My fears become my characters' fears...

 The old adage, write what you know, has never been as pertinent to me as when writing character flaws, quirks, phobias, and mannerisms. I am one of those authors who draws from real life as much as I can to make my characters feel more alive, fully formed and fleshed out.

Case in point: fears and phobias.

We all have fears. They are a normal part of the human condition and are there, inside us, to keep us safe. Fear of being burned is what prevents us from running into a building engulfed in flames.

But phobias are different. They don't seem to be naturally formed in our brains but occur for a myriad of reasons that propel people to a psychiatrist's coach every day.

I love having my characters possess phobias because it gives an insight into their brains, emotions, and the way they handle stressors.

I had one heroine be absolutely phobic about spiders, to the extent when she spotted one in her house, she moved out to a hotel until an exterminator cleared the place. Now, this situation I handled with a great deal of humor, but to a person afflicted with real arachnophobia, this situation wouldn't be funny. And it wasn't to my character.

For an alpha male hero, I gave him a phobia about flying. His aerophobia was so real that he got physically ill at the thought of being up in the air. When the only way he could rescue the kidnapped heroine - and his love interest in a ticking timebomb situation - was to board a two-seater puddle jumper and head for the jungle, he was so conflicted and so terrified, he white-knuckled even the prospect of getting in the plane, determined to find another way.

He didn't and wound up in the passenger seat. Again, this scene was handled with a great deal of humor, but I've known people who will take any mode of transportation no matter how slow, just to avoid getting on a plane.

Personally, I have a phobia - a paralyzing one - about bees. I was stung by a wasp as a child and have never been the same when I see anything flying in the vicinity - including flies. But bees? That's a whole 'nother kind of crazy I put myself through. My apipohobia ( or melissophobia) is so real that when I even hear a bee buzzing anywhere around me, I immediately feel like I've been injected with a paralytic anesthetic. I can't move. I can barely breathe. I begin to sweat, my heart rate triples, and I can't feel my tongue anymore.

Terrifying.

Also...fodder for a character. 

Dreaming of a new release by Paty Jager

After publishing 55 books and dealing with difficult story lines in many of them, the latest soon to release book could be my toughest yet. 

The idea for this book came from statements my parents made when I was a teenager and later a young adult. I meshed the two comments together to come up with the murder of a man who hid behind his profession to mask his hidden agenda. 

I had to tread carefully while writing about the victims of the deceased as well as keep my main character, Hawke, true to himself and make him feel for the victims. 

This book has had sections and chapters taken out. It has had scenes rewritten several times. And I have put it through different beta readers to make sure I don't offend anyone. But someone will take offense, I'm sure. My dream is that the people who read the book will root for the right characters and not condemn the ones who were trying to help. 

This is one book that I have put a lot of thought and heart into. It will be dedicated to my deceased parents and to the little nuggets they dropped into my brain to come out now, in my writing. 

Damning Firefly is available on pre-order, publishing on September 25th. 

Damning Firefly

Book 11 in the Gabriel Hawke Series

A church fire.

An unconscious woman on Starvation Ridge.

Gabriel Hawke, fish and wildlife officer with the Oregon State Police, helps with a fire at the Lighted Path church before heading out to check turkey hunters. He discovers a car wedged between two trees and a woman with a head injury reeking of smoke. Is she the arsonist?

Hawke encounters the county midwife gloating over the burnt church and learns she and the victim in the car know one another.

Two seemingly separate events lead Hawke to a serial rapist and a county full of secrets. 

https://books2read.com/u/bQeBDZ

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 55 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it. This is what Books a Plenty Book Reviews has to say about the Gabriel Hawke series: "The blend of nature tracking, clues, and the animals makes for a fascinating mystery that is hard to put down." 

https://www.patyjager.net

Top Photo source: Depositphotos

My Bucket is empty....

 This month's topic made me think.

Really think.

What are your bucket list trips...

I am a homebody by nature. I like nothing more than being in my own house, sleeping in my own bed, and using my own shower. I have all the things I love and need surrounding me in just the place I want them. I know where my toiletries are without thinking; I can pull the correct pot I need from the cabinet without even looking; my clothes are always in the right place. I don't need to go out to eat a meal - I just open the fridge and cook something.

My television is pre-programmed to the shows I watch routinely.

See? Homebody!

I grew up in New York City and the first time I was ever on a plane was when I was 21, Vice President of my College's student nurse organization, and I had to fly to Minneapolis for a convention. 

I couldn't wait to get back home.

Over the course of my 62 years, I've been to Ireland ( twice), England (twice), Barcelona ( once) Acapulco ( once), 20 US States, Montreal and Quebec ( once, each), Bermuda ( twice) the Bahamas ( once), Nova Scotia ( once) and Hawaii ( once - this was my favorite trip and the only one I cried over when I had to come home!) Iceland( once - worst trip ever!)

Each trip was lovely and except for Hawaii, I couldn't wait to get home again.

I think I've traveled enough.

My husband is a traveler. If he could, he would travel 6 months of the year. I have never had the desire to be away from home.

Maybe it's because I had such a disruptive upbringing. We moved multiple times - sometimes 2-3 times in a year - because money was scarce and rent was high, sometimes impossible to pay. 

I never felt like I belonged anywhere permanently. Some would think because of this itinerant upbringing I would be a natural traveler. 

Nope. Once I found my forever home I vowed to stay put...forever. 

So, my bucket travel list, for now, is empty. I am content to sit at home, play with the dog, visit my grandson, and simply bask in the familiarity of my life.

I Could Write a Book by Eleri Grace

 

What's new for you in 2022? 

Well, as my title says, hopefully I'll write a(nother) book! 

The tune from Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1940 hit "Pal Joey" is a love song of course, but a few lines from the lyrics speak to my mindset:

But my busy mind is burning to use what learning I've got
I won't waste any time
I'll strike while the iron is hot

Those are my hopes for 2022: not wasting time and striking while the iron is hot so to speak. 

Maybe I would have developed writer's block anyway, who knows, but I can conveniently blame Covid-19 and its destructive siblings Alpha, Delta, and Omicron for my lack of output and motivation over much of 2020 and 2021. 

I'm once again using the Cultivate What Matters goal-setting system. Even though I wasn't filling out all the reflection work each month or quarter as the system urges one to do, I bought it again this year because my goals I had set were always in my mind, even if I wasn't always faithful about recording it all. My goals for 2022 are more similar to 2021 than not. This could be read as an indication that I failed 2021, that I didn't accomplish all that much. But the truth is that some of my goals don't lend themselves to being checked off or completed in full over the course of a single year. 

The one writing goal that could have been completed but wasn't is the publication of my third full Clubmobile Girls novel. My intention is to finish and publish it this year, come what may. But I'm celebrating that I learned how to write a novelette and published it in 2021 (and I now have the barebones start on 3 other novelettes to complete a quartet of stories). I've also got new branding in the form of new cover-art that will be released this year. I'm waiting until I can reveal the cover for Book 3 before then announcing the new cover-art for my first 2 novels -- but truthfully I'm so excited by the new look of my covers that I may not wait much longer. My hope is that these new covers will speak to a wider network of readers as they are more in keeping with the look and feel of other WWII fiction released in the last couple of years. Watch my social media and blog for my new cover-art reveals in the coming months! 

My goals for 2022 are varied, as Cultivate What Matters encourages people to evaluate many facets of their personal, working, and leisure lives. Whatever your goals are for 2022, I hope you find joy, peace, fulfillment, and pride in all that you do!

You can find my Clubmobile Girls series on Amazon. Learn more about me on my website, or on my social media accounts through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. 

Peace of mind...

 I must admit that this month's topic -- Peace --was a difficult one for me to wrap my brain around and write about. Usually, my blogs are already written and scheduled weeks before they need to be posted. Not this month.

After much consideration and thought, I finally figured I'd write about something near and dear to me: peace of mind.

Let me 'esplain.

I've been dealing with several family issues of late at opposite ends of the life spectrum. 

Many of you may know my mother recently broke her second hip in three years due to a fall at home. My parents, Mom is 85, and stepdad is 83, live in a mobile home 25 miles from me in another state. They have been self-sufficient and independent forever and they are a bit isolationist, in that they have no family ( except me) or friends. They were housebound for 16 months during the height of the pandemic and I have been relegated to managing their lives for them. I cook for them, pay their bills, shop for them and clean their house once a week. While my mother spent 2 months in the rehab center learning how to walk again, I would travel twice weekly to see her and take my stepdad to visit her. He was lost without her. They have been married almost 60 years and have done, and do, everything together as a unit. My parents never learned how to drive a car so I am their sole means of transport anywhere.

I don't tell you all this for any other reason but this: my mother was sent home last month from the rehab and since then I have been visiting them twice a week, and still doing all the above for them, but my peace of mind comes from knowing they are together again and able to continue to live in their own home. Yes, I run it for them and basically manage their lives, but they are together. My parents are that quintessential couple where if one partner dies, the other will die soon after of a broken heart.

To know I can keep them in their own home, together, until that happens makes my heart and mind calm.

The other end of the spectrum is that my daughter is having her first child in a few months. And as any potential grandmother would, I was very worried in the beginning that she would have a good pregnancy. She really didn't because she was tired and nauseous for almost 6 months - just like I was with her. Apples and trees, people; apples and trees. Plus, she got pregnant during the pandemic, so my anxiety went through the roof.

But, she has crossed over into her seventh month and all is well. She has a wonderful, supportive, and loving husband and excellent access to health care. She is healthy, happy and finally feeling like her old self. Well, as much as she can with a baby on board, so my peace of mind has returned. Yes, I'm still worried about the delivery and the first three months of the baby's life, but I am secure in the hope that all will be well.

Peace of mind is an elusive thing nowadays. Worry about Covid, the economy, my mortality and that of those around me, the horrible state of the world right now, have all taken a toll on me the last year.  To be granted some peace of mind, body and spirit is a life-sustaining aspect of my daily existence.

So, I'll end with a quote that I have always  loved:

Talk to me about love...by Peggy Jaeger

 So this month's topic is LOVE.

There are so many places I could take this post with just that word alone.

I could write about romantic love since that's how I make my bread and butter, hee hee.

I could write about love of country; of family; of chocolate chip cookies. 

I could write about falling in love, or, conversely, falling out of it; marital love vs. courtship; why I love babies, movies from 1939, and Diet Mountain Dew. I could write about love songs, how love is depicted in films, why love is a central theme in life.

I could tell you my favorite quotes about love. In fact, that's what I think I'm going to do.

Can you imagine how you would feel if the person you loved said this to you??

McCartney and Lennon had it right....

This thought is everything!

This one speaks to my very soul....

and my absolute favorite....

There must be some reason, somewhere, for why Valentine's Day, the day devoted to all things love, is celebrated in February. I'm sure if I had the time and the desire to, I'd look that up! For now, though, suffice it to say I'm happy at least one month/date of the year is all about the emotion I think makes the world go around: love.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day 2021, peeps. Until next month ~ Peg

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You Are The Writer of Your Own Story by Paty Jager

When all else fails, talk about something you are excited about. That's what I decided to do when I could only get one paragraph written on the subject this month of Hope. It's not that I don't have hope, I think of it in a different realm than most. 

I don't hope for things to happen. I'm a realist, I guess. I can either work to make my goals- desires expectations (hope) happen, or if it's not me in particular but worldwide events or family or friends, I can think of them, give them support, or find a way to make peace with whatever I can't control in my own mind and heart.  

That is how I feel about hope. It's a pretty word. I like it for a name of a person, a town, a boat, a book. I know it gives people strength when they use hope and faith together. But for me, I wish and dream and work to make it happen.

So now, what I'm excited about. I'm not sure why I'm excited, it makes no sense, but I'm closing in on having published 50 books. I won't hit that nunber this year, 2020, but the year 2021 I will. I've already been working on ideas to make a BIG deal out of it. I'm not sure where, or how just yet, but I'm thinking my publishing anniversary month, will be a month long of sales, events, and fun. 

What are some of your favorite author events you've attended?  I'm collecting information for my 50 Books Party.  I had a lot of fun last year holding a CLUE party in December with other mystery authors. I'm thinking I'll do something like that. And have a special giveaway for my newsletter peeps- Paty's Posse. 

My Gabriel Hawke Novel #7 will be book 50. At this time it is set to be about MMIW - Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women. I'm thinking about making the sales from the book go toward that program at the Umatilla Reservation. The one where my fictional character Gabriel Hawke grew up. And where he'll be searching for a young woman who is missing. This is still in the works. I had plans to meet up with members of the Umatilla Reservation in the spring and Covid hit. When things take an upswing and we can get out and mingle again, I'll be contacting people and researching about the group on the reservation. I subscribe to their newspaper and have been reading all the articles on this subject. My goal is to do the organization justice and throw more light on this problem.

Back to the event. I'd welcome any suggestions for naming my event or fun things to do.  

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 47 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

blog / website /  Facebook / Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / Pinterest   / Bookbub

photo source: Depositphotos

My Current WIP: A Tough Note to Crack by Lynn Lovegreen

This month, Genre-istas are sharing their current WIPs (Works In Progress). My current project is a YA historical mystery with romantic elements—a good example of how you can mix and match those subgenres!

The idea started with a question: What if Veronica Mars was a teen in in Anchorage, Alaska in 1941?⁠

Fifteen-year-old Peggy Jones is the perky, fearless queen bee of Anchorage High School’s freshman class of 1941. She has plans to become first flute in Orchestra, Honor Society member, and future crème de la crème of the territory of Alaska. When the new kid’s flute is stolen, she gets the blame, and has to nab the thief to clear her name. Life gets complicated when the shy boy she’s just noticed becomes a suspect, Peggy’s best friend thinks she’s taking over her student government campaign, and her mother is keeping a secret from her. What’s a girl to do but take a cue from Humphrey Bogart and solve mysteries to keep her dreams alive?

Here’s the beginning:

It started with Humphrey Bogart.

I was halfway through filing thirty slips of paper with locker assignments when the third-period bell rang. My mind drifted off to more interesting things. A thousand miles away from Anchorage High School and Alaska, I searched the docks of San Francisco with Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon. I saw the movie three times at the Empress Theatre, so I could picture the fog rolling in and Bogart’s handsome face half in shadow from the brim of his fedora. If only I could solve a mystery with him and gaze into those dreamy brown eyes. I sighed. I glanced around to make sure that nobody overheard me.

Then the new kid walked in. A tall drink of water with a slim build and dark, he had wavy hair you could run your fingers through. His argyle sweater had seen better days, with stretched out sleeves and a fraying strand of yarn hanging from his waist. Standing next to him was an elegant, petite lady wearing a stylish velvet hat.

“Good morning, may I help you?” I asked in my best office girl voice. Excited at meeting a new student—and a cute boy— before anybody else, I bounced up on the toes of my new saddle shoes. Thank goodness Mother got me into this class as an extra elective—her status as president of the Anchorage Women’s Club and her friendship with the registrar sure came in handy. It kept me in the know around here, and out of boring old gym class.

 The woman opened her mouth, but the kid spoke up first. “We just got into town.” From the way he had his hands shoved in his pockets, he probably didn’t want to move here four weeks into the school year.  I could help set things right. 

“That’s great! Welcome!” I gestured to the office, the walls hung with festive orange and black pennants, and our eagle mascot. “I’m Peggy Jones, freshman. Pleased to meet you.” I stuck out my hand and shook both of theirs heartily, pep club and welcoming committee rolled into one.

Writers, what is your latest WIP? Or if you’re a reader, what’s the more recent read you really enjoyed?

Lynn Lovegreen has lived in Alaska for over fifty years. After twenty years in the classroom, she retired to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult historical fiction is set in Alaska, a great place for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Well, given the locale of my third Clubmobile Girls novel, my heroine might more readily exclaim: “Cobras and Tigers and Elephants, oh my!”

Yes, we are headed to exotic and mystical India in my next WWII romance novel. Many readers won’t remember that Americans fought and died in India during WWII (or why), so I’m composing a prefatory note to set the stage. Trying to distill the high points into a succinct summary has impressed on me just how complex a situation my hero and heroine will face. Nationalist protests, riots and strikes roil the country during these waning days of the British Raj, famine results in suffering and starvation on a mass scale in large swathes of the country, intrigue abounds as the Indians, British, American, and Chinese jockey to advance their favored military and post-war strategic interests, guerrilla forces battle the enemy and the environment in the steamy jungles of Burma and northeast India, and Hump pilots making daily trips over the Himalayas in the worst airspace on earth face untold hazards to keep China supplied with vital food and military supplies.

My heroine is delighted and enthralled from the moment she catches sight of Bombay from the harbor. India is as far away from her small hometown in Missouri and her troubled past as it is possible to imagine. And while she initially focuses on the potential for adventure and a fresh start, she must all too quickly confront a myriad of challenges to her worldview of India and to her goals and plans.

By contrast, my hero wants nothing more than to escape India at the earliest possible opportunity. A son of American missionaries to Burma who attended boarding school in northwest India, he is anxious to return to America and his future in the ivy-covered halls of academia. He had, after all, already done his part for the war, flying combat missions with the Flying Tigers in the earliest months of the war. But escaping the lure of this labyrinthine land he had called home most of his life, not to mention a call of duty he is uniquely qualified to offer, proves difficult. The bright and brave young woman he cannot evict from his heart complicates things all the more.

            I would love to say that this more sequestered and slower paced life I’ve been leading has translated into huge daily word counts. Alas, that has not been the case. But I am nearing the end of my research process, have a good solid start in the early chapters, and have committed to start meeting that 1000-1500 word count daily goal again this week. I know I’m not the only author who has had difficulty with overall focus and productive habits in these challenging times. And the research required to corral the myriad competing potential plot points for this vast and complex setting has been an enormous undertaking. So that’s a long way of saying I am trying to give myself permission and space to let this story bloom gradually, rather than second-guessing whether I ought to have more to show for such an extended period of being largely housebound!  

I hope all of you continue to take care of yourself and your loved ones and stay in good spirits as we continue to adjust to a new normal.

You can learn more about me and my novels on my website, and you can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. 

You can purchase my first two Clubmobile Girls novels on Amazon.

Easing through Summer by Paty Jager

In our neck of the woods, the last week of July was brutal! It was over 100 F for several days. We aren't used to that. Usually we have a week where we are in the 90s, hovering near 100, but never over. The good news about the hot weather, it kept myself and my cover designer inside. ;)

My latest Shandra Higheagle Mystery, Capricious Demise, book 15 in the series is published. I had the idea for the book about two Shandra books ago. Not the murders but the subplot. Once I figured out how to work that in along with a murder or two...the story was off and running.

It's funny how this story came to me as a scene in on of the secondary character's point of view. That scene helped me make the decision I did at the end of the book. I'm not telling you what that is, because it will spoil the book for you if you decide to read it. ;)

Capricious Demise

Book 15

Shandra Higheagle Mystery Series

Vengeance…Envy…Murder

Shandra Higheagle’s deceased Grandmother enters Shandra’s dream, showing her two lost children. Her grandmother never comes to her dreams unless there is a murder to solve. But whose? The children? Or someone related to them?

Ryan is called out to a suicide, that isn’t. While contacting next of kin, he finds the victim’s husband also murdered and their two children missing.

Using her dreams, Shandra helps locate the missing twins whom they take into their home as foster children. The hunt for the reason the parents were murdered becomes urgent when the children reveal they may have seen the killer.

universal buy link: https://books2read.com/u/b6ZJOA

I'll have a novella from my Tumbling Creek Ranch contemporary western romance series releasing this month. It's titled Collateral Love and is the 4th novella in that series. The cover isn't finalized yet. Along this same line, I have also put the first three novellas from his series in a print book titled Love at Tumbling Creek Ranch. It will be available this month as well. 

8 Seconds to Love

The bull rider brought into Jared McIntyre’s ER is the girl he couldn’t get out of his head the last fifteen years. During his tour in Iraq, he lost another thrill-seeking woman, and he isn’t about to let this one destroy her life.

Love Me Anyway

Melanie Trask ran away from an abusive husband and found a job at a dude ranch with a wonderful caring cowboy, Brett Wallis. When they can no longer deny their feelings, Brett offers to help her divorce her husband. But she has one more secret she hasn’t revealed…

The Wrong Cowboy to Love

Ruby Cutter allows her cousin, the bride, to give her a makeover for the upcoming wedding because she wants to catch the attention of her high school crush. But while she’s infatuated with one man, she may be falling for another…

universal ebook buy link https://books2read.com/u/mv5w8X

My cover designer and I are also working on new covers for the Isabella Mumphrey  Action Adventure/Romantic Suspense trilogy. When those are finished I'll have a huge cover reveal sale and promotion. 

What I'm currently writing is the 6th book in the Gabriel Hawke Novels. In this book, Hawke is investigating a vehicle fire that happened in real life. The state trooper I rode with to get a feel for  Hawke's job showed me where a vehicle had caught on fire after "rolling' over a campfire. I told him I didn't see how the vehicle rolled on such a flat area. He said that was the conclusion all the investigators thought, but the D.A. called it an accident and that was as far as it went. In my book, it is a homicide and Hawke is digging up all the evidence to prove who did it.  

Because Hawke is Native American, I try to use titles that sound like Native American stories and always with a living creature in the title. Right now I'm stuck on the title. I know it will have turkey. My working title is: Turkey Struts Too Much-  Then this morning I thought about Gobbling or Strutting Turkey Fries. Still working on it. Any thoughts? 

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 46 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it. This is what Books a Plenty Book Reviews has to say about the Gabriel Hawke series: "The blend of nature tracking, clues, and the animals makes for a fascinating mystery that is hard to put down." 

blog / website /  Facebook / Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / Pinterest   / Bookbub

Creating a Junk Journal to Inspire my Romance Novel by Dora Bramden

Writing has also fired up in May. I was in a slump during the last part of March and early April, but a few weeks ago, my son suggested I use my new crafting skill for creating journals to see if it inspired my writing. He was so spot on.

As soon as he suggested it, I resonated with the idea. You know when you get that excited buzz.
I set to it the next day and a couple of weeks on, the junk journal with pictures that inform and inspire the story are compiling. It has opened my mind to the story. I'm seeing facets that I hadn't yet explored which I believe will make it a more meaningful story.

It's set in the fashion world so my journal has the word fashion as the banner on the front cover. I went through my stash of paper and pulled anything that has autumn tones or spice colors.
When I first conceived this story I made a vision board, so I have a lot of pictures posted on that which I am using. The pages have been divided into chapters.

I'm looking for more pictures at the moment and am writing a summary of each chapter to include in the journal pockets and tuck spots.

I follow a lot of authors on Facebook and Instagram and they often post pictures of their creations. I posted the picture about recently on my feeds. You might have seen it if you follow me.

We creative types need lots of outlets. What I'm learning is that I love using my hands to make things. Sometimes they itch to type and other times they want to feel a paintbrush or scissors.

This month I'm bursting with creativity.  I'm staying home, staying safe, and not doing any running around. Every day I walk in my garden, I meditate sometimes. The slow way that time now passes lets me breathe and that's when the ideas come.

Thinking about the Romancing the Genres suggested May theme of celebrating something about myself,  left me blank. Then I started typing, and I found the answer. It would have to be my creative nature. It is a never-failing source of joy to make something beautiful come into existence. It might be cutting and pasting or it could be typing a story. I'm finding that for me the two are now linked.

Dora Bramden writes heart-melting, contemporary romance.

Links for more about Dora:

Dora’s Amazon Author Page

Instagram @dorabramden

Facebook Dora Bramden Author Page

Or Visit Dora's website www.dorabramden.com

Long ago, in a publishing world far, far away....by Peggy Jaeger

This month's topic prompt: share your favorite or most stressful writing achievement, was a hard one for me because I couldn't decide which would make the better story: something positive, or negative.

The negative one I had in mind would certainly have been funnier. Truly. It was a lesson in humility, patience, and karma all rolled into one.

But there's so much negative stuff in the Universe right now, that I thought talking about my favorite writing achievement might be the better way to go. We all need some positivity in our lives these days, don't we? That's a rhetorical question, btw.

Hee hee

So my favorite writing achievement story so far in my career is not the publication of my first book - although that's one of my favorite firsts, for sure. No, my favorite achievement was way back when I was a  nurse in my local hospital. I was part of a student preceptor program where new nurses are paired with students who are about to graduate. The nursing students follow the Registered nurse through their day for a half term ( 8 weeks) and learn from them one-on-one in a practical way.

I loved being a preceptor. In fact, I loved it so much and it was such a relatively new program - we're talking the 1980's- that I wrote an article about it in one afternoon and sent it off to RN magazine hoping - praying! - they'd want to feature it.

And they did!

I was surprised and delighted when a week later I got an actual phone call from the magazine's editor informing me of that fact.

This was the very first time a feature editorial I'd written had been published in a national magazine. I walked on clouds for months after that, but what it really gave me was the sense I had a gift for conveying my thoughts to others in written form.

Since then I've written dozens of trade magazine, freelance, and parenting articles for a wide array of publications. But that first printed article is one of my best efforts.

I've come a long way from writing editorials and articles. These days I spend my time blogging and writing romance novels. You can find my listings on Amazon, here: Peggy Jaeger

My newest and first indie released novel is  a ROMCOM about a girl with severe trust issues, IT'S A TRUST THING

Nell Newbery has trust issues. It’s hard to trust when you’re the daughter of a fallen financial scion who bilked people out of billions. Nell’s done everything in her power to keep away from men who see her as their ticket to fortune and fame. All she wants to do is run her ultra-successful business, HELPFUL HUNKS, in peace.

But it wouldn’t hurt to find a guy who doesn’t know a thing about her father’s felonious past; one she can give her heart to and trust it won’t come back to her battered, bruised, and broken.

Is Charlie Churchill that guy? On the surface he seems perfect, all polished manners and quiet mirth. Nell’s convinced he knows nothing about her, other than she likes superhero movies and views junk food as a food group.

Can she trust him to be what he appears to be? Or is he just pretending?

For Nell, trust is everything in life…and in love.

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Until next time, peeps ~ Peg

Creative life and mojo at 40 plus

By Cassandra O'Leary

Author's Note: I first wrote this blog in 2016 when my debut novel was released. Now I have a few more draft books under my belt, but I'm still working on juggling work/life/health and getting more work completed. The current quarantine and home school situation just makes everything more complicated!

Creative life and mojo at 40 plus by Cassandra O’Leary

Have you found your creative mojo? I got back into creative writing about three years ago, and the impetus for me was the looming Big 4-0 deadline. I don’t know what it is about a significant birthday to light a fire under my butt, but it worked. I wanted to try writing a novel. A romance novel, since I had an idea revolving around relationships.

I did it, and I’ve kept writing and have already found some success. But you know what? I did it with very little support from people around me, apart from my fabulous husband.

As a woman ‘of a certain age’ i.e. forty one and three quarters, I loathe the assumptions that go with being a woman at this stage of life, let alone one who wants to tackle a creative project or a career change.

Here’s a few crazy assumptions, just for starters:

- If you’re over about 30, you can’t start a brand new career because you’re probably ‘past it’.

- If you’re a woman, you’ll only be worried about ‘settling down’ and being married/having babies/buying shoes/raising cats/collecting kitchen accessories.

- If you’re interested in writing, you’ll only want to write (or read) ‘mummy blogs’ or ‘mummy porn’* (insert dismissive comment and raised eyebrows here).

- If you like to read, you’re probably 'only' reading romance novels, which as everyone knows are problematic or sexist or unrealistic or… (insert unfair assumption here).

- If you are a mum, a wife, and a part-time worker, a woman who enjoys fashion, or cooking, or wine, whatever, you can’t be anything else.

That’s it, done and dusted, get back in your box, woman. As Alicia Silverstone would say in the movie Clueless, “As if!”.

As someone who decided at the age of thirty eight to tackle creative writing in a serious way, and who has gone at it with the tenacity of a multitasking mummy-ninja, I can tell you all of the above are such clichés they’re not even funny.

I believe I can achieve things. I’ve already had three distinct ‘careers’ and will probably have a couple more. I work hard and I’m always interested in learning something new. I am ‘settled’, married with kids, living a suburban life, but that’s not all I am. I like to read everything — news, think pieces, literary fiction, romance, science fiction, blogs, non-fiction. I enjoy reading light-hearted and romantic books, for entertainment.

I can be lots of things, and I will be, probably all at once. I’ve always believed, strangely enough, that I am a person. I am me. I’m good at writing, I love reading and thinking of creative ideas. Always have done, probably always will do. My age and my gender have nothing to do with it. It’s other people who have weird, narrow-minded opinions.

Just do it – time waits for no woman

Sure, I’m busy. Sure, I have young children. Sure, there’s never enough hours in the day to do all the things I need to do, let alone the things I want to do. But that’s life. It rushes by at supersonic speed while you’re busy doing the washing or cleaning the kitchen, until all of a sudden it’s getting hard to remember the things you always wanted to do, but never found time for.

The good news is those things you never had time for are still there in your head. At least the potential things are. I realised that nobody has time, that you have to make time to write if it’s important to you. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather look back and think that I’m proud to have worked hard and written a book, rather than spent all of that time vacuuming the rug.

All I needed to do was block out the negative voices and get started. For me, that internal decision was all it took. It was time. Time to start, time to get going, time to write.

If you’re thinking about writing — perhaps characters have whole conversations in your head over your morning coffee, or you overhear conversations in a cafe and you have to jot them down in a notebook, or you keep a journal — my advice is, just start.

Write something. Anything. Maybe it will be a poem, or a short story, or a romance novel. Maybe you’ll dive straight into the madness of writing a novel in a month during NaNoWriMo or enter a writing contest like I did. Whatever you write, you’ll have something that never existed before in the world. Your work, your thoughts.

Here’s the thing about starting — it’s exciting. It opens up your mind to possibilities you may not have considered before. You may find that you have a whole pile of ideas waiting, based on your life experiences and the stories of people around you. There are benefits to having a few years under your belt!

Creative work can keep you sane

An unexpected by-product of getting creative, for me, is staying sane in an increasingly crazy world. Connecting to inner thoughts and writing them down, taking quiet time-out to read away from television and other distractions or simply taking a walk and letting your mind unwind can all be helpful for your creativity. They can also help reduce stress and keep you mentally well.

As a mother of two young children, I’ve found this surprising and most welcome. Carving time out for myself and my creative work has made me calmer, more mentally present and aware. And my kids love giving me crazy story ideas! I still need to write that book about an undercover, secret brick…

Define your own success

Success doesn’t have to be defined by bestseller status or winning writing awards. Although if some awards were thrown in my general direction, I’d probably reach out and try to catch them.

But success can be defined in many ways, such as finishing a first draft of a book or a new piece of art. That’s something a lot of people will never achieve. Or the goal could be to get that book polished and submit it to a publisher. Maybe it could simply be showing a short story to some readers and having them enjoy your work.

And you never know what might happen. One day, someone might read your work (or see your art, whatever medium you work in) and absolutely love it. Seriously, it could happen.

Here I am, having written (almost) three novels and a few shorter works, taking a leap and jumping in head first to the world of book publishing and being an author. Wish me luck!

P.S. My kids didn’t starve and my husband didn’t leave me. But thanks for all the unsolicited comments and predictions of doom, naysayers and busybodies! #sarcasm

*P.P.S. I hate the term ‘mummy porn’ and believe it was invented by male book reviewers to belittle women writers who dare to write about sexual content…use that term in my presence at your peril!

ABOUT CASSANDRA O’LEARY

Cassandra O'Leary is a romance and romcom author, recovering corporate wordsmith and TV and film fangirl. She was the winner of the We Heart New Talent contest run by HarperCollins UK and her debut contemporary romance/romantic comedy novel, Girl on a Plane, released in 2016. She's also indie published shorter works including Heart Note: A Christmas romcom novella and Chocolate Truffle Kiss: A romcom novelette (now in Kindle Unlimited).  

Cassandra is a mother of two gorgeous, high-energy mini ninjas and wife to a spunky superhero. Living in Melbourne, Australia, she’s also travelled the world. If you want to send her to Italy or Spain on any food or wine tasting ‘research’ trips, that would be splendiferous.

Proud member of Romance Writers of Australia and the Melbourne Romance Writers Guild.

Read more at cassandraolearyauthor.com