Author Archives: Peggy Jaeger

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About Peggy Jaeger

I've been many things in my life,but the most consistent is WRITER.
October 18, 2014 · 5:10 pm

Where do you find the time to write?

I get asked this question a lot. A LOT.

I think it’s because I work outside the home, then I take care of my family, plus I have hobbies such as painting and cooking.

Writing requires a great deal of time and commitment to get it to come out just right. But so does painting, cooking, taking care of loved ones, and working outside the home.

It’s all about time management.

When I worked as nurse I had fifteen patients every day to care for. Bathing, feeding, administering medications, in addition to interacting with the doctors about the patient’s care, the families, the ancillary services and departments, all were required on a daily basis, and hundreds more I can’t even begin to remember. Back then, overtime was frowned upon and if you couldn’t get all your care and tasks done in your 8-hour shift, you were looked at by the powers that be to see if you needed to be retrained, demoted or fired.

Luckily, I was never any of those because from the get-go I learned how to manage my day accordingly. The most important tasks were done first. Sometimes, this changed daily, or even hourly, but I always started with the most time sensitive and important tasks. Then I went down the line to the ones that required less immediate responses.

This always worked for me and the only time I ever had overtime was when every one else did too: during Code Blue emergencies.

I write in exactly the same mindset.

If you’ve read any of my past posts, you know I’m a plotter, not a panst-er. First thing I do is come up with an idea, then the characters, then I set the plot out in a very detailed synopsis. Once that prep work is done, I start writing the story, but just like when I worked in nursing, I prepare for emergencies: in this case, plot turns and twists. Sometimes during writing I come up with a better idea or situation and I go with it.

Now, to the time I spend writing. I find time EVERY DAY and yes, I mean EVERY DAY, to write. Something. It doesn’t have to be an entire scene. On the days I still work outside my home at my paying job, I tend to write snippets of dialogue or scene descriptions. But I do it everyday, usually before I head to work for a half hour in the morning. No one else is up, I have the entire house to myself and I don’t have to worry about anything else but typing a few lines or paragraphs or pages.

At night, after dinner, dishes, prep for the next day, I write again.

On the days I don’t work outside my home, I can usually devote 6-8 hours at a clip or in divided doses to pound out what I want. Now, of course, there are those off days that I need to do other things, such a doctor appointments, hair dressers, grocery shop etc. so that cuts in to the time.

But the moral of this story is that I write everyday. Every single day. Something.

So the answer to the question of where do I find the time to write is, simply, I just do it whenever and wherever I can, every day.

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October 17, 2014 · 8:46 am

How much of YOU is in the stories you write?

I was asked this question a few days ago by a friend. I really think she was fishing to find out if I’d ever put her in a book, but that’s besides the point. The question has some validity if you go by the old rule, write what you know.

Well, who/what do you know best? Yourself, of course.

But let’s face it: I’m really boring. I do not have a fascinating life and the most exciting thing I’ve done this year was to go to the RWA conference in San Antonio.

So, if I wrote what I knew, all my books would be about psychiatric, ophthalmic nurses. Cute and interesting once or twice, but nothing to build a writing career on.

But back to the question: How much of me is in my stories?

I can truthfully say, not a lot. Sometimes I’ll write a line of dialogue or use a phrase that I know gets a response because I’ve used it in real life. Or in my Cook Book series I refer to some of the recipes that are tried and true in my life.

As far as my female characters, none of them is like me at all. I purposefully make sure of that when I create them. They don’t resemble me in any visceral way and most of them are way, way smarter than me. Their internal beliefs and struggles are not mine, either.

If they do bare any resemblance it is in the fact they are all fighters like I am.

My world views, my politics and even my religion are not factors in what I write. I try to balance the character with the setting and the plot. I’ve never written about a chubby, curly haired, not-too-attractive catholic-raised girl who was abandoned by her father and left with a none-too-stable mother and an evil grandmother. If I tried to write that story it might just be the end of me!

I know conventional writing wisdom dictates that every story has a little of the author in it.

I can truly say the only thing of me in my stories is my name in the credits.

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October 14, 2014 · 9:31 am

Procrastination, thy name is Margaret-Mary…

Since menopause hit me with a punch to the gut – and everywhere else – I’ve had trouble focusing on tasks that in the past were literally no brainers for me. I was balancing the checkbook the other day and my mind started drifting to my current WIP and I began running the plot line in my head, trying to figure out some good twists and turns for my characters. Before I knew it, the balance in my checkbook was off by about a million bucks and I’d written the wrong amount on two of the bills I was paying.

After Mass last weekend, a friend asked me how I liked the sermon. I had to fib and say it was great when I had no idea – no frickin’ idea- what it had been about because, yet again, my mind she was a wanderin’. That’s pretty sick. Coming out of Mass and having to tell a fib right away. No exactly the most Christian thing I’ve ever done.

On my days off I try to start writing at about 6 am. If I’m going at a good clip I can get 9-10 hours of it accomplished before I need to start thinking about dinner. Sometimes I’ll take a break to toss in a load of laundry…maybe drop by the market to get some groceries.

But for the past month my mind has had trouble sitting at my desk and creating. I come up with all sorts of excuses to pull me away from the laptop, and I usually fall victim to them. The newest episode of Castle is on, of I need to catch up on Sleepy Hollow. Jill Shalvis has a new book out that I just have to read – now! There’s a new In Death addition waiting for me on my Kindle.

All these things are pulling me away from my writing.

Then, yesterday, it hit me. These things, these distractions, aren’t pulling me away. They’ll all still be there waiting for  me once I’m done writing. No, what’s making me procrastinate so much is me. Not the mundane little things I allow to get to me. Me. Myself. I.

For whatever reason, I’m a little nervous about this new WIP. I think about it all the time, truly, running plot lines in Church, thinking up dialogue when I’m at my paying job. I think about it all the time. And what I’m thinking up is good. Really good, for me. So why can’t I commit to getting it down on paper?

Probably time for some therapy…the question is, retail, or professional?

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October 9, 2014 · 11:09 am

The waiting game…

I sent in my first round of edits on my soon to be published romance novel two weeks ago, and once again I am playing the waiting game.

I’ll just say this plainly: I HATE WAITING.

I am not a good wait-or. I don’t like standing in lines waiting for stuff; I hate when something needs to be delivered via snail mail; I break out in hives when I’m waiting for a phone call.  Pregnancy was torture for me. 9 months. 9 long, laborious, months. It might as well have been a lifetime.  It certainly felt like one.

The road to publication is not a short one. I knew that going in. What I didn’t know was that I’d be so stressed with the time frame. I almost wish I was on a time crunch deadline. THAT I can relate to and work through. Deadlines are my friends – always have been. I actually do some of my best work when I’m on a deadline.

I know my editor told me she would get back to me within 30 days. 15 have already gone by so that’s half way, right? Home stretch time, correct? I should be sitting back, just working on book three in the series ( I am, truthfully), and not worrying.

Not gonna happen. I’m a worse worrier than I am wait-or.

Waiting and worrying.

This is my life…..

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October 4, 2014 · 10:21 am

A Visit from Writer Lisa Olech

Today I am so pleased to have  talented writer Lisa Olech as my guest blogger. I met Lisa last year at my first NHRWA meeting, just as her first book PICTURE ME NAKED was being launched. She is a funny, sassy, quick witted gal and writer and it has been my pleasure to get to know her and the characters in her books. Her second novel ROCK SOLID, debuts this month and you can read an excerpt from it at the end of her blog here, along with the links where you can purchase it – and I encourage you to!

Here’s a little about Lisa first.

Lisa A. Olech is an artist/writer living in her dream house nestled among the lakes in New England. She loves getting lost in a steamy book, finding the perfect pair of sexy shoes, and hearing the laughter of her men. Being an estrogen island in a sea of testosterone makes her queen. She believes in ghosts, silver linings, the power of a man in a tuxedo, and happy endings.
          You can find her at: www.lisaolech.com, Facebook: www.facebook.com/Lisa.A.Olech.Writer, Twitter: www.twitter.com/LisaOlech

Author photo (1)

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

By Lisa A. Olech

Does standing looking over a scenic vista fill you with a deep desire to pick up a paintbrush or a camera? Does the beauty of your lover’s eyes make you long for a pen to capture your feelings in a poem? What inspires you to create?

As an artist as well as an author, I’ve been inspired by a host of things over the years. I’ve created pieces of artwork from a song lyric, a feeling I wish to convey, a lovely face. Sometimes I get an idea for one of my glass projects from just a few words. I’m a very visual person, and images will flash in my mind and take hold until I sketch them or make them a reality.

It is no different with my writing. I get story ideas from everywhere. At times I’ll see a scene in my head, or hear a line of dialogue that sticks with me. I’ve dreamt story lines. Characters speak to me. Yes, there are people in my head all the time! If I’m not insane…then I must be a writer! It’s what moves me to start my stories, to take that small seed of an idea and nurture it until it blooms.

The Stoddard Art School Series began with a smell of all things! I believe I’ve told the story of how we were taking my youngest to visit art colleges and I was brought back to my days of art classes and realized that all art schools have a uniquely distinctive smell. It’s a heady combination of oil paints, wet clay and…inspiration!

I’ve just released the second book in the Stoddard Art School Series. It’s entitled ROCK SOLID. This book was inspired by a name I came across many years ago. An amazing name…MAXIMO VEGA. With a name like that, you need your own story!

MAXIMO VEGA is a “rock” star! The media proclaimed him ‘The Sculptor for the New Generation,’ but he’s a reclusive artist ensnared by fame. Driven and intense, his isolation only adds to his mystique. Couple that with his smoldering good looks and rich Italian accent… Fans sigh his name.

EMILY BASKINS is a gifted graduate student at the Stoddard School of Art. To land an internship at the Vega Studio is her golden ticket. All she has to do is follow the rules. And stay out of trouble. Two things Emily has never been able to do.

As Max becomes trapped in the glare of the limelight, he discovers his greatest muse. He teaches Emily to breathe passion into clay and give marble a soul. But is their fiery relationship as rock solid as they believe? Or will a lie shatter the illusion?

EXCERPT FROM ROCK SOLID

RockSolid_w9150_100

Maximo Vega gathered his composure. He wore a black T-shirt, gray across the shoulders with dust, worn jeans, and heavy boots under a thick leather apron that reached to his knees. Hanging his head and bracing his hands on his hips, he was a study in frustration. The sleeves of his shirt hugged defined muscles of steely arms. And his hands…they were artist’s hands. Sculptor’s hands. Beaten by stone and scarred by tools. They spoke of years of rugged, blistering work.

He was tall. His shadowed jaw, rigid with anger, cut sharply against the tanned column of his neck. Maximo slapped the chisel on his leathered thigh. “I pay you. You find me good hands! Not idiota!”

“I’m sorry, Maximo. He’s gone. You’ll never have to work with him again.”

“Good.”

The great artist’s gaze slid over Emily. His eyes stopped at the white-knuckled hold she had on the large black portfolio.

He waved a hand toward her. “What are you?”

Emily’s throat slammed shut.

“A new intern possibly,” offered Dante. “She’s here from the Stoddard School of Art.”

Deep brown eyes the color of rich coffee, no cream, speared her beneath frowning brows. He flipped his hand toward the portfolio. “Come. Show me.”

Emily shot a look to Dante. He gave her a tiny nudge, like a parent pushing a frightened child toward Santa’s lap.

“Come, come, come.” He snatched the portfolio from her numb fingers, unzipped it and laid it open across a crowded worktable. He used the rag in his hand to wipe the sweat from his lip as he flipped through photos and sketches of her latest works.

“Nice. Hmm. No.” A nod for this one. A shake of the head for another. “Yes. This one is good. Good.”

He looked away from her sketches and gave her a hard stare before looking down the full length of her and back again in a slow appraisal. Emily released the breath she was holding.

“Let me see your hands.”

She held them out and he grasped her wrists and examined first her palms before turning them over. “Cold,” he said just loud enough for her to hear.

The smell of the heat of his body and the spice of soap drifted past her.

“Nervous.”

He lifted a quick eyebrow. “Good.”

**********

http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Solid-Stoddard-Art-School-ebook/dp/B00NQMUYI2/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1411556802&sr=1-2&keywords=Rock+Solid

 

http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=195&products_id=5839

http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=191&products_id=5891

 

 

 

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September 30, 2014 · 10:54 am

Hobbies…

By know you all know I love to write. I actually live to write and you can guess that by the tagline of this blog: Writing is my oxygen... But writing isn’t the only thing that gives me  undiluted pleasure. I also love to paint and cook. In fact, my entry into this year’s Harlequin’s So You Think You Can Write contest, Cooking with Kandy,  is about a chef-lebrity. Many of the recipes my heroine references in the book are actually my tried and true recipes.  My pitch to an agent recently about this book was : “Cooking and Romance. Who doesn’t crave good food and everlasting love?”

I also paint. For several  years I did it as  sideline to make money. I did craft painting and sold my wares at local craft shows and fundraiser events. I painted anything that was stationery including stationary! Boxes for gifts, note cards, oil and vinegar bottles, even wooden boxes to put wine bottles in for gifts. I also did canvas work and sold a good many of those as well. I did pretty well at it, monetarily, even though it was just a hobby. One of the characters in another of my romance novels was an artist and a sculptor.

I’m a very sensual person. And by that I don’t mean I’m sitting around in my Vickie’s Secrets lingerie eating bonbons and watching lady porn. It means I like using my five senses as much as possible. Tasting and smelling and seeing the food I’ve cooked brings me pleasure. The Sitting back and gazing at a painting I’m in the middle of, seeps joys into my system. I like listening to music – all kinds – and the feel of fresh dough as I roll it between my fingers to make pasta or bread, is mind blowing.

This got me to thinking about today’s blog entry, hobbies. Have you ever crafted a character and given him/her your hobbies? Do you even gift your characters with hobbies, things they do aside from their normal everyday jobs?  I can’t imagine a world with me in it where I just exist. I need to do other things. Things that fascinate me; things that infuse me with euphoria: things that teach me, challenge me, defy me as a person.

A well rounded character, just like a well rounded human being, needs to do more than just exist.

So, what hobbies do you and your characters have?

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September 28, 2014 · 9:36 am

Reading is fundamental and…everything else!

When my daughter was doing the college search several years ago, she was required to write short essays on topics of her choosing, many related to her current lifestyle and family life. My husband and I let her have freedom on this, knowing she was an excellent writer and had a stockpile of stories she could tell. We figured that one or two of them might mention us – after all, we were funding the school she’d eventually get into – and we were prepared to be slightly embarrassed or roll our eyes at how we were depicted from her 17 year old perspective.

To say we were floored when we read the first essay is a totally inadequate statement. We were blow away.

And in the best sense of the word.

The gist of the piece was on reading. She stated that she could never remember a time in her life where she wasn’t (a) surrounded by books, (b) reading books or being read to, and (c) when her parents didn’t have a book in their hands or handy. She wrote the first memories she could conjure were when I would read to her before bed, during the day, anytime she asked, really. She stated unequivocally that her love of reading, writing, the spoken and the written word fell directly from the exposure we afforded her. Since she was planning to major in English in college, this made cosmic sense to me.

From the moment I knew I was pregnant, I read aloud to my daughter. I’m sure people thought I was strange when they would see me, sitting on a park bench, or in a waiting room reading aloud to seemingly no one. But the truth is, she was neonatally conditioned to be a lover of books.

It’s easy to explain where I got my love of reading. I was a latch-key kid from the time I was in second grade. My mother worked full time and she couldn’t afford an after school baby sitter. The safest place for me to go right from school was the local library. And I did. Everyday from second grade until middle school, I spent, on average, 2-3 hours, five days a week for over 7 years. In middle school, when I didn’t really need watching over anymore but could stay home alone after school by myself, I still went to the library most days. I finished every book in the kid’s section and then preceded onto the teen section was I was only 8. Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon, Jane Austin, and a slew of other characters and authors were my friends, companions, family. I learned most of what I know about social skills and social norms from reading books like “I’m Okay, You’re Okay,” and the like.

Books were everything to me.

And as I got older, their friendship and love grew, as I did, maturing, into new authors, new genres, new escapes.

When I first got married, my husband was not a reader-for-pleasure. He could usually be found, sitting in his chair, devouring a medical journal. I fixed that pretty quickly. I found a book that actually appealed to the both of us and every night, when we got into bed, one of us would read a chapter aloud to the other until the book was completed. I can’t for the life of me tell you what that book was about now – it was a very loooooong time ago – but I do remember the feeling I got every time we started a new chapter.

And hubby felt the same way.

When the book was done, my husband was hooked on pleasure reading. That started his reading journey and now he is never without a book when we travel, at home, or even on long car rides. We now go to local book sales and library fundraisers, searching for new authors and genres. The medical journals still occupy some of his reading time, but not to the extent they did in the beginning of our marriage.

We both passed this love onto our daughter. She is never without something to read, and she is a purist: she likes the actual book, not the Kindle version. She will read on an e-reader, but she, like my hubby, prefers the paper and page.

I am an equal opportunity reader: any form, and time, any day.

It’s no wonder I love to write, since I love to read. Creating my own characters, settings, plots and situations, falls seamlessly from this love of books.

The next time you have to give a child – or even an adult – a birthday gift, thank you gift, or even just a little something to tell them you were thinking of them, consider a book as the present. You’ll never know how just the simple gift of words/plot/characters can change that person’s life forever.

Reading: it’s a good thing.

*** horrible self plug: if you’ve got a few moments, check out Harlequin’s SOYOUTHINKYOUCANWRITE 2014 contest. Here’s the link to my entry. Drop by and give me some love. Thanks. http://www.soyouthinkyoucanwrite.com/manuscripts-sytycw-2014/cooking-with-kandy/

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September 27, 2014 · 8:35 am

Busy life, happy writer…

The past two months have been something of a whirlwind for me. I attended my first national RWA conference where I met the writers of my dreams and the woman who will change my life forever – my new editor! ( More to come on that in a later blog). I am a finalist in 3 major contests and am still waiting for the results of 2. I entered Harlequin’s SoYouThinkYouCanWrite 2014 contest and am getting some good feedback on my entry. I finished another new book and outlined three more. I finished my writing dream board.

You could say I have been on a writing high.

Through it all I have worked at my paying job, taken care of my family – and ALL that entails, and been kept busy with outside commitments and philanthropy work. Oh, and I also spent time with my BFF’s.

Who says you can’t have it all?

Well, maybe not all…but a good chunk. Time management is a key factor is how I run my life – or how it runs me, to be more precise. If I didn’t make lists, stick to schedules, devote time to certain projects and endeavors, I would never get anything done. The fact that I am a chronic insomniac doesn’t hurt either. It’s 4:24 a.m. as I write this and I have been up for an hour so far. Cleaned the kitchen, made muffins for hubby’s breakfast and started a load of laundry. Now I can write. The house is uber-quiet, I am in my relaxing writing loft and the ideas are flowing. Yes, I will probably crash by 2 p.m., but a quick nap will spur me on towards 4 pm Mass, dinner, and then some quiet time with hubby.

Life, to steal another writer’s words, is good.

Visit my entry at the SYTYCW2014 contest at the following link. Leave a comment. I need the love.  http://www.soyouthinkyoucanwrite.com/manuscripts-sytycw-2014/cooking-with-kandy/

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September 24, 2014 · 1:07 am

2014 SYTYCW

Here’s my entry. Drop by and give it a read. Leave a comment if you like it.

http://bit.ly/1B4Qo6M

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September 23, 2014 · 8:22 pm

The invasion of the edits….

I have been up to my eyebrows in my first professional edits for the past few days, so I have not been able to blog much. Oh, who am I kidding: I haven’t had a moment to pee, much less blog!

I want to get these done correctly, quickly and accurately, so to the exclusion of housework, laundry and grocery shopping – the milk for breakfast didn’t taste so great – I have been diligently editing. Page after page. Paragraph after paragraph.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to change any of the plot or story line. Just tweak some tenses, kill some commas, and omit some superfluous phrasing.

Ah, the pleasures of having a novel in pre-production.

Release date will be forthcoming, so stay tuned.

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