2021 is Here!

One of my goals this year is to try and remember to post here more often. I put it down in my date book, but then something else needs my attention and I tend to put this off and deal with everything else. I’m sorry!

With 2021 I am finishing up a murder mystery series. I hope my readers like the way I ease out of the Shandra Higheagle mysteries. I felt like it was time to do a graceful exit with the option to pick it up in the future. 😉

I’m starting a new murder mystery series which is requiring a LOT of research. I want to make sure the setting rings true and the stories are riveting. If you, or someone you know, works for an Indian Gaming Casino, I would love to visit with you. You can email me at patyjag(at)gmail(dot)com.

Hawke is set to get two new books this year. The one I’m starting on next week will also require a lot of research. I’ve been reaching out to people for help. Hopefully, a few will come through.

Right now you can get the first book of my Isabella Mumphrey trilogy, Secrets of a Mayan Moon for $0.99 through a bookfunnel event I’m participating in: Strong Women Leads. https://books.bookfunnel.com/strong_female_lead/rbrgaya5oy

My two horses and George, the donkey, had their hooves trimmed yesterday. George and my mare needed it done. Jan, the gelding, just needed evened out. If the ground wasn’t frozen with some icy spots, I could ride, but at my age, I prefer to ride in adverse conditions. 😉 We have had very little snow so far, but it is only January. There are still two months in which we could get snow. That’s the good and the bad of living in the high dessert. We do get snow, usually in small amounts that melt quickly. Or we get a foot and it stays really cold. And you never know when you’ll have either.

I hope you have a wonderful year and keep coming back here to see what I’m up to. I’m hoping things ease up and I can attend the three conferences that were cancelled last year. We’ll see!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you are spending this day, or weekend, with people you care about or how you wish to celebrate or not celebrate this time of year.

We are spending the day with our family who live down the road. We see them all the time, and we live rural. One of the perks of being rural. 😉

As always at the end of the year, I figure out what I’ve accomplished and where I want to go with my writing. I am ending a mystery series. The last book is written and will be published in early 2021. I’m starting a new murder mystery series that I’m nervous and excited about. It’s requiring a lot of research because it is set in a business I know nothing about- Indian run casinos. And the protagonist is female disable veteran. Lots to learn!

I’m excited to write the next Gabriel Hawke book which will deal with Missing and Murdered Indigenous women. I know that sounds bad to say I’m excited about writing it. But what I really mean, is I hope by using this as a premise in my book, I can shed more light on the problem. And 75% of the proceeds from this book will go to the MMIW organization.

If you haven’t had a chance to start the Shandra Higheagle murder mystery series, or have been putting off getting the 7th book in the series, Yuletide Slaying, it is available right now at all ebook venues for $0.99. It was picked by Books2Read for a special Christmas promotion. http://d2d.tips/diehardchristmas

The best part of Christmas to me is finding the perfect gift for each friend and family member. I love the search, wrapping the gift, and then the look on their faces when they open the gift. That and spending the day together, playing cards, visiting, and enjoying good food.

Wishing you a fabulous Christmas and a New Year that brings you all the joy and love you could ever wish for!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Itching to Decorate for Christmas & Party!

As hubby keeps saying, “It isn’t Thanksgiving yet!” However, last year for some reason, I can’t remember, we only had the decorations up for a few weeks and I felt slighted. I feel like I need to get the decorations up so I can enjoy them longer. I’ve already started listening to Christmas music- Penatonixs- but I’m still not ready to gorge on Hallmark Christmas movies.

I’m also going to be gone all next week at a writing retreat on the coast. Which will cut into time to get other things done *cough* Christmas presents *cough*. I always sew something for the grandkids. I know my kids enjoyed when my mom would give them things she made herself.

And, I’ll lose a week in December when I travel to Wisconsin with my daughter to pick up pigs. You can believe I’ll be blogging about that trip!

The more I think and write about this, I will take down some of the Fall decorations and be prepared to have our oldest daughter and her girls along with another granddaughter help me decorate the house the day after Thanksgiving! Then it will be finished and I won’t have to worry about it when I’m on the trip.

How about you? Do you like to decorate or have your house decorated for the holidays? I tend to do something for every season/holiday. It makes the house look happy.

I’m having a “Where in the world is Isabella Mumphrey?” Facebook party to reveal the new covers for my Isabella Mumphrey action adventure/suspense/thriller trilogy. There will be clues and those who leave the correct answers will be in the running for some great prizes. Books, gift cards, tote bags, swag, and other goodies.

So join me Nov. 14th on Facebook. Sign in that you are attending today so you will be ready to join the fun at 5 pm PST.

https://www.facebook.com/events/471554667120961

And book 1 Secrets of a Mayan Moon is on sale in ebook for $0.99 through the weekend.

Secrets of a Mayan Moon

Book one of the Isabella Mumphrey Adventure series

Move over Indiana Jones and MacGyver- Isabella Mumphrey has arrived!

Child prodigy and now Doctor of Anthropology, Isabella Mumphrey, is about to lose her job. Unless she can decipher an ancient stone table—and she can. She heads to Guatemala at the request of her mentor, but drug trafficking bad guys and artifact thieves wreak havoc on her scholarly intentions.

When undercover DEA agent, Tino Kostantine, meets Dr. Mumphrey it’s obvious she’s never been in a jungle or outside of the States. Entangled in helping her discover the truth in the tablets may make both of them lost casualties buried forever.

https://books2read.com/u/bzQEE4

It’s October!

I don’t know why but I’ve always loved the month of October. I think it’s the cooler weather, pretty leaves on the trees and bushes, and gearing up for the end of the year holidays.

I have my house decorated inside and out with fake Fall leaves, pumpkins (scary and plain), and lights and candles. I’m not a huge fan of it getting dark earlier. That means the feeding has to be done earlier and that cuts into the afternoon writing and sewing time.

Yes, you saw sewing. This time of year and through the winter, I tend to sew in the later afternoon and evening. It just feels like I need to stay busy but my brain is fried from writing during the day and sewing is kind of a no-brain work thing. Especially when I’m sewing or cutting pieces for quilt tops.

This is what I’m working on now.

I picked up the “fat quarters” while I was in Hawaii last year. I have always like batik fabric and wanted to make a quilt out of it to represent our 40th Anniversary trip.

We have four cats who stay in my hubby’s shop. I check on them and feed them every morning and evening. Cautious- seen below, is so named because he usually is cautious about people. Lately he’s been coming down off his high perch and greeting me when I feed.

Our daughter raises IPP pigs (Idaho Pasture Pigs). She has a litter that were born not too long ago. This is a photo of one that I thought was cute.

On the writing front- I finished Turkey’s Fiery Roost, book 6 in the Gabriel Hawke series. It is off to critique partners and a beta reader.

Now I’m formatting Collateral Love, novella 4 in the Tumbling Creek Ranch series. That will be publishing for a low price next week, so stay tuned or get on my western romance newsletter list- https://bit.ly/2JVGe4j

And I’m getting excited about my cover reveal party for the new covers of my Isabella Mumphrey Adventure series. That party will be happening in November. Stay tuned to learn more about that.

This month, October 24th, the Cowboy Kisses Authors will be having a Facebook Party on our Facebook Page. I’m scheduled for noon Mountain Time. We’ll be giving away books, prizes, and having fun. Drop by if you have a chance: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CowboyKisses

Looking forward to the rest of this month. I’ll keep you posted of all the fun going on.

Time and Focus

Lately I’ve been struggling to find the time for things I want to do and staying focused when I do get the time.

Writing is one of the things I do for me. Not only to have some money to spend how I wish but also because I don’t feel settled if I’m not writing. Years ago, I would fantasize bad things happening to the people I loved when I was apart from them. Once I started writing, I stopped having those fantasies. My imagination had a creative outlet by writing stories.

These days, I write nearly every day. It is very rare that I find my mind going to places I don’t direct it to. I enjoy the flexing of my brain while trying to figure out a new book’s plot or coming up with characters.

Writing mysteries is my favorite thing to do. I can bring justice to the world in my imagination while I can’t to the real world.

I’m getting ready to reveal something big in the coming months. One is the fact I will be publishing my 50th book, the other is a new mystery series.

So stay tuned for all the new fun things that are going to happen in 2021.

And I’d like to add that this week only you can purchased the first three Gabriel Hawke Novels in an ebook box set for $0.99! That’s at all ebook vendors.

Books 1-3 in the Gabriel Hawke Novels

Oregon State Trooper Gabriel Hawke works the Fish and Wildlife Divison in Wallowa County. He not only upholds the law but protects the land of his ancestors.

Murder of Ravens

Book 1

State Trooper Gabriel Hawke is after poachers in the Wallowa Whitman National Forest. When he comes across a body wearing a wolf tracking collar, he follows the trail of clues.

Mouse Trail Ends

Book 2

Dead bodies in the wilderness. A child is missing. Oregon State Trooper Hawke is an expert tracker, but he isn’t the only one looking for the child.

Rattlesnake Brother

Book 3

State Trooper Gabriel Hawke encounters a hunter with an illegal tag. The name on the tag belongs to the Wallowa County District Attorney and the man holding the tag isn’t the public defender.

Universal Book Link: https://books2read.com/u/3LgqpJ

Double Anniversary Month!

Happy May everyone! This month has been very good to me in the past. I married my hubby and I published my first book in May. Both have been the best blessings in my life!

My hubby has always been good about not knocking me following my dream of being a writer. He encouraged me to take writing classes when the kids started school and later to pursue writing for the local papers. He paid for a lot of my paper, ink, and postage when I started out writing novels and submitting to publishers and agents. Knowing he wanted me to fulfill my dream has helped me to push harder to prove to him, he wasn’t wrong in giving the time, money, and space to write.

The other reason May is an anniversary month, I published my first book with Wild Rose Press in May of 2006. It was Marshal in Petticoats, a historical western romance. I went on to publish 9 more books with them before I took the Indie Author plunge and started publishing my books myself. I’m glad I did.

Because I went Indie, I can put any of my books on sale whenever I want. And to celebrate my anniversary month, I have 3 steamy contemporary western romance novellas in a ebook boxset for $0.99 all month long!

Love at Tumbling Creek Ranch

Three steamy contemporary western novellas set on a Dude Ranch in Montana following members of the Wallis family as they find love.

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…

https://books2read.com/u/mv5w8X

Happy April 1st!

Most people like to pull pranks on April Fool’s Day, but I have some great things going on today and they are all for readers!

First, I have partnered with other western historical romance authors to do a $0.99 ebook special today. You can click this link and it will take you to a page with all the ebooks on sale today for $0.99.

My $0.99 book is Davis: Letters of Fate.

Widowed with two small children and a ranch to run, Mariella Swanson knows she needs help, but isn’t sure her heart, or neighbors, will accept her marrying a stranger. When the greenhorn shows up, smoking a pipe and wearing a derby hat, she can’t help but wonder if agreeing to this marriage may prove to be her biggest mistake.

When Davis Weston receives a letter from his sister asking him to marry a friend, he scoffs at the idea. However, losing his wife and son has left him a lonely man, and the whispers from others that he didn’t do enough to save his family has gone on long enough. His arrival in Oregon may be worse—these neighbors are doing more than whispering. Guns and horses aren’t his forte. He’s willing to learn, but is he willing to love again?

Special Buy Link

The second fun thing happening today is an April Fool’s Party over at the Pioneer Hearts Facebook page. There is 12 hours of fun with the PH authors. I am scheduled 12:10 EST or in my case 9:10 PST. We are all talking about writing historical westerns and giving away gift certificates, books, and swag. Come on by and chat with the authors. It will be a good way to take your mind off of what is happening in the world for a while.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pioneerhearts

I hope you join us for the fun and distraction.

$0.99 Birthday Special!

From now until July 1st you can purchase the Letters of Fate Trilogy as an ebook box set for only $0.99!

It’s my birthday month and I like to give. So for this limited time you can get Davis, Brody, and Issac for a steal of a price. The normal price for these this box set is $9.99.

These are my “mail-order grooms” books. Only instead of the hero getting a letter from the heroine, he receives a letter that changes the course of his life and puts in the way of his future bride.

Three historical western novels filled with steamy romance and the rawness of a growing country.

Davis: Davis Weston receives a letter from his sister asking him to marry a friend. Widowed with two small children and a ranch to run, Mariella Swanson knows she needs help, but isn’t sure her heart, or neighbors, will accept her marrying a stranger. Can the two compromise or will fate once again leave them alone?

Brody: After receiving a letter, Brody Yates finds himself escorted across the country to work on a ranch rather than entering prison. However, a revenge driven criminal, the Oregon high desert, and his grandfather’s beautiful ward may prove more dangerous than anything he’d faced on the New York docks.

Isaac: The last thing Isaac Corum needs or wants is a snooty woman. Dang it all, the woman doesn’t do a single blasted thing she’s told, and Isaac can’t just sit back and let her go traipsing off into the mountains alone…

Universal link: https://books2read.com/u/47zp6R

Christmas Tree Hunting by Paty Jager

20181202_200946 No guns were used during our Christmas tree hunt. 😉 And despite the need to get a book finished, I spent all day Sunday dashing through the snow looking for a tree with one set of grandchildren. After we found the perfect tree, we brought it home, had dinner, and then decorated it.

I have a few more touches to do to it to make me happy, but it is up and mostly decorated. The grandkids had fun in the snow since this is their first winter not in Alaska, where they are used to snow for many more months than we have it in Oregon. They were rolling around in it and acting as if they had never seen the white stuff before. LOL

Grandson shaking snow off the tree so I could get a better look at it.

This morning I sent out my friends and family Christmas cards and special cards and gifts to select readers from the Pioneer Hearts Facebook group I belong to. If you aren’t a Pioneer Hearts member and you are on Facebook, you can join the group and find out about wonderful historical western romance books and visit with the authors of the books.

Santa Claus hands holding digital tablet with Christmas ornament

Right now Windtree Press, the author co-operative I’m a member of, is having a Holiday Book promotion. https://windtreepress.com/holiday-books/

All I have left to do for Christmas is bake cookies and make candy to share with neighbors. Then host family starting the Saturday before Christmas. Until then, I’ll be polishing Homicide Hideaway, book 12 in the Shandra Higheagle series and finishing, Mouse Trail Ends, book 2 in the new Gabriel Hawke series.

Are you done with your Christmas shopping and decorating? If not, what do you still have to do? Are you feeling good about where you’re at or stressing? If you’re stressing, make a cup of hot chocolate and watch a movie you enjoy. Life is too short to stress!