I just want to step in on a Sunday and remind everyone who still hasn’t purchased their Kindle copy of A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS that the 99 cents price goes away at midnight tonight, and the regular price of 2.99 goes into effect. So…..save a few bucks and buy it before the price change.
Tomorrow, Bonnie Edwards 2024 addition, SECOND CHANCE DANCE is released for 99cents!
Filed under Dickens Holiday Romance
From 2018…
SO, about 6 weeks ago I started using my Instagram account to post daily pictures and quotes about 3 concepts I strive for on a daily basis: self-motivation, believing in myself, and personal growth. Since I started that, my account has doubled in people who follow me. I didn’t start doing this, though, to garner new followers–although that’s a wonderful side benefit–but to keep me focused on those three concepts. Posting my daily motivational quote is the first thing I do in the morning, social media-wise, and it sets the tone for my day.
First, I find a motivational quote. Pinterest is great for this.
I swear Pinterest was invented by a writer! Self-motivation has never been one of my strong points. Since I’ve been such a people pleaser throughout my life, I’ve tended to put myself second, or even third, when it came to encouraging myself and pushing myself toward a goal. I’m a great cheerleader – ask any of my friends – and I will push anyone towards the finish line of their choice. Myself? Not so much. Recognizing that, I started the daily motivations to help me focus on myself and what I want, for once. Some may see this as selfish, perhaps, but it really isn’t.
What did we ever do before the thought to use a hashtag for promotional reasons became a thing? After the motivational quote is uploaded to my account, I then promote it in an attempt to help others. The hashtag #PersonalGrowth is a great one for this.
I truly try to grow every single day: as a writer, as a wife and mother, as a human being trying to navigate through the quagmire our society has become. Uplifting my thoughts is a good way for me to start my day and do this.
You can’t expect to accomplish anything if you don’t accept and aspire to my third daily tenant, #BelieveInYourSelf.
No one is going to magically make you a success in life. You have to work for it and you have to believe that you can succeed. And you really need to believe it. Just saying the words mean nothing. Deep down in your very soul, you must feel as if you can do anything you set your mind to. Anything. Believing you can do something is the most important tool you have for achieving personal success.
Having a positive outlook in and on life can go a great way in making your days better. There’s a mindset that believes what you speak out into the universe is what you’ll get sent back to you. Negative thoughts, morose mindsets, and critical thinking, if put out there, will become a major factor in what is given back to you from other people and the world in general. Having a positive outlook, not believing everything you do is going to wind up bad or not to your liking, goes a great way in making your days happy and productive ones.
Everyone knows my favorite book of all time is The Little Engine who Could. I truly believe this is the best book about self-motivation and self-actualization ever written, and it’s a children’s book! But, adults can get the takeaway message — he thought he could, so he did — as a mantra for their lives. That little engine let nothing stand in his way to prevent him from getting up and over that hill. Again, this book was written for children to help them accept, see, and know that they can do anything they set their minds to. Why, as adults, do we forget that?
SO, that’s how I start my day. Every morning of every day. Thinking positively, believing in myself, and recognizing I must grow to survive. It all begins with #MorningMotivation.
Filed under #throwbackthursday
I talk a great deal about kindness on my blog.
That’s because I feel kindness to one another is a basic human right, emotion, and need.
I’ve been bullied.
I’ve been abused.
I’ve been hated.
I’ve experienced kindness when I never thought to find it.
I’ve experienced kindness when I never thought to feel it.
I’ve shown kindness when I didn’t think I had it in me.
Be kind, peeps. To everyone. No matter what.
Jesus implored us to love one another.
Love begins with kindness.
Filed under Uncategorized
Something I feel I need to say. Block, delete and unfollow me if you can’t agree.
I am NEVER going to stop fighting.
NEVER.
I am going to fight until the death for my daughter, my granddaughter, my nieces and my sisters-in law.
And yours, too.
I am going to fight for all my LGBTQ+ friends – and yes, I have many!
I am going to fight for the right to say and write what I want.
I am going to fight against racism, hatred of women, bigotry, isolationism, corporate greed, and fascism.
I am going to stop supporting businesses and people who don’t support basic human rights, reproductive rights, workers rights and just common decency when it comes to how we treat one another.
I am no better than the person standing next to me. We are all equals in God’s eyes.
I will not listen to, nor support, hate speech of any kind. On my platforms or in my life. You come at me with the reasons and justifications for why you feel the bigoted, hateful way you do and you’re gonna get shut down, deleted, and forgotten.
I was raised with the edict that you treat everyone equally, be it the richest man in the world or the person who shines your shoes. And that treatment is with kindness, love, and support.
And I do.
If you do, too, then stay my friend.
If you don’t? Bye, Felicia.
Rant over. Go ahead and do the block, delete, unfollow thing if you can’t bring yourself to be my friend after knowing that about me. We will both be better off.
Filed under Uncategorized
So, by now, you know A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS finally released yesterday! I’ve been pretty obnoxious about it, posting continually, but that’s because I just love the story so much.
I’d like to share the motivation behind writing this story because it wasn’t the normal “let me just get two people together” mindset I usually have when I pen a new story.
For some time, I’ve wanted to write a post-Covid story.
There were so many losses during those horrible two years, losses of loved ones, careers, lifestyles, everyday freedoms, that I felt now we’ve had enough time since lockdown ended, and we could go on with our lives again, that a story about losing someone to the horrible disease wouldn’t be so raw.
I may have been wrong about that, because when I was writing this, I had to stop several times to cry and grieve along with the characters.
Suffice it to say, I was afraid I’d written a real downer of a holiday tale.
But the saying great stories are made in the editing process is true for a reason. To balance the sadness, I added humor and happy events. Humor that you’ve all come to expect from Amy Charles, her family, and the people of Dorrit’s Diner and Dickens.
And so, because trigger warnings are something many readers want put forth first and foremost now, here are the ones for this tale:
~ loss of a spouse/grief
~depression
~isolation
~aimlessness.
And here are the happy triggers:
~new babies
~new love affairs
~finding your center
~learning to love again
~friendship
And the happiest trigger of all: The residents of Dickens and Dorrit’s Diner.
Enjoy, my dear friends. And wherever you find yourself this holiday season, remember: Love is always in season in Dickens.
Filed under #tuesdaytease, Dickens Holiday Romance
FINALLY!!!
It’s my turn for A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS to burst onto the holiday book reading world today, as the second book in the Dickens Holiday Romance 2024 series! AND I AM STOKED!!
I lovedlovedloved writing Anton and Portia’s rocky road to love and I hope you enjoy reading it, too!
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.
And don’t forget our updated Cookie book: A DICKENS OF A COOKIE 2
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Dickens … the Dickens kitchens that is!
The authors of the Dickens Holiday Romance Series are baking up a storm to make your holiday perfect.
Look for some very special recipes this year, including: French Martina Cookies, Insomnia Sugar Cookies, Krinkle Cut Outs and Chocolate Crinkles. Also, Hanukkah Latkes, Jennie’s Friendship Tarts, Peanut Butter Magic (for you and your four-legged friends), and Aunt Sharon’s Cherry Blossoms. Plus, many, many more.
The series authors wish you and your loved one a joyous holiday season!
My Insomnia cookies are included in the book. Here’s what they look like ( to whet your appetite!!)
A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS is available in Kindlecopy or Print. The kindle copy is FREE!!!!
If you’re looking for a feel-good, redemption, finding love again story about 2 people who needed to feel loved and wanted again, set in the small town of DICKENS. This book is for you. If you’re looking for a freinds2lovers, over40 h/h, grumpy sunshine book, This book is for you.
And if you simply love a good holiday romance, well, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU, LOL!!!
Happy reading, kids. Can you tell I’m giddy it’s release day??!!
~ Peg
Filed under Dickens Holiday Romance
So.
It’s been a week.
Actually, it’s been a wild two years.
How are you doing? I’ll be honest…I’m not okay.
Not even close.
We failed our assignment in this country. We had one job: to ensure the future for our children. We didn’t. We just sentenced them to suffering and heartache, both physical and emotional, for decades to come.
I had such grand hopes that this country was finally going to grow up and do the right thing. Kamala Harris was, and is, the most qualified person to ever run for President. She is not only smart, she is fearless, gracious, kind, and has a backbone of steel. She cares – truly cares- about the people in this country. All Americans, not just the rich, white, privileged ones.
The individual who won? None of those things.
In fact, the polar opposite.
Vice President Harris ran a campaign based on hope for the future. Economic change to benefit the working class, help to people who want to better themselves through higher education, and social change to ensure safety and justice for all. Restoring and maintaining reproductive rights for your women.
Her opponent ran a campaign based on fear, racism, misogyny, homophobia, and greed. Oh, and because he wanted to stay out of jail.
And lies. So many lies. It’s been asked, how do you know he’s lying? Answer: Well, he’s speaking, isn’t he?
To say I am furious is an understatement. To say I’m terrified? Without a doubt. Not for myself, but for my daughter, granddaughter, and nieces. Their lives and futures are now hanging in the balance. And that’s not over-dramatizing the situation. They will have no autonomy over their bodies, their lives, their decisions when Project 2025 is implemented – and don’t doubt it will be. The Trumpublican party now controls all 3 branches of government plus the Supreme Court.
We will be living in a fascist dictatorship overseen by a little, tyrannical toddler of a man-child who has an enemies list like a bully in third grade. Not only a convicted felon and convicted rapist, but someone who believes people who disagree with him should be put in front of a firing squad.
Congratulations America. This is what you voted for.
I hope you are happy and well.
Oh, and one more thing: you think prices are high now and that’s the reason you claim you didn’t vote for Vice President Harris? Wait until they go even higher because of the tariffs the Trumpublicans are implementing. Think 1929 was a bleak year? Wait until 2025 when you can’t find food to eat that you can afford, you lose your job because companies can’t pay salaries since no one is buying their products – again because they can’t afford to pay the higher prices – and your daughters and wives are unable to get basic human health care because their doctors are afraid of being arrested.
Don’t be upset when your kids’ teeth start to rot because the new head of HHR has eliminated fluoride from the water system.
Don’t be mad when your kids can’t read because teachers are now extinct.
Don’t get your panties in a twist when you can’t afford insurance rates and a hurricane or any other natural, climate change event occurs. Oh, but wait – you don’t believe in climate change, just like the individual you voted for doesn’t.
I could go on and on, but I’m tired. I’m so tired.
I just circled November 3, 2026 on my calendar. That’s the date for the midterm elections – if the Trumpublicans haven’t outlawed elections by then.
I’m starting right now, right this minute, to ensure things change when that date comes.
Forget a blue wave.
Let’s make it a blue tsunami.
Here’s hoping ~ Peg
Filed under Uncategorized
