Peggy Jaeger's Blog - Posts Tagged "research"
Truth in Fiction…good or bad?
Yesterday I visited my lovely and talented Wild Rose Press sistah Angela Hayes with a blog piece about reality. Well, it was my reality, really. I wrote a piece about the birth of my daughter, the accident I’d had on the day she was due and how I used that little piece of reality to drive the plot of my new book The Voices of Angels.
This got me to thinking…how much personal information is too much when you’re using it as a springboard to your fiction?
Case in point. Using one of my books again, First Impressions, I wrote a simply heartwrenching scene about the death of a much-loved family pet. It took me three days to write because every time I sat down to do it, I started bawling. My editor even wrote me after reading it to tell me she thought it might be too emotional for readers and might turn them off to reading the rest of the book. She thought I might want to temper it a little. I had to give that some serious, serious pondering and consideration time. In the end, I left the scene written as I had originally for two reasons. 1.) I knew that any reader who had a pet could and would sympathize with the feelings the heroine was experiencing from the death, and 2.) my own 18-year-old cat had recently died, so I knew every emotion I wrote was real and raw. Just this week I had someone I know who’s read the book tell me they were bawling their eyes out on a beach on vacation when they read that part. I asked how did they really feel about the scene. Did it turn them off? Make them not want to read ahead? And was told “I kept imagining my own cat dying. The scene was so real! I felt every emotion Clarissa did. I finished the book that night!”
Manna from heaven to a writer.
Now, I’d never use something grossly personal about myself or someone I know in my writing – too much potential embarrassment, not to mention lawsuits, could come of doing that. But there have been things have had happened in my life that I will slip into a scene or a plot. I think in some way doing this lends more credibility to the work. Truth in fiction stories always seem to grab me by the throat and not let go until I finish the book.
So, writer friends….how much is too much reality for your fiction? Truth in fiction…good, or bad? Let’s discuss….
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This got me to thinking…how much personal information is too much when you’re using it as a springboard to your fiction?
Case in point. Using one of my books again, First Impressions, I wrote a simply heartwrenching scene about the death of a much-loved family pet. It took me three days to write because every time I sat down to do it, I started bawling. My editor even wrote me after reading it to tell me she thought it might be too emotional for readers and might turn them off to reading the rest of the book. She thought I might want to temper it a little. I had to give that some serious, serious pondering and consideration time. In the end, I left the scene written as I had originally for two reasons. 1.) I knew that any reader who had a pet could and would sympathize with the feelings the heroine was experiencing from the death, and 2.) my own 18-year-old cat had recently died, so I knew every emotion I wrote was real and raw. Just this week I had someone I know who’s read the book tell me they were bawling their eyes out on a beach on vacation when they read that part. I asked how did they really feel about the scene. Did it turn them off? Make them not want to read ahead? And was told “I kept imagining my own cat dying. The scene was so real! I felt every emotion Clarissa did. I finished the book that night!”
Manna from heaven to a writer.
Now, I’d never use something grossly personal about myself or someone I know in my writing – too much potential embarrassment, not to mention lawsuits, could come of doing that. But there have been things have had happened in my life that I will slip into a scene or a plot. I think in some way doing this lends more credibility to the work. Truth in fiction stories always seem to grab me by the throat and not let go until I finish the book.
So, writer friends….how much is too much reality for your fiction? Truth in fiction…good, or bad? Let’s discuss….
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I am a list-o-holic and there is no support group for me!
I love lists. I love to make them, find them, re-work them, and add to them. Part of the reason I make so many lists is because I have so many things to remember, if I don't list them I'll forget more than half of them. That's not a factor of my age or menopause, either. I've always been that way..forgetful, that is.
I make laundry lists, grocery lists, lists for what I need to pack for a trip, to-d0 lists, character trait lists. You name it, I've got a list for it.
A few years back Real Simple magazine published a piece on 9 lists you can never recall just right: like the names of the 7 dwarfs, the 7 deadly sins, the names of the 8 planets, the 5 oceans of the Earth, etc. It was a great list and I have a copy of it on my desk. Why, you ask? Well,because I love lists! It's that simple. And the list is a great reference tool, plus a fun game to play with people who think they know everything and so often don't. Yeah, I know that's a little mean but....I don't care!
I once wrote a character who was so obsessed with lists she had panic attacks when she couldn't find them ( this was before I wrote romance.) A few of my so-call friends at that time said she was an autobiographical character. Notice I said, "at the time."
Anyway, are you a list person? If so, what list can't you live without? Or are you that person that I envy the kind that can go tot he grocery store without a list and get everything you need without forgetting anything? If so, just know we will never be friends....
How good a memory so you have? Let's see: Name the following and I'll let you know if you got it right - and please don't cheat by looking it up!!
What are the 7 deadly sins?
What are Santa's 8 reindeer named?
What are the names of the 7 continents of the world today?
Ready?....GO!
I make laundry lists, grocery lists, lists for what I need to pack for a trip, to-d0 lists, character trait lists. You name it, I've got a list for it.
A few years back Real Simple magazine published a piece on 9 lists you can never recall just right: like the names of the 7 dwarfs, the 7 deadly sins, the names of the 8 planets, the 5 oceans of the Earth, etc. It was a great list and I have a copy of it on my desk. Why, you ask? Well,because I love lists! It's that simple. And the list is a great reference tool, plus a fun game to play with people who think they know everything and so often don't. Yeah, I know that's a little mean but....I don't care!
I once wrote a character who was so obsessed with lists she had panic attacks when she couldn't find them ( this was before I wrote romance.) A few of my so-call friends at that time said she was an autobiographical character. Notice I said, "at the time."
Anyway, are you a list person? If so, what list can't you live without? Or are you that person that I envy the kind that can go tot he grocery store without a list and get everything you need without forgetting anything? If so, just know we will never be friends....
How good a memory so you have? Let's see: Name the following and I'll let you know if you got it right - and please don't cheat by looking it up!!
What are the 7 deadly sins?
What are Santa's 8 reindeer named?
What are the names of the 7 continents of the world today?
Ready?....GO!
How Pinterest made me a better writer! (or, Into the mind of a Writer, part II)
There’s a running commentary of questions in my brain in any given moment on any given day.
How did we cook on the fly before microwaves? How did we keep in touch with one another before cell-phones ruled the world? How did we communicate before the internet and email and texting? Does anyone know how to parallel park anymore? Do people actually still talk to one another at meal-time?
There’s a lot going on in my head at any one time and I certainly can’t remember a life before we had all these gadgets and inconvenient conveniences. But there is one computer application that has made me a much better writer because I can tell you exactly what I used to do before it was invented: waste time looking things up!!!
I’m talking- as if the title of this piece doesn’t give it away – about Pinterest. Before I had my boards all lined up on the Pinterest app, I spent a great deal of time flipping back and forth through files and notes to ensure I didn’t mess things up with my characters and storylines. I had a bad habit of not remembering that the hero had blue eyes on page 5 when I gave him green ones on page 200. I gave the heroine short curly red hair in the first introduction and then straightened it to hip length when she met the hero ten pages later. Dumb mistakes. Dumb.
For a while I tried flipping through fashion magazines so I could find pictures of what I envisioned my characters looked like, but most magazines had the same ads in each one, so nothing new was found, and all the celebrities of the moment were featured in each one, as well, in the same poses, etc, so there went the variety I needed.
When I discovered Pinterest I felt as if a dream I had never thought to ask for had somehow magically come true. I could spend hours – literally! – flipping through all the boards, categories, and other people’s boards to find what I wanted — and I did! Now, if I find a picture of what I want my character or her house, or even her pet to look like, I save that picture to whatever board I’m working on. My current favorite boards are AFTERNOON TEA and GEMMA, two new books I’m writing.
I don’t know who thought up Pinterest, but if I ever find out, I’ll be sure to write them and give them a big thank you from me. It is so much easier now to visually keep track of what my peeps, their clothes, what they eat, etc, look like. I usually print out the salient, important, pictures for my story/vision boards, so I can have an even quicker reference when I’m writing. You can see my current one for the GEMMA book ( not the real title, yet) on a previous post. All the factors of the book I need to know at a simple glance are on that board, the rest on the board on the actual Pinterest site.
If you are a visual person like I am, Pinterest is a great way for a writer to see their book come to life. And it’s not only a great application/site for writers. I know a few brides-to-be, and moms-to-be who also take advantage of the boards. But it doesn’t stop there. There are travel boards, architecture boards, pictures for refurbishing and rehabbing your house. There are boards for people who are cat obsessed ( I know a few!), book cover obsessed ( me too!), hot guys obsessed ( duh! of course!)Whatever your imagination or needs dictate, you will find pictures and boards for it on Pinterest.
Using Pinterest as a writing tool has truly made me a better writer because I am more consistent, much more descriptive in my writing, and I have more time to actually write now that I don’t need to stop and look things up!
So… do you use Pinterest? let’s discuss…..
This board has all my book covers
Here’s where you can find me, other than Pinterest!:
Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
How did we cook on the fly before microwaves? How did we keep in touch with one another before cell-phones ruled the world? How did we communicate before the internet and email and texting? Does anyone know how to parallel park anymore? Do people actually still talk to one another at meal-time?
There’s a lot going on in my head at any one time and I certainly can’t remember a life before we had all these gadgets and inconvenient conveniences. But there is one computer application that has made me a much better writer because I can tell you exactly what I used to do before it was invented: waste time looking things up!!!
I’m talking- as if the title of this piece doesn’t give it away – about Pinterest. Before I had my boards all lined up on the Pinterest app, I spent a great deal of time flipping back and forth through files and notes to ensure I didn’t mess things up with my characters and storylines. I had a bad habit of not remembering that the hero had blue eyes on page 5 when I gave him green ones on page 200. I gave the heroine short curly red hair in the first introduction and then straightened it to hip length when she met the hero ten pages later. Dumb mistakes. Dumb.
For a while I tried flipping through fashion magazines so I could find pictures of what I envisioned my characters looked like, but most magazines had the same ads in each one, so nothing new was found, and all the celebrities of the moment were featured in each one, as well, in the same poses, etc, so there went the variety I needed.
When I discovered Pinterest I felt as if a dream I had never thought to ask for had somehow magically come true. I could spend hours – literally! – flipping through all the boards, categories, and other people’s boards to find what I wanted — and I did! Now, if I find a picture of what I want my character or her house, or even her pet to look like, I save that picture to whatever board I’m working on. My current favorite boards are AFTERNOON TEA and GEMMA, two new books I’m writing.
I don’t know who thought up Pinterest, but if I ever find out, I’ll be sure to write them and give them a big thank you from me. It is so much easier now to visually keep track of what my peeps, their clothes, what they eat, etc, look like. I usually print out the salient, important, pictures for my story/vision boards, so I can have an even quicker reference when I’m writing. You can see my current one for the GEMMA book ( not the real title, yet) on a previous post. All the factors of the book I need to know at a simple glance are on that board, the rest on the board on the actual Pinterest site.
If you are a visual person like I am, Pinterest is a great way for a writer to see their book come to life. And it’s not only a great application/site for writers. I know a few brides-to-be, and moms-to-be who also take advantage of the boards. But it doesn’t stop there. There are travel boards, architecture boards, pictures for refurbishing and rehabbing your house. There are boards for people who are cat obsessed ( I know a few!), book cover obsessed ( me too!), hot guys obsessed ( duh! of course!)Whatever your imagination or needs dictate, you will find pictures and boards for it on Pinterest.
Using Pinterest as a writing tool has truly made me a better writer because I am more consistent, much more descriptive in my writing, and I have more time to actually write now that I don’t need to stop and look things up!
So… do you use Pinterest? let’s discuss…..
This board has all my book covers
Here’s where you can find me, other than Pinterest!:
Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
Writing Pet Peeves
Okay, this may be a rant – sorry if it sounds like one.
I’m reading the brand new release of one of my all-time favorite authors and I found a mistake a fact-checker should have caught. This is the second time in a week I’ve found this particular mistake – the other was in an older book by a different fav author.
What the heck has happened to fact checkers in the publishing industry? These are not self published books where I would expect to find errors – these are from two of the BIG 5!! Here’s the mistake – remember: it’s the same one I found in two different books: both writers used the word PRONE to denote a person lying on their back, face upward. WRONGWRONGWRONG!!! SUPINE means lying face upward, prone means lying face downward. Why does this bother me so much, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you.
When I was in nursing school in the late 1800’s (!) we used to write our nursing notes by hand. It’s all done electronically now. I wrote a note once on a comatose patient that read “Pt. appears comfortable and is lying prone in bed.” I got reported to the Director of Nursing by the patient’s doc and a written warning note was placed in my academic file. Why? Because the patient had a tracheostomy tube and was on a ventilator and there was no way on God’s green earth he could have or should have been laying prone ( which means on his stomach) because he wouldn’t have been able to breathe. And the reason I got written up was because if the patient’s family had ever sued, the legal chart would have gone into evidence and court and I would have looked incompetent ( as would the hospital) for placing the patient in position that obviously could have killed him. The note should have read : “Pt. appears comfortable and is lying supine in bed.”
Here’s the easiest way to remember the difference ( if you don’t have a dictionary handy) “When you are SUPINE you are looking up at the PINE trees, ergo, you are on your back. When you are PRONE you have you face pointed downward, or as I remember it: Face PLANTED downward.
Got it??
I’ve got more writing pet peeves, but this is enough negativity for one day. Do you have any? Let’s discuss, because I know there are thousands!!!!
I’m reading the brand new release of one of my all-time favorite authors and I found a mistake a fact-checker should have caught. This is the second time in a week I’ve found this particular mistake – the other was in an older book by a different fav author.
What the heck has happened to fact checkers in the publishing industry? These are not self published books where I would expect to find errors – these are from two of the BIG 5!! Here’s the mistake – remember: it’s the same one I found in two different books: both writers used the word PRONE to denote a person lying on their back, face upward. WRONGWRONGWRONG!!! SUPINE means lying face upward, prone means lying face downward. Why does this bother me so much, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you.
When I was in nursing school in the late 1800’s (!) we used to write our nursing notes by hand. It’s all done electronically now. I wrote a note once on a comatose patient that read “Pt. appears comfortable and is lying prone in bed.” I got reported to the Director of Nursing by the patient’s doc and a written warning note was placed in my academic file. Why? Because the patient had a tracheostomy tube and was on a ventilator and there was no way on God’s green earth he could have or should have been laying prone ( which means on his stomach) because he wouldn’t have been able to breathe. And the reason I got written up was because if the patient’s family had ever sued, the legal chart would have gone into evidence and court and I would have looked incompetent ( as would the hospital) for placing the patient in position that obviously could have killed him. The note should have read : “Pt. appears comfortable and is lying supine in bed.”
Here’s the easiest way to remember the difference ( if you don’t have a dictionary handy) “When you are SUPINE you are looking up at the PINE trees, ergo, you are on your back. When you are PRONE you have you face pointed downward, or as I remember it: Face PLANTED downward.
Got it??
I’ve got more writing pet peeves, but this is enough negativity for one day. Do you have any? Let’s discuss, because I know there are thousands!!!!
Writing Pet Peeves, Part Deux – Mea Culpa
So yesterday I put up a piece about my number one pet peeve and I heard from A LOT of you. On facebook, via my email, I even had one phone call. Based on those responses I have two mea culpas to offer.
#1. I, in no way, shape or form, meant to slam writers who are self-published. I was making a dig about big publishing houses and the apparent lack of fact checking and it came out wrong – much to my embarrassment and chagrin. Every self-published author I know spends countless hours on self-editing, in addition to paying for professional editing, to ensure their work has no mistakes. I know this. So I apologize ten thousand times if I offended any and all self pubbed writers. I truly do.
#2 I heard from many of you that your dictionary definition of PRONE was, to lay flat. That is true. It is. BUT, the continuation of the definition is: to lay flat COMMA face downward ( to lay flat, face downward.) That comma is there for a reason, folks!!! When you get a back massage, you are prone. When you are sleeping on your stomach, you are prone. When you are a sniper and hidden in a blind waiting to strike, you are prone.
The reason I was on such a rant yesterday was because I read this line in a new book: “(THE HEROINE – I won’t name her!) was prone on the bed. (THE HERO) wrapped her legs around his waist and bent to kiss her on the lips.” Now that you know the true definition of prone, picture this sentence. The heroine is face down – according to the author (Prone, remember?). Her man wraps her legs around his waist ( PICTURE THIS, PEOPLE! Her butt is facing him) and kisses her on the lips. How? Did she spin her head around like in the Exorcist???
Get it??!!
Okay, no more rants. If you write prone as a movement and you mean the character is on their back, just know if I read your book, I will be disappointed in you ( I’ll still love you, but I’ll be disappointed!)
My next blog will feature the top most annoying writing pet peeves. ( Mine and every other author’s!)
In my most recent book, THE VOICES OF ANGELS, no one is prone.
Blurb:
perf5.000x8.000.indd
Love is the last thing Carly Lennox is looking for when she sets out on her new book tour. The independent, widowed author is content with a life spent writing and in raising her daughter. When newscaster Mike Woodard suggests they work on a television magazine profile based on her book, Carly’s thrilled, but guarded. His obvious desire to turn their relationship into something other than just a working one is more than she bargained for.
Mike Woodard is ambitious, and not only in his chosen profession. He wants Carly, maybe more than he’s ever wanted anything or anyone else. As he tells her, he’s a patient man. But the more they’re together, Mike realizes it isn’t simply desire beating within him. Carly Lennox is the missing piece in his life. Getting her to accept it-and him-may just be the toughest assignment he’s ever taken on.
Buy Links: Amazon /// TWRP /// Kobo /// Nook
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
#1. I, in no way, shape or form, meant to slam writers who are self-published. I was making a dig about big publishing houses and the apparent lack of fact checking and it came out wrong – much to my embarrassment and chagrin. Every self-published author I know spends countless hours on self-editing, in addition to paying for professional editing, to ensure their work has no mistakes. I know this. So I apologize ten thousand times if I offended any and all self pubbed writers. I truly do.
#2 I heard from many of you that your dictionary definition of PRONE was, to lay flat. That is true. It is. BUT, the continuation of the definition is: to lay flat COMMA face downward ( to lay flat, face downward.) That comma is there for a reason, folks!!! When you get a back massage, you are prone. When you are sleeping on your stomach, you are prone. When you are a sniper and hidden in a blind waiting to strike, you are prone.
The reason I was on such a rant yesterday was because I read this line in a new book: “(THE HEROINE – I won’t name her!) was prone on the bed. (THE HERO) wrapped her legs around his waist and bent to kiss her on the lips.” Now that you know the true definition of prone, picture this sentence. The heroine is face down – according to the author (Prone, remember?). Her man wraps her legs around his waist ( PICTURE THIS, PEOPLE! Her butt is facing him) and kisses her on the lips. How? Did she spin her head around like in the Exorcist???
Get it??!!
Okay, no more rants. If you write prone as a movement and you mean the character is on their back, just know if I read your book, I will be disappointed in you ( I’ll still love you, but I’ll be disappointed!)
My next blog will feature the top most annoying writing pet peeves. ( Mine and every other author’s!)
In my most recent book, THE VOICES OF ANGELS, no one is prone.
Blurb:
perf5.000x8.000.indd
Love is the last thing Carly Lennox is looking for when she sets out on her new book tour. The independent, widowed author is content with a life spent writing and in raising her daughter. When newscaster Mike Woodard suggests they work on a television magazine profile based on her book, Carly’s thrilled, but guarded. His obvious desire to turn their relationship into something other than just a working one is more than she bargained for.
Mike Woodard is ambitious, and not only in his chosen profession. He wants Carly, maybe more than he’s ever wanted anything or anyone else. As he tells her, he’s a patient man. But the more they’re together, Mike realizes it isn’t simply desire beating within him. Carly Lennox is the missing piece in his life. Getting her to accept it-and him-may just be the toughest assignment he’s ever taken on.
Buy Links: Amazon /// TWRP /// Kobo /// Nook
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
Writing Pet Peeves, Part Trois…
We all have pet peeves (something that a particular person finds especially annoying.) As a writer, I have a gaggle of them, all related to writers and writing.
I have seen every single one of the following in either a book – or several!- magazine articles, and on-line. In no particular annoyance level order, here are the ones I feel are the most egregious:
IRREGARDLESS is not a word. You mean, REGARDLESS, when you write: without paying attention to the present situation; despite the prevailing circumstances. Ex: Regardless of what you have done, I will always love you.
LITERALLY means it actually happened. Not that it FIGURATIVELY happened: FIGURATIVELY means: departing from a literal use of words; metaphorical: EX: gold, in the figurative language of the people, was “the tears wept by the sun.”
IRONY does not mean something that is unexpected. IRONY means: a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result: EX: the irony is that I thought he could help me.
It’s I COULDN’T CARE LESS not, I could care less, which means you actually DO care!
YOU’RE means you are. YOUR means: with the person or people that the speaker is addressing: EX: what is your name?
A LOT is ALWAYS 2 words, not one. ALWAYS!!
petpeeves9
You BEAR weight with your BARE hands
you give TWO things TO someone else. In addition, you give it to me, TOO. Got it??
You LOSE your keys if your pants are LOOSE.
THEY’RE means they are. THERE is a direction or a place ( THERE it is!!!) THEIR denotes one or more people ( THEIR noses were red from the cold weather)
If you try to form a contraction of COULD HAVE it is not could of. That is because there is no contraction of COULD HAVE. It is, simply stated, COULD HAVE.
So, those are actually most of my writing pet peeves. Tell me yours. Let’s discuss……
In my most recent book, THE VOICES OF ANGELS, not one of the above pet peeves is present! Promise!
Blurb:
perf5.000x8.000.indd
Love is the last thing Carly Lennox is looking for when she sets out on her new book tour. The independent, widowed author is content with a life spent writing and in raising her daughter. When newscaster Mike Woodard suggests they work on a television magazine profile based on her book, Carly’s thrilled, but guarded. His obvious desire to turn their relationship into something other than just a working one is more than she bargained for.
Mike Woodard is ambitious, and not only in his chosen profession. He wants Carly, maybe more than he’s ever wanted anything or anyone else. As he tells her, he’s a patient man. But the more they’re together, Mike realizes it isn’t simply desire beating within him. Carly Lennox is the missing piece in his life. Getting her to accept it-and him-may just be the toughest assignment he’s ever taken on.
Buy Links: Amazon /// TWRP /// Kobo /// Nook
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
About these ads
I have seen every single one of the following in either a book – or several!- magazine articles, and on-line. In no particular annoyance level order, here are the ones I feel are the most egregious:
IRREGARDLESS is not a word. You mean, REGARDLESS, when you write: without paying attention to the present situation; despite the prevailing circumstances. Ex: Regardless of what you have done, I will always love you.
LITERALLY means it actually happened. Not that it FIGURATIVELY happened: FIGURATIVELY means: departing from a literal use of words; metaphorical: EX: gold, in the figurative language of the people, was “the tears wept by the sun.”
IRONY does not mean something that is unexpected. IRONY means: a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result: EX: the irony is that I thought he could help me.
It’s I COULDN’T CARE LESS not, I could care less, which means you actually DO care!
YOU’RE means you are. YOUR means: with the person or people that the speaker is addressing: EX: what is your name?
A LOT is ALWAYS 2 words, not one. ALWAYS!!
petpeeves9
You BEAR weight with your BARE hands
you give TWO things TO someone else. In addition, you give it to me, TOO. Got it??
You LOSE your keys if your pants are LOOSE.
THEY’RE means they are. THERE is a direction or a place ( THERE it is!!!) THEIR denotes one or more people ( THEIR noses were red from the cold weather)
If you try to form a contraction of COULD HAVE it is not could of. That is because there is no contraction of COULD HAVE. It is, simply stated, COULD HAVE.
So, those are actually most of my writing pet peeves. Tell me yours. Let’s discuss……
In my most recent book, THE VOICES OF ANGELS, not one of the above pet peeves is present! Promise!
Blurb:
perf5.000x8.000.indd
Love is the last thing Carly Lennox is looking for when she sets out on her new book tour. The independent, widowed author is content with a life spent writing and in raising her daughter. When newscaster Mike Woodard suggests they work on a television magazine profile based on her book, Carly’s thrilled, but guarded. His obvious desire to turn their relationship into something other than just a working one is more than she bargained for.
Mike Woodard is ambitious, and not only in his chosen profession. He wants Carly, maybe more than he’s ever wanted anything or anyone else. As he tells her, he’s a patient man. But the more they’re together, Mike realizes it isn’t simply desire beating within him. Carly Lennox is the missing piece in his life. Getting her to accept it-and him-may just be the toughest assignment he’s ever taken on.
Buy Links: Amazon /// TWRP /// Kobo /// Nook
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
About these ads
Something New...
Recently, I signed on with NetGalley, an online book reviewer site. The reason I decided to do this was because I read a lot of books by new authors, and I know – personally!- how hard it is to get reviews. Reviews generate buzz about books to people, and as an author, I appreciate how valuable a good review is to finding new readers to read my stuff. A good review can up an author’s sales. A great review can propel a book and its writer into another stratosphere. Being a reviewer allows me to help the people I know who read my blog find great new and upcoming authors, and writers they’ve never read before.
I made a new page on my website to list the books and their reviews that I think are outstanding and worthy to be read. This is the link: Books I’ve reviewed . You’ll find well known authors in addition to many names many you’ve never heard of before – but should be hearing about!
My standards for review are the same ones I hope other reviewers will use for me. I won’t write a written review for any book that I can’t give a 4 or 5, to. If a book scores lower than that for me, it usually means the story didn’t resonate with me. That doesn’t mean it won’t appeal to others, tho, and I don’t want to post something negative about it. I’ve read two books recently that I gave only 3’s to because there were so many grammatical and typing errors in the copy I couldn’t actually enjoy the story because of it.
I don’t ever want to be one of those mean reviewers who epitomize the haters gotta hate rule. Those are the reviewers who I always think are secretly writer-wannabes who just can’t – for whatever reason -write the story themselves, so they bash others that do. So. Not. Me!
So, if my humble opinion means anything, I hope you will check back periodically and read about the books I’ve given kudos to.
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
I made a new page on my website to list the books and their reviews that I think are outstanding and worthy to be read. This is the link: Books I’ve reviewed . You’ll find well known authors in addition to many names many you’ve never heard of before – but should be hearing about!
My standards for review are the same ones I hope other reviewers will use for me. I won’t write a written review for any book that I can’t give a 4 or 5, to. If a book scores lower than that for me, it usually means the story didn’t resonate with me. That doesn’t mean it won’t appeal to others, tho, and I don’t want to post something negative about it. I’ve read two books recently that I gave only 3’s to because there were so many grammatical and typing errors in the copy I couldn’t actually enjoy the story because of it.
I don’t ever want to be one of those mean reviewers who epitomize the haters gotta hate rule. Those are the reviewers who I always think are secretly writer-wannabes who just can’t – for whatever reason -write the story themselves, so they bash others that do. So. Not. Me!
So, if my humble opinion means anything, I hope you will check back periodically and read about the books I’ve given kudos to.
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
Social Media, Rules....
to see images, click on to https://peggyjaeger.com/2016/08/25/so...
And I don’t mean it like “rules for behavior.” No, I mean social media RULES the universe these days.
Let me ‘splain it you, Lucy…..
A little over a year ago I was an unknown, about-to-be-first-time-published author who had 15 Twitter followers on a good day. They were all friends and family who knew me and thought it was cute we were Tweeting one another inane things. My publisher recommended I increase my online presence to find more new readers for my books and to help promote those books through the free marketing Twitter encompasses with every tweet you send. I said, “okay” because, really, what was I going to say, NO? They were the experts. I was just a little unknown romance writer looking- hoping-praying- someone ( anyone) would buy a book from me.
I asked my daughter – the techy maven – how to go about finding new followers and she gave me a sage bit of advice. In order to get more followers, you have to…wait for it.…follow more people.
social-media1
Really? Could it be that easy?
Well, I’m here to tell you that, yes, it is that easy.
I found people who liked the same things I did: writers, romance readers and writers, and book lovers, and started following them, retweeting posts I liked, and interacting with complete strangers. In one month I increased my followers from 15 to 150.
When my book came out, I started tweeting about it, using those infamous and oh-so-beneficial-hashtags, and my following soared to 300.
With the next book, I did the same thing, finding trending hashtags that compared to what I was sharing and hastag-jumped onto those tweets. This brought me even more followers. At one point I was tweeting all my new followers every time I got one, thanking them for joining and following me. This got old pretty quickly when I spent almost an hour of each day doing it, so I stopped. I thought I might lose some followers by not pointing them out, and I did lose a few. But in the world of twitter math, for every 2-3 followers I lost, 10 more came on board. Today, I woke up to 811 followers.
Folks, I don’t even know 811 people!!!
social-media2
Now that I’m with a new publisher, I’ll be following more authors, and in turn, will increase my own followers even more. You can take everything I just wrote and apply it to Facebook, Google, and Pinterest as well. The more social media sights you troll on, the more “people” you will “meet.”
So, this is what I mean when I say Social Media rules. Because it does. Really. Go ahead and Tweet this and you’ll see what I mean!
And if you want to find me on Social Media, here’s where I am…ALL THE TIME!!! le Sigh!
Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
And I don’t mean it like “rules for behavior.” No, I mean social media RULES the universe these days.
Let me ‘splain it you, Lucy…..
A little over a year ago I was an unknown, about-to-be-first-time-published author who had 15 Twitter followers on a good day. They were all friends and family who knew me and thought it was cute we were Tweeting one another inane things. My publisher recommended I increase my online presence to find more new readers for my books and to help promote those books through the free marketing Twitter encompasses with every tweet you send. I said, “okay” because, really, what was I going to say, NO? They were the experts. I was just a little unknown romance writer looking- hoping-praying- someone ( anyone) would buy a book from me.
I asked my daughter – the techy maven – how to go about finding new followers and she gave me a sage bit of advice. In order to get more followers, you have to…wait for it.…follow more people.
social-media1
Really? Could it be that easy?
Well, I’m here to tell you that, yes, it is that easy.
I found people who liked the same things I did: writers, romance readers and writers, and book lovers, and started following them, retweeting posts I liked, and interacting with complete strangers. In one month I increased my followers from 15 to 150.
When my book came out, I started tweeting about it, using those infamous and oh-so-beneficial-hashtags, and my following soared to 300.
With the next book, I did the same thing, finding trending hashtags that compared to what I was sharing and hastag-jumped onto those tweets. This brought me even more followers. At one point I was tweeting all my new followers every time I got one, thanking them for joining and following me. This got old pretty quickly when I spent almost an hour of each day doing it, so I stopped. I thought I might lose some followers by not pointing them out, and I did lose a few. But in the world of twitter math, for every 2-3 followers I lost, 10 more came on board. Today, I woke up to 811 followers.
Folks, I don’t even know 811 people!!!
social-media2
Now that I’m with a new publisher, I’ll be following more authors, and in turn, will increase my own followers even more. You can take everything I just wrote and apply it to Facebook, Google, and Pinterest as well. The more social media sights you troll on, the more “people” you will “meet.”
So, this is what I mean when I say Social Media rules. Because it does. Really. Go ahead and Tweet this and you’ll see what I mean!
And if you want to find me on Social Media, here’s where I am…ALL THE TIME!!! le Sigh!
Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
Loneliness....
to see images, click on this link: https://peggyjaeger.com/2016/09/18/lo...
I was out for the day with my besties yesterday. Love that. Just a day of girlfriends, shopping, eating, and laughing.
One of my girls mentioned she was at a conference recently where this question was posed: What is the number one disease afflicting the world today? My first thought was heart disease. NO. My second guess was mental illness? NO, but closer.
Turns out, the number one disease afflicting a great majority of the world we live in is loneliness.
When you think about it, it kinda rings true. Because I’m so egocentric(!LOL) I immediately thought about my life as it stands now as a full-time writer.
Here’s a quick snapshot of my routine day for clarification. I get up anywhere from 3am-4am due to this chronic insomnia I have. Hubman is still asleep so I either write a little or watch a little OnDemand Real Housewives episodes that I’ve missed. Get him up for work a few hours later. He leaves and most days is gone for between 12 and 13 hours. I do one of two things: go to the gym first or just start writing.
If I don’t go to the gym there are days when I will not speak to or interact with another human being until my husband returns home. That’s approximately half my waking day without human interaction. Without speaking to someone, hearing their voice, engaging them in dialogue. More than half. One of the reasons I joined a gym was so that I had a reason to get out of the house and be around people for a few hours a day and not just sit at home, typing, and being alone for hours upon end. Believe me, if I didn’t consciously go out of the house, I could sosososo be a hermit and never see or hear another person. Not good for someone like me who makes their bread and butter creating relationships between people. I need to see people, hear them, watch them, and talk to them so that my characters feel and sound real to readers.
Well, you troll on Facebook and Pinterest and Twitter you’ll say. That’s social interaction. Yes, to a point. But nothing can replace looking into someone’s face when you are speaking with them, drawing them in with your expressions, your spoken voice, looking directly into their eyes so that you actually connect with them. Nothing. You don’t get that from hitting a “like” on facebook, or “Re-Tweeting” something on twitter. You just don’t.
Again, you will say, but Skype and Facetime, and other mechanical apps where you can look at the person you are speaking to over the device, face to face, is social interaction. Again, yes, to a point. It’s similar, but just not the same as sitting across from someone in a coffeehouse, being able to hold their hand when they’re sad, or run a comforting caress up their arm; or sharing a meal with someone in a restaurant and actually engaging them, eye to eye, face to face, in a conversation that actually has substance, value. and meaning. Nothing.
To most – if not all – writers, being alone is just part of the job. We need the alone time to settle our thoughts, run them through without interruptions, figure out the next scene in silence. Like I said, being alone is part and parcel of the job.
But loneliness is very different from being alone. Being alone has a purpose. You need quiet to focus, to create, to bring forth coherent thoughts on the page. Being lonely is a result. A negative result of an event, or simply just happenstance of life. A spouse dies and your family lives far away and doesn’t visit. You’ve worked all your life and now retirement comes and you realize you don’t have many friends or family members to spend time with. You’ve gotten divorced, moved, experienced a trauma. Anything and everything can contribute to a state of loneliness.
Humans are social animals. We talk, we laugh, we cry, we touch, we love, we communicate with words and without. We need interaction. We crave the company of another, and when we are isolated or unable to interact with others, severe, depressing, heart-wrenching feelings of loneliness can surface and destroy us.
So, like me, if you are alone a lot, do something that gets you out of the house, even for an hour. Be with people. Go grab a cup of coffee and a bagel. Call up someone you know is sitting at home alone and drag them out with you. Smile. Engage with the world and the wonderful people in it. Don’t give loneliness a chance to develop, grow, and fester.
I am home a lot, that’s true. So if I don’t see you at Panera’s (lol) or the Gym, here’s where you can find me:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
I was out for the day with my besties yesterday. Love that. Just a day of girlfriends, shopping, eating, and laughing.
One of my girls mentioned she was at a conference recently where this question was posed: What is the number one disease afflicting the world today? My first thought was heart disease. NO. My second guess was mental illness? NO, but closer.
Turns out, the number one disease afflicting a great majority of the world we live in is loneliness.
When you think about it, it kinda rings true. Because I’m so egocentric(!LOL) I immediately thought about my life as it stands now as a full-time writer.
Here’s a quick snapshot of my routine day for clarification. I get up anywhere from 3am-4am due to this chronic insomnia I have. Hubman is still asleep so I either write a little or watch a little OnDemand Real Housewives episodes that I’ve missed. Get him up for work a few hours later. He leaves and most days is gone for between 12 and 13 hours. I do one of two things: go to the gym first or just start writing.
If I don’t go to the gym there are days when I will not speak to or interact with another human being until my husband returns home. That’s approximately half my waking day without human interaction. Without speaking to someone, hearing their voice, engaging them in dialogue. More than half. One of the reasons I joined a gym was so that I had a reason to get out of the house and be around people for a few hours a day and not just sit at home, typing, and being alone for hours upon end. Believe me, if I didn’t consciously go out of the house, I could sosososo be a hermit and never see or hear another person. Not good for someone like me who makes their bread and butter creating relationships between people. I need to see people, hear them, watch them, and talk to them so that my characters feel and sound real to readers.
Well, you troll on Facebook and Pinterest and Twitter you’ll say. That’s social interaction. Yes, to a point. But nothing can replace looking into someone’s face when you are speaking with them, drawing them in with your expressions, your spoken voice, looking directly into their eyes so that you actually connect with them. Nothing. You don’t get that from hitting a “like” on facebook, or “Re-Tweeting” something on twitter. You just don’t.
Again, you will say, but Skype and Facetime, and other mechanical apps where you can look at the person you are speaking to over the device, face to face, is social interaction. Again, yes, to a point. It’s similar, but just not the same as sitting across from someone in a coffeehouse, being able to hold their hand when they’re sad, or run a comforting caress up their arm; or sharing a meal with someone in a restaurant and actually engaging them, eye to eye, face to face, in a conversation that actually has substance, value. and meaning. Nothing.
To most – if not all – writers, being alone is just part of the job. We need the alone time to settle our thoughts, run them through without interruptions, figure out the next scene in silence. Like I said, being alone is part and parcel of the job.
But loneliness is very different from being alone. Being alone has a purpose. You need quiet to focus, to create, to bring forth coherent thoughts on the page. Being lonely is a result. A negative result of an event, or simply just happenstance of life. A spouse dies and your family lives far away and doesn’t visit. You’ve worked all your life and now retirement comes and you realize you don’t have many friends or family members to spend time with. You’ve gotten divorced, moved, experienced a trauma. Anything and everything can contribute to a state of loneliness.
Humans are social animals. We talk, we laugh, we cry, we touch, we love, we communicate with words and without. We need interaction. We crave the company of another, and when we are isolated or unable to interact with others, severe, depressing, heart-wrenching feelings of loneliness can surface and destroy us.
So, like me, if you are alone a lot, do something that gets you out of the house, even for an hour. Be with people. Go grab a cup of coffee and a bagel. Call up someone you know is sitting at home alone and drag them out with you. Smile. Engage with the world and the wonderful people in it. Don’t give loneliness a chance to develop, grow, and fester.
I am home a lot, that’s true. So if I don’t see you at Panera’s (lol) or the Gym, here’s where you can find me:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
Public Speaking...part 2
If you want to see the images, click here:https://peggyjaeger.com/2016/09/30/pu...
So I promised you I’d give you a little insight into the 2 sessions I taught ( very loose use of that word!) at last week’s Womens’ Weekend Retreat.
These were my notes for the two programs:
One talk was called DREAM BIG, the other HOW TO WRITE A BOOK. That second one sounds a little pretentious, but it really wasn’t!
The Dream Big session was about how we, as women of a certain age ( read: menopausal and above) have tended to place our hopes and dreams on the back burners so our families, spouses, and everyone else can see fit to fulfill their hearts’ desires. I gave reasons why we do this, why we put ourselves last, why we never reach for the brass ring when we get to a certain age.
Then I told the group why they were all wrong to do that.
Yeah, that went over big.
Using myself and many other much more well-known women as examples, I showed how it didn’t matter what age you’d reached in life, you could still fulfill the dream of your heart. You just had to believe you could make it come true and start figuring out ways you could, right away. Then I showed them what those ways were.
That went over a little better.
The second talk was basically an overview of how to get from idea to published. This talk was packed and it did my little heart so good to see so many women had a story to tell. And what stories they were!!
I could have used two or more hours on this session because the women had sosososos many great questions.
Now, the point of this blog was to talk about public speaking and how much I abhor it. I know people always smirk and lift their eyebrows in wonder when I say that because, well, I talk all the time. A lot. I’ll talk to a rock if no one else is around. But talking one-on-one with someone is sososososos much easier than having to get up in a group and deliver an erudite message.
And the last word anyone can associate me with is erudite. Look it up if you don’t know what it means.
But…
I sucked up my nerves and luckily there were a few women I knew personally in the groups, so that made my whole speaking to strangers anxiety abate a tad. What I truly did was just have a conversation with the women. Not a talk, well, not a classroom-like one, anyway, Just a basic back and forth interchange of ideas and questions.
This I could do. Easily.
And– yowza– I did! It was…fun. Much more so than I’d originally thought. In truth, anytime you get a group of women of a certain age in a room together, the exchange of thoughts, ideas, information, and laughs is soul-elevating.
So, if they ask me to come back again next year I….might. I’ll certainly reboot my “talks” and make some changes, but I think I might be okay doing it again. I didn’t fall flat on my face, cry, or speak in tongues from nerves, so those are all positives, right??
When I’m not having anxiety attacks about public speaking you can find me here:
Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
So I promised you I’d give you a little insight into the 2 sessions I taught ( very loose use of that word!) at last week’s Womens’ Weekend Retreat.
These were my notes for the two programs:
One talk was called DREAM BIG, the other HOW TO WRITE A BOOK. That second one sounds a little pretentious, but it really wasn’t!
The Dream Big session was about how we, as women of a certain age ( read: menopausal and above) have tended to place our hopes and dreams on the back burners so our families, spouses, and everyone else can see fit to fulfill their hearts’ desires. I gave reasons why we do this, why we put ourselves last, why we never reach for the brass ring when we get to a certain age.
Then I told the group why they were all wrong to do that.
Yeah, that went over big.
Using myself and many other much more well-known women as examples, I showed how it didn’t matter what age you’d reached in life, you could still fulfill the dream of your heart. You just had to believe you could make it come true and start figuring out ways you could, right away. Then I showed them what those ways were.
That went over a little better.
The second talk was basically an overview of how to get from idea to published. This talk was packed and it did my little heart so good to see so many women had a story to tell. And what stories they were!!
I could have used two or more hours on this session because the women had sosososos many great questions.
Now, the point of this blog was to talk about public speaking and how much I abhor it. I know people always smirk and lift their eyebrows in wonder when I say that because, well, I talk all the time. A lot. I’ll talk to a rock if no one else is around. But talking one-on-one with someone is sososososos much easier than having to get up in a group and deliver an erudite message.
And the last word anyone can associate me with is erudite. Look it up if you don’t know what it means.
But…
I sucked up my nerves and luckily there were a few women I knew personally in the groups, so that made my whole speaking to strangers anxiety abate a tad. What I truly did was just have a conversation with the women. Not a talk, well, not a classroom-like one, anyway, Just a basic back and forth interchange of ideas and questions.
This I could do. Easily.
And– yowza– I did! It was…fun. Much more so than I’d originally thought. In truth, anytime you get a group of women of a certain age in a room together, the exchange of thoughts, ideas, information, and laughs is soul-elevating.
So, if they ask me to come back again next year I….might. I’ll certainly reboot my “talks” and make some changes, but I think I might be okay doing it again. I didn’t fall flat on my face, cry, or speak in tongues from nerves, so those are all positives, right??
When I’m not having anxiety attacks about public speaking you can find me here:
Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
