I write historical romances, so I include in my office a few things that bring to life and inspire the distant past. I use the shelf my husband built to hold the porcelain dolls my daughter received from her grandparents. It wasn’t until after she moved away that I learned all those glass eyes gave her the creeps. They don’t bother me, so I left a few of my favorites in the room.

The little box with the German writing belonged to my great-grandmother and holds some of her needlepoint and handwork marking tools from the 1860s. The sewing machine was a toy her daughter, my grandmother, owned. I’m also fond of collecting old books, classic or not.

I can’t write without my morning coffee, which my husband makes for me every morning. I’ll sip it until lunchtime. That means it grows cold off and on, so I need to reheat it. Rather than running back and forth to the kitchen—probably not a bad idea since I tend to sit too much—I brought in our old microwave. It still works and is convenient. The scripture quote in the frame on top was created by author Toni Shiloh and handed out in goody bags at the 2019 Christian Fiction Readers Retreat. Ah, my poor ficus has put up with me for years. It’s a great example to this writer of persistence.

My husband is retired. Every once in a while, he’ll pop into my writing cave to tell me what he’s been working on or what he’s read on the internet. Otherwise, my office is a private haven for working. Still, as you’ve read, it wouldn’t be the same without his contributions—most notably, the coffee.

So, yes, I find my corner room an inspiring place for creating stories of the past to be read in the present and, hopefully, the future. Hmm… Maybe decades from now a writer will place one of my books on their “antique books” shelf.

About Sandra: As an author of heartwarming and award-winning historical romance, Sandra Ardoin engages readers with page-turning stories of love and faith. Rarely out of reach of a book, she’s also an armchair sports enthusiast, country music listener, and seldom says no to eating out. Learn more and connect: 

Sandra’s Website                Sandra’s BookBub                Sandra’s Facebook

Sandra’s Twitter                 Sandra’s Goodreads              Sandra’s Pinterest

Join the Love and Faith in Fiction community and keep up with what’s new, discover what’s upcoming, and learn of specials and giveaways. As a gift for subscribers, Sandra wrote a short story to accompany her novella A Love Most Worthy.

About the book – Unwrapping Hope Blurb:

She chose the wrong man once. Can she trust her instincts now?

Phoebe Crain, an accomplished pianist, lives in near poverty to protect her five-year-old daughter from scandal. When Phoebe receives a handcrafted cigar box by mistake, her desperation to give the child something special for Christmas drives her to suggest a trade with Spence Newland, a man she views as no more principled than her daughter’s late father. But the more time she spends with the department store heir, the more Phoebe struggles to keep up her guard against him.

Spence believes the cigar box will help him gain a reclusive investor’s financial support for his proposed five-and-ten-cent stores, demonstrating his ability to manage the family fortunes. Yet he hesitates to bargain with a widow who mistrusts him for no apparent reason…until he meets a charming little girl at the train station who awaits the arrival of a prince.

Will a betrayal in Phoebe’s past and Spence’s unraveling plans derail their hope for happiness and keep a child’s fairy tale from coming true?

Question for Readers: Do you have a special place, either in your home or nearby, where you go to work, unwind, or find inspiration? 

Come back Oct 29th for Pat Nichols!