Peggy Jaeger's Blog, page 53

5 things about Mackenzie Craymore/Lizzy Cray from INFLUENCE

The above picture is how I envision Mack Craymore – only with darker hair.

Here are 5 important things to know about her before you read INFLUENCE ( The New York Socialites series.)

She’s a former wild child debutant.She’s extremely loyal.She has a wonderful relationship with her parents.She’s sees her social media stardom as a means to an endShe’s got a secret that it exposed could destroy all she’s worked toward.

5 things to know about Nick Templeton from INFLUENCE

When I see Dominick “Nick” Templeton in my head, the above picture is how I envision him.

Not too shabby, right?

Here are 5 things to know about him before you read INFLUENCE ( The New York Socialites Series).

He’s 10 years younger than his stepbrother, Charlie Churchill ( It’s A Trust Thing)He’s a journalist.Never married. Was in one long relationship that ended when she cheated on him, then ran away with the guyIndependently wealthyLoves New York but longs for a quieter life.

Weekend plans…

This is the first weekend I’ve actually been at home in over a month. RWA, visiting my daughter, a friend’s daughter’s wedding, family vacay, book signings, have all drawn me away from my home every weekend since the beginning of july.

Next weekend I have another book event which I mention below. But for now, I’ve got nowhere to go or be for the next 48 hours.

I’m laughing right now because I almost feel a little lost…what should I do with my free time?

I could always clean the house – give it a good scrubbing from top to bottom but…no.

I could go shopping. SInce I’ve lost all my weight I need new clothes because my old ones are hanging on me. The thought of being around people – hordes of people – isn’t doing it for me, emotionally, so…no.

I could tackle the projects I’ve been putting off lately due to travel and book deadlines, like the scrapbook I want to make for my daughter about her engagement, wedding, and first baby’s birth. I’ve got all the pieces, I just need to sit down and put it together. Alas, the thought of doing that isn’t sparking joy in my right at this moment.

I could write. I’ve got a book I need to finish by the end of the month and then get to edits. It’s due to release on 11.1 and I am not even half way thru the first draft. But I’ve been carving out writing time all week and have added 10,000k words since last weekend, so I feel I deserve a break.

The weather is supposed to be in the 80s here today, with little humidity. I’ll take Maple on her 5 miler this morning and then I’m going to…

Read. I’m gonna hang out on my favorite room in my house – my four seasons room – and just…read.

Bliss.

Heaven.

Relaxing.

Soul-energizing.

Just read.

Whew. Glad that decision is made. It was exhausting figuring out what to do, LOL!

#fridayfive

So, I write romance ( duh!) and in this genre we use tropes. A lot of tropes. Today, for my friday five, I’m naming the five tropes I love to read ( and write).

friends to lovers. I adore figuring out who is going to “give” first in the relationship and admit to “feelings.”forced proximity. Also called just one bed, or even love on the run. The h/h are inseparable for some nefarious reason.workplace romance. My favorite because that’s how my own HEA started.slow burn. I’m not a wham-bang-thank-you-man/ma’am reader. I like the slow, sexy buildup to the physical side of the relationship.small town. So much goes on in the hot bed of small towns!!! Hee hee. I know – I live in one!

5 Things to know about INFLUENCE, a new NYC Socialites romance releasing 8.14.2023

Slow burn romance. The heat builds and builds until the flames can’t be doused except for one way. And you know what that way is, LOLSecrets. Both Mackenzie and Nick have secrets they don’t want the other to know. Since this is a romance, those secrets cause a great deal of conflict and inner turmoil for them both – the best kind of angsty romance!!Later in life romance. Nick’s pushing 40, Mac’s 36. No spring chickens, these two.Social Media Influencer. She gets paid to hawk products on-line.NY City is the third main character.

Preorder your copy here: INFLUENCE

Watch the trailer: Influence

Add it to your WANT TO READ list on GOODREADS, here: Influence

#wednesdaywisdom 8.2.2023

#mugmonday 7.31.2023

this is true for several reasons, lol!

My Stepfather…

So…about my stepfather.

I’m going to be totally honest here and say I never thought my mother would die first. Aside from the two falls and subsequent broken hips, she was as healthy as that proverbial horse. No meds, except for a daily multivitamin and some calcium pills to help her thinning bones.

Whereas her husband had high blood pressure, kidney disease, and some vague cardiac condition no one ever could explain to me ( and I’m a nurse!)

He was taking 3 prescriptions daily for hypertension and the kidney issues, and one more for his cardiac status. In addition to a MVI and some Colace for chronic constipation.

He’d had a prostatectomy, bilateral cataract surgery, and a gallbladder removal all in the time they’d moved to Vermont, where my mother had nothing until her first hip fracture.

He went to the doctor every 3-6 months for a checkup.

My mother hadn’t seen a doctor in over 40 years before she broke her hip.

When I had to admit them to the nursing home, my hope was they’d be there a few years, together, and live out their days as they had the past 56 years of their marriage.

Alas, that wasn’t to be and, unfortunately, he survived her. It would have been so much better if he’d died first and I know that sounds horrible.

But…

My mother was a survivor. My stepfather isn’t. He’s more a take-care-of-me kind of person, where my mother was an I’ll-take-care-of-myself-until-I-can’t-gal.

His depression encompasses a grand scope. I visit him twice weekly and he cries every single time. About everything and nothing. He clings to me when I’m leaving. This from a man who never even pecked my cheek in 50 years, much less hugged me.

I’ve been trying to learn a little more about him because I realized when I was filling out all his paperwork for various things, I knew next to nothing.

I mean, I knew the basics. Age, birthday, number of siblings and where he came in the family food chain. But other than that, not a whole lot. And since he has no living family left, I figured someone (me) should know something about the man’s life.

So I gave him a spiral-bound notebook and on each page I wrote a question meant for him to answer by the next time I visited.

Where were you born? What schools did you go to? Who were your friends growing up? Why did you go into the service? Favorite music, movies.

Stuff like that.

How did you meet my mother? When did you get married?

His responses, brief though they are, have been eye-opening.

For instance, I found out he’d been married twice before my mother. Once in college while living in Utah, and once while living in California. Wife number one he said was too young, emotionally, to be married. Wife number two was, in his words, a mistake. No further elaboration and he wouldn’t tell me their names.

Interesting, no?

He and my mother “lived in sin” for a year before they married because his second divorce wasn’t finalized yet. I always thought their wedding anniversary was December 1966. Nope. Add a year.

I discovered he had a love of history, World War II history to be exact, and was very knowledgeable about the various factions of the wars, the battles, and even some of the main players in the military.

His mother never wanted him to get married. Not to any of the 3 women. She wanted him to live with her and take care of her after his father died. And she spoiled him rotten, made it sososo easy for him to just stay with her. He had no house responsibilities like laundry, cooking, or trash takeout. All he had to do was go to work every day. She cooked him breakfast before he left, made him his lunch to bring, and then gave him dinner every night when he got home. She did his laundry, ironed his work shirts, and made his bed every day.

That accounts for so many behaviors and interactions I observed in my mother’s and his marriage.

So many…

He also gave his paycheck to his mother every week.

I didn’t know men like that really existed.

Of course, not much changed when he married my mother. She cooked, cleaned, ironed and made the bed. He brought home his paycheck at the end of the week and handed it over to her.

This pattern continued until the day my mother died, only by then instead of a weekly paycheck, she handled the monthly social security and pension checks, continuing to make his life as easy as could be.

And as dependent.

And now I do all that.  I’ve taken over as the financial keeper. The nursing home staff does everything else.

And he’s still dependent.

#fridayfive 7.28.2023

Okay, more self-disclosure today.

My top 5 favorite movies of all time to date:

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE – the Kiera Knightly/Matthew MacFaddyn one

Love, Actually

Four Weddings and A Funeral

The Philadelphia Story ( 1939)

High Society

And I just realized, except for P&P, they are all RomComs! Go figure, LOL!

#RWA2023 rehash and a look back…

So, it took me almost 24hours to get home from #RWA2023 from California because of issues with planes. But…as I am finally back in my office I want to reflect a bit on the past week.

First, kudos galore to the entire @RomanceWritersofAmerica team who put on this conference. It was a scaled down version of years past and sosos much better and more intimate. I so enjoyed getting to converse with first timer’s and interacting with new-to-me-authors in a setting that was smaller and fostered this kind of interaction.

Second, this was my first time speaking at a national/international conference. to say I was nervous would be an understatement. But the #RWA staff made it effortless for me.

I was on a panel with three other authors for a discussion titled HOW MANY NOs BEFORE YOU GOT A YES? Every time I look at this picture I hear the theme to MOULAN ROUGE: Four badass chicks from the Moulan Rouge! Here are: Mia P. Manansala Moi! Thien-Kim Lam and Naima Simone

Third, there were so many first timers at the conference that I couldn’t help but remember my own first time, long ago in 2015 at San Antonio. I met Nora Roberts, cried like a baby when I did,

and spoke at length to one of my all time fav authors, Jill Shalvis. I was wide eyed and trying to drink in every bit of knowledge I could. I saw that same expression in the eyes of all the first timers at the 2023 conference.
As romance writers, or writers in general, we live solitary lives. Getting together at a big conference like this one helps us reconnect with one another, remember we are not alone in this publishing endeavor, and helps us come out of our writing caves and remember how to “people.”

Then, there was Susanna Hoffs. Yes, that Susanna Hoffs from my favorite 80s girl band THE BANGLES. She’s written her first romance book and graciously spent two hours with the conference attendees, talking about her process to publication, and singing.

So cool, I can’t describe it adequately!

All in all, a fabulous conference.
I am already looking forward to #RWA2024