Thankful Author 2019- Peggy Jaeger

Every year when Angela puts together her Thankful Authors event, I sit down and try to think what I am most thankful for in the past year. My family, my freedom, my country – those things are givens.

But for 2019 I had to dig deep.

2019 was a hard year for me professionally, personally, and physically.

Professionally, I was dropped by my new publisher in the middle of a book series due to slumping sales and low readership. While I can’t blame them for it – no business wants to back something and then not see a return on their investment – I was saddened, and I’ll admit embarrassed, at being so categorically and publicly dumped.

Personally, my aging parents continue to, well…age, and bring with that all the problems and complaints specific to the infirm elderly with them. I am an only child and therefore their sole caretaker and advocate. I need to take them places now because they don’t drive, can’t be waiting for buses in the winter cold and can’t afford taxis to take them to weekly doctor appointments or even grocery shopping. My mother fell and broke her hip last year and every movement she makes worries me because I am afraid she will fall again. They live about 25 miles from me, so I need to set aside one entire day every week to get them where they need to be. I’m not complaining, even though it may sound as if I am. They want to remain in their own home for as long as they can live somewhat independently and I will not take that away from them.

On the physical side I had rotator cuff surgery combined with a bicep muscle and tendon repair in august and am still –slowly- rehabbing. The loss of independence for 4-6 weeks was truly awful. The pain from the surgery is still present and because of my age may take up to a year to heal. Coupled with that is the fact I can’t exercise like I should due to the injury and a concomitant weight gain because I can’t is making it worse.

So, the question begs itself, what am I thankful for this year?

Looking at the big picture, it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be to figure that out.

Professionally, I still have one very faithful publisher in the Wild Rose Press for whom I have three new books coming out soon. Being publisher orphaned forced me to do something I had fought doing for years: self publish. I continued the series, only went indie and self pubbed it myself. I would never have explored that otherwise.

Personally, I am grateful that even thought my parents are aging, they are still with me. They may be slower and less able to do what they’d like, but they are present, able to care for themselves for the most part, and can live in their own home. In this day and age, that’s huge.

Physically, while I still have the operative pain, it is nowhere near as bad as the preoperative pain was, plus I can move my arm so much better now that I could before the surgery, so again, that’s huge.

As we go into 2020, the promise of a new decade makes me thankful I live in a time where we are free citizens, have all the freedoms afforded a citizen of the US and can still live our lives, well….freely.

Media kit for It’s a Trust Thing

Author: Peggy Jaeger

Pub date 11.1.19, exclusive to Kindle and KU

Self-Published

Genre: romance, contemporary romance, Rom Com, Women’s fiction

Blurb

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.

Excerpt

He opened the passenger door for me and I got in.

“You never answered me,” he said when I was seated. “Would you like to do this again?”

I’d lived my entire adult life taking chances in my professional life but shying away from them in my personal one. The reasons to avoid becoming involved were valid ones, in my mind, and they’d served me well.

But there was something so different about this man, something that wanted me to finally give in and take a chance that he wouldn’t be like all the other men I’d gotten close to. He wouldn’t use me to his own end; he wouldn’t betray me; he wouldn’t lie to me about who and what he was.

And dammit, I deserved to have some fun.

All this ran through my head as he stood, patiently waiting for my answer.

It really didn’t take much effort on my part to make a decision. With a half grin and my gaze staying zeroed in on his, I reached into my briefcase and pulled out one of my business cards. While the driver waited, I wrote my private cell number on the back of it. There were only five people on the planet who had this number.

Now, Charlie did as well.

 As I handed it to him, I cocked my head and said, “Maybe next time we can get through an evening without me needing first aid or being mugged.”

His jaw wide smile made my stomach muscles flutter. He leaned in, gave me a quick peck on the cheek and said, “Where would the fun be in that?”

Buy Links:

Exclusive to KU  and Kindle only:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Y7LMJNR

Author bio:

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/Blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger

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

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

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

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

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

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

You-Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDR8RRIlssIyS0FYZWeGqsg/videos?view_as=subscriber