All posts by Angelique Conger

I have always been a writer, as long as I can remember, I have written! Until recently, my genre was poetry. After a challenge in 2013, I started writing novels, and I find I love to discover the story of the women I have been wondering about for years! I am a wife, mother, and grandmother, once a teacher, always a friend.
Challenges, Change

Are You Enjoying Spring, Yet?

Happy March! 

February was a tough month for our family. My sweet husband spent more than three weeks suffering from upper respiratory infection—serious and deep bronchitis. Apparently, it was both bacterial and viral. Either way, his cough was strong enough to break or bruise a rib. It has not been fun for us.

Additionally, I became the go-to baby sitter for my son’s foster children while he struggled to set up daycare. (My poor husband had to suffer alone at home while I was gone.) Setting up daycare was not as easy as his instructors led him to believe. As of yesterday, the end of February, it was set up, and I can stay home every day—unless they get another newborn, too young to go to daycare.

I am looking forward to a wonderful spring. Our health is improving and the weather is warming up!

Here in southern Nevada, it’s spring! The temperature is warming up into the 70s, the skies are clear and beautiful, and the trees are budding and blossoming. We are loving it. I even opened the back door to let in cool air for a while today. It is lovely. The photos here are of trees blooming in my neighborhood. We are hoping the moisture received in the Rocky Mountains will flow down the Colorado, fill our reservoirs, and relieve our drought.

If you are living in the north or east, I feel your pain. I’ve seen pictures of the snow in your area, and glad that I don’t live there!

If this year is anything like those in the past, we may be facing some flooding, as a result of all the snow and rain. Every year, our country struggles with weather challenges—whether it is flooding or drought, tornadoes or hurricanes, rain, snow, or none of these at their normal times.

Many would have us believe the challenges we face each year, including the melting of ice in Antarctica, are caused by humans. I do not deny the changes in our weather patterns, but I do wonder how humanity can drastically affect it.

I recently saw a story describing a change many may not have heard. The elders of native Aleuts have watched the skies for centuries, needing to know the timing of their hunts, and other things important to their tribes. These Aleut elders state there has been a change in the skies—they have moved. Stars are not where they should be. The earth has shifted. Could a shifting like this be the cause of our weather changes?

Regardless of the cause, our weather patterns are changing. I suspect they have changed since the beginning of time. When writing Eve, First Matriarch, I discovered they faced a severe drought when the rains came early, destroying their crops, and did not return for nearly a year. In those days, weather changes could be deadly.

To learn what happened to them, check out Eve, First Matriarch here.

Share with me what your weather is like. Are you enjoying Spring, or waiting for it? I’d love to hear.

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Challenges, choice and accountability

Weather Wonders

We had an interesting month in January. It was colder than most in our neighborhood, and colder for many of my friends in other places in the west.

The air has been cold and clear here in Southern Nevada. Snow covers the tops of our mountains. Skiers and snowboarders love the 117” of snow. We in the west are enjoying a break from a series of storms. We had nice rain fall from three storms, one after the other in the past weeks. Our parched earth soaked in the mostly gentle rains.

As usual, a few people had to be rescued from the swiftly flowing waters downtown and on the east side of the valley. All in all—it was pleasant.

We love to hear that the snow pack in Colorado and the Rockies appears to be well over the usual amount expected. The Sierra’s have received more than normal. Eastern Oregon and Western Idaho received so much the roofs on buildings collapsed from the weight, and more is expected. California is already seeing floods and filled reservoirs. We in the west hope this weather pattern continues, with less destruction of property and relieving our current drought. Even with all the rain and snow pack, officials fear Lake Meade will continue to drop down the least few feet to trigger mandatory water conservation through the west.

How can that be possible?

Obviously, we use too much water in our homes, agriculture, and play. The west is a great place to live, but with our lack of water, too many people can cause big water problems. Worse, for the whole country, lack of water creates problems for agriculture. Many vegetables and fruits grow in the warm sunshine of California and Arizona. If mandatory conservation laws are put into place, I hope the farmers and fruit growers figure out how to grow more and waste less.

Government, industries, companies, homes, families, and individuals need to be aware of how they use and waste water. Is there a way you can be more water aware?

In Eve, First Matriarch, Eve and her family face a drought. They prayed for assistance from Jehovah, then went to work.

It did not rain for a long time. The family was forced to change their water usage. Crops dried without maturing, animals that didn’t leave died from thirst. Children were bathed less often. Only after great faith and waiting many months, did the rains return.
When it did:

Absalom lifted his head and asked, “What is that sound?”
I listened. A small plop sounded on the roof, too loud to be leaves. Another plop. I opened the door and Bilhah and Absalom ran outside.
“It is raining, mama! Rain!” Absalom danced in the gentle rain.”

Sometimes, our best inventions come from a great need. Perhaps new methods to recapture and waste less will be a result of the current water crisis. Or, maybe we will get more snow and rain.

Regardless, as the snow melts, and the storms march across the continent to the east, people will be endangered by floods, tornadoes, avalanches, rock and mud slides, and other storm caused dangers. Where ever you live, be watchful of the storms and their after effects. Be careful, and use water wisely!

What are you doing to protect your water resources? How are you surviving your winter? Are you inundated with snow, or is it dry where you live? I look forward to hearing of your winter weather.

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Author, First Matriarch

It’s Live! Did You Get Your Copy?

It’s live! My first book, Eve, First Matriarch, is now live on Amazon, available in Kindle, paperback, and now Kindle Unlimited. I would be honored if you would order and read it! Check it out here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MU4KRWT

I am so excited that some of you have already ordered my book. I hope you received it this morning!

This has been a crazy busy week. My son’s car was wrecked, another son needed help with his foster babies, and my computer decided to crash the weekend before my book release! Only taking care of the babies was fun.

It seems my computer fan is dead, and it has gone to the service center. In the meantime, in order to survive, I’ve borrowed my husband’s computer until mine is returned. It has been a challenge to find all my files. I managed to save them onto a new exterior drive—the old one I was using died. It makes my stomach hurt just to think about all my struggles to retrieve all my important files.

I haven’t retrieved everything yet. Still working on that. However, I plan to get the last of the important problems solved today. I did learn one important lesson: Backup, backup, backup, in many places, so if one crashes, another will be available!

So scary and frustrating to think all your work on a book may be lost. For four days I thought my work on Book 3 had disappeared and was gone forever. Finally, after looking almost everywhere, it appeared! I offered my gratitude to my Heavenly Father, for only he could guide me to its location. I definitely believe in an answer to prayers.

I promise I won’t look at my sales page every 30 minutes to see if you bought my book, but I’d really appreciate it if you did. Drop me a line and tell me how you like it. If you give me your snail mail address, I’ll send you an autographed bookmark.

 

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Author

A New Year, A New Book

Time passes quickly, especially when you are busy!

I have been busy over the last weeks of December and the beginning of January. I worked hard to get my first book, Eve, First Matriarch, ready for you to read! I am in the final stages of approval on both Create Space, which will allow you to order a paperback copy, or Kindle, which is electronic. The kindle version goes “live” on January 17!! I expect the paperback copy will be available by the beginning of next week. I even have an author page on Amazon:  amazon.com/author/angeliqueconger

I am learning the most difficult phase of being a self-published author, or an authorpreneur, is the marketing. I had never written even a good short story before. This required lots of new knowledge. I have read many books and reworked the original words many times to make this first book worth reading.

I finally talked my good husband into reading it for me, now that I have a paperback proof. He read it for errors, and did a good job of finding them. He even told me how much it affected him—something he wouldn’t say if it were not so.

If you would like to help me share the word about my book, I’ll be more than happy to have you on my team. All this is new to me, so we can learn how to get the word out together. I’ll blink twice and the book will be available to buy.

Check out the Amazon page and order yours today.

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Christmas, Eve

A Christmas Story and a Free Gift

1 Comment

Merry Christmas to you!

This has been “one of those” Christmas seasons for us. My sweetheart came down with bronchitis, and has not been able to get rid of the cough or the randomly returning fever. Lots of things we would have liked to do but couldn’t.

It reminds me of the Christmas when I was 6. Not a good year for me. We lived in the basement of our house while my dad was building the upstairs, with mom’s help. We had a nice house down there and we spent many lovely Christmas’s together there before they finished the upstairs part.

I don’t remember if my brother was sick that year, I was much too sick to remember. I had the flu. I remember my two major gifts: my bicycle, full size of course—mom and dad could only afford one bicycle and it had to last, and a Bonnie Bride doll, dressed in a dress similar to the one I chose when the day came for me to marry.

I don’t remember getting up to look at the presents Santa brought. I do remember being so sick I’d get up to sit on my bicycle for a few minutes, play with my doll, then crawl back into bed for an hour or so. I repeated this throughout the day, too sick to take the bicycle outside to try to ride it.

I still have the bicycle, it’s in my garage. I plan to get it cleaned up and new tires and inner tubes and ride it in the spring.

I hope your Christmas is happier than that one was for me. Memorable as it was, I wouldn’t want to be sick for Christmas again.

*** **** *** **** ***

My first book, Eve, First Matriarch, will be available in January through Amazon. If you’d like a free advanced copy, I’ll be happy to share. I only ask that you write an honest review in exchange. What do you write in a good review?

Check out this for suggestions on how to write a review.

There are two ways to receive your free copy:

Fill out the contact form on the Contact Us page
Send me an email: [email protected]

Please include the email address of your kindle reader device.

I look forward to receiving your request.

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Christmas, Peace

Share Peace and End Fear

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War continues to scourge the earth. The Royal Army and the Royal Navy (Great Britain) have had only one year without some kind of conflict since the reign of Queen Victoria. We, who abhor war and killing, are disheartened by this. Additionally, we see increased numbers of murders in our cities and states. When will it end? Will it ever end?

If you read popular fiction, the end will arrive in some sort of apocalypse, followed by a dissolution of civilization. If you read the Bible, it will end with the return of the King of King and Lord of Lords, even Jesus Christ. He will bring a peace beyond all understanding, and a certain a cessation of war, murder, hate, and anger. If you read neither, what do you expect?

As we observe the hatred and fear caused by the recent elections in the United States, added to the fears and frustrations caused by  stories of atrocities caused by refugees from Syria, a subterranean shudder fills our hearts and rattles the soles of our feet like a San Francisco earthquake. Social media quivers with fear mongering. Like a virus, the plague of fear spreads across the land.

Natural gas is odorless, colorless, and highly flammable. It can fill a room or a building without anyone knowing—until there is some kind of spark. Then, the resultant flames burn hot, wild, and long. The effects of hatred and fear spreading among us will be like natural gas, exploding out of control.

There is a constant plague: man’s inhumanity to man—and women, as Mark Twain so eloquently described in Huckleberry Finn. There must be a way to turn off the gas, blanket the fire, minimize the fear, and reduce the hatred.

In this season of remembering the birth of Christ, the God of this earth, who promised us Peace, the challenge is to air out the fear and spread kindness. It is easy to focus on spending money on children, loved ones, and friends. That is nice, but there is more you can do.

My challenge to you is to give of yourself in a way you don’t usually. Give things that cost no money, and spread peace. Choose one or more of these things to do as your gift to humanity this month.

  • Smile at your neighbors.
  • Smile at strangers in the stores.
  • Say hello to someone who looks sad.
  • Strike up a conversation with someone in a store.
  • Laugh at a joke, even if it is stupid.
  • Give each family member a hug.
  • Read a story to a child.
  • Complement others~
    • On their dress
    • On their beautiful eyes
    • On their hair style
    • On their children
    • On their smile
    • On something~

I’m certain there are things I forgot. Add to my list.

What did you choose? What did you add? I look forward to hearing what you are doing! Leave a comment!

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Holidays

I Give Thanks for You

img_1661Thanksgiving is almost here. I can almost smell the turkey and the pumpkin pie. I’m looking forward to gathering with my family to eat good food and thank our God for all our wondrous blessings this year. We have been abundantly blessed.
For the last few years, I participated in National Novel Writers Month (NaNoWriMo). In those years I wrote the rough drafts (or most of them) for three books. This year, however, I’ve spent my November working on editing and polishing the draft for my second book and getting those things done that are required for my first book. It has been just as busy as working to write 50,000 words toward a new one.
Book 1 in my first series, Ancient Matriarch, is almost ready. I plan to publish Eve: First Matriarch in January. I am grateful to have it this close. Only a few, very important things, left to be done. Book 2, Ganet: Wife of Seth, was sent to my editor this week, and my short story is almost ready to be sent to the valuable readers of my newsletter. (If you would like to read it, or know someone who would like a free short story, sign up for my newsletter—found on the upper right corner of this page.) Keep an eye on your email for it. It should be soon!
I hope you enjoy your turkey sits well with you and you don’t gain lots of weight. As you meet with family and friends, remember your blessings. I am grateful for you. What are you grateful for?

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choice and accountability, Freedom

Decision Time

san-marino-1Tuesday is a day of decision—the day many of us will enter our polling booths to cast our vote. Or not. It has been estimated that two-thirds or more who are registered will not take the time or trouble to actually vote. Some will believe their vote doesn’t count. Some believe it won’t matter, due to election fraud. Others can’t find someone to vote for. Others simply can’t be bothered.

I have a friend whose father was a popular elected official, so popular everyone expected him to be reelected. The expectation was so widespread many who supported him did not bother to vote. When the vote was counted, his competitor won by less than ten votes. Just ten friends, ten supporters, ten people who cared enough to take the time to vote would have changed the election and reelected the man.

This scenario has been multiplied many times every year, in all levels, of government, whether you are discussing local or federal elections. If a few hundred more had voted in each of the past elections, the results would be significantly different.

In addition to the big question of the presidential election, most localities have other questions on the ballot. These questions have the ability to significantly change lives in those localities. Some will impose increased taxes. Some may change attitudes about federal laws. Many states question the ability of individuals to use marijuana, either for medical or personal use. Other important questions are on ballots across the country. Those who do not vote will find their lives changes, happily or not

Do not be one of the two-thirds who choose not to vote. It is much too important, this year and every time there is a vote. Your vote makes all the difference, whether you cast it or stay home.

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Change, choice and accountability

Change is in the Air

20151124_141035-1The world around us is changing, as it does each year. The sun rises later and sets earlier, temperatures fall, flowers fade, and trees drop their leaves. Autumn brings these changes.

This year, as it does every four years, our country is in the thrall of elections. I think the election cycle is worse this time than ever before, at least in my memory. The ugliness of the rhetoric and awfulness of the diatribes against opponents overwhelms the airwaves. In our family we mute the commercials in an effort to ignore the political advertisements. We often resort to putting in a movie or turning to Netflix or a movie channel.

Rarely does the advertisement include anything positive about the candidate, the good things they have done, the proposals they make for the future of our country, how they propose to help the voters. It just isn’t there. How can we take any of them seriously?

I’ve been finishing my (hopefully) final edits on my book, Eve, First Matriarch. As I’ve read through her story once more, I yearn for the quiet days without politics. I dream of a day in the near future when we are once again led by men and women who have our best interests to direct them, who pray for guidance, and who trust us to do the right thing. That day will come once more, though I fear not soon enough.

Perhaps this is the reason apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic books are so popular today. We fear for our future, we feel a change for the worse, we sense our political leaders have everything except our best interest as directions, and we sense the worst for the future of our country and planet. What if it happens? What happens then? It drives our fears and books and movies that are produced.

I believe some of this worst will happen, though I refrain from predicting when that will occur. Perhaps that’s why I read and watch some of the post-apocalyptic stories. However, I believe the ending will be different, the resolution happier than predicted by these stories. I believe in the hope foreseen by Eve and her beloved Adam. All will be well in the end. The great Jehovah’s plan will be completed as envisioned.

Until then, I don’t watch or read political advertisements.

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Author, Challenges

Gone, But Not Forgotten

It’s Fall, already!20151124_141035-1

This summer has been tough for me and this blog. Between physical therapy, surgeries, for both me and my husband, and unexpected travel, I haven’t been very consistent. Now the days are cooler and shorter, and quieter. My plan is to resume writing on a weekly basis.

Eve, First Matriarch is closer to publication, as are books 2 and 3 in the series, Ancient Matriarchs. I (hope) I am on the last edit before preparing for publication. It takes longer, almost, than the original rough draft.

I am working on a short story to give to followers of my newsletter. When it is ready, everyone who is a current reader will receive a copy, as will any who subscribe in the future.

I look forward to sharing with you. Those who receive my newsletter receive news of publication first. If you haven’t subscribed, go to the top right corner of this writing and share your email address with me. Then, look for the short story and regular Weekly Musings.

See you there!

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