Peggy Jaeger's Blog, page 298
March 21, 2015
Families... can't live with them, don't want to live without them
I'm fascinated by families and birth order. As an only child, I was the solitary kid in rooms always filled with adults. I think one of the reasons I'm such a good and thorough observer is because I was raised in that era where children were seen but never heard. I learned very early in life how to watch people without them noticing, how to gage emotions and reactions during situations, and most importantly, how to describe what I was seeing.
From the time I knew I was the only kid in my family's realm, I dreamed of having siblings. It didn't matter to me if I was the oldest, youngest, or came somewhere in the middle of the food chain. I wanted other people like me around the house. Sadly, it didn't happen. My life long fascination with birth order and how siblings react and interact with one another is the reason I like writing about big families. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to invent the families I always wanted as my own. I would have liked nothing more while growing up than to have older brothers looking out for me and sisters guiding my way to adolescence.
Families come with their own sets of rules on behavior and thinking and actions. Most of it is based on the shared history they have, and much of it is situational.
When I start a new book series, the dynamics in the family comes first. Is there a father figure present and if so, how does he rule? If no dad is around, how does the mother keep order, pay the bills, provide for her children? What roles do the oldest and youngest play int his scheme? All these questions are thought out prior to my ever typing a word of the story. I need to now "my families" before I can write about them.
What about you? Come from a big family, or are you an only like me? Where is your birth order and did it play a role in making you the person you are? Or did it hamper your dreams and desires because things were "expected of you?"
Birth order, sibling dynamics, and families are truly fascinating to read - and write - about.
From the time I knew I was the only kid in my family's realm, I dreamed of having siblings. It didn't matter to me if I was the oldest, youngest, or came somewhere in the middle of the food chain. I wanted other people like me around the house. Sadly, it didn't happen. My life long fascination with birth order and how siblings react and interact with one another is the reason I like writing about big families. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to invent the families I always wanted as my own. I would have liked nothing more while growing up than to have older brothers looking out for me and sisters guiding my way to adolescence.
Families come with their own sets of rules on behavior and thinking and actions. Most of it is based on the shared history they have, and much of it is situational.
When I start a new book series, the dynamics in the family comes first. Is there a father figure present and if so, how does he rule? If no dad is around, how does the mother keep order, pay the bills, provide for her children? What roles do the oldest and youngest play int his scheme? All these questions are thought out prior to my ever typing a word of the story. I need to now "my families" before I can write about them.
What about you? Come from a big family, or are you an only like me? Where is your birth order and did it play a role in making you the person you are? Or did it hamper your dreams and desires because things were "expected of you?"
Birth order, sibling dynamics, and families are truly fascinating to read - and write - about.
March 11, 2015
PitMad
Today was crazy! I participated in a Twitter event titled PitMad, which I think stands for Pitch multiple agents and...something with a d! Anyway. From 8am until 8 pm any author was allowed to pitch their current completed WIP in 140 characters or less ( remember this is Twitter) and dozens upon dozens of agents and editors trolled through the tweets all day long. If an agent or editor :favored" your pitch, you were sent to guidelines for submission to each individual person. I got 11 requests and sent out a total of 6 submissions. Now the proverbial waiting game begins again. WHile those emails are brewing, I am currently working on Book 4 of the MacQuire Women series. Book 1 came out last week, 2 is due sometimes in the summer with 3 around winter.
This is an exciting time and I hope everyone who does read Skater' Waltz enjoys it as much as I did writing it.
This is an exciting time and I hope everyone who does read Skater' Waltz enjoys it as much as I did writing it.
March 8, 2015
Exciting times...
Last night I had my first official book signing. I know!!
Okay, for the sake of transparency, it was in my kitchen and it was for my sister-in-law, but I still got asked to sign a book I wrote that actually got published! These are happy and exciting times.
And today I received a request to sign a Kindle copy, so that makes me doubly glad.
Some might think I'm a little too - ahem - old to get this giddy when I’m asked to do this, but you know what? I don’t think I am. To a writer it never gets old to have someone pleased by your work and like it enough that they want your autograph. Now let’s be honest: I’m not being stalked by paparazzi waiting for me to have a wardrobe malfunction; I don’t have pseudo-psycho fans camped out on my property and no one is beating down my door for live interviews. Maybe if I was I wouldn’t be so giddy and lighthearted.
But to be asked to sign my name to something I worked so long, arduously, and lovingly on that someone enjoyed, just makes my heart skip like a stone across a lake.
And you know what? I don’t think I’ll ever be too old for that.
Okay, for the sake of transparency, it was in my kitchen and it was for my sister-in-law, but I still got asked to sign a book I wrote that actually got published! These are happy and exciting times.
And today I received a request to sign a Kindle copy, so that makes me doubly glad.
Some might think I'm a little too - ahem - old to get this giddy when I’m asked to do this, but you know what? I don’t think I am. To a writer it never gets old to have someone pleased by your work and like it enough that they want your autograph. Now let’s be honest: I’m not being stalked by paparazzi waiting for me to have a wardrobe malfunction; I don’t have pseudo-psycho fans camped out on my property and no one is beating down my door for live interviews. Maybe if I was I wouldn’t be so giddy and lighthearted.
But to be asked to sign my name to something I worked so long, arduously, and lovingly on that someone enjoyed, just makes my heart skip like a stone across a lake.
And you know what? I don’t think I’ll ever be too old for that.
March 7, 2015
And the moment has arrived....
March 4, 2015
It’s release day!!! I’m sitting in my pajamas, a cup of congratulatory tea in my hand, looking at my dream board. I started it a few months back when I was hoping to have my first book published. That hope turned into reality today with the publication of Skater’s Waltz.Skater's Waltz The MacQuire Women, #1
I’ve been told by a few people that dream boards are a waste of time, energy, and paper. Why, I’ve been asked, do you need to waste your time cutting out pictures and sayings of what you want? Why not just got for it and do what you need to do to make your dreams come through? Those people are not really friends of mine. My friends applaud the way I put my internal dreams and hopes into a touchable, readable, living entity. They agree that when you dream it, think it, and speak it, every desire in your heart can come true. When you put your hopes into a tangible, cohesive layout, you can get a better feel, a much clearer view, of how you are going to achieve those goals and dreams.
My dream board is covered with positive affirmations of what I want my writing career to look like and be. It tells the story of how I see myself at this moment in time, and where I see my life leading me now that it is going through such a monumental change. When I look at it, I see the path I took to get here and the road I need to travel from this day on.
My dreams have become reality…yours can, too.
If you dream it, you can be it, do it, and have it.
It’s release day!!! I’m sitting in my pajamas, a cup of congratulatory tea in my hand, looking at my dream board. I started it a few months back when I was hoping to have my first book published. That hope turned into reality today with the publication of Skater’s Waltz.Skater's Waltz The MacQuire Women, #1
I’ve been told by a few people that dream boards are a waste of time, energy, and paper. Why, I’ve been asked, do you need to waste your time cutting out pictures and sayings of what you want? Why not just got for it and do what you need to do to make your dreams come through? Those people are not really friends of mine. My friends applaud the way I put my internal dreams and hopes into a touchable, readable, living entity. They agree that when you dream it, think it, and speak it, every desire in your heart can come true. When you put your hopes into a tangible, cohesive layout, you can get a better feel, a much clearer view, of how you are going to achieve those goals and dreams.
My dream board is covered with positive affirmations of what I want my writing career to look like and be. It tells the story of how I see myself at this moment in time, and where I see my life leading me now that it is going through such a monumental change. When I look at it, I see the path I took to get here and the road I need to travel from this day on.
My dreams have become reality…yours can, too.
If you dream it, you can be it, do it, and have it.
