My Favorite "First" came a little later in life than expected! by Peggy Jaeger

So, this month's topic is Favorite Firsts. I had so many things swirl around in my head, that deciding on what to write about was a bit more difficult than usual.
Should I tell you about my first love? First memory? First apartment? First job?
See? Lot's of things to talk about, but I decided that since this is -- at its essence -- a writing blog, I would tell you my absolute favorite first - my first published book!

I came a little late to the world of published book authors. I was 55 when my very first novel - a romance - was published. I could have self published years earlier, but didn't want to. I grew up with the cache of what being a traditionally published author meant and I wanted my very first foray into the publishing world to be with the backup of a known publisher.

You may think that the reason this is my favorite first is because it finally got me in front of the the reading world. Well, that isn't really the reason. I'd been a successful non-fiction writer for years, with many credits in Nursing journals and newspapers/magazines devoted to parenting topics, child care, and nursing/health issues. I'd also had a stream of good luck with fiction short story publications in Literary magazines and anthologies.

No, the reason this is my favorite first is because it came about in Cinderella fashion ( which also happens to be my favorite fairytale, so double SCORE!)

In 2013 I decided to enter a romance writing contest I found listed in a writing magazine. I submitted the required 3 chapters of a story I'd written while in the throes of menopause induced insomnia. Long story short - I won my division - contemporary romance category. Yay.

I thought that was the end of it and went back to not sleeping and sweating like a farm animal in the dead of summer.

Two weeks later I received an email from Rhonda Penders, the publisher of The Wild Rose Press.

She had been my judge for the contest. She asked me to send her the completed manuscript for possible consideration for publication. I did. A WRP editor read it and asked for a few changes. I made them. Then I received the email that changed my  life forever: WRP wanted to publish my book and wanted to know if I had any others.

Um- you betcha I did!!

That book, SKATER'S WALTZ, launched my second act and my writing career. I quit my day job ( really, I did!) and have been a full-time writer every since.

20+ books  and 5 years later I am now almost 60 and I have never been happier. I am a  better writer every day and every day I thank that damn menopause insomnia for giving me something to do when I was wide awake from midnight to five a.m! Hee hee

Fairy tales come true all the time you just don't hear about them.  This was mine.

Bio and Social links:

Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes Romantic Comedies about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them. If she can make you cry on one page and bring you out of tears rolling with laughter the next, she’s done her job as a writer!

Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, she brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she’s created the families she wanted as that lonely child.

When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

As a lifelong diarist, she caught the blogging bug early on, and you can visit her at peggyjaeger.com where she blogs daily about life, writing, and stuff that makes her go "What??!"

Social Media links:

Website: http://peggyjaeger.com/

Blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peggy-Jaeger-Author/825914814095072?ref=bookmarks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13478796.Peggy_Jaeger

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/peggy-jaeger

            YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDR8RRIlssIyS0FYZWeGqsg/videos?view_as=subscriber

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peggyjaeger_author/

Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peggy-jaeger-296ab878/

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0

Authors database: https://authorsdb.com/community/15814-peggy-jaeger

Triberr: https://triberr.com/tribe/strong-women--loving-men

Advice for Tough Times by Lynn Lovegreen

If you’ve lived for a significant amount of years, you’ve had tough times. I have too, including stressful jobs, the death of loved ones, and bouts of depression. While I can’t say I have the cure for every ill, I can share a few things I’ve learned along the way.

• Let yourself feel negative emotions. Many of us are taught to dwell on positive emotions and try to be happy or cheerful all the time. But that is counteractive to our health if we deny all our negative thoughts and feelings. If I’m sad, or angry, or frustrated, I let myself experience that emotion.  I find it will pass more easily if I let myself linger there for a little while. Then, if I get stuck there for too long, I reach out to my doctor or mental health professional. 

   

• Try to keep things in perspective. Depending on the situation, we can try to step back and see if this is something we’ll remember five or ten years from now. I’ve taken it further.  It sounds weird, but I’ve found comfort in realizing the world doesn’t revolve around me. One day, I looked up at the Chugach Mountains, and thought they were here for millions of years before me, and will be for millions more. My mistakes and problems are nothing to them. And that was oddly comforting to me.

• Know it will get better. Maybe not right away, but it will happen. In times of depression or grief, I know that I won’t hurt so much one day in the future. That gives me the strength to hang on. For one example, my mother died seven years ago this month. I still miss her, sometimes terribly. But it doesn’t hurt as much as it did. I found a way to keep going. And I know that will be true with every setback and tragedy. Life will change, but I can live through it. And I bet you can, too.

I recently had the opportunity to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo in concert. They sang “Tough times never last, strong people do,” and I discovered a new favorite song. Here is the link to find it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx5lhvXD8Mg.

Lynn Lovegreen has lived in Alaska for almost fifty years. She taught for twenty years before retiring to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult/new adult historical romances are 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, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

Scent of the season

by Courtney Pierce

As I occasionally do, this month I’m giving our Romancing the Genres readers a piece from my collection of two-page stories. When I complete a hundred of them, I’ll publish these little ditties in a collection titled Is There an App for Life’s Third Act? – Short Stories for Baby Boomers in a Hurry. Yep, the title is excessive for extra-short stories, but that’s by design. As we boomers get older, I want to capture those moments that defined our youth, entry into adulthood, middle age, and finally our retirement with headwinds.

The change of season, especially from summer to fall, sparks memories triggered by aromas, like the sweet and savory blend of vegetable beef soup, the spiciness of chili bubbling on the stove, or the mouth-watering fragrance of cinnamon rolls puffing up in the oven. There are other triggers, too, even more powerful ones than food. Some scents ignite memories of first loves and desire. Ah, yes, the perfume that lingers in the fibers of that forgotten sweater in the drawer. This short story is one of those.

Scent

The first step into the perfume department of Nordstrom scrambled my memory like aromatic crossed wires. I had only one scent on my mind; the memory of a citrusy aroma. For the life of me I couldn’t remember the name, but its secrets were lingering in an old sweater that had been in my drawer for years. So much clung to that sweater that I could never get rid of it.

“Can I help you?” the saleswoman said from behind the counter. A variety of delectable

potions waited in glass bottles of sensual, curvy shapes. Dishes of coffee beans dotted the area to clear the olfactory palate.

With my wrist extended, a jet spray of something amber from an S-shaped bottle made my nose wrinkle. Too vanilla and sweet. Did the woman just ask me a question? “What? Oh . . . I hope so. I’m trying to find my youth.”

The sixtyish woman pursed her lip-sticky smoker’s lips, an odd shade of Bing cherry that had bled into the crevices. She tapped her matching acrylic nails on the glass case, which tinkled a small key attached to an orange rubberized wrist coil. “Never heard of it. But Youth Dew is right over here.” She moved down the case like a cougar stalking a bunny rabbit.

“No, no, no. A scent from my youth ―I was fifteen,” I said and dodged her clawed paw. “I can’t remember the name. I’ve been swimming in the memory of the fragrance for days. It’s driving me crazy.” I pointed to my temple and rolled my eyes.

“Give me a bitty hint.” The saleswoman studied me for an expensive sales clue.

I ignored her, but I caught a glimpse of myself in the oval mirror on a stand, someone I didn’t recognize. With sagging eyelids, my once-vivid blue eyes appeared tired. The peachy glow in my cheeks had been brushed on from a compact. Even my blond hair was a result of a combustible mixture concocted by a hairdresser. But at fifty-five, the aroma of a memory never faded. If I could just get a whiff, the years would roll back to the moment where I was young and fresh, my whole life ahead of me.

“Fresh, light and fruity,” I said. The memory whirled like an iced strawberry daiquiri. In the strobe of colored lights in the high school gym in 1976, I was beautiful as my lemony fresh eau de parfum swirled around me. The guy I had a crush on took my hand to dance. I’d never touched him before. His skin was softer than I expected as we slow danced to Lynrd Skynrd’s Freebird. In slow motion, the flickers of light animated his fingers against my clingy synthetic blouse.

“Do you want to Be Delicious?” the woman asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“Yes. . .” I whispered. A spritz of Donna Karan’s Be Delicious on a white strip waved in front of my nose. I closed my eyes. Crisp green apples, with undertones of savory herbs. “Nope. Nice try, though. Mine was lemony. Wrong fruit.”

The saleswoman nodded and gave me a knowing smile. “Guilty? It’s Gucci.” She released the words like a tickle session.

“Gotcha, but that’s not it.” I shook my head.

The woman moved to a new display. “Mmmm...how about this?”

A citrusy aromatic strip transported me to a Florida orchard with Jo Malone’s Nectarine. “Yes. Completely.” I widened my eyes. I’m close. Senses sparkled. “Begins with an S. Skin . . . Skinny . . .Skinny Dip!” I drummed my forefingers on the counter. “Thank God! I remembered the name!”

The saleswoman snorted a laugh. “Honey, that cheap drugstore cologne was discontinued forty years ago.” She snatched another tester bottle from the mirrored tray and pointed the nozzle at me. “I think Obsession is more your style.”

Loma Smith Photography

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her new family. She writes for baby boomers. By day, Courtney is an executive in the entertainment industry and uses her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor and mystery. She has studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, she is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and She Writes. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal. 

Check out all of Courtney's books at:

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com. Both print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com

The Dushane Sisters are back in Indigo Lake. More laughs, more tears...and more trouble. Protecting Mom's reputation might get the sisters killed―or give one of them the story she's been dying to live.

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Colorful characters come alive in Courtney's trilogy about the Dushane sisters. Beginning with The Executrix, three middle-age sisters find a manuscript for a murder mystery in their mother's safe after her death. Mom’s book gives them a whole new view of their mother and their future. Is it fiction . . . or truth? 

Get out the popcorn as the Dushane Sisters Trilogy comes to a scrumptious conclusion with Indigo Legacy. Due out in summer, 2017.

Reinventing Myself by Lynn Lovegreen

I have been reinventing myself over the past year, as I am at an in-between stage professionally and personally. My Gold Rush books are out of print, and I’m looking for an agent for my World War II series. Plus, I’m in the process of moving to a new house. And outside of that, I’ve discovered a new role for myself, as an activist in my community. It seems like the right time to stand up for what I believe in, especially if it gives a voice to people who don’t have a strong voice in our current system.

So, what have I learned from this?

1. Change is scary.

Many of the problems I’ve experienced in the last year have to do with reactions to change. Sometimes I’m the one who is having trouble adjusting, and sometimes it’s other people, but change is hard, and sometimes downright scary. Most of us are challenged by new circumstances. It’s good to acknowledge that and roll with it.

2. We are stronger than we think.

I’ve done a lot of things I didn’t know I could. Whether it’s physical or mental, I’ve found I can do more and deal with more than I realized. And I’ve been in groups where collectively we’ve helped each other grow in strength. That is powerful!

3. It’s easier to be fearless when it’s about something bigger than ourselves.

I can barge into a state senator’s office to start a conversation about a bill without worrying about what she’ll think of me—because it’s not about me. It’s about our kids and our state, and that’s more important than silly old me. It’s worth a few rejections, if it helps the cause. 

4. People will either applaud new roles and growth, or not. 

I’m blessed to have loved ones who encourage me, but I can’t expect everyone to do so. It goes back to #1—some people are threatened by change. They won’t like the new me, and I can’t do much about that except try not to get too caught up in others’ opinions.

5. Balance is important.

I’ve learned I can’t do anyone else any good if I don’t take care of myself first. I need to find a balance between saving the world and saving myself. 

I hope these things will help you in your own reinvention. Carry on and become the best person you can be! :-) 

Lynn Lovegreen grew up in Alaska, and still lives there. She taught for twenty years before retiring to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult/new adult historical romances are 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, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

Coping with the death of a personality…

One of my favorite quotes about writers is:

“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.”― E.L. Doctorow

But then a drastic life event made me realize that writers aren’t the only people with multiple personalities—acceptable or not. We all have them. By we, I mean you too.

Think about it. How many “you’s” are there in an average week? Really. There’s a bunch of “you’s”. We all respond, react…differently…for the lack of a better term to describe our behaviors, depending upon which “us” is called upon in any situation. I’ll use myself as an example.

I am Christian. I’m wife, mother, grandmother, author, friend. Sister—an older bossier sister at that—just ask my brother who was cursed to be born eight years my junior. Then there’s the  seldom-called-upon chewer-outer of our programming provider when I call to change my channel package and the poor soul on the phone is foolish enough to attempt to sell me something I am not about to buy.

But I digress. Back to losing a personality.

One of my “me’s” has been dismissed. On December 14, 2016, I drove away from my day job of twenty-nine years for the last time. The company I worked for decided to close the steel mill where I’d worked. I hadn’t made “friends”. I’d acquired “family”. The years of laughter and tears, sharing births, deaths, marriages, and divorces were now abruptly over.

My nickname at work was Thumper. You remember Bambi’s best friend? He had the worst time trying to keep his mouth shut and his opinions to himself. Thumper struggled when it came to filtering his words. I share his problem.

I was dubbed Thumper at the steel mill during the first year or two of my employment. They called me Thumper for so long, some didn’t even know my real name.

That thought makes me smile because there were some I couldn’t tell you what their real names were: Sprucie, Sprout, Stump, Ogie, Pappy, Hambone, Romie, Rollo. I guess you could say, we were the steel industries own special assortment of dwarves. But now our forest is gone. Stripped bare and vacant.

So, what do I do now that “Thumper” is no longer needed Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. ‘til whenever the work was done?

Yes, I know I am still very blessed. Yes. I have more time to write. But I’m still sad. I mourn that lost corner of my soul.

I know life is all about change and transition into different stages but I’d always planned a more gradual slide from one phase to the next.

How do you handle a chopping block change—after the part of your life they’ve cut away has dropped into oblivion?

How would you cope with the death of a personality? 

A Life- Changing Event In A Galaxy Far, Far Away... #StarWars #scifi

Hi, I'm Pippa Jay, author of scifi and supernatural stories to engage your emotions. I had to think long and hard about this post. I'm a believer in alternative timelines and parallel universes, that every decision we make in life - even the small ones - changes the path we take while another version of ourselves is sent down another track. So for me, even a minor decision can be potentially momentous, creating multiple alternative possibilities in time and space, and a concept I've used in my time travel series.

But before I get too sucked in by the theory of alternative universes... I think most people have a least one significant and life changing experience. Not long ago I wrote about my near death experience, so I didn't want to go over that one again - it was terrifying but surprisingly didn't prompt any big changes in my life other than relief that I survived it. My marriage, the death of my mother when I was 19, the birth of each of my children - all have had an impact, and probably the most major.
But I've decided I want to talk about something that changed my life as an author and led me to write what I write. It might seem somewhat frivolous to some, but for the the eight year old me it was transformational.

The opening to Star Wars: A New Hope when it was first shown on TV. I'd never seen it. Never heard of it. With Christmas coming up it was a special premier in the days when you had to wait years for films to reach TV, and videos were still an expensive luxury. That explosion of music, the novel scrawl of a written prologue, then a tiny spaceship pursued by one that swamped the screen with weapons blazing...I'd never seen anything like it before. I was instantly transfixed.
Despite being a life long Whovian (my parents were fans, and I can remember the first episode I ever saw - Planet of the Spiders - when I was just three years old), until that point I had been writing fantasy. I was still in love with the elves of Tolkien, young Garion of the Belgariad saga by David Eddings, and the magic of the Shannara trilogy. Spaceships came a poor second to unicorns, and blasters to swords and magic stones.
Until the day I saw that opening. Everything changed. It was like being able to step into one of those alternative universes, where there were still knights but they wielded mind powers instead of magic and lightsabers instead of metal swords. I. Was. Hooked. I was also deeply in love with the main character - Luke Skywalker - a crush that is still with me to this day (though maybe not quite so deeply, lol). I wanted to be a Jedi, wield a lightsaber, convince my parents that it wasn't bedtime yet with my mind powers, and zoom around a galaxy far, far away in my very own X-Wing.

That passion has never left me. I switched from writing fantasy to a version of Star Wars, then onto space opera and scifi of my own. Though many years later I went back to my Whovian roots and wrote a time travel romance that became my debut publication, the thrill from that first view of Star Wars has never left me. I felt it again when I saw The Force Awakens at the cinema this Christmas just past - almost thirty six years to the day after seeing it the first time - with Disney staying loyal to the fanship by retaining the films iconic opening. Even thinking about the music and the script crawling up the screen can set me bouncing in my seat. It was the same excitement I felt when I was lucky enough to attend the three day Star Wars Celebration Europe in London less than a month ago, and where I got to see my childhood crush in person (even if I didn't get close enough for a photo).

Right now I'm reworking what I call my Star Wars story - Gethyon - having got the rights back so that I can re-release it in September. While it has elements from my time travel series to which it's connected, this is the one most loyal to my love of Star Wars: a young man who feels out of place in the universe, struggling to manage the powers he discovers and to face his responsibilities instead of running away. I can't wait to put it back out!
Somewhere out there may be an eight year old me who didn't get to see that film and have her life changed forever. I'm just glad that one isn't me!
Want to chat? Find me on Twitter as @pippajaygreen where I'll talk all things geek, books and chooks (and other things beside).

Tiny Living by Paty Jager

When my husband and I moved to our “semi-retirement” property, we had to downsize for a while. We stored all of the furniture we didn’t sell in a 12 foot by 12 foot “tack room” we’d built.  Our living quarters for 8 months while we built a house was 10 feet by 16 feet.  We had a queen size bed, a small counter with a microwave, and I set up a 2 foot by 4 foot table for us to use to eat on and I could use to write on. We had stacking patio chairs we used indoors and out and a small deck with a table, chairs, and a BBQ. 

 

We had built a small room onto the cabin for a shower and washtub. We used an outhouse for the other plumbing.  I either took our laundry to town or used the washer at the empty house owned by the people employing my husband to manage their alfalfa fields. I would bring the wet clothes back to the cabin and hang them from drying racks my mother-in-law brought me from the Netherlands years ago.

For cooking, I used the microwave, an electric skillet, crockpot, and the BBQ. I learned how to bake in the BBQ and made a couple of cakes that way. 

Living tiny for those 8 months taught me that I could live without things that before I thought I needed. We were cozy but by the end of the 8 months my hubby was ready to move into the house. The limited space for him to do his bookwork and me to do my writing bothered him

. 

When we moved into the house, I actually took a whole pickup load of things to the thrift store.  I only have in the house the things I love or are useful.  It makes cleaning and living a whole lot simpler. 

Have you ever had to live in a tiny space without all the things you’re used to?

One of the things I enjoy most about where we live is discovering new history about my home state. I’ve written two historical western romance books using my new community as the setting. My recent release, Brody: Letters of Fate, takes place over the hill from our place and incorporates haying in the late 1800’s and a place that we have discovered and take our visitors to: Malheur Cave. It is a 3000 ft long cave with a 1000 ft  long lake in it.

To learn when my new releases come out and how you can read my books for free join Paty’s Posse.

Historical western filled with steamy romance and the rawness of a growing country.

Brody: Letters of Fate

Historical western filled with steamy romance and the rawness of a growing country.

A letter from a grandfather he’s never met has Brody Yates escorted across the country to work on a ranch rather than entering prison. But his arrival in Oregon proves prison may have been the lesser of two evils. A revenge driven criminal, the high desert, and his grandfather’s beautiful ward may prove more dangerous than anything he’s faced on the New York docks. 

Lilah Wells is committed to helping others: the judge who’d taken her in years ago, the neighboring children, and the ranch residents, which now includes the judge’s handsome wayward grandson. And it all gets more complicated when her heart starts ruling her actions. 

Amazon / Nook / Kobo / Apple / Windtree Press 

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 25+ novels and over a dozen novellas and short stories of murder mystery, western historical romance, and action adventure. She has a RomCon Reader’s Choice Award for her Action Adventure and received the EPPIE Award for Best Contemporary Romance.  This is what reviewers says about her Letters of Fate Series: “What a refreshing and well written love story of fate and hope! Very well written but sometimes sizzling love scenes!”

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