To shop, or not to shop...that is the question

 I feel as if the pandemic made us all internet shoppers when many of us had never bought anything online before.

Groceries, clothes, everything from toothpaste to shoes.

I never shopped online prior to being locked down in 2020-21. I found it not only daunting, but was always worried about cybertheft of my credit cards. Of course, the pandemic changed that. When you can't go out to a grocery store to purchase groceries, you have to get them from somewhere. The obvious answer is...online.

The theme for this month's blog post is your best or worst shopping experience, ever. I'm lucky enough to say I've never had a bad shopping experience. The law of averages states I should have had at least one by this advanced age, but...nope.

The best experience I had was, surprisingly, with an online purchase.

My daughter was getting married during the height of Covid and there was no way I could shop in a real store. My immune system on the best of my days is lousy, so precautions were not being thrown to the wind. I found a dress from an obscure company online. I say obscure because I'd never heard of them. I sent my measurements and was told the dress would ship in 3-4 weeks. No worries, since the wedding was 3 months away.

3 weeks went by, then 4, then 5...6... and I got worried. I emailed the company several times but always got the standard response of thank you for the email. Someone will be back to you shortly.

Shortly turned into another week, then another.

When the wedding was less than 3 weeks away I panicked and called the number directly - the company was located in China! So surprise, surprise, I had to wait for an English speaking sales rep. After multiple attempts to get what I was calling about across, I was told my dress was on a ship currently stuck in that embargo pile-up of ships waiting to get into the country.

I didn't cry. I didn't yell. I took a breath and said, is there any other way we can get a new dress to me by this date ( wedding day)? She said to wait a moment. When she came back on the line she said they were going to make another dress for me and within 48 hours they were sending it via air freight to the States.

I asked the obvious question of how much was that going to cost me. Nothing, I was told. The freight and cost of the other dress would be eaten by the company with apologies for the delay.

Gobsmacked and flabbergasted don't come close to what I felt.

True to her word, five days later my dress arrived via air-freight carrier.

Sometimes, in life, when all around you looks like it will end in catastrophe, a ray of sunshine bursts through the dark clouds and gives you hope.

Best experience shopping evah!!!!

Now, the cynics will say that original dress was never on the embargoed ship to begin with, and the only reason they where being so nice was because of that.

I tend to ignore cynics.

Daydreaming.... by PeggyJaeger

 I live in a place where winter doesn't last the typical calendar 3 months. It doesn't even last 4 months.

Nope. Not even 5. Truthfully, I live in rural New England where winter arrives sometime in October and sticks around until May. This is no lie. My birthday is in May and two years in a row there was still snow on the ground that had fallen in November and never melted, just got piled on top of by more snow.

Then there are the temperatures. Many Januarys, the temp doesn't rise about 15 degrees F on any day.

31 days of frigid air temps turns me into a hermit through most of the new year.

On those ridiculously cold days, I daydream about living somewhere the temperature never goes above 70 degrees, there is no humidity ( my curly hair hates humidity!), and the sun shines for exactly 10 hours a day, not into the late, late evening, which makes going to bed difficult.

Does anyone know of such a place? If you do, I'm there in a heartbeat, LOL.

If I was able to find a paradise like that I'd do what I do now and write all day long. But I think I might change up my location a little and go outside to write, not stay hermited inside all day long, like I do during those dreadful winters.

I don't care if the place is near the ocean - water doesn't appeal to me and I have to stay out of direct sunlight anyway due to my skin condition.

I don't care if it's in the mountains, either, because I already live in the woods so trees don't do it for me.

And I don't care if it's in an urban or rural area. I've lived in both. No preference.

All I care about is the temperature, humidity control, and daylight hours.

Not too much to wish for, right? LOL

Spring is my jam... by Peggy Jaeger

 I live in an area that gets a lot of snow every winter.

A lot of snow.

Like, we measure in tens of feet instead of regular feet and/or inches. Snowfall season typically starts in late October and goes until the end of March or even the beginning of April some years.

This past week, a March Nor'easter blew into town and as of today - where it is still snowing - we've gotten 27 inches of the white stuff piled onto the already six or seven inches that were on the ground.

Check out this link to me driving down my street during the start of the storm: video

Needless to say, Spring can't come soon enough for me. And I don't mean on just the calendar.

I need to see green grass, crocuses popping up, and daffodils sprouting. I'm not even mad at the dandelions that invade my lawn every year because it means things are heating up, melting, and my little world is going to be pretty again.

I love the rebirth feeling I get in Springtime. You can hear the birds now and not the sound of snowblowers. You can wear actual shoes again and not stuff your feet into all-weather boots. Light jackets replace parkas; hats go back into storage, and gloves - the ones I haven't lost - go back into their bins. 

Springtime also means something for me professionally: book releases. I tend to stop releasing new material around October or November when my Christmas romances come out. Then I spend the long winter months not only hibernating but writing, as well. Those things I've written start getting published in springtime.

This year, for example, I have a new release on March 27 ( an anthology) and then indie books scheduled for May, June, and July so far. With ten books on the publishing docket in 2023 ( some indie, some traditional) I've got a full spring/summer/fall ahead of me before the snow starts falling again and I go  back into hibernation mode.

Spring, truly is, my jam.

Looking back, Looking ahead by Peggy Jaeger

 Hard to believe it's time to write another yearly recap post. I used to laugh at "older folks" when they said once you got to a certain age, time flew by faster every year. 

Now I'm one of those "older folks," and I gotta tell ya, it's true!

I made some decent goals for 2022 and I think I achieved most of them - and not through anything but grit, determination, and a lot of lost sleep.

I wanted to up my  Instagram followers this year so I started posting a picture of the day. 365 days of a daily pic of something going on in my life. Sometimes it was about what I was doing writing-wise, sometimes it was about my dog. But I made the goal ( or I will by December 31!) It was a monumental task for me because I'm not used to taking pictures and to post one every day that someone would find interesting was a challenge.

And I have to tell you, I'm glad it's almost over, hahaha

I had 8 books written and published this year - most over 50,000 words each, so no quick short stories or novellas. They were, each and everyone, time-consuming, but I'm glad I got them done in the time frame I'd set for myself. I had a reader ask me recently why I publish so often and I told her the truth: I'm still a relative unknown, so the more I can get my name out there to new readers, the better it will be for my career. I'm 62 years old and I don't know how many more years I'll have to write like this. I'd like to have a large-to-massive following someday, and someday needs to be soon!

Had two of my books made into games!!! This was by far the coolest thing. A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: RICK became UNDER HIS PROTECTION in the CHAPTERS app and TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS was billed the same way in the ROMANCE FATE app ( although they changed the story almost completely!!!)

I was also thrilled to have a book accepted to the KISS app. A PRIDE OF BROTHERS has both Rick and Aiden as one story, you get two books for the price of one!

The most important goal for me this year was to do more in-person meet-and-greets with readers. Covid made this impossible for two years because travel was minimal and bookstores and romance conferences all went dormant. In 2022 I was able to do several local book signings at my town Toadstool Bookshop, plus I attended 4 romance book signing events around the East coast. That may not seem like a lot, but when the prior two years it was nil, 4 was great.

So, on to 2023

First and foremost I want to continue grow my reader and fan base, so I've just joined TikTok. I know: one more thing to do and keep track of. But this has been fun for me. I've been doing videos of me reading snippets from my books. Hopefully, some #booktokers will see the videos and want to read and recommend my books. That's the hope, anyway!

I've got 10 new books on the docket for the year, 3 of them are for traditional publishers, and the rest are indie, so I've got to get my rear end in gear. The best way to accomplish all this is to be dedicated to writing first before all else I need to do for my career, so that means daily word counts of 2-3k without fail. 

Once again I'm going to up my personal appearances. I already have 5 book signings all over the East Coast scheduled, although one I may have to cancel due to a time conflict. I will be doing more local book signings, and this year I am going to explore local fairs to sell my books. I have several writer friends who do this successfully every year and make a killing plus garner new readers who didn't know their names beforehand.

Another thing I'm passionate about spreading positivity. We live in difficult ( at best!) times right now where hate, depression, and overall ennui are taking over. If I can, I want to be a light in someone's day, so I'll be posting a daily positivity boost on my Instagram and Facebook pages to - hopefully - make someone feel less lonely, depressed, and forgotten.

And, of course, I have to add the annual I-want-to-lose-50-pounds-goal. I'd settle for 10, or 5 if I have to, but once again, I'm upping my exercise and fitness routine, now that my long Covid seems to be resolving. eating better is always a challenge, but I'll give it a try.

Here's hoping your 2023 is better than 2022, filled with love, laughter, light, and above all else, health.

Happy New Year, folks ~ Peg

Peggy Jaeger writes in multiple romance genres about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can't live without them. She loves to connect with readers and other writers and talk about all things romance and romance related.

Halloween, things that go bump in the night, and being scared...by Peggy Jaeger

 I'm not a huge Halloween fan. Never was. I was fat as a kid and none of the store-made costumes ever looked good on me. I was teased a lot about how I looked in general while in school. On Halloween, when we all had to wear our costumes to class, it was merciless.

I am, though, very fond of scary movies and during the October/Halloween buildup, there is a wealth of watching to choose from on television- both regular and cable.

Some oldies are favorites, like the original Dracula with Bela Lugosi. It is so campy and creepy that it stands the test of time in the scare-me department.

RoseMary's Baby came out in 1968 and for some reason, my parents took me along with them to see it. I didn't get a lot of the references to rape and the devil back then. Now when I watch the movie, I realize how many demonic themes were shoved into it. It's still a classic and can scare me if I'm watching it while home alone.

I wasn't allowed to see the Exorcist when it came out in movies because I was only 12. My parents heard all the hype for the movie and refused to let me go ( It was rated R, I think, at the time.) I saw it years later and realized they'd been right in keeping me away. Even as a college student, it scared the bejesus out of me.

The Omen was another movie that was pretty terrifying ( not the 57 sequels, tho! LOL). 

There are a few classics that I don't find pulse-pounding at all but others do like Children of the Corn, Scream ( 1-5) The Texan Chainsaw Massacre, SAW (1-99, LOL). These last two I call torture porn because the movie makers' intention is to show as much blood and gore as they can in each film so you come back for more. The purpose of seeing how horrible we can be to other humans depicted on screen is their only function. Well, that and making money.

Why do we like to be scared? Damned if I know, but we do. There's nothing like seeing a horror movie in a movie theater with the lights down, almost off, the eery music playing in the background and the story evolving on the screen. When someone gasps or screams in the room, it sets off a chain reaction causing people who ordinarily keep silent to let out a few verbal scares as well.

The theme of this month was things that go bump in the night. Translated, to me, that means things that ramp up the terror in my heart. And for me, it's far scarier to be visually stimulated by what I see on screen than it is in any other medium - print, even real life.

And real life can be pretty darn scary, too!

Peggy Jaeger is a writer of rom-coms, romantic suspense, and stories about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can't live without them.

Visit her at peggyjaeger.com

Everything old CAN be new again...by Peggy Jaeger

 Last year I was cleaning and trashing old files on my computer because my memory storage was getting low and I was not in a situation to purchase a new laptop. I think back to that day when I was trolling through all the stuff I had deemed "unnecessary" and am so happy I decided to cull.

In so doing, I discovered a wealth of stories I'd written many moons ago that I just knew I could rework, edit, and publish now that I was an indie author.

I even found a new publisher for one of the stories that lead to a 5 book deal!

MERRY'S GHOST was written in the late 1990s when I was a part-time nurse and full-time wife and mother. When I wrote the story I was heavy into reading Paranormal books and decided, "I can write a ghost book, too." At the time I simply wrote because I loved writing. I never tried to get an agent or a publisher for the book but just put it into a file of completed stories. When I rediscovered it last year I happened to see a Twitter ad for Magnolia Blossom Publishing on the same day.

Serendipity? Perhaps. 

I printed out the book, changed a few things and updated the text and sent out a query to Magnolia. 

The book was bought and then published 4 months later, with the added bonus that Magnolia offered me a 5 book deal. So far 2 books in the ROMANTIC HAUNTINGS series have gone to print, MERRY'S GHOST and THE HAUNTING OF WILTON JUNE, and I'm working on book 3 now.

I found another book ( and PNR) I'd penned a few years after Merry's Ghost that I'd titled RENEWAL.

It was about a small-town Western Sheriff and a visiting psychic from New York. When I wrote this one I had been experimenting with different writing styles and putting a lot more effort into the more steamier scenes. I remember blushing in my office when I re-read a few of them, LOL.

Anyway. I loved the story and as I was editing it I decided I could make it a series because there were a few hunky co-stars that needed good women. Thus, THE SHERIFF & THE PSYCHIC ( WELCOME TO RENEWAL book1 ) was born and released this year.

I've written about this before, but last year Amazon introduced a new serialization format called KINDLE VELLA. I currently have 4 books published on the platform, all of them murder mysteries and thrillers I wrote over 30 years ago. I modernized them after finding them and then published them on the platform. I have to tell you I've been making a killer, moneywise, from those stories. I made more money in one month with my two most read stories, VINDICATION and THE JANE AUSTEN MURDERS, than I did all of 2020 with my normal book sales.

Crazy, but true.

What's that saying? Old stories never die they just get re-editied??? So true in my case. So true.

I write (mostly!) romcoms about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who simply can't live without them. Visit me on my website Peggyjaeger.com where I blog daily about things that make me go, "What??"

What FREEDOM means to me...by Peggy Jaeger

 This month's topic is FREEDOM, a word by its very definition that can be a lightning rod for heated debate. Because of this, I chose to write about what freedom -- in my eyes-- means to me - and should mean to all of us.

1. The right to make my own decisions about my body, my finances, and my political party. 

I was born in the century where women first were granted the right to vote, given access to medical and safe birth control, and allowed to possess credits cards. That last one may sound weird, but up until 1974, married women were not allowed to possess credit cards since they were still considered by major companies as property of their husbands, and thereby fell under their husbands' reign. The EQUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY ACT of 1974 granted married women the right to obtain credit cards separately from their husbands. This, in turn, granted them reign over their own finances.

2. The right to read what I want, watch what I want on television and in the movie theatre, and listen to the kind of music I want.

I also grew up in an era that saw many states ban certain books from schools and libraries because they were considered salacious and potentially damaging to school-age children ( and some adults!) The list of the most banned books of the 20th century can be found here: banned books. I am proud to say I have read every single one of them.

In 1968, a voluntary movie rating system was instituted to help parents decide if a movie was appropriate for their children to see. I was 8 at the time.  

In 1975, the television academy began programming shows geared toward families, called the Family hour. This one hour of programming each night was meant for television shows to refrain from violence, foul language, and sexual content. I was 15 at the time. 

In 1985 warning labels began appearing on records ( the vinyl kind!) indicating that the lyrics or subject matter of the songs within the album may not be appropriate for children.  I was 25 at the time.

I am 61 years old now and thankfully, none of those restrictions apply to me any longer. I have grown into an age where I can read, watch, and listen to whatever I want without any governmental or parental interference. I am free to explore the artistic side of nature without restrictions. 

3. The right to think the way I want to think and to say what's on my mind without threat of punishment.

Again, until recently, women were expected to think and vote the same way their husbands did. In the past, if a woman's opinion differed from her husband's - or society in general - her husband could have her  arrested, prosecuted, and jailed. 

The advent of the Women's Movement of the 1960s proved women had thinking, functioning, logical minds and could make their own decisions without the need for a man to oversee or man-splain issues to them. Women began speaking out on topics historically only vetted by men. Our voices grew louder and stronger and today there are more women representing others in government than at any other time. While shouting FIRE in a crowded space is still illegal ( and should be) we are now afforded the right to speak our minds, protest peacefully, and engage in verbal discourse without the threat of being incarcerated for having an opinion.

4. The freedom to be who I am and live the life I want to without censure, threat of violence, or death.

If we've learned anything since this country was founded, it's that all people ARE NOT created equally in the eyes of society. The disenfranchised among us continues to grow daily; children are mistreated and abused; the elderly are warehoused; people of color are killed in the streets for no other reason than they are not caucasian. The indigenous people of this country are treated as non-entities. Veterans are forgotten.

To be a truly free nation, none of the above would occur. 

Freedom, through my eyes and in my mind, means we are all truly EQUAL in society, government, and everyday life. No matter what color our skin is, what our religious beliefs are, where we fall in the voting spectrum, and how much money we have.

Our government sends our military all over the world to fight for the rights of people to experience freedom.

Wouldnt it be wonderful if that fight began here, on our home soil, and with our own citizens, first?

Peggy Jaeger writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can't live without them.

Visit her at peggyjaeger.com

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