#TBT #Throwbackthursday #TBThursday 7.17.24
From February 2018…
This is a funfunfun topic for me. I sincerely don’t know what writers did before PINTEREST came along. The first time I was ever told about the site and then visited it, I was addicted. For Life. Seriously.
You all know I’m a huge plotter when it comes to my books. I have everything lined up, plotted out, and squared off before I ever start writing because I’m so anal. It’s that damn scientific background – I always need to know where I’m going. In the past I’d look for pictures of my characters or places or settings in magazines. Being able to visibly “see” how I wanted someone to look made it waaaaay easier for me to write about them. With the advent of Google, I tossed the mags and started trolling celebrity sites – because back in the day they were the only pictures you could really find.
It’s a new day, people. We don’t need Google images anymore -we’ve got PINTEREST. Anyone can upload a picture of pretty much anything ( legal, that is!) From the moment I used Pinterest to categorize and help me plot/storyboard my books, my life got sosososos much easier. I had more time to write because I didn’t need to troll endlessly looking for images through mags anymore. I simply plugged in something like “guys, 30’s black hair, green eyes,” and 9,000,000 PINS instantly popped up for me to choose from.
Score!
So, for the first time, I’m giving you a little glimpse into how I storyboard my characters on Pinterest. The links below are to my Will Cook For Love Series books. These Pins/pictures are how I “saw” the books when I was writing them. (A few of the books haven’t been published yet so this is like a little teaser!) Let me know your thoughts.
And I even have an alternative breakout spinoff series to Cooking with Kandy called Bros, Inc.
You’re welcome for that last one!
When I’m not doing RESEARCH ( wink wink) you can find me here: Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me// Triber// Book Me
Filed under #throwbackthursday
#TBT #tbthursday 7.11.2024
This one is from January 2018…
So the New Year is 10 days old and I’m already hearing people have broken their NY resolutions. I’ve even seen it with my own eyes at the gym. Last week I had to wait for a few machines because all those people who vowed to lose weight and get in shape for 2018 were all gung-ho about hitting the gym every day and sweating the fat off. Fast forward to week 2 and most of those people are back to sleeping in and saying, “I’ll exercise later/tomorrow/never again.”
This is the reason I don’t make resolutions. It’s too easy to break or ignore them.
Instead, as I’ve said before, I make a list of goals every year that I want to accomplish during that year and then make an action plan for those goals. Just saying, “I’m gonna hit the gym more this year,” doesn’t put any action behind the process. How often? When? What body areas are you going to center on? Those questions need to be asked and answered with a PLAN.
Remember the A-Team (the television show, not the horrible and lousy movie remake) and the line George Peppard always said when they finished a case? “I love when a plan comes together.”
Yeah. And, duh! What’s the significant word in that line? PLAN PLAN PLAN PLAN PLAN.
In order to have an effective plan, you need to define the actions to bring that plan to fruition. Once you do, you’ve formed your GOAL.
Seems common-sense-y, doesn’t it?
So, one of my goals this year was to get my life more organized. You might think since I have the luxury of being a full-time writer that there wouldn’t necessarily be a need to get organized. I mean, don’t I just write every day?
Yeah, but….
This year I wanted to set a goal for the number of books I’m going to write and for the number of blogs I want to do each week, so I bought a planner with one section devoted to PROJECTS. Here’s how my process goes:
- 5 days a week write a minimum of 2500 words daily in your current WIP. No less.
- On Sundays, write your 2-3 blog posts for the week.
- Schedule your Social Media posts days ahead of time using Hootsuite. Book those posts on Sundays.
- Shut off the phone alerts and all SM alerts while performing #1
Now, if I write 2500 words minimum 5 days per week I’ll have 12,500 words written a week. My books usually range from 75000-90000 words, and using this formula I can write a book in 7.2 weeks ( 90,000 words) That’s less than 2 months!!! Yowza. And I’m a good record keeper. This is the daily word count for a Christmas book I just sent to my editor for review:
REGINA daily word count
November 27, 2017 0 1064 1064
November 28, 2017 1064 1379 2443
November 29, 2017 2443 441 2884
December 4, 2017 2884 2517 5401
December 5, 2017 5401 1622 7023
December 6, 2017 7023 2468 9491
December 7, 2017 9491 2174 11665
December 10, 2017 11665 4307 15972
December 11, 2017 15972 2876 18848
December 12, 2017 18848 597 19445
December 13, 2017 19445 2301 21746
December 14, 2017 21746 1438 23184
December 18, 2017 23184 2448 25632
December 19, 2017 25632 2000 27632
December 20, 2017 27632 3138 30770
December 21, 2017 30770 1961 32731
January 1, 2018 32731 5482 38213
January 2, 2018 38213 2578 40791
January 3, 2018 40791 1275 42066
January 4, 2018 42066 3222 45288
January 5, 2018 45288 3812 49100
January 6, 2018 49100 3106 52206
January 7, 2018 52206 696 52890
Finished! 1.7.18 23 days and a total of 52,890 words. For me, this isn’t bad!
So, plan+action=goal.
Easy peasy.
Filed under #throwbackthursday
#tuesdaytease 7.9.2024 Celebrate Christmas in July!!!
So, In honor of CHRISTMAS IN JULY, I have 2 holiday romance books releasing for the 2024 holiday season. The first is the DICKENS HOLIDAY ROMANCE, A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS, which comes out on 11.11.24. I’ve talked a bit about that one already, so….
The second is a short story/novella in an anthology titled LOVE, LATTES and HOLIDAY TALES. The cool thing about this anthology is that the profits all go towards the charity 4 Paws for Ability, a non-profit organization that matches service dogs with Veterans. How fabulous is that?? The book is available for preorder and is just 99 cents – that’s 25 authors/25 stories for just 99 cents. Come on, kids – what a bargain that is!!!
My story is about a dog trainer and one of her clients…
Here’s a little bit:
Talk about performance pressure.
Ben pointed to my table. We sat, while he held fast to his dog’s leash just in case he decided to bolt again.
He needn’t have worried. D’Artagnan (and can we just establish how cute that name is ) plopped down between my chair and Juliette’s, his mouth pulled into an enraptured smile as he continued to stare at my little darling.
And that little darling was staring right back, her doggie coquette on full blast.
Ben took a quick look at his dog, seemed satisfied all was well, then turned his attention to me.
“So,” I said. “You’re in the market for a dog trainer.”
He grinned and nodded. “I am, but Dart isn’t my dog.”
That surprised me.
“He belongs to my aunt, who, recently, fell and broke her hip. She’s in a rehab facility for a few months, recouping.”
“I’m sorry.”
He waved a hand at me. “She’s strong and determined, so she’ll be fine. The issue is when she comes home there’s no way she can manage Dart in his present state. He pulls like crazy when you walk him, he’s easily distracted, and I’m not sure she’s going to be able to safely take care of him by herself. He needs to be trained, something she never bothered with.”
“Do you know how old he is?”
“Four. Is that too old for him to learn?”
“Of course not.”
“Even though he still acts like that’s months and not years? He’s a full-on puppy. He doesn’t know his boundaries and he doesn’t listen to commands.”
I refrained from saying he listened to me just fine when I told him to sit.
Here’s the cover for the anthology and my book cover.
Filed under #tuesdaytease
#fridayfive 7.5.2024
The five reasons you should read The HEAVEN’S MATCHMAKER SERIES
- The series is just 99 cents for each Kindle book right now and for a limited time!
- great beach reads
- HEA
- hunky heroes; strong women, 35+
- did I mention the books are just 99 cents? ( LOL!!)
MIX AND MATCH ( JASMINE & DONOVAN) Book 1
Divorced and lonely, nurse Jasmine Green retains the services of Heaven, NH’s very own successful matchmaker, Olivia Joyner. The bar scene and dating apps give Jasmine hives and Liv’s reputation is stellar. If anyone can help guide her through the quagmire that dating has become, Olivia can.
Architect Donovan Boyd is ready to settle down. He wants the kind of marriage his parents have; long-lasting, filled with love, children, and joy. But even after a year of living and working in Heaven, he’s still considered an outsider by many. Finding the type of woman he’s looking for is hard in the tight-knit community. Retaining Olivia Joyner to help him find his forever love is one of the smartest things he’s done, especially after she sets him up with Jasmine Green.
But the red-haired, green-eyed beauty wants a different kind of marriage from the one Donovan considers ideal.
Can these two strong-willed people learn to compromise so they can both find their happily ever after? Or will their relationship forever be relegated to the friend zone?
LOVE MATCH ( LAYLA & CODY) BOOK 2
Running away from a public scandal may be cowardly, but to Layla Warton, it’s her best option.
After her politically connected fiancé is indicted for a laundry list of crimes, Layla wants to put the public ridicule and shame of her guilty-by-association status behind her. Not easy to do when all her supposed friends and supporters lose her number and the taint of scandal-adjacent destroys the successful design business and life she’s built for herself.
Happy childhood memories and the blessing of a local friend push her toward the tiny New England town of Heaven where she spent summers with her loving grandparents. Hiding out in the town until the scandal dies down is the perfect plan.
With the paparazzi hot on her tail, an ancient family home she needs to get livable, and a contractor too hot for her sanity, Layla worries she’ll never be able to get her old life back.
But would that really be such a bad thing?
Filed under #fridayfive
Peggy Jaeger, Author 