Peggy Jaeger's Blog - Posts Tagged "writer"

No, I’m not talking about serving you dinner or drinks. I mean I’m not good at waiting for things to happen, people to get back to me, emails to be answered.

I guess I could have titled this piece I’m Impatient and it would have meant the same thing.

I’ve always been impatient, even as a child. I was that kid in the cartoon tootsie roll commercial with the Owl – remember? Only I was the owl. “How many licks does it take to get the middle of a tootsie pop? one..two..three.crunch.” That was me. There was no way I was waiting to lick the pop down before tasting the chocolatey tootsie center.

I’m that adult that hits the elevator button 30 times just in case it forgets to stop at my floor.

The minute I sit down in a restaurant I expect the serve staff to be jonny-on-the-spot with a drink order and menu in hand. Those 9 months of pregnancy? Yeah, not happening again. I could only handle the long wait once, hence the only child. Good thing I’m not an elephant.

I’m that person in the 10 items only checkout line who has 9 items and will chastise the person in front of her who has 12.

I hate waiting for people to get to the point – ergo my rude habit of finishing other people’s sentences. It’s a good thing I didn’t go into politics. Or Public Relations. I’d be a nightmare to work with. Who am I kidding?? I’d be fired from any job that required me to be subtle and play the waiting game.

I haven’t called someone on a phone in years. Know why? When you call someone, 9 times out of 10 you need to leave them a message because they’re too busy to pick up. Know what I do instead? Text. Why, you ask? Because people respond to texts IMMEDIATELY!!! I never, ever wait for a text response because I don’t have to. They are always, always answered as soon as they are received.

Love that. LOVE THAT!

I know: obnoxious, right? To the max. That’s me.

As a writer, I have to wait all the time. I wait for query responses from editors and agents; I wait for contracts, first and last edits; galleys; advance checks. I wait anxiously for release dates and the second I know them I start publicizing them. Pre-orders are my life’s-blood. Writing is a waiting game and the road to publication is psychologically tortuous for someone like me who has zero patience tolerance.

I must remember to ask my mother one of these days about my toilet training. Seems that might be where all this started…..hmmmmm.

So, are you a good waiter or a bad one like me? Let’s discuss…….

So, I want to put a disclaimer in this before we begin: I am a judgmental person. Anyone who knows me, knows this.

BUT...I never express my judginess to people I don’t know, and I never do it in public. Plus, my judgmental expressions are usually only about really stupid people, their actions, and prejudice.

ALSO… I freely admit that I am a reality show junkie when it comes to Bravo and E! Shows.

Okay, so….

Today at Planet Fitness ( and they should really start paying me for all the free publicity I give them!) I was on a treadmill watching last night’s episode of KEEPING UP THE KARDASHIANS ( don’t judge me!), on my Ipad, minding my own business, ear plugs in place, and trying to burn off some of the delicious calories I took in over the weekend at the Angela James Conference/Workshop in Nashua. The show is 45 minutes long, which is a great treadmill workout for me because I can walk 3.5 miles in that time. Halfway through the program I happened to notice two women talking who were….older… than me – and by older I really mean they were around my age, maybe a year or two younger/older, give or take – and very much…larger ( and you know what I mean by that!). They had stretched-to-the max-sweatpants on their more than ample backsides and concert t-shirts from a band that disbanded 40 years ago on their jiggly, un-toned, tops. Anyway.

I happened to see one of them point to me and overheard her say “… stupid, mindless shit.”

My ears went up like Scooby Doo’s do when he hears the words Scooby Snack.

scooby

Surreptitiously, I lowered the volume on the Ipad and eavesdropped. Keeping my eyes on the screen, here’s what I heard (they didn’t know I was listening!)

#1. “How anybody can watch that crap is beyond me.”

#2. “You know who she is, right?” Lowers her voice when she says this and doesn’t understand the gym is like a wind tunnel. You can hear a whisper from across the room.
***I’ll omit the next part where #2 tells #1 who I am and who I’m married to.

#1.”She writes those trashy, sex books, right? I saw it listed in the paper when she did an appearance at the Toadstool.”

#2. “Yeah. Probably why she watches that crap.” **** I figured this meant what I was watching on my Ipad. **** “Probably gets her ideas from those kinds of shows.”

Now, those of you who know me personally can guess what I wanted to do. Would it surprise you to know I didn’t stop my treadmill, turn, and rip them each a new one?? What I did do surprised even me.

I turned the volume back up and kept walking until I timed out. Then, when I dismounted, I turned to them, looked each of them squarely in the un-made-up lots of crow-feeted eyes, gave them each a shit eating grin, said, “Enjoy your workout.”

I know: So NOT ME! I must be maturing as I age.

You’d figure I’d be fat-shamed at the gym – not reality tv shamed! The lesson I took away from this ( aside from the fact these two were mindless, judgemental, bimbos): take the high road. I know what I write aren’t trashy sex novels. It’s obvious neither one of these women had ever read anything by me – that’s assuming they have the I.Q.s to be able to read – or they’d know that.

The motto and branding of Planet Fitness is, NO JUDGMENT ZONE.

planetfitnesslogo

Thing 1 and Thing 2 obviously didn’t realize that when they signed up.

‘Nuff Said for today.
click on peggyjaeger.com to see the pictures

For those of you who know I don’t write trashy sex stuff(!) here’s the latest:

THE VOICES OF ANGELS

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//

It’s hard to believe summer is almost officially here. Especially where I live, because it’s still so damn cold most nights.

Anyway, Memorial Day is commonly seen as the unofficial start of summer and since it’s this weekend, I thought it was time to get my summer lists ready.

What are my summer lists, you ask? Well, I’m so glad you did. Back in the day when I was still in school ( or as my daughter calls my time in higher learning – the olden times!) I was given a summer reading list every May, instructed to finish the books listed by the time school started up in the fall, and to write 2-3 book reports about the books I’d read.

summerreadinglst ( to see pix click on peggyjaeger.com)

Now, an enterprising person would see this, think I needed to read only 2-3 books because I only had to hand in that amount of reports. You would be so wrong. We needed to complete all the books because we were tested on a sample of them when we were back in class and we never knew which books were going to be chosen. So, you see, they all had to be dealt with.

I am no longer in school – although I’d debate that just living day to day and dealing with people some days feels like I’m still in middle school and surrounded by drama – but I still have a summer reading list I make every year for my own personal growth and enjoyment.

I typically fill the list with a wide variety of books from autobiographies, to writing handbooks, to fiction novels I’ve been dying to read and couldn’t find the time for, even a few technical books when I want to learn something new.

Last summer I had a list of 25 books and managed to complete 23. Not bad.

summer2

This year, because I am on a writing deadline for a new series of books, I’ve pared my list down to just 15. That seems do-able to me. Now this list doesn’t include the books I’ve preordered that I want to read by my favorite authors. I slip those in because publication times sometimes overlap or go longer, and I need to read my favs as soon as they come out.

I know: a little obsessive, but hey. That’s me.

So, what are you going to be reading this summer? ( Hopefully, something by me!!) Need ideas? here’s my newest to add to your list:

THE VOICES OF ANGELS

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//

I know I share what happens at the gym with you guys from time to time, but I want you to know what happened at the grocery store yesterday.

You know that person you always see who goes to the grocery story‪ hungry, buys junk food they shouldn’t – because they are hungry(!) – and then, once they are in the parking lot, opens the junk food and eats it in the car? Yup. Me, yesterday morning. I went to the gym…I got hungry…the rest is history and the results of my craziness will be showing up on my fat a** now ( not to mention the scale).

My husband asked me to get an adult beverage for him for the weekend because we are expecting guests and he wanted to have some beer in the house. No worries, I told him. At the checkout line, the checkout girl was someone I know. She says, “Mrs. Jaeger, I need to see your ID. I need to make sure you are legal to buy this ( beer). Now, This child could be my granddaughter….probably. Definitely my daughter. I was so thrilled to be 175 years old and getting carded, I sang the whole way home ( while I was eating the junk food!) I didn’t get carded when I was hanging out in bars when I was underage ( and this could be a blog topic all by itself!) To be this old and get carded – that girl made my week! ( it doesn’t take much, folks. I live a boring life.)

So, have you ever shopped hungry and regretted it because of a purchase you shouldn’t have made? Let’s discuss…..

If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//

Someone who read a recent blog of mine blog asked me “why do you re-read your old writing texts and “how to” books over the summer? Didn’t you get enough out of them the first time? Did you miss important stuff? Instead of answering the question directly, I asked this instead: “Haven’t you ever read something – a book,or an article – that was just so good you read it again just for the pleasure of it?” The answer I got back was typical of most people: “No. Once I read something, that’s it. I’m done.”

A sad, but a very common occurrence among people. Most people will see a movie more than once if they like it – this is evidenced based fact: look at how many movie DVD’s are sold each and every day, not rented. Or, they will listen to a song endlessly. But to re-read a favored book? Not happening.

I’ve read Gone with the Wind 13 times. Cover to cover. And I could read it again tomorrow if I had the time to devote to it.

I’ve read To Kill A Mockingbird 8 times. I can quote descriptions and dialogue when prompted.

Last year I re-read every “In Death” book by J.D.Robb again, starting with the first one in the series, Naked in Death and finishing with the most current one, straight out. I didn’t read anything else until I finished all of them. Re-reading the list in order, the way it was written, was very powerful for me. I could see and watch how J.D.Robb grew her characters with each book, building on their personalities, using their individual backgrounds to advance the plot and the series characters themselves. It was like taking a master class on how to develop character and plot arcs effectively. I gleamed so much valuable information and writing development wisdom from re-reading the series that has helped me enormously with my own writing.

To me, re-reading a favored book is more pleasurable than seeing a favored movie over and over again. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve seen The Birdcage at least two dozen times – and every time I laugh while I quote the dialogue! But to spend time to re-read a book, one that gave you such treasured hours of pleasure, one that, every time you read it, you learn something new, or find something new from, something you didn’t see before, is to me one of life’s most wonderful ways to spend a few hours.

Re-reading my writing craft books and texts brings me the same pleasure, because every time – EVERY TIME – I find something, some tidbit, some phrase of wisdom, I didn’t see when I read it the last time. And to me, that is time so valuably spent.

What’s your favorite book? When was the last time you read it? Why not get reacquainted and read it again? Believe me, you’ll be happy when you do.

here’s my current favorite book, and LOOK! – it’s mine! It was just recently voted THE BOOK OF THE WEEK over at AuthorShout

THE VOICES OF ANGELS

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//

Share this:

to see images click on :

https://peggyjaeger.com/2016/11/01/na...

November has rolled back again – just as it does every year around this time! – and in addition to Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and snowstorms, November brings with it NANOWRIMO, or for those of you who don’t know what the initials represent, National Novel Writing Month.

NANOWRIMO is a challenge for writers across the globe to compose a 50,000 word novel ( or greater than 50,000 words, if you are so inclined) from 11/1- until 11/30. You catalog your daily word count on the NaNo site and once the end of the month comes, your total is tallied and, if you reach the 50,000 words, you “Win” the challenge.

This will be my fourth year participating in the challenge and this year is somewhat special for me for a few reasons.

One, I am my RWA New Hampshire chapters’ leader in the NANOWRIMO RWA WORD WARS challenge for this year. Last year, the NHRWA chapter won word wars and I intend to keep our streak going this year for my chapter. I may not have been a cheerleader in school ( too fat, too shy) but I am a totally enthusiastic and encouraging sort and I will do my utmost best to make sure my chapter-mates feel my support!

Two, the past three years I have participated, the novels I wrote for NANO went on to be published. I know! The novel I’m writing this year has already been contracted for Kensington/Lyrical and is due out sometime in 2017/18 so I have plenty of time for edits. HaHa. This challenge is getting my writing butt in gear.

The last reason this year is so special to me is a purely selfish one. People who know me know I love an individual challenge. I’m not into team sports, don’t like to compete with others for anything. I would be one of those who would be voted off the island first! But when the challenge is just between me and myself, well, then I say, “bring it on!”

In preparation this year in my capacity as Chapter Word War Leader, I made a PINTEREST board especially for NaNoWriMo, listing motivations for writers, articles on how to proceed, writing tips and little sayings to keep us all – myself included – up for the challenge. Click on the link and see if any of the boards speak to you.

So, here’s to day 1……..

Do you NaNo? Let’s discuss…

Another day….another thousand words.

So, how are you feeling this morning? Are your fingers still flying across the laptop? Are the words forming in your head faster than you can get them on the page ( or the screen!)? Are your characters pushing you, speaking to you, compelling you to get their story out to the word?

The beginning of every NaNo challenge is heady. You’ve got all this internal….STUFF… begging to come out, and you allow it to, thankfully. But think about the real reason you’re doing the challenge this year. It isn’t just to get you to finish a manuscript, or help you make a deadline. Those things are great, but NANOWRIMO is much more than that…so, hear me out.

The goal of NaNoWriMo is not simply to get you to write 50,000 words in a month. That’s a big part of it, sure. But the real underlying challenge is to instill in you the HABIT of writing every day. Of making a commitment to yourself to sit down and log in some scheduled, uninterrupted time for you to write. We are all busy, have challenging lives, kids, dogs, life issues, you fill in the words that make it hard for you to do what you love.

But…NaNo wants you to understand the necessity of making writing every single day the norm, the routine, the matter of practice of your life.

What defines a habit? Webster’s Dictionary states it like this: a habit is a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially something that is hard to give up. See those words, regular and practice? And the ones that follow them – something that is hard to give up? This is what writing should be to you – something you can’t give up on or let slide, no matter what. When you take the time every single day to devote a few minutes or an hour, or several hours, to doing something you love – namely, writing – soon it will become so ingrained in you to do so, that NOT writing isn’t even an option or a thought in your head anymore.

My website tag is WRITING IS MY OXYGEN. And this is the truth. To me, writing every day is as essential and necessary to me as is breathing. If I couldn’t breathe every day, I would surely die. Well, if I don’t write every day, I feel as if I can’t breathe – emotionally, spiritually, and yes, even physically.

I once heard famed and uber-amazeballs author NORA ROBERTS liken writing every day to a muscle. She said (paraphrasing, here) “Writing is like a muscle. If you don’t exercise it, work it, use it frequently, you loose tone and substance. The muscle isn’t as strong, so you’re not as strong. You don’t function as well as you should or can.” That statement resonated with me on such a high level. And really, Nora Roberts should know about being a strong writer – the chick has over 400 books in print! She walks the walk and talks the talk like no other writer out there. It’s obvious she exercises her writing muscles daily.

So, today when you sit down to write, remember how you feel as you put your fingers to the keys. That sense of happiness, of fulfillment, of simple joy you get as you create those words on the page. Remember that feeling of elation. You’ll want to feel it again, and again, and again, and…. every day.

to see images, click on this link:

https://peggyjaeger.com/2017/01/06/to...

My heritage- as some of you know – is Irish. Born and bred in the good ol’ US of A, but a DNA history that dates from the Celts. With that go many things: a fierce temper, a bawdy wit, a love of poetry, music, and debate, curly hair, light eyes, and a mercurial disposition.

Oh, and fair, freckled, and spotted skin–the reason for this blog.

Today was my six month mole check with my dermatologist. I go every six months ( down from every 3!) because of the numerous basal cell cancers and one ridiculous melanoma I’ve had to have treated in the past 3 years. At my last check up I was what is called in the derm world, clean, which meant I didn’t need to have anything cryogenically removed, or biopsied because all looked well.

Not so much today. At this morning’s check, my wonderful derm guy ( who also happens to be a neighbor and friend) found 2 spots that needed attention. Two. One on my ear he froze with sprayed liquid nitrogen. For those of you who know how this works, he literally freezes the s**t off the area. Like minus 100 degrees or some ridiculous temperature. Six hours later and my ear is still cold to the touch! Spot number 2 was on my forehead. He had to numb me first with lidocaine and epinephrine ( which immediately sent my heart racing and my hands shaking like it always does) and then shave – yes, you read that correctly SHAVE the area with a scalpel/razor blade thingie like he was filleting fish skin.

Needless to say, I was upset. Well, pissed, if I’m really being honest.

The last time I was in the sun was over 10 years ago. And when I say “in the sun” I mean it just that way – laying out, trying to get tanned, slathered with lotion. For the past decade I have not sun worshiped once. I always wear a hat and sunglasses when I am outdoors – even if it is not blazingly sunny. My moisturizer has a 45 spf block built into it and I douse my skin in 100spf block during the spring and summer months when I tend to wear less clothing. I do no outside sports. I don’t go to the beach. And even if you’d put a gun to my head I wouldn’t be caught dead at a pool in a bathing suit.

I tell you this because my skin damage was incurred long before I quit being a sun worshiper.

As a kid I was extremely fair. My mother – as all mothers did back in the stone age – thought a little color would “health” me up. Meaning, a little sun on my cheeks would make me healthier. A good premise, but, yeah, in the long run, not so much. Before I was 10 I’d already had about 20 bad sun burns. The blistering, peeling, turning to tan kind of sun burns that fair people are famous ( or is it infamous?) for. The rule of thumb dermatologically these days is that the more you burn before the age of 18, the higher your incidence of some kind of skin cancer will be as you age.

Perfect. Instead of “healthing” me up, my mother’s intervention has made my skin a veritable boiling pot and harbor of insidiously growing disease. Not her fault. She only did what she and everyone else thought was good.

But….

When you know better you do better, so here’s the PSA portion of today’s rant: DON’T-

sun worship at the beach, at the pool, in your backyard
go to tanning booths – the urban myth here is that tanning booths won’t give you skin cancer because, hello, it’s not the “real” sun. Bulls**t! You can get just as much skin damage and skin cancers from a tanning booth as you can from the natural, “real” sun
ever go outside without some kind of SPF on your face and exposed skin. Most facial moisturizers have spf built in, but they need to be at least 30 or above. None of this 2spf crap. That’s like going out naked – actually, it IS going out naked!
ever go outside without head protection. This includes ears and neck. I had a spot on my ear today that I never even noticed. Guess where I’ll be applying that moisturizer from now on? Wear a hat. I love hats. Ever since Princess Diana made them fashionable I’ve loved wearing hats.
reapply that sun tan lotion frequently. Don’t just slab it on at 6 am and think after a day of sweating and swimming you’ll have the same protection at 2pm. Freuqently and a lot – I use 100 spf in the summer and yes, it goes on like Desatin, but I never EVER get any color so you know it works! If it keeps the color from leeching, it’ll keep the cancerous rays from leeching.
Please, if you have babies or young children or even kids up to 18, protect them NOW from the damage they will incur in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. My daughter is 27 and when she was an infant I kept her covered when outdoors, and then after 6 months of age had a 60 block on her ( that’s the highest number they made back when she was little.) If I put a 45 on her, she burned.

Hats, sunglasses, sun block. Preventative measures so you – and your loved ones – will never know the heartbreaking agony of a melanoma diagnosis or its treatment ( which isn’t pretty! I know firsthand)

Enough ranting for today. Take care of yourself. Your skin is your biggest organ and the one people looking at you notice first. Treat it with respect. Treat it with love.

‘Nuff said.