Peggy Jaeger's Blog, page 24
July 10, 2024
#TBT #tbthursday 7.11.2024
This one is from January 2018…
So the New Year is 10 days old and I’m already hearing people have broken their NY resolutions. I’ve even seen it with my own eyes at the gym. Last week I had to wait for a few machines because all those people who vowed to lose weight and get in shape for 2018 were all gung-ho about hitting the gym every day and sweating the fat off. Fast forward to week 2 and most of those people are back to sleeping in and saying, “I’ll exercise later/tomorrow/never again.”
This is the reason I don’t make resolutions. It’s too easy to break or ignore them.
Instead, as I’ve said before, I make a list of goals every year that I want to accomplish during that year and then make an action plan for those goals. Just saying, “I’m gonna hit the gym more this year,” doesn’t put any action behind the process. How often? When? What body areas are you going to center on? Those questions need to be asked and answered with a PLAN.
Remember the A-Team (the television show, not the horrible and lousy movie remake) and the line George Peppard always said when they finished a case? “I love when a plan comes together.”
Yeah. And, duh! What’s the significant word in that line? PLAN PLAN PLAN PLAN PLAN.
In order to have an effective plan, you need to define the actions to bring that plan to fruition. Once you do, you’ve formed your GOAL.
Seems common-sense-y, doesn’t it?
So, one of my goals this year was to get my life more organized. You might think since I have the luxury of being a full-time writer that there wouldn’t necessarily be a need to get organized. I mean, don’t I just write every day?
Yeah, but….
This year I wanted to set a goal for the number of books I’m going to write and for the number of blogs I want to do each week, so I bought a planner with one section devoted to PROJECTS. Here’s how my process goes:
5 days a week write a minimum of 2500 words daily in your current WIP. No less.On Sundays, write your 2-3 blog posts for the week.Schedule your Social Media posts days ahead of time using Hootsuite. Book those posts on Sundays.Shut off the phone alerts and all SM alerts while performing #1Now, if I write 2500 words minimum 5 days per week I’ll have 12,500 words written a week. My books usually range from 75000-90000 words, and using this formula I can write a book in 7.2 weeks ( 90,000 words) That’s less than 2 months!!! Yowza. And I’m a good record keeper. This is the daily word count for a Christmas book I just sent to my editor for review:
REGINA daily word count
November 27, 2017 0 1064 1064
November 28, 2017 1064 1379 2443
November 29, 2017 2443 441 2884
December 4, 2017 2884 2517 5401
December 5, 2017 5401 1622 7023
December 6, 2017 7023 2468 9491
December 7, 2017 9491 2174 11665
December 10, 2017 11665 4307 15972
December 11, 2017 15972 2876 18848
December 12, 2017 18848 597 19445
December 13, 2017 19445 2301 21746
December 14, 2017 21746 1438 23184
December 18, 2017 23184 2448 25632
December 19, 2017 25632 2000 27632
December 20, 2017 27632 3138 30770
December 21, 2017 30770 1961 32731
January 1, 2018 32731 5482 38213
January 2, 2018 38213 2578 40791
January 3, 2018 40791 1275 42066
January 4, 2018 42066 3222 45288
January 5, 2018 45288 3812 49100
January 6, 2018 49100 3106 52206
January 7, 2018 52206 696 52890
Finished! 1.7.18 23 days and a total of 52,890 words. For me, this isn’t bad!
So, plan+action=goal.
Easy peasy.
July 9, 2024
July 8, 2024
#tuesdaytease 7.9.2024 Celebrate Christmas in July!!!
So, In honor of CHRISTMAS IN JULY, I have 2 holiday romance books releasing for the 2024 holiday season. The first is the DICKENS HOLIDAY ROMANCE, A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS, which comes out on 11.11.24. I’ve talked a bit about that one already, so….
The second is a short story/novella in an anthology titled LOVE, LATTES and HOLIDAY TALES. The cool thing about this anthology is that the profits all go towards the charity 4 Paws for Ability, a non-profit organization that matches service dogs with Veterans. How fabulous is that?? The book is available for preorder and is just 99 cents – that’s 25 authors/25 stories for just 99 cents. Come on, kids – what a bargain that is!!!
My story is about a dog trainer and one of her clients…
Here’s a little bit:
Talk about performance pressure.
Ben pointed to my table. We sat, while he held fast to his dog’s leash just in case he decided to bolt again.
He needn’t have worried. D’Artagnan (and can we just establish how cute that name is ) plopped down between my chair and Juliette’s, his mouth pulled into an enraptured smile as he continued to stare at my little darling.
And that little darling was staring right back, her doggie coquette on full blast.
Ben took a quick look at his dog, seemed satisfied all was well, then turned his attention to me.
“So,” I said. “You’re in the market for a dog trainer.”
He grinned and nodded. “I am, but Dart isn’t my dog.”
That surprised me.
“He belongs to my aunt, who, recently, fell and broke her hip. She’s in a rehab facility for a few months, recouping.”
“I’m sorry.”
He waved a hand at me. “She’s strong and determined, so she’ll be fine. The issue is when she comes home there’s no way she can manage Dart in his present state. He pulls like crazy when you walk him, he’s easily distracted, and I’m not sure she’s going to be able to safely take care of him by herself. He needs to be trained, something she never bothered with.”
“Do you know how old he is?”
“Four. Is that too old for him to learn?”
“Of course not.”
“Even though he still acts like that’s months and not years? He’s a full-on puppy. He doesn’t know his boundaries and he doesn’t listen to commands.”
I refrained from saying he listened to me just fine when I told him to sit.
Here’s the cover for the anthology and my book cover.
July 7, 2024
July 5, 2024
#fridayfive 7.5.2024
The five reasons you should read The HEAVEN’S MATCHMAKER SERIES
The series is just 99 cents for each Kindle book right now and for a limited time!great beach readsHEAhunky heroes; strong women, 35+did I mention the books are just 99 cents? ( LOL!!)MIX AND MATCH ( JASMINE & DONOVAN) Book 1
Divorced and lonely, nurse Jasmine Green retains the services of Heaven, NH’s very own successful matchmaker, Olivia Joyner. The bar scene and dating apps give Jasmine hives and Liv’s reputation is stellar. If anyone can help guide her through the quagmire that dating has become, Olivia can.
Architect Donovan Boyd is ready to settle down. He wants the kind of marriage his parents have; long-lasting, filled with love, children, and joy. But even after a year of living and working in Heaven, he’s still considered an outsider by many. Finding the type of woman he’s looking for is hard in the tight-knit community. Retaining Olivia Joyner to help him find his forever love is one of the smartest things he’s done, especially after she sets him up with Jasmine Green.
But the red-haired, green-eyed beauty wants a different kind of marriage from the one Donovan considers ideal.
Can these two strong-willed people learn to compromise so they can both find their happily ever after? Or will their relationship forever be relegated to the friend zone?
LOVE MATCH ( LAYLA & CODY) BOOK 2
Running away from a public scandal may be cowardly, but to Layla Warton, it’s her best option.
After her politically connected fiancé is indicted for a laundry list of crimes, Layla wants to put the public ridicule and shame of her guilty-by-association status behind her. Not easy to do when all her supposed friends and supporters lose her number and the taint of scandal-adjacent destroys the successful design business and life she’s built for herself.
Happy childhood memories and the blessing of a local friend push her toward the tiny New England town of Heaven where she spent summers with her loving grandparents. Hiding out in the town until the scandal dies down is the perfect plan.
With the paparazzi hot on her tail, an ancient family home she needs to get livable, and a contractor too hot for her sanity, Layla worries she’ll never be able to get her old life back.
But would that really be such a bad thing?
July 3, 2024
#tbt #throwbackthursday 7.4.24
This one is from December, 2017
We’re winding down on the 52-week blog. Just a few entries left and today is such a hard one for me. I have to share a favorite recipe with you all. Just one. One recipe. I think I mentioned before I am a cookbook hoarder. Truly. I own upward of 130 cookbooks from all over the world and from all eras – case in point, I have a church-sponsored spiral bound cookbook from a Methodist church dated 1913. EVERYTHING, EVERY SINGLE RECIPE calls for whole milk, real butter, pork fat, or fresh cheese. Proof that nutritional times have changed greatly in the past 100+ years!
Any hoo…I digress.
I delved deep into my recipe card files, trolled through my holiday food prep books and came up with a family and friend favorite that’s easy, delicious, and depending on how you make it not too too too calorie-laden!
My Chocolate Trifle
I made this just last week for a holiday party
Here’s the EASY recipe ( the harder one follows!)
Ingredients
1 box of any commercial brand chocolate cake
2 16 oz tubs of Cool Whip Lite
1 5 oz box of instant MyTFine Chocolate, sugar-free pudding
Crumbled chocolate bar of your choice ( I use the Cadbury Chocolate Orange that comes out at the holidays)
Instructions
Prepare and bake the cake as directed on the cake box using 2 9″ round baking tinsPrepare the pudding and chillOnce the cake is baked and cooled in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, place one complete cake round into the bottom of a trifle bowl. You can either place it in one whole piece, or crumble the cake up.next, layer one tub of cool whip lite over it. Smooth it out so you get two distinct lines of colornext, layer 1/2 the pudding over the cool whip. Smooth it out so you get 3 distinct lines of color.Repeat steps 3-5 with the other cake round, the other tube of cool whip and the rest of the pudding.top with crumbled chocolate bar pieces or you can shave the chocolate on top if you prefer small chunks.Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 2-4 hours.Delish!
Now the harder recipe ( and the one I make!!!) Ingredients:
a. for the Chocolate Cake:
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup all purpose white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup refined sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions:
1.oven goes to 350 degrees to preheat. Take 3 9 inch cake pans and grease them
2.In a bowl, mix the cocoa, flour, and baking soda together and set the bowl to the side. With a mixer, cream the sugar and the butter until soft and light. Beat in one egg at a time on low speed. Add the vanilla and mix. Then add in half the flour and cocoa mixture, then the sour cream. Finish with the remaining dry ingredients.
3. Pour into baking pans evenly, about a 1/2 -1 inch each to make even layers.
4. bakes for 20-25 mins, or until a toothpick comes back clean when placed in the center. Oven temps vary. Check at 20 minutes and every 5 minutes until this happens.
5. cool completely.
b. For the pudding:
Use either Packaged instant or the packaged kind you have to cook. If you use the old-fashioned kind, make sure the pudding is completely cooled and set before the layering starts.
To assemble, see the instructions as above. Cake/cool whip/pudding. Finish with a cake layer ( like my pciture_ and top with candy.
Both the easy recipe and the from scratch one are delish!!!! To save calories, substitute skim milk for any whole asked for, use cool whip LITE and SUGAR-free pudding made with skim milk ( not whole)
Every single time I make this whether it is for a dinner party 0f 6 or a group gathering of 10+, it is GONE. I never have left overs of this dessert. Ever.
July 1, 2024
#tuesdaytease 7.2.24
Today, instead of a snippet from a WIP, I’m teasing the cover for my upcoming DICKENS HOLIDAY ROMANCE – A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS.
Successful Chef Anton Saparosa had the perfect life. Great marriage; beautiful and adoring wife; trendy, SoCal restaurant frequented by celebrities – many of them his friends.
Then Covid hit.
Anton’s perfect life dissolved before his eyes. With nothing left to keep him in California, he starts an itinerant cross-country journey searching for something to give his life meaning again.
Happenstance lands him in the tiny town of Dickens just as Dorrit’s Diner is thrown into chaos.
Literary Agent Portia Avon needs a rest. A messy divorce has her craving quiet and the company of her friend and client A.B. Cards, nee Abra Bree. She comes from the western heat of California to the eastern cold of Dickens and plans to do nothing but rest, relax, and read during her holiday stay.
When Portia spots a familiar face in Dorrit’s, she’s confused. Why is Anton Saparosa, one of the most recognizable chefs in California, working as a fry cook in Abra’s mom’s diner, and going by the name Tony Smith?
A question Portia wants an answer to, but one Tony isn’t willing to share, especially with a woman he can’t stop thinking about.
#BOOKSALE!!!! 99cents for a limited time only!
I love a 99 cents sale on Kindle, don’t you??
This week my HEAVEN’S MATCHMAKER series ( 2 books so far) are both 99cents each. If you’ve read one but not the other, now’s the time to catch up. If you haven’t read either, now is REALLY the time to take advantage of the lower prices!!!
Both books are smalltown, friends to lovers, Closed-door romance books with characters 35+.
Divorced and lonely, nurse Jasmine Green retains the services of Heaven, NH’s very own successful matchmaker, Olivia Joyner. The bar scene and dating apps give Jasmine hives and Liv’s reputation is stellar. If anyone can help guide her through the quagmire that dating has become, Olivia can.
Architect Donovan Boyd is ready to settle down. He wants the kind of marriage his parents have; long lasting, filled with love, children, and joy. But even after a year of living and working in Heaven, he’s still considered an outsider by many. Finding the type of woman he’s looking for is hard in the tight-knit community. Retaining Olivia Joyner to help him find his forever love is one of the smartest things he’s done, especially after she sets him up with Jasmine Green.
But the red-haired, green-eyed beauty wants a different kind of marriage from the one Donovan considers ideal.
Can these two strong-willed people learn to compromise so they can both find their happily ever after? Or will their relationship forever be relegated to the friend zone?
Running away from a public scandal may be cowardly, but to Layla Warton, it’s her best option.
After her politically connected fiancé is indicted for a laundry list of crimes, Layla wants to put the public ridicule and shame of her guilty-by-association status behind her. Not easy to do when all her supposed friends and supporters lose her number and the taint of scandal-adjacent destroys the successful design business and life she’s built for herself.
Happy childhood memories and the blessing of a local friend push her toward the tiny New England town of Heaven where she spent summers with her loving grandparents. Hiding out in the town until the scandal dies down is the perfect plan.
With the paparazzi hot on her tail, an ancient family home she needs to get livable, and a contractor too hot for her sanity, Layla worries she’ll never be able to get her old life back.
But would that really be such a bad thing?
June 30, 2024
June 29, 2024
#sundayShare 6.30.24
Somedays, it pays to get out of bed and check your email.
Yesterday, I was informed that TWO of my books were high finalists in the 2024 National Excellence in Story Telling Awards ( NEST)
In the SUSPENSE category, A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: DYLAN placed 2nd and in the Short Contemporary category, SABLE, ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID came in third.
Yippie! Two finals in one contest is major!! Thank you to all who read the books and voted. You made my day. What a way to end a month!
