Monthly Archives: November 2017

Another 5-star review

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Safety professional Jennifer Rosenboom has this to say about my book, debuting tomorrow. Thanks, Jennifer!

Customer Review

5.0 out of 5 starsA challenge, a passion, and a desire achieved with more challenges sprinkled on top!
ByJennifer Rosenboomon November 30, 2017
Format: Paperback
As a female Safety Engineer that has worked in commercial insurance for 10 years, I found myself nodding my head many times agreeing with some of the stories that Wendy was sharing in this book. When I got my Health and Safety degree from a 4 year college, we learned how difficult it is to be a Safety Directors/Manager/Engineer because of the fine line that has to be walked for the perfect balance between upper management and the front line workers. Wendy reminds us how that difficulty is greater as a woman in that same role. Her stories, lessons learned, education to the reader is captivating, inspiring, and even humorous at times. Her true passion for safety and a genuine concern for worker safety is very evident in this book. I even found myself learning many different things from her own experiences!

This book will be great for many women of all ages to read, and they will become inspired to fulfill their dreams regardless how unconventional they might be. Wendy’s memoirs provide the support that women will need to keep persevering and stay true to themselves to achieve their dreams!

Book launch event: Excerpts

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Welcome to day 4 of the book launch event for Confessions of a Female Safety Engineer. Today is about the excerpts. Here’s one. Go to the Facebook event for more!

…from Confessions of a Female Safety Engineer:

What was funny was I had a better grip on what my time was worth to my employer than some of my male co-workers had about their value. I’d run a business, and I knew that as a rough gauge you paid employees half of what they cost you. So if a worker cost you $50 an hour he or she got $25 an hour before taxes. This covered everything from taxes employees never see, insurance, and equipment like cell phones or computers. But we were consultants; we were the product our boss was selling. A product is sold for twice what it costs a business: to cover cost of goods, overhead, and profit. So when my company charged $125/hr for a consultant, and that person costs them $66/hr, he should be bringing home about $33 an hour. I actually met a male coworker who was let go because he was constantly badmouthing the boss as a crook; he’d seen that the boss was charging the client four times what he made per hour, and he thought he was being ripped off.

But my employer was charging our customers over five times what I made per hour.

 

St. CRISPR

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I totally want to redo Shakespeare’s “St Cripsin’s Day Speech,” but make it about gene splicing and CRISPR. The only problem is, where would I sell it?

Image result for st crispin's day

Better Dating Through Engineering

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I’ve recently finished updating both Better Dating Through Engineering  (for women)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and Better Dating Through Engineering for Men. I’ll be re-releasing them around Valentines Day. And BDTE for Men will have a paperback version.

Roofer + Cats = Trauma

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Yesterday we had a horde of roofers descend on our house. Tigre, our Zoolander Cat (he is a gorgeous peanut butter tabby but incredibly stupid) normally lives outside but he cowered indoors, sticking near me like a blister and looking anxiously up whenever a loud noise happened on the roof.

This is Tigre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Koushka, our Mini House Panther, is a big, bold Alpha cat. Unless there’s thunder. Then, he hides under the bed. He thought the roofers were thunder and spent all day, except their lunch break, in hiding.

Koushka, at lunch.

“Well? Are they gone yet?”

 

 

 

 

He was also convinced that my husband’s coincidental arrival when the roofers were leaving meant that Brian had somehow chased the thunder way.

Book designer: Susan H. Roddey

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“Hell Week” is supposedly when the freshman class comes into a military college and the upperclassmen push around the plebes. Not so; for me it was the week I took a serious stab at designing my own book interiors, trying to learn new software and getting hopelessly lost.

Bottom line? These people earn their money and I will gladly pay them to do their job. Take my book. Please.

Enter Susan H. Roddey of Clicking Keys. She was recommended to me by John G. Hartness (how could I NOT take the advice of the author of Bubba The Monster Hunter?)

She did the job in record time, asking me the important questions in advance–like did I want all chapters to start on the right-hand page, and how to format the front matter–and added such wonderful touches as a lovely font for the title page and a scene break button that fit the tone of the story.

Here is her title font for the print version: 

She matched the cover font. Bravo.

 

 

And below is a picture of the scene break button: a caution sign. Very appropriate! 

 

 

 

 

I’ll be using her for all future projects. Thanks, Susan!