Peggy Jaeger's Blog, page 284
June 4, 2016
Meanwhile at the grocery store….
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//
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//
June 2, 2016
Writing Realtionships
During your writing career, just as in life, you will forge and develop many different writing relationships with people who will – hopefully- help you advance. Literary agents, Editors, Publishers, Book Promoters, Publicists, Marketing Analysts, and certainly not the least, Readers. All of these people are important to you, but in my opinion, one of the most important connections you will make is with your Editor.
My editor was instrumental in getting my first book published. She supported me, guided me, and encouraged me through the –at times – very daunting process of having a debut novel go to press. She was the voice of reason when I questioned “why” and the sounding board when I asked, “how come.” Together, she helped me give publishing birth to five works ( 4 books and 1 novella). During that time she wasn’t only my editor, but she became my friend. One I will treasure for the rest of my life.
It is a fact of the publishing world that editors come and go from publishing houses. Career advancement, the desire to take a different literary path, or even to have children and take care of a family means a publisher – and a writer -will lose their favored editor.
This has recently happened to me. The void that is left behind in my heart is cavernous. This person was my very first professional editor. She was the person who saw something in my writing, who went to bat for me and basically helped make my dream of becoming a published author come true. With patience, professionalism, and kindness she guided me through that first thrilling but harrowing publishing experience, and she has been there championing me and directing my steps every inch of the way. She was the one I could turn to when a scene was not playing out the way I wanted it to. She was the one who showed me the light when the creative bulbs dimmed and I was stuck in POV nightmares. It was to her eyes I looked when something just didn’t sound as good on the page as it did in my head. In my professional writing career, I liken her to my fairy godmother. She, quite completely, made my wishes come true. I will miss my editor as I would miss a child who has left for college or a friend who moves far away.
The editor I am assigned to now is just as professional and kind. My relationship with my publisher is a wonderful, solid partnership and I look forward to many more professional collaborations between myself and my new editor.
But there is something about your first…..
My debut novel, SKATER’S WALTZ ,wouldn’t have come about if not for my editor. If you’re interested in seeing what a professional editing job she did, here’s the 411.
SKATER’S WALTZ
Figure skater Tiffany Lennox is busy with rehearsals for an upcoming ice show when the only man she’s ever loved comes home after a two-year overseas stint. She needs him to see her for the woman she’s become and not the child he knew to ensure he stays home. This time, for good. With her.
perf5.000x8.000.inddFor all his wanderlust and hunger for professional success, Cole Greer returns to New York wanting nothing more than to rest, relax, and recover. He is delighted in being Tiffany’s hero and has a special place in his heart reserved for her. But faced with the oh-so-desirable woman she’s become, he starts questioning his determination to keep their relationship platonic. When forced by the television network to go back on assignment, Cole—for the first time in his life—is torn between his career and his heart.
Available here:
Amazon // Wild Rose Press // B&N
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
My editor was instrumental in getting my first book published. She supported me, guided me, and encouraged me through the –at times – very daunting process of having a debut novel go to press. She was the voice of reason when I questioned “why” and the sounding board when I asked, “how come.” Together, she helped me give publishing birth to five works ( 4 books and 1 novella). During that time she wasn’t only my editor, but she became my friend. One I will treasure for the rest of my life.
It is a fact of the publishing world that editors come and go from publishing houses. Career advancement, the desire to take a different literary path, or even to have children and take care of a family means a publisher – and a writer -will lose their favored editor.
This has recently happened to me. The void that is left behind in my heart is cavernous. This person was my very first professional editor. She was the person who saw something in my writing, who went to bat for me and basically helped make my dream of becoming a published author come true. With patience, professionalism, and kindness she guided me through that first thrilling but harrowing publishing experience, and she has been there championing me and directing my steps every inch of the way. She was the one I could turn to when a scene was not playing out the way I wanted it to. She was the one who showed me the light when the creative bulbs dimmed and I was stuck in POV nightmares. It was to her eyes I looked when something just didn’t sound as good on the page as it did in my head. In my professional writing career, I liken her to my fairy godmother. She, quite completely, made my wishes come true. I will miss my editor as I would miss a child who has left for college or a friend who moves far away.
The editor I am assigned to now is just as professional and kind. My relationship with my publisher is a wonderful, solid partnership and I look forward to many more professional collaborations between myself and my new editor.
But there is something about your first…..
My debut novel, SKATER’S WALTZ ,wouldn’t have come about if not for my editor. If you’re interested in seeing what a professional editing job she did, here’s the 411.
SKATER’S WALTZ
Figure skater Tiffany Lennox is busy with rehearsals for an upcoming ice show when the only man she’s ever loved comes home after a two-year overseas stint. She needs him to see her for the woman she’s become and not the child he knew to ensure he stays home. This time, for good. With her.
perf5.000x8.000.inddFor all his wanderlust and hunger for professional success, Cole Greer returns to New York wanting nothing more than to rest, relax, and recover. He is delighted in being Tiffany’s hero and has a special place in his heart reserved for her. But faced with the oh-so-desirable woman she’s become, he starts questioning his determination to keep their relationship platonic. When forced by the television network to go back on assignment, Cole—for the first time in his life—is torn between his career and his heart.
Available here:
Amazon // Wild Rose Press // B&N
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
May 31, 2016
Lessons I’ve learned about being a published author.
I found out my first book, SKATER’S WALTZ, had been contracted for publication while I was attending the 2014 RWA conference in San Antonio, TX. Shocked, thrilled, and terrified, I thought the hard part – finding someone willing to publish my novel – was over.
Yeah, not so much.
Lesson one: it’s not over when you type THE END. It’s just the beginning…
After I signed on the dotted line, the real work began. I’d been published for years in literary fiction anthologies and in non-fiction magazines and periodicals. The literary magazines accepted the work as is, the non-fiction articles were sometimes reworked and refined by editors to allow for spacing considerations. My point is that it was someone else’s job to get the piece publishing presentable.
Not anymore. Welcome to the world of book fiction.
Lesson two : the hard work starts after you contract for publication…
My first book went through 3 rounds of edits between my editor and myself before it was sent to galleys for actual publication. And even after it went out to the copy editor, there were still some changes that needed to be made. I was ready to rip my hair out at one point. All I kept thinking as more and more edit suggestions came my way was, “Why the heck did they want this if it needs so much work??”
Lesson three: Editors are the most underrated and undervalued people on the publishing food chain…
All editors are good at their job – they have to be. But the ones who are truly great make a good book even better. They find the little twists and turns of a phrase, or a word change, or a sentence deletion that is key to making the reader want to read more.
My editor is one of the great ones.
Lesson four: you should have taken marketing classes in college…
I will admit this freely – I was unbelievably naïve when I signed that first contract. I thought the publisher was going to do all the marketing necessary to promote my book, get it on a best-seller list, and generally skyrocket me to fame.
Yeah, AGAIN, not so much!
The minute your book is contracted and the editing begins, you need to start promoting it. Often and everywhere. FaceBook, Twitter, Pinterest, your website, blog tours, newspaper press releases, your Aunt Maimie’s bridge club. Anywhere, everywhere, and as often as you can, so that when you finally have a release date, the buzz about the book will have started, grown to fever pitch and resulted in so many pre-orders your head spins.
Lesson five: before the first book hits the shelves you’d better be working on, or done with, book #2…
As a writer you can never – NEVER – rest on your laurels. It is a true axiom of publishing: you are only as good as your next book. So while you are doing all that dreaded marketing, take time each day and write…write…write. I had book two on my editor’s desk before book one was released. Same for book 3. Keep ‘em coming.
Lesson six: you need to take time to breathe and enjoy…
Yes, I was overwhelmed, naïve, frustrated and generally anxious with the release of my first book. But I was also thrilled at having my dream – finally – come true. It was a long road for me to book publication. I was 54 years old when the first one came out, a time when most people are starting to look toward the end of their working life. Not me. Mine was just beginning and I wanted to savor every moment of how it felt to hold my first book in my hands; see my name in print on the cover of a book I’d penned; sign my first autograph on a copy someone had actually paid cash-money for! Don’t let anything ever take away or overwhelm you from that sense of wonderful, soul-soaring achievement you’ve accomplished.
My fourth book, THE VOICES OF ANGELS was released on March 11. I didn’t feel as overwhelmed this time because I knew the basics. Promotion and marketing were all lined up and ready to go, I pre-ordered by print copies so I had them ready, and a book signing was waiting for me.
But the anticipation, the soul-empowering elation of having a book actually published was as spine tingling and heart-stopping as with that first one. And I think it will continue to be that way each and every time.
THE VOICES OF ANGELS
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//
Yeah, not so much.
Lesson one: it’s not over when you type THE END. It’s just the beginning…
After I signed on the dotted line, the real work began. I’d been published for years in literary fiction anthologies and in non-fiction magazines and periodicals. The literary magazines accepted the work as is, the non-fiction articles were sometimes reworked and refined by editors to allow for spacing considerations. My point is that it was someone else’s job to get the piece publishing presentable.
Not anymore. Welcome to the world of book fiction.
Lesson two : the hard work starts after you contract for publication…
My first book went through 3 rounds of edits between my editor and myself before it was sent to galleys for actual publication. And even after it went out to the copy editor, there were still some changes that needed to be made. I was ready to rip my hair out at one point. All I kept thinking as more and more edit suggestions came my way was, “Why the heck did they want this if it needs so much work??”
Lesson three: Editors are the most underrated and undervalued people on the publishing food chain…
All editors are good at their job – they have to be. But the ones who are truly great make a good book even better. They find the little twists and turns of a phrase, or a word change, or a sentence deletion that is key to making the reader want to read more.
My editor is one of the great ones.
Lesson four: you should have taken marketing classes in college…
I will admit this freely – I was unbelievably naïve when I signed that first contract. I thought the publisher was going to do all the marketing necessary to promote my book, get it on a best-seller list, and generally skyrocket me to fame.
Yeah, AGAIN, not so much!
The minute your book is contracted and the editing begins, you need to start promoting it. Often and everywhere. FaceBook, Twitter, Pinterest, your website, blog tours, newspaper press releases, your Aunt Maimie’s bridge club. Anywhere, everywhere, and as often as you can, so that when you finally have a release date, the buzz about the book will have started, grown to fever pitch and resulted in so many pre-orders your head spins.
Lesson five: before the first book hits the shelves you’d better be working on, or done with, book #2…
As a writer you can never – NEVER – rest on your laurels. It is a true axiom of publishing: you are only as good as your next book. So while you are doing all that dreaded marketing, take time each day and write…write…write. I had book two on my editor’s desk before book one was released. Same for book 3. Keep ‘em coming.
Lesson six: you need to take time to breathe and enjoy…
Yes, I was overwhelmed, naïve, frustrated and generally anxious with the release of my first book. But I was also thrilled at having my dream – finally – come true. It was a long road for me to book publication. I was 54 years old when the first one came out, a time when most people are starting to look toward the end of their working life. Not me. Mine was just beginning and I wanted to savor every moment of how it felt to hold my first book in my hands; see my name in print on the cover of a book I’d penned; sign my first autograph on a copy someone had actually paid cash-money for! Don’t let anything ever take away or overwhelm you from that sense of wonderful, soul-soaring achievement you’ve accomplished.
My fourth book, THE VOICES OF ANGELS was released on March 11. I didn’t feel as overwhelmed this time because I knew the basics. Promotion and marketing were all lined up and ready to go, I pre-ordered by print copies so I had them ready, and a book signing was waiting for me.
But the anticipation, the soul-empowering elation of having a book actually published was as spine tingling and heart-stopping as with that first one. And I think it will continue to be that way each and every time.
THE VOICES OF ANGELS
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//
May 28, 2016
Words...
Everyone who knows me knows I lovelovelove words. My favorite Christmas present when I was a kid? A dictionary. When I’m writing, that old tried and true tome is never far from my side. I know it’s easier to look things up in an on-line dictionary, but in this one case, I am a purist.
words ( click on peggyjaeger.com for pix )
Words give meaning and purpose to my life. When I come up with a dynamite sentence filled with words that just sing to me – one that even I sit back and say “Well done” to – I am in word-writing nirvana.
I think my first favorite word ever came to me when I was 5 years old. Motivation.
The reason motivation was my first favorite word was because it was the theme in my very first favorite book The Little Engine that Could. That little train was so determined to get up and over the mountain he let nothing stop him. I realize he was self-motivated, but to me it’s the same thing!engine
Skip ahead a few years and I’m now 11 and reading Pride and Prejudice for the first of 45 times – and that’s a true statement. I’ve read it every year since I was 11 so that makes me….you figure it out. Anyway, the next favorite word was: Universally, as in “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” Love that word because it is all–encompassing. When you read the word you feel a sense of commonality and connection with, well, everyone else! It’s…universal.
The teenage years brought with it new aspects of favorite words – many of them body parts and therefore unmentionable here – but two of my all time favorites were individualistic and oxymoron. Oxymoron, meaning contradictory terms appearing in conjunction, and Individualistic as in independent and self-reliant. As a writer, these two words spawn so many wonderful plot lines and character traits. Jumbo shrimp, clearly misunderstood, deafening silence, dull roar, small crowd. These are some of my favorite oxymorons. And the best part? Most people say them and don’t even realize what they are saying. Love that!
A few decades later and my favorite words are now mother and love. The mother one is easy: I became one and there has been no greater joy in my life. The Love one is also relatively easy: I write contemporary romance. The end product of every romance is a happily ever after ending with LOVE as its dominant force. So, DUH! Of course it’s my fav.
Any words you particularly like or use often? Come on… share. I love learning new words.
words2
And if you’re looking for some new words to read, here’s a book filled with good ones!
THE VOICES OF ANGELS
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//
words ( click on peggyjaeger.com for pix )
Words give meaning and purpose to my life. When I come up with a dynamite sentence filled with words that just sing to me – one that even I sit back and say “Well done” to – I am in word-writing nirvana.
I think my first favorite word ever came to me when I was 5 years old. Motivation.
The reason motivation was my first favorite word was because it was the theme in my very first favorite book The Little Engine that Could. That little train was so determined to get up and over the mountain he let nothing stop him. I realize he was self-motivated, but to me it’s the same thing!engine
Skip ahead a few years and I’m now 11 and reading Pride and Prejudice for the first of 45 times – and that’s a true statement. I’ve read it every year since I was 11 so that makes me….you figure it out. Anyway, the next favorite word was: Universally, as in “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” Love that word because it is all–encompassing. When you read the word you feel a sense of commonality and connection with, well, everyone else! It’s…universal.
The teenage years brought with it new aspects of favorite words – many of them body parts and therefore unmentionable here – but two of my all time favorites were individualistic and oxymoron. Oxymoron, meaning contradictory terms appearing in conjunction, and Individualistic as in independent and self-reliant. As a writer, these two words spawn so many wonderful plot lines and character traits. Jumbo shrimp, clearly misunderstood, deafening silence, dull roar, small crowd. These are some of my favorite oxymorons. And the best part? Most people say them and don’t even realize what they are saying. Love that!
A few decades later and my favorite words are now mother and love. The mother one is easy: I became one and there has been no greater joy in my life. The Love one is also relatively easy: I write contemporary romance. The end product of every romance is a happily ever after ending with LOVE as its dominant force. So, DUH! Of course it’s my fav.
Any words you particularly like or use often? Come on… share. I love learning new words.
words2
And if you’re looking for some new words to read, here’s a book filled with good ones!
THE VOICES OF ANGELS
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//
May 26, 2016
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
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//
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//
May 23, 2016
Gym Shame…
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//
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//
May 19, 2016
Peggy's PSA...
Today is my birthday…thanks! This is the day of the year I give myself the best present I can think of. I know it’s a little ridiculous and maybe some people think it’s a little weird/sad/loser-like that I give myself a present every year, but hear me out.
Do you have any idea what this is?
mammo( click on my website to see picture:
https://peggyjaeger.com/2016/05/19/pe...
If you are a woman over 50 you SHOULD know. But truly, if you are an adult woman of ANY age you should recognize this is a digital mammography machine used in the diagnosis of breast cancer. I have just come back from having my yearly mammogram, done with this very machine – the tech kindly allowed me to photograph it and she didn’t even look at me in a weird way when I asked! I get a yearly mammogram – and have since the age of 30 – due to a history of the disease on both sides of my family, both mother and father. I have never had the disease ( Thank you, Jesus!) but this would be the machine that would diagnose me if I did. I do my monthly self-breast exams ( and hopefully you do, too) as an early warning maneuver, but this machine would be my go-to for any type of diagnosis.
The test is not painful, but for girls who are built like me ( large!!) it can be a little bit uncomfortable. It is worth it to me for 10 seconds of discomfort though, if my life can be saved. Before the digital machine was used, the old fashioned squisher radiograph ( that’s the not the real name, but that’s what it was!!) using xray technology was the machine of choice. This piece of equipment was definitely invented by a man because no woman would have thought up an instrument of torture like that one was. I used to envision the man who did invent it sticking his…man parts… in the same place I had to stick my breast and then having the machine clamp down and squish him the same way it did me. Believe me, the machine would have been redesigned in a nano-second if he had!
Anyway…
It may be uncomfortable for some people to read this today. This is not my usual writing related entry. I feel, though, that by using my blog as a platform to do some good and to educate on this subject is a worthwhile endeavor.
So…here goes the education part. A few statistics, courtesy of breastcancer.org:
About 1 in 8 U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
In 2016, an estimated 246,660 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 61,000 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.
About 2,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in men in 2016. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000.
Breast cancer incidence rates in the U.S. began decreasing in the year 2000, after increasing for the previous two decades. They dropped by 7% from 2002 to 2003 alone. One theory is that this decrease was partially due to the reduced use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) by women after the results of a large study called the Women’s Health Initiative were published in 2002. These results suggested a connection between HRT and increased breast cancer risk.
About 40,450 women in the U.S. are expected to die in 2015 from breast cancer, though death rates have been decreasing since 1989. Women under 50 have experienced larger decreases. These decreases are thought to be the result of treatment advances, earlier detection through screening, and increased awareness.
For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer.
Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. In 2015, it’s estimated that just under 30% of newly diagnosed cancers in women will be breast cancers.
In women under 45, breast cancer is more common in African-American women than white women. Overall, African-American women are more likely to die of breast cancer. The risk of developing and dying from breast cancer is lower in Asian, Hispanic, and Native-American women.
In 2016, there are more than 2.8 million women with a history of breast cancer in the U.S. This includes women currently being treated and women who have finished treatment.
A woman’s risk of breast cancer approximately doubles if she has a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Less than 15% of women who get breast cancer have a family member diagnosed with it.
About 5-10% of breast cancers can be linked to gene mutations (abnormal changes) inherited from one’s mother or father. Mutations of the BRCA1and BRCA2 genes are the most common. On average, women with aBRCA1 mutation have a 55-65% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. For women with a BRCA2 mutation, the risk is 45%. Breast cancer that is positive for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations tends to develop more often in younger women. An increased ovarian cancer risk is also associated with these genetic mutations. In men, BRCA2 mutations are associated with a lifetime breast cancer risk of about 6.8%; BRCA1 mutations are a less frequent cause of breast cancer in men.
About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic mutations that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general, rather than inherited mutations.
The most significant risk factors for breast cancer are gender (being a woman) and age (growing older).
Some of those stats are scary, but they are important to know, and education is always the key in health care prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
I have a daughter and a husband who I adore before all else. I want to live to a very old age with them and if I can do ANYTHING to help ensure that my health stays good, I will.
So, now that you know what I did on my birthday, maybe you’d like to consider giving yourself the same gift when your special day rolls around. A quick Google search for mammograms or breast cancer will give you thousands of links. I suggest the most important thing to know, though, and to educate yourself about, is your family history – on both sides, not just mom’s.
That’s it for Peggy’s PSA today. Be well, find your joy, and stay healthy. There are people who love you who want you around on this planet for a long, long time.
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
Do you have any idea what this is?
mammo( click on my website to see picture:
https://peggyjaeger.com/2016/05/19/pe...
If you are a woman over 50 you SHOULD know. But truly, if you are an adult woman of ANY age you should recognize this is a digital mammography machine used in the diagnosis of breast cancer. I have just come back from having my yearly mammogram, done with this very machine – the tech kindly allowed me to photograph it and she didn’t even look at me in a weird way when I asked! I get a yearly mammogram – and have since the age of 30 – due to a history of the disease on both sides of my family, both mother and father. I have never had the disease ( Thank you, Jesus!) but this would be the machine that would diagnose me if I did. I do my monthly self-breast exams ( and hopefully you do, too) as an early warning maneuver, but this machine would be my go-to for any type of diagnosis.
The test is not painful, but for girls who are built like me ( large!!) it can be a little bit uncomfortable. It is worth it to me for 10 seconds of discomfort though, if my life can be saved. Before the digital machine was used, the old fashioned squisher radiograph ( that’s the not the real name, but that’s what it was!!) using xray technology was the machine of choice. This piece of equipment was definitely invented by a man because no woman would have thought up an instrument of torture like that one was. I used to envision the man who did invent it sticking his…man parts… in the same place I had to stick my breast and then having the machine clamp down and squish him the same way it did me. Believe me, the machine would have been redesigned in a nano-second if he had!
Anyway…
It may be uncomfortable for some people to read this today. This is not my usual writing related entry. I feel, though, that by using my blog as a platform to do some good and to educate on this subject is a worthwhile endeavor.
So…here goes the education part. A few statistics, courtesy of breastcancer.org:
About 1 in 8 U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
In 2016, an estimated 246,660 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 61,000 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.
About 2,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in men in 2016. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000.
Breast cancer incidence rates in the U.S. began decreasing in the year 2000, after increasing for the previous two decades. They dropped by 7% from 2002 to 2003 alone. One theory is that this decrease was partially due to the reduced use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) by women after the results of a large study called the Women’s Health Initiative were published in 2002. These results suggested a connection between HRT and increased breast cancer risk.
About 40,450 women in the U.S. are expected to die in 2015 from breast cancer, though death rates have been decreasing since 1989. Women under 50 have experienced larger decreases. These decreases are thought to be the result of treatment advances, earlier detection through screening, and increased awareness.
For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer.
Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. In 2015, it’s estimated that just under 30% of newly diagnosed cancers in women will be breast cancers.
In women under 45, breast cancer is more common in African-American women than white women. Overall, African-American women are more likely to die of breast cancer. The risk of developing and dying from breast cancer is lower in Asian, Hispanic, and Native-American women.
In 2016, there are more than 2.8 million women with a history of breast cancer in the U.S. This includes women currently being treated and women who have finished treatment.
A woman’s risk of breast cancer approximately doubles if she has a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Less than 15% of women who get breast cancer have a family member diagnosed with it.
About 5-10% of breast cancers can be linked to gene mutations (abnormal changes) inherited from one’s mother or father. Mutations of the BRCA1and BRCA2 genes are the most common. On average, women with aBRCA1 mutation have a 55-65% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. For women with a BRCA2 mutation, the risk is 45%. Breast cancer that is positive for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations tends to develop more often in younger women. An increased ovarian cancer risk is also associated with these genetic mutations. In men, BRCA2 mutations are associated with a lifetime breast cancer risk of about 6.8%; BRCA1 mutations are a less frequent cause of breast cancer in men.
About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic mutations that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general, rather than inherited mutations.
The most significant risk factors for breast cancer are gender (being a woman) and age (growing older).
Some of those stats are scary, but they are important to know, and education is always the key in health care prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
I have a daughter and a husband who I adore before all else. I want to live to a very old age with them and if I can do ANYTHING to help ensure that my health stays good, I will.
So, now that you know what I did on my birthday, maybe you’d like to consider giving yourself the same gift when your special day rolls around. A quick Google search for mammograms or breast cancer will give you thousands of links. I suggest the most important thing to know, though, and to educate yourself about, is your family history – on both sides, not just mom’s.
That’s it for Peggy’s PSA today. Be well, find your joy, and stay healthy. There are people who love you who want you around on this planet for a long, long time.
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
May 17, 2016
Milestones
I think it’s fair to admit that I like pretty things. I tell you this, because I was away on a trip for the past few days and when I got home, this was waiting in the mailbox for me:
rwapin ( peggyjaeger.com for pix)
What you are looking at is a milestone pin from RWA, for romance authors who have achieved book, well….milestones! 5, 10, 15, 20, etc books published in the romance genre. I had 5 published from March 2015-May 2016, so, hence, the 5 book pin.
Yes, I did have to order it, it didn’t come automatically from RWA, but who cares??! To me, having this pin is a real – pretty! – symbol of a dream that not only came true for me last year, but that continues to thrive, grow, and flourish. I simply can not wait until I can apply for a 10 book pin, then a 20 book pin, then… you get the idea!
And yes, I know this can be perceived as vain or stuck up or conceited. I realize some writers think it is vainglorious to tout one’s accomplishments because we should be writing for the simple love of writing, yada yada yada, but you know what? I don’t really care. I’m going to be 56 years old in a few days and this – THIS!!! – was a nice pre-birthday present to myself.
So, planning ahead, I’ve got 2 more books coming out this year and then 2-3 more planned for next year. I may make the 10 pin pretty quickly!!
And did I mention I like pretty things??? LOL
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
rwapin ( peggyjaeger.com for pix)
What you are looking at is a milestone pin from RWA, for romance authors who have achieved book, well….milestones! 5, 10, 15, 20, etc books published in the romance genre. I had 5 published from March 2015-May 2016, so, hence, the 5 book pin.
Yes, I did have to order it, it didn’t come automatically from RWA, but who cares??! To me, having this pin is a real – pretty! – symbol of a dream that not only came true for me last year, but that continues to thrive, grow, and flourish. I simply can not wait until I can apply for a 10 book pin, then a 20 book pin, then… you get the idea!
And yes, I know this can be perceived as vain or stuck up or conceited. I realize some writers think it is vainglorious to tout one’s accomplishments because we should be writing for the simple love of writing, yada yada yada, but you know what? I don’t really care. I’m going to be 56 years old in a few days and this – THIS!!! – was a nice pre-birthday present to myself.
So, planning ahead, I’ve got 2 more books coming out this year and then 2-3 more planned for next year. I may make the 10 pin pretty quickly!!
And did I mention I like pretty things??? LOL
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
May 12, 2016
Saying goodbye....
I’m usually not sentimental when it comes to leaving something or someplace. I’m not one of those people who take forever to say goodbye at gatherings. You know the kind I mean: just like that character from the old Saturday Night live routine The Thing That Wouldn’t leave!! So not me. When I say my goodbyes, I leave. Exit, stage right. Follow to the Egress. Jaeger, out!
But lately, it’s been a little more difficult to say goodbye to my characters when I’ve typed THE END in a manuscript. I’ve been living and breathing with them for several months and I’ve become devoted to them on so many levels, it’s maybe a little creepy. Well, maybe not creepy, but certainly unusual. They are, after all, characters, not real people I’ve forged attachments to. But I’ve been in their heads,( okay, a little creepy!) showing their emotions, giving their dialogue a platform on the page to express themselves. I’ve been their mentor, creator, best friend, bon-vivant, encourager, and chief comforter. And now they have left me…. I feel sad and restless and like an empty nester all over again.
Yeah, okay, I’ll admit it does sound like I need to get out more and be around real, live, people. You’ve got me, there.
But hear me out. These characters, my babies for lack of a better word, are as close to me right now than my actual loved ones are – maybe even closer – because I see the world through their eyes, hear their voices through my ears, and experience their crush of emotions through my limbic system. In the purest sense of written form, they are me and I am they.
Okay, so now creepy and a little too science-fictiony for my sanity. But I think all the writers out there know what I mean. Here are a few pretty literary types explaining it much better than I am.
Cartoonist Berkely Breathed put it this way: “I will go to my grave in a state of abject endless fascination that we all have the capacity to become emotionally involved with a personality that doesn’t exist.” Writer Teresa Mummert says, “Sometimes I scare myself at how easily I slip inside my mind and live vicariously through these characters.” But my favorite quote is from G.K. Chesterton: “I wish we could sometimes love the characters in real life as we love the characters in romances. There are a great many human souls whom we should accept more kindly, and even appreciate more clearly, if we simply thought of them as people in a story.”
So, that’s my rant for today. I’ll deal with saying my goodbyes to my most current characters much as Scarlett O’Hara did: “I’ll think about it tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day.”
The newest characters I’ve had to say goodbye to live in THE VOICES OF ANGELS, available from The Wild Rose Press and my local Toadstool Bookstore.
THE VOICES OF ANGELS
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.
Available here: 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//
for the full blog entry with pictures, join me at peggyjaeger.com
But lately, it’s been a little more difficult to say goodbye to my characters when I’ve typed THE END in a manuscript. I’ve been living and breathing with them for several months and I’ve become devoted to them on so many levels, it’s maybe a little creepy. Well, maybe not creepy, but certainly unusual. They are, after all, characters, not real people I’ve forged attachments to. But I’ve been in their heads,( okay, a little creepy!) showing their emotions, giving their dialogue a platform on the page to express themselves. I’ve been their mentor, creator, best friend, bon-vivant, encourager, and chief comforter. And now they have left me…. I feel sad and restless and like an empty nester all over again.
Yeah, okay, I’ll admit it does sound like I need to get out more and be around real, live, people. You’ve got me, there.
But hear me out. These characters, my babies for lack of a better word, are as close to me right now than my actual loved ones are – maybe even closer – because I see the world through their eyes, hear their voices through my ears, and experience their crush of emotions through my limbic system. In the purest sense of written form, they are me and I am they.
Okay, so now creepy and a little too science-fictiony for my sanity. But I think all the writers out there know what I mean. Here are a few pretty literary types explaining it much better than I am.
Cartoonist Berkely Breathed put it this way: “I will go to my grave in a state of abject endless fascination that we all have the capacity to become emotionally involved with a personality that doesn’t exist.” Writer Teresa Mummert says, “Sometimes I scare myself at how easily I slip inside my mind and live vicariously through these characters.” But my favorite quote is from G.K. Chesterton: “I wish we could sometimes love the characters in real life as we love the characters in romances. There are a great many human souls whom we should accept more kindly, and even appreciate more clearly, if we simply thought of them as people in a story.”
So, that’s my rant for today. I’ll deal with saying my goodbyes to my most current characters much as Scarlett O’Hara did: “I’ll think about it tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day.”
The newest characters I’ve had to say goodbye to live in THE VOICES OF ANGELS, available from The Wild Rose Press and my local Toadstool Bookstore.
THE VOICES OF ANGELS
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.
Available here: 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//
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May 10, 2016
What writers do when they should be writing…..
I am going to admit something that just may lose me the respect I’ve tried so valiantly to garnish from others, lo these many years. Ready?
I just spent an hour cruising through Google, looking for a tea cozy to match my Laura Ashley tea set.
An hour.
A whole hour!!
Why, you ask? Well, since I’ve been home all day again, you see, I’ve taken to drinking afternoon tea ( so civilized, don’t you now!) Now, I write in the attic loft in my house – three stories above the kitchen. So, like a Downton Abbey chicita, I’ve started using my vintage Laura Ashley tea service – the one my father gave my for my 25th birthday – again. Instead of having to run downstairs a couple of times per afternoon, I fill my teapot and lug everything up to the attic so I can write and sip without having to leave to refill my cup. Now the reason I was searching for a tea cozy is because I’m sick and tired of wrapping the teapot in a dishtowel to ensure it stays warm for an hour or two. The tea set is gorgeous and looks ….. not gorgeous….with a simple dishrag thrown over it, so I was attempting to find one online I could buy.
For an entire hour when I should have been writing.
I have deadlines, people. I need to get some stuff written, not be trolling through the Internet searching for something that doesn’t seem to exist on this planet any longer. Don’t people buy tea cozys anymore??? Don’t they use them? What do the English use nowadays to keep their teapots warm?? Doesn’t the Queen use a cozy?? Where does she get hers? Or does she just holler for a footman to go out and get her one from Harrods?
My life used to be simple, used to be predictable and sane.
It’s come to this writing fans: I am now questioning how the Queen of England keeps her tea warm.
I think I need a vacation….or an institution.
No. All I really need is a f*******g tea cozy!!!!
And now, I just spent another hour on Pinterest looking at pictures of tea services. I even started a new board: Afternoon Tea.
That’s it. I’m done for. Think I’ll go bake some scones for, you know… tomorrow’s afternoon tea.
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me //Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
I just spent an hour cruising through Google, looking for a tea cozy to match my Laura Ashley tea set.
An hour.
A whole hour!!
Why, you ask? Well, since I’ve been home all day again, you see, I’ve taken to drinking afternoon tea ( so civilized, don’t you now!) Now, I write in the attic loft in my house – three stories above the kitchen. So, like a Downton Abbey chicita, I’ve started using my vintage Laura Ashley tea service – the one my father gave my for my 25th birthday – again. Instead of having to run downstairs a couple of times per afternoon, I fill my teapot and lug everything up to the attic so I can write and sip without having to leave to refill my cup. Now the reason I was searching for a tea cozy is because I’m sick and tired of wrapping the teapot in a dishtowel to ensure it stays warm for an hour or two. The tea set is gorgeous and looks ….. not gorgeous….with a simple dishrag thrown over it, so I was attempting to find one online I could buy.
For an entire hour when I should have been writing.
I have deadlines, people. I need to get some stuff written, not be trolling through the Internet searching for something that doesn’t seem to exist on this planet any longer. Don’t people buy tea cozys anymore??? Don’t they use them? What do the English use nowadays to keep their teapots warm?? Doesn’t the Queen use a cozy?? Where does she get hers? Or does she just holler for a footman to go out and get her one from Harrods?
My life used to be simple, used to be predictable and sane.
It’s come to this writing fans: I am now questioning how the Queen of England keeps her tea warm.
I think I need a vacation….or an institution.
No. All I really need is a f*******g tea cozy!!!!
And now, I just spent another hour on Pinterest looking at pictures of tea services. I even started a new board: Afternoon Tea.
That’s it. I’m done for. Think I’ll go bake some scones for, you know… tomorrow’s afternoon tea.
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me //Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
