January 1, 2012
Get an update for Sharon on her blog. Thanks to a wonderful Hywela Lyn.
December 1, 2011
Contest Time: What classic Christmas movie or song has a special meaning to you and why? Wink!
My favorite story will win a box of chocolates from yours truly. I’m making my list and checking it twice. Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice!
Contest ends Christmas Eve and will be announced on our blog.
Send answers to Sharonad@comcast.net
Put Santa Contest in subject line
August 1, 2011
Considered the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock made 53 films in his 54 year career. For a chance to win a Vertigo Collector’s Edition DVD, try your luck on the trivia contest featured on my blog. Congratulations Melissa Keith!
May 1, 2011
May Scavenger Hunt
The scavenger hunt is on and I am one of the participating authors. The prize I am offering is a signed copy of my thriller Mask of the Betrayer
How to enter
THIS IS IMPORTANT
Blog readers who want to join the hunt MUST email Robyn White for a question sheet at promorobyn@gmail.com
If you do not email Robyn for a question sheet, you will not be eligible to win prizes. It doesn't matter how many times you comment on blogs, if you do not email Robyn directly and receive a question sheet, you’re out of luck. The hunt goes ALL MONTH so there is still
Plenty of time to join. Winners will be announced at end of month. Thank you and good luck!
March 28
Sharon Donovan is one of the thousands in the area living with diabetes, and she told WTAE Channel 4 Action News anchor Michelle Wright that she doesn't let her disabilities hold her back. After years of painful eye surgeries, she lost her vision in 1999.
She suffered a massive heart attack a few months ago and now has a permanent heart pump she must carry with her everywhere. Both health problems are a direct result of her having Type 1 diabetes.
"You can let it get you down or you can just live with it, and I choose to live with it because you learn how to cope," said Donovan.
Despite being blind, Donovan's a novelist with seven published books she wrote using a computer program.
She told Wright that she copes by disappearing for a while into the world of fiction, but admits it's not always easy.
"Every day when I wake up, you're not in the best mood when you wake up. Another day with all this," said Donovan.
Nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes, but there are also an estimated 79 million other Americans with pre-diabetes who are unaware of it. Diabetes is listed as the underlying cause of more than 230,000 deaths per year, causing high blood pressure, blindness, kidney disease, nervous system disease and amputation.
"Diabetes isn't just something that 'oh, you have it.' Diabetes is a very dangerous and deadly disease and it needs to be treated as such," said Steve Shivak, of the American Diabetes Association.
With diabetes, there is a problem with insulin, a hormone in the body that converts sugar and starches into energy. With Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, the pancreas doesn't produce insulin. With Type 2 diabetes, the body fails to use insulin properly.
"Since about 1990, there's been an explosion of diagnosis of diabetes mainly because patients are getting older. They're getting more sedentary. There's more obesity, and those are the reason it's thought diabetes has become an epidemic," said Dr. Patricia Bononi, of West Penn Hospital's Joslin Diabetes Center.
Donovan said she wants others to know how serious the disease is, but said she also wants to be an inspiration to others with diabetes.
"Never give up. If someone tells you you can't do it, find a way you can do it," said Donovan.
Symptoms of Type 1 diabetes include frequent urination, unusual thirst, extreme hunger, unusual weight loss and extreme fatigue.
Symptoms of Type 2 diabetes include the same as Type 1, as well as frequent infections, blurred vision, cuts and bruises that are slow to heal, tingling numbness in hands
and feet and recurring skin, gum or bladder infections.
Read the Article
February 26
Allegheny General Hospital Newsletter
Local Author, Medical Marvel Celebrates Life and Latest Work with Book Signing Sharon Donovan Received LVAD Destination Therapy at AGH in August.
February 26, 2011
Local author Sharon Donovan, 55, of Avalon, will celebrate the publication of her seventh novel, “Charade of Hearts” tomorrow at a book signing event in Sewickley. The book’s title is telling. And though most authors are quick to claim that their latest work is the one most dear to their heart, in Ms. Donovan’s case it could not be any more true.
Just seven months ago, it appeared that Ms. Donovan’s heart would not allow her to complete the novel. A lifelong diabetic who lost her eye sight at the age of 25, Donovan suffered a massive heart attack on August 11, 2010 that left her heart perilously and permanently damaged.
At Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), heart specialists saved Donovan’s life by implanting an advanced, highly portable left ventricular assist device (LVAD), called the HeartMate II. Used by many heart failure patients as a bridge to heart transplantation, Donovan is among a growing number of patients for whom the technology is a permanent solution – an approach called “destination therapy”.
Among those celebrating with Donovan tomorrow and lining up for signed copies of her new novel will be members of her medical team, including AGH cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Robert Moraca and nurse Sherrie Stutz, who coordinates the hospital’s LVAD program.
More information about Sharon Donovan’s work can be found on her website.
The “Beckoning of Booklovers” book signing will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, February 26, 2011 at the Penguin Bookshop (420 Beaver Street, Sewickley).
Read the entire newsletter here
February 16
Congratulations to Isabel Gonzalez winner of Oliver's Valentines contest!
January 9, 2011
To help show support to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, or JDRF, Whimsical Publications is holding a basket raffle through the entire month of January. The purpose of this raffle is to raise money to aide in finding the cure for Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes.
Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes is a devastating disease that robs a young person of his or her childhood, of their limbs, heart, eyesight, and affects other organs later in life.
Whimsical Publications is also donating $2 from the sale of each and every print books ordered through the WP web site until March 31, 2011.
For more information on this very worthy cause, visit Whimsical Publications then click on a colorful sneaker near the bottom of the page. Or copy and paste the address. Finding the cure can make all the difference in the world. With your help, the life of a child, or anyone with diabetes, can hopefully be changed forever to a life without needles.
Janet Durbin
Owner/Publisher
Whimsical Publications, LLC
Mask of the Betrayer
Book one in the Mask series
Filled with so many twists, turns and surprises, you’ll be
hooked from the first chapter.
ISBN: 978-1-936167-06-7
Retail price $13.95
AVAILABLE NOW!
December 18, 2010
Love Romance Passion interview
Get into Bed with Sharon Donovan (Author Interview)
You’d never know it by appearance. Since her image conjures thoughts of kindly neighbors bearing casseroles. She’s kind, funny, and smart. But what comes out of left field are her suspense/thrillers. As an author she writes romance and inspirational novels. On the flip side, her suspense/thrillers will make you cower in fear. Let’s give her a big hug! I present to you, author Sharon Donovan.
Susan: I’ve heard it mentioned you love masquerade masks. Do you have many?
Sharon: Hello, Susan. Let me begin with a warm thank you for interviewing me today at LRP and for that rather intriguing introduction. Collecting masks is a hobby of mine. While I don’t have as many as I’d like, the ones I have keeping vigil over me while I pound out the pages of my next thriller are authentic ceramic masks from a boutique in New Orleans. They are specially ordered and hand painted with fine detailing. Upon an interesting and informative chat with the owner of the boutique, sadly, I learned that ceramic wall masks are quickly becoming a lost art. Among my smiling faces are a Crying MIME with a jeweled tear rolling down his cheek, a Sophisticated Lady with a bewitching diamond tattoo above her ruby painted lips, and Star Eyes, dazzling and spooky in true Mardi Gras style with her star-shaped eyes watching from behind a black and silver silhouette.
I also have quite a collection of face masks. My favorite is Cleopatra. The Egyptian queen is featured at the masquerade ball in Mask of the Betrayer. To cheer me up after my recent heart attack, one of my biggest fans sent me a gorgeous feather mask she spotted in an New Orleans boutique. Thank you, Julie!
Read full interview at Love romance passion
November 5, 2010
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Author Sharon A. Donovan keeps writing despite health problems ...
By Jane Miller, FOR THE PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Doctors had little hope of saving the life of author Sharon A. Donovan after her Aug. 11 heart attack. She was on life-support. Her waiting family had been told it was doubtful that she could survive the four hours needed to give her a heart pump. She was also blind, and heart pumps are difficult to maintain even for sighted people. But when heart surgeon Dr. Robert Moraca emerged from the operating room, he gave a "thumbs up" before whipping off his mask.
"It was a struggle for cardiologists to know if they should let her go," Moraca says.
"It was a struggle for her family. But everyone was so convinced that she was so resourceful that she would find a way around the pump if we could get her through it."
While Donovan lay in a coma for four days beneath an oxygen mask, Moraca learned about her from websites and read excerpts of her novel, "Mask of the Betrayer" by her bedside. While on life support, she had a small stroke that affected her left hand.
Throughout her hospital stay, one by one, the surgical team came to her room to introduce themselves and tell what part they played in her life-saving surgery.
"I was in awe of all the people it took to save my life," she says.
Today, Donovan, who lives with her family in Avalon, carries a large purse everywhere that holds the heart pump.
"When I awoke, they told me, 'You died twice on the table and we brought you back,'"
Donovan says.
But she is writing again.
Donovan's third mystery-romance novel, "Her Biggest Fan" (Wild Rose Press, $13.99) was released in September. Her "Charade of Hearts" will be released in December.
She had planned lectures and book signings, but is happy to do brief interviews and offer, as well as make, a cup of tea for guests.
"The thing I want to share most importantly is Sharon's positive attitude," says her editor, Lori Graham, a senior editor of the Crimson Line for Wild Rose Press in Adams Basin, N.Y. "One of the hardest jobs for an editor is to reject a story.
Even when I had to do so with Sharon's, she came back stronger and more positive and turned the book around. Any e-mail I receive from her is filled with excitement and lifts my day."
Donovan's journey to become an author may have begun with an incident at age 12.
A child diabetic, a doctor told her that she would be blind by age 25 from diabetic retinopathy, which is the primary cause of blindness for Type I diabetics. A black streak appeared in her vision by age 21. Despite surgeries, the statement was prophetic. Her first book, "Echo of a Raven," a memoir, chronicles the progressive loss of vision and her rehabilitation.
The loss of vision led to the loss of her job as a legal secretary for the Court of Common Pleas, where she prepared cases for judges in Domestic Relations. Donovan had reluctantly enrolled in a 16-week course at the Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh. There she learned to use a computer with adaptive software to convert text into synthesized speech.
"That time turned my life around," she says. "I realized there were people out there who had it much worse than I did, and they had found ways to cope." At the end of the program, she planned to be a medical transcriptionist. But the voice from the doctors' tapes along with the synthesized voice in the other ear "made me feel like I couldn't hear myself think," she says.
After the loss of her vision, audio books had "become a life-line," she says. "I found myself thinking about how the authors wrote."
Although she writes inspirational stories, including a short story in this past summer's release of Chicken Soup for the Souls' "Tough Times, Tough People," her favorite genre is romantic suspense.
"It keeps me balanced," Donovan says. "Yes, I enjoy writing inspiration, but it's the same story. I've been through a lot. When I need to escape, I can call the shots, decided who the bad guy is -- put my anger into creating a killer -- and then bring about justice in the end."
Author Sharon A. Donovan keeps writing despite health problems - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, click here to read original article
November 4th -
My website has been reviewed by 1st Turning Point
August 2nd -
Mask of the Betrayer won our Book of the Week poll!
July 26th -
Mask of the Betrayer has been reviewed and chosen for book of the week at LASR. Voting is Saturday and Sunday at the following link:
I would so appreciate your vote. Thank you!
July 19th -
I am pleased to announce the book video of Mask of the Betrayer by Triad Film Productions. They did an outstanding job. The video is featured on my website and blog and will be entered in the August entry You Gotta Read video contest August Entry #15 and will go up early August 15th Voting is from August 21-26 and I would so appreciate your vote!
Casting Credits for the actors in Mask of the Betrayer:
Loren Lambert villain Michael DeVeccio
Featured guest on Wednesday Spotlight July 14th - here
Gregory Collett Detective Diego Santiago
Featured guest Wednesday Spotlight July 21st - here
Chelsea Turner heroine Margot Montgomery
Featured guest on Wednesday Spotlight July 28th - here
June 18th -
 Hello! I am participating in the June Jubilee at Coffee Time Romance & More! I invite you all to come chat with me on June 15th about my books, hobbies and whatever you like! This event is located here
You must be a member to post. If you are just registering, put 'Sharon Donovan' in the referral box. Thank you!
Throughout the entire month of June, authors will be chatting about their hobbies in the “Special Interests” area of the forum. You can come read all about my hobby of collecting Mardi Gras masks. I’ll be posting pictures and a contest! Stop by
June 11th -
June 11th was like a Cinderella dream! They treated me like a princess and I felt like a star! From the moment I walked onto the Pitt Panther/Pittsburgh Steeler practice field, a photographer from the Tribune-Review photographed me. I met local television celebrities and the Pitt Panther coach. The auction fundraiser was held by BVRS (Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services) of Pittsburgh where I enrolled in a gruelling 16 week program after losing my vision. Prior to the loss of my sight, I worked as a legal secretary in the Court of Common Please where I prepared cases for judges in Domestic Relations. Weekends were spent pursuing my hobby of painting. Painting was my passion, my life. The more vision I lost over a twenty year battle with diabetic retinopathy, the less I could paint. And after one final operation to restore sight, it wound up snatching all remnants other than a few fragments of light.
When my ophthalmologist from Eye & Ear Hospital suggested I attend a program for the blind, I wanted no part of it. Part of the reason I was reluctant was because I felt clients would be uneducated. I was a professional, after all. What could I have in common with “those people?” I was wrong. I met doctors and nurses, teachers and engineers, all with one common thread. We were all losing vision due to circumstances beyond our control. Some had the added burden of facing a marital problem because a spouse could not accept the blindness. We laughed and we cried. We bonded in a way words could never express. I was one of the lucky ones. What didn’t kill me made me stronger.
When I left the program, I found the courage to face a sighted world I was once part of. With the aid of a computer with adaptive software, converting text to synthesized speech, I began enrolling in creative writing classes and workshops. Doors began to open in the publishing world. Today, I am a published author of seven books. You can read the Tribune-Review article here
June 9th -
I am being interviewed with a photo session by our big newspaper on Saturday and they are photographing the event.
June 1st -
Zorro Contest- And we have a winner for the Zorro Contest. The winner is Mindy. Congratulations, Mindy! You win a deluxe Zorro cape and jeweled clip for your next masquerade. Until the next fun contest, Happy Reading!Thank you all for participating.
It’s a masquerade ball in the grand ballroom. At the stroke of midnight, all the lights go out during a blackout. Zorro is the bell of the ball, dancing footloose and fancy free with every man at the party. But when the lights go out, one of the masked guests thrusts the Zorro sword straight through her heart.
Contest rules:
Mask of the Betrayer is on sale for the entire month of May at Whimsical Publications. Now is your chance to purchase it at a discount Available here
Send me an email at sharonad@comcast.net. Put Zorro Contest in the subject line and answer the following:
QUESTION: Who spotted Valentino stealing the sword from Zorro?
PRIZE: Deluxe Zorro cape and jeweled pin. Good luck and happy reading! Don’t forget to read the excerpt for a sneak preview of the murder during a blackout!
This Saturday, May 22nd, I am the featured author at Borders Books. I will be chatting (on the blog) about my newly released suspense book Mask of the Betrayer. Come on by, join the fun, and post a comment! One lucky person will win an autographed copy of my book! It's an all day event.
May 1st -
April 28th - It's almost time for Brenda Novak's Sixth Annual Auction to raise money for diabetic research. With diabetes being near and dear to my heart, I am donating 50 copies of Echo of a Raven, the book about my personal struggles with diabetic retinopathy. This auction will start May 1st and run through the entire month here
I've interviewed Brenda about this worthy cause. This blog interview will be posted on April 28th here
Please help. Isn't it time to find a cure for this devastating disease?
January 4th - I am thrilled beyond words to announce The Claddagh Ring is a CAPA nominee for best inspirational book of 2009 at The Romance Studio's seventh annual Cupid and Psyche Awards! The winners will be announced on Valentine's Day.I would so appreciate your support and graciously thank you!
January 1st - Want to help me write a romantic suspense? I invite you to The Coffee Write forum at Coffee Time Romance & More! I am the host for the month of January and we are having loads of fun. The title is Murder at Midnight and the setting is the fictional town of Progress, South Carolina. Police are trying to capture the serial killer they have dubbed "The Raven Stalker" and I challenge you to write a paragraph where the previous left off. And here's the best part. At the end of the month, I will choose the best entry and that author will win a gift bag from Bath&Body. Come help me catch the clever psychopath! Grin
October 27th - Mask of the Betrayer has been signed up with Whimsical Publications, LLC,
 October 5th - I am pleased to announce I have just signed a contract with The Wild Rose Press for my romantic suspense Her Biggest Fan. This book will be part of the Crimson Rose line. Stay tuned for the blurb/excerpt and artwork!
September 20th - Echo of a Raven received a CTRR (Coffee Time Recommended Read). My thanks to Cherokee for her great review.
June 27 - Interview with Long and Short Reviews
May 5th - Lasting Love is the Readers pick of the month. Check it out here Find a Great Romance.
April 28th - Since my first writing class, one of my goals has been to has a story published in Chicken Soup for the Soul. That day has come. I am thrilled to announced Writing a Dream has been accepted and will appear in bookstores on June 16, 2009 in the Chicken Soup for the Soul Tough Times, Tough People chapter!
April 1st - May 30th - Sony eReader Contest. Purchase any of my books from White Rose Publishing and you will be eligible to win. Good luck! eMail your order number to
sonyreader@thewildrosepress.com
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it.
 April 1st - 15th - Website Contest!
The winner of the Lasting Love website contest is Val Pearson. Congratulations, Val! Here's hoping the vibrant tea rosebush is the envy of your neighborhood!
February 25th - CLADDAGH RING is now available. To celebrate, I am having a contest!
Teri Wilson has won the Claddagh Ring. Congratulations, Teri! Here's hoping the wink of St. Patrick makes all your dreams come true!
January 14th - Between January 15 and March 15, 2009 - purchase Touched by an Angel and you can enter to win a free SONY eReader from The Wild Rose Press.
Its easy to enter: once you purchase the Touched by an Angel, email your order number to
sonyreader@thewildrosepress.com
and you are entered to win. Good luck!
January 7th - Touched by an Angel is available Now - The Wild Rose Press
Winner of Angel Web Site Contest - The winner is Amelia-Irene Lehl Congratulations Amelia! I hope you enjoy the basket of goodies.
January - I have a Featured Contest slot at Coffee Time Romance & More this month. Get a copy of Touched by an Angel.
White Roses in Bloom - Penny Rader won the snow angel for her touching story about her own Christmas angel. Congratulations Penny!
I have sold a St. Patrick's Day story to The Wild Rose Press.
The Claddagh Ring will go on sale February 25, 2009.
Stay tuned for exciting contests and prizes.
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