#fangirling | Peggy Jaeger, Author

Tag Archives: #fangirling

February 8, 2024 · 12:44 am

#tbt 2.8.2024

Each Thursday I’ve been revisiting a blog post I did back in the day.

Today’s #TBT is one of the top 5 days of my life. Read on and you’ll find out why….

From August 7, 2017

At 57 years old, you’d think I’d be beyond hyperventilating when I see a “celebrity.” Yeah…not so much.

My very first RWA in 2014 I actually burst into tears when I met and spoke with Nora Roberts. Not one of my finest, adult moments, but there was truly so much emotion stored up in me concerning her that when I actually got the chance to speak to her, I lost it. Like a two-year-old. She was gracious, lovely, and held my hand. I don’t think I washed it for 2 whole days!!!, but that might not be true because I blacked out after meeting her! and have no memory of the rest of the day!!

You can just make out the tears still wet on my cheeks in this picture her lovely assistant, Laura, took.

Anyway.

Fangirling. Yeah, it’s a thing. A real thing. Even though I’ve been to 4 RWA conferences and 1 RT, I still get a little queasy butterfly feeling in my tummy when I see my writing idols casually walking around a hotel as if they were, well, normal people, not romance icons. Here are just a few of my absolute meet-favorites from this year. And I’ll tell you honestly, I really struggled not to cry when I met each of them.

First, one of my newest favs, Lauren Layne.

If you haven’t read any of her Wedding Belles series, or any of the Stiletto books, get yourself over to Amazon and get a bunch. You will not be disappointed.

Next, the amazeballs, uber-talented Jennifer Probst. I actually carted her book WRITE NAKED with me to Orlando because I knew she was going to be there and I simply had to meet her to autograph it.

I sat in on one of her workshops as well, but don’t ask me what she said. I was too busy pinching myself because I was sitting in the same room with her!

And look what she wrote to me!!!!!!

Okay, this next picture makes me giggle every time I see it! The incredible, sweet, absolutely lovely and funny Jill Shalvis was sososososos gracious when I basically interrupted her from eating at the Rita’s and begged – yes begged – for a picture.

Can you see how giddy I am??!!!

And at the Literacy signing I bothered, er, spoke, to her again when she was with another of my favs, and Jill’s BFF, RaeAnne Thayne. Honestly, these two women are graciousness incarnate!!

last but certainly not least, I was able to “hang” with another of my favorite authors, Marianne Rice, who was attending her first RWA. We were having a good natured contest between us to see how many “big names” we could get to take selfies with us. Marianne WON, hands down!!! She got the fabulous Rachel Gibson!!!! And Susan Elizabeth Phillips!!! Le sigh….maybe next year.

So, don’t ever be upset or embarrassed if you’re a fan girl, because we’ve all been there!! Some of us still are, despite our —ahem--senior ages!

1 of my top 5 days!

Last week I was delighted to attend a day long seminar in Manchester, NH of the New Hampshire Conference for Women

I’ve wanted to attend for years, but something always came up that was a time suck and I couldn’t. This year, when I heard who the featured speaker was, I pushed everything else on my agenda to the to do pile, because there was no way I was going to miss out on hearing one of my heroes, Jack Canfield, speak.

Jack Canfield is the motivating force behind the SUCCESS PRINCIPLES and the CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL books that have been in print and production for almost 20 years and show no sign of slowing down anytime in the future. I was a fan with the very first CSFTS book. I became a devotee when one of my own stories was published in the series.

In 2011 I submitted a piece of non-fiction I’d written after seeing an advertisement in Writer’s Digest for calls to a new addition to the series, FOR EVERY MOM’S SOUL. There’s not a lot I know about, but I know what it’s like being a mom, so I sat down and wrote a few pages on my reflections of being a mom to a daughter, and an only child. Well, miracles happen every day peeps, because a month later I received a letter from the CSFTS franchise telling me my piece was going to be added into the 2012 edition titled CHICKEN SOUP FOR EVERY MOM’S SOUL. (I’m on page 87)

To say I was excited would be an absolute understatement. It was around this time (2011-12) that I started toying with trying to get my writing career ( such as it was) up and running. I’d had a lot of success with non-ficiton, lifestyle stuff published in magazines, and some real success with fictional short stories in literary magazines, but I wanted to break into the book reading market.

If you’ve ever read anything of my journey to that first book’s publication in this blog, you know it was a strange, twisted road to publishing success.

But I made it and in 2015 my first book hit the shelves ( and Kindles!!)

I can truly attribute my desire and my knowing I was going to make it someday in the book publishing world to that first publication in the CSFTS book.

So, when I heard Jack Canfield was going to be the speaker, I had to attend. And boy, am I glad I did. I brought my copy of the book I was in with me, screwed up my courage, and approached him to ask him to autograph the book and tell him what being included in it had done for my career. Someone told me I was so brave to go up to him and ask for his autograph when no one else was around. My thought was this: I wasn’t brave, because I just remembered what I feel like every time someone asks me to autograph one of my books: honored! He was as gracious and open and kind and sweet as could be. He not only signed the book but wrote a lovely message as well.

Two times in my life I have dreamed about meeting the people who influenced my decision to try my hand at writing: Nora Roberts and Jack Canfield. And I’ve now met both of them.

Dreams do come true, peeps. Every. Single Day.