Peggy Jaeger's Blog - Posts Tagged "readromance"

So this week, we are talking about our own writing processes, namely, PLOTTING.

I am a plotter. ( When I say that I feel like I’m in a self-help group; “Hi, my name is Peggy and I plot.”



But, as always, I digress.

So. Plotting. I am a dyed-in-the-wool plotter for several reasons none of which counts more than the other, but just goes to explain why I am the way I am.

I am a Nurse so, therefore have a scientific background. I need to now if I do A, then B or C will happen ahead of time.
I hate to be surprised. I have impulse control issues, so when someone surprises me I never EVER say the right thing or act the appropriate way. I have ruined enough birthday parties and drop-in visits from people to fill a lifetime.
I am a linear thinker. I like going from A to Z in a straight line. It’s logical for me and alleviates anxiety.
I like knowing what will happen to my characters before it happens to them. I have never been the type of writer who says, “My characters just insisted I have them say this or act this way. NO. Not gonna happen to me.
I like, no actually LOVE, being in control. The one thing I have absolute dictator control over in my life is my writing, my characters, and what happens to them.
If I didn’t know where my story was going. what was going to befall my characters, what their storyline was, I think I would write a pretty horrible book.But that’s me…just saying.

When I’m not plotting out my next novel, you can find me here:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me// Triberr

https://peggyjaeger.com/2017/05/15/th...

Sometimes I seriously wonder why God put the desire to write inside my heart. Some days, like today, I question the logic of what I’m trying to accomplish with writing.


Is it a test, to see if I can be dedicated to an end product?

Is it supposed to get me motivated to live a better life? Be a better person? Practice better faith?

Should I be feeling frustrated, incompetent, and inadequate? Are these emotions necessary for me to experience in order to get to the finish line, literally, and write the end?


Or is it all about the journey, the roadmap, the ups and downs that will eventually get me there?

Whatever the reason I have the desire to write ingrained in my soul, there are days like today, when the words won’t come, the dialogue is cliched, and the syntax is unrecognizable as English, that I question WHY.

Why am I doing this to myself?

Why am I making myself crazy and heart-sick?

Why am I wasting my time chasing a dream to commercial success that appears all but delusional from my perspective?

Just at that moment I’m ready to chuck my laptop out the window I remember the real reason I write. It’s not for commercial success. It’s not because I like seeing my name emblazoned across a book jacket ( although that is nice!). It’s not because I’m so conceited I want to jump up and scream “Look at me! I can write” just for the attention.

No. I write because all these stories swimming around in my head are begging to be set free. I write because I love to. I simply, uncategorically, love to. There is nothing else in the world that gives me such joy and pleasure as penning a perfect line of dialogue or a description that gets heads nodding in recognition when they read it.

So. Please excuse my subtle rant. I’m off to write now.

While I’m writing, you can find me here if you need me : Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me// Triberr

Join me and many other Romance Authors next Saturday, July 29 at the Dolphin Resort in Walt Dinsey World for a mega book signing.I’ll be there from 3-5pm EST with copies of COOKING WITH KANDY and A KISS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS to sign. The money that’s paid for the books goes to the Nora Roberts Foundation for Literacy – so you not only get to meet your favorite authors, you get to support Literacy too! How cool is that?!!



Can’t wait to meet you all!

to see images, click on this link:
https://peggyjaeger.com/2017/08/16/a-...

I lovelovelove when I get to find out a little more about my Wild Rose Press author sistahs! Today, author K.K. Weil pays me a visit and she’s talking about herself ( yay!) and her new release Some Whisper, Some Shout, from WRP. Sit back and learn a little about this talented author



K.K., The Writer

What genre(s) of Romance do your write, and why? So far, I’ve written contemporary romance and romantic suspense. I didn’t set out to write in these genres. I just wrote whatever stories were in my head, and they happened to fall within those parameters. But I’d love to write a dystopian novel, too. I’ve got one looming in my head and have started fooling around with it, so maybe one of these days.

What’s your writing schedule? Do you write every day? I used to write every day, but this year I went back to teaching, so I’m juggling both. It definitely takes more time, but I love doing both, so it’s worth it.

Give us a glimpse of the surroundings where you write. Separate room? In the kitchen? At the dining room table? I write in my family room, sitting on the same spot on the couch every time. Eventually, there will be a big dent in the cushion, but it’s not there yet.

Do you listen to music while you write, and if so, what kind? If not, why not? I like certain background music when I write. I actually have a playlist with songs from about 6 albums that I shuffle every time I write. They’re all somewhat mellow – jazz, blues, Nora Jones, Alicia Keys.

How did you come up with the plotline/idea for your current WIP? I love writing about important topics. For this book, I knew I wanted to write about the homeless. There are so many organizations doing wonderful things to help the homeless, I wanted to incorporate that in my book. Jolie’s creperie offers a buy one-donate one program, where people can help feed the hungry if they want to.

Which comes first for you – character or plot? And why? It depends. For Some Whisper, Some Shout, the plot came first because I knew I wanted to write about this topic. But for my book Shatterproof, I fell in love with one of the characters from my previous book, At This Stage, and I just had to create a story around him so for that one, character came first.

What 3 words describe you, the writer? Pantser, creative, grateful (that I get to do this thing I love so much) (Peggy here: I lovelovelove those 3 descriptions!!)



K.K., The Person

Tell us one unusual thing about yourself – not related to writing! I always eat my pizza crust first, because I like it the least, but I leave a tiny piece in the middle to use as a handle while I eat the rest of the slice. Now my daughter does the same thing. I think I corrupted her.
Who was your first love and what age were you? Kirk Cameron from Growing Pains. I had his name scribbled all over my binder in junior high.
If you could relive one day, which one would it be? Think GROUNDHOG DAY, the movie for this one – you’ll have to live it over and over and…. The day my son was born. My daughter came 3 years before, but there were complications and she was in put in the NICU (which obviously put a damper on the day). She ended up fine, thank goodness, but the day my son was born went seamlessly, and I compared it to my experience with my daughter, so I was just ecstatic for days. I wish everyone could have an experience like that.
If you had to give up one necessary-can’t-live-without-it beauty item, what would it be? Mascara. I love long lashes. Maybe one day I’ll give in and experiment with falsies.
What three words describe you, the person? Serious, creative, principled
If you could sing a song with Jimmy Fallon, what would it be? Oh God, no one would want to hear that. But if I had the opportunity, I’d sing The Devil Went Down to Georgia. I love songs with stories. Besides, we could each be/play a character.
I love the Actor’s Studio show on Bravo, so this is my version of it:


Favorite sound – Ocean waves crashing
Least favorite sound – Whining
Best song ever written Nights in White Satin, Moody Blues
Worst song ever written So many, but maybe Baby by Justin Beiber
Favorite actor and actress So hard to choose. Maybe Colin Firth. Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence
Who would you want to be for 1 day and why? ( It can be anyone living or dead) Any author with complex novels, because I’d love to be able to see their thought process, like Ayn Rand, Tolstoy or J. K .Rowling
What turns you on? Dry humor
What turns you off? Selfish behavior and bragging
What’s your version of a perfect day? Being in a foreign country with my husband, exploring the places the locals go all day and night and having a delicious dinner with a couple glasses of wine.
Peggy here: It’s been fun getting to know K.K. a little better. And now for some more fun stuff. Here’s the blurb and an excerpt from her recent novel Some Whisper, Some Shout.

Blurb: Some Whisper, Some Shout

Devices. Jolie’s got tons of them. Coping mechanisms that ensure she’s not falling victim to the mental illness that’s taken hold of both her brother and father. Helping the homeless gives Jolie much needed consistency. But when a stranger struts into her Jersey Shore creperie, writing cryptic songs on napkins and then disappearing, her world becomes anything but routine.

Reed can play the soul out of his saxophone, but he’s hiding something. Why else would he reveal so little about himself, or plan one secluded, albeit eccentric, date after another? And what’s in that backpack he carries everywhere? Then again, with her distressed brother missing, an estranged mother returning home, and a feisty grandmother acting weirder than usual, Jolie can’t decipher whether her suspicions are valid or dangerous delusions.

When inexplicable slashings of the homeless occur in her otherwise safe town, Jolie’s devices begin to fail.

Excerpt:

Reed’s bag sat on the floor next to me. I wasn’t in the habit of snooping. I’d never wanted to pry into the life of a guy I was dating before. Then again, I’d always gone in with my eyes open and my information gathered.

And no one else had been so intentionally evasive.

I scooted a few inches on the couch toward the bag. It was zipped shut so I couldn’t even sneak a peek. I’d have to very intentionally open it. I leaned over, a centimeter at a time, as if someone was recording me and I was trying to be sly. In my own home. How silly. My hand fell to my side, closer to the bag. My nail scratched at the couch, creeping its way toward the zipper. My stomach knotted into itself and my palms got clammy. I wiped one against the couch. This was very unlike me. Besides, I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for or if I wanted to know the answer.

Before my hand could make its descent from the couch to the backpack, the bathroom door opened. My hand flew into my hair and I sat up straight. Rigid even.

“Forgot my stuff.” Reed strutted toward me, in all his shirtless glory, with his shorts undone and hanging. He leaned over, scooped the backpack, and withdrew to the bathroom. He didn’t notice the plank of wood rammed down my back or the word guilty scribbled across my forehead.

I should have been disappointed. My snooping opportunity had passed. Instead, a cool ocean breeze seemed to blow through the room. I guess I didn’t want to know as much as I thought.

Buy Links: Amazon // WildRose Press // B&N

A little more about K.K.


K.K. Weil grew up in Queens, but eventually moved to New York City, the inspiration for many of her stories. Weil, who attended SUNY Albany as an undergrad and NYU as a graduate student, is also a teacher. She enjoys writing her own dramas and lives near the beach in New Jersey, where she is at work on her next novel.

You can connect with K.K. here:

Website // Facebook // Twitter // Blog // Instagram // Goodreads

You would think as someone who loves screwball comedies, romcoms, and who watched endless sitcoms growing up, that I would easily be able to come up with funny scenarios for my characters in my books.

Yeah...I'd totally think that too, but I'd be wrong.

So wrong.

Writing funny is hard. Wicked hard.

And comedy can be so subjective. What I laugh out loud at something so hard I wet my pants, my husband doesn't even crack a smile for. Drawing the line at farcical is something I have to consider, too. You want your characters involved in situations that lead the reader to laugh and relate, but you don't want them thinking, "never in a gazillion years would something like that happen."

The book will close in a heartbeat when that thought occurs.

Now, I’m considered a wise-ass by most people who know me, and I won’t deny that descriptor at all. I can be bitingly sarcastic – but never cruel – and I’ve been known to make grown women leave a dinner table and head for the ladies' room just so they won’t pee in their pants from laughing.

I can be quick, biting, snarky, and sometimes guffaw-able, in real life.

But on the page? I die to find the funny.

Most humor is based on tragedy, or the saying goes. Most of my humor is found in dumbass situations that happen every day in my life. The Lucille Ball moments we all have at one time or another.

But when I’ve got characters I want to invest a little humor in, oftentimes I’m lost.

Most of us know at least one person, an uncle, a friend, even a co-worker, who can take any situation and see the humor in it enough to make everyone around them laugh. These people are usually the “best friends” in novels, like the Rosie O’Donnell character in Sleepless in Seattle. Always ready with a witticism – usually spot on and deadly – about whatever is occurring in the scene at hand. These characters lighten the mood, add realism to the situations in the book, and generally are well-liked by readers.

I think it was famed actor Edmund Kean who said, “Dying (Tragedy) is easy; comedy is hard.”

Yup. Truth.

So, just how do I find the funny? Well, being a die-hard people watcher is one way. I've been to Panera's a time or two and watched the most ridiculous things happen to people while they are waiting in line for their food. I'll be honest and tell you I've used one or two ( or more!) of those events I've witnessed in my RomCom novels.

Not only am I a people watcher, but I will also talk to a rock! And I've got the kind of face that just screams TALK TO ME from everyone I meet, so many times I'm told stories that resonate with me and which I can use for my own characters.

And I want my characters to sound like real people - the witty neighbor down the street, the aunt who's always got a funny anecdote to share, the uncle who loves a good slapstick move. These are the people I think of when I write my RomComs.

I have a friend who says it's the situation a person is caught up in and their response to it that can make the scene funny. I agree...to a point. You see, I believe PEOPLE are inherently either funny or they're not. Some people can tell a joke and you'll smile. Someone else will tell the same joke and you'll be holding your sides because the pain caused by laughing is great. These are the people I strive for when I write my RomComs. These are the people I want as my hero and/or heroine, and these are the people that give me the most agita to create!

As a huge fan of the 1930s and 40s slapstick RomComs starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart and Claudette Colbert, I strive to live up to their wonderful examples. The writing of Prestin Sturgiss, Billy Wilder, and later, Nora Ephron and the Cohen brothers are my yardsticks. Their characters were relatable, lovable, and regular people who were, and are also, hysterically funny.

So, finding the funny isn't the easiest thing to accomplish when you're a writer. It's hard, sometimes soul-sucking work. But the first time you see a reader hold a book you've penned and they laugh at the right -funny - parts, the rewards are immeasurable!

Here are a few of the books I've penned that I consider funny reads: The Match Made in Heaven series ( 3 books)

It's a Trust thing

3 Wishes

Christmas & Cannolis

Mistletoe, Mobsters, and Mozzarella