Full-Time Author and Blogger
I didn’t win, but I did manage to put together 46,444 words for the rewrite of my memoir, which I will take down the old one and replace with this one once I am done. It will be much longer than the first one for sure and hopefully better written.
Tessa –
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
New Author’s Website – http://www.tessadeanauthor.wordpress.com
Author – Old Writing – http://www.finallyawriter.wordpress.com
About my life – http://www.tessacandoit.wordpress.com
Reagan Colby and Benko Wyatt, best friends and fellow squires in the Academy of Knights in Nitedque, must work together with others who may or may not be on the same side as them to save Nitedque. As the Wraithmakers are devouring souls to build their army in the Sindycate, Reagan and her best friend Benko, who have made a blood oath to become life mates when she turns seventeen in a couple of years, must find a way to defeat them. Reagan is one of the best swordsmen in the Academy of Knights in her age group, despite being female. Magick is banned in Nitedque and so Reagan must be careful of keeping her majick under wraps as she practices to become stronger at it while keeping it secret. The magick leaves her vulnerable to Death, leader of the Sindycate, and she faints when a wraithmaker gets too close to Nitedque. The fainting spells come quicker and quicker leaving her with the knowledge that time is running out. Reagan lost her mother as a young child and she discovers that she has a connection to King Conrad Godwin that she never could have imagined – one that makes her understand why her oldest brother, Draven seemingly hated her from the days she was born. Her remaining family is also part of the King’s army trying to protect Nitedque from the Sindycate and an oncoming war seems inevitable. Follow Reagan and Benko as they try to avert a war between Nitedque and the Sindycate. Despite Magick being banned we meet others who still practice it in secret. Despite the fact that I do not like fantasy books for the most part, this book held my interest and I would highly recommend you read it if you are looking for a quick read and like fantasy books dealing with magick. The book moves at a great pace and is easy to follow. Get your copy on Amazon.
Preorder a copy here:
I started my very first novel in July 2020 and then rewrote it for November 2020 NANOWRIMO. Now I have gone through the beta readers and am editing it prior to getting a professional edit. I will not be publishing this book for you to buy, but once done it will be published on this blog in its entirety. This one novel has now become a series. I created a fictional small town and these will be their mysteries and murders.
Books two and three are partially started and that is what you have been reading on here although these serial prompts (as I call them) are not the total story and may change while actually doing the full writing for the book. You are seeing bits of it. They will also be published on this blog eventually.
I want people to enjoy my writing, but regular publishing, both traditional and Indie, aren’t for me right now due to financial considerations. BUT I still want people to enjoy them.
These two serial prompts are brought about by:
Rochelle’s “Friday Fictioneers”
Sadje’s “What Do You See?” Look under categories
Reena”s “Exploration Challenge”
Sammi’s “Weekend Writing Prompt”
These are just some of the prompts I follow (and can use for these stories), but not all of them can be used in my current work. Check them out if you like writing to prompts. These are some of my favorites, but my favorites are not limited to these particular ones. There are so many prompt sites out there, but I can’t write for them all sadly, especially if I want to write books too. I have about 8 books planned for this series so far. Some of them are old NANOWRIMO books I never finished or did anything with and some like books two and three are made from serial prompts. And actually book one uses many of my older serial prompts put together to form the story.
And for anyone looking for horror prompts, my friend Laura Nettles has 100 of them on her blog.
Tessa –
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
New Author’s Website –http://www.tessadeanauthor.com
Author – Old Writing – http://www.finallyawriter.com
About my life – http://www.tessacandoit.com
Author of a book published on the blog, https://tessacandoit.com/government-property-a-memoir-as-a-military-wife/
I am also a youtuber in the authortube section on writing. See my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpNS-6gfJ0s8eD1berLwQg
I started with one book. I called it “Murder in Angel’s Cove.” Then I got the idea to write a second book. I figured no problem, I would call it, “Another Murder in Angel’s Cove.”
Well you guessed it! Now I have up to 5 to 8 possibilities and I can’t keep calling them all “Another Murder in Angel’s Cove.”
So I am looking for a title that I could use to tie them together with possibly a subtitle to separate them or call them Book 1, Book 2, etc. I don’t really like numbering them though. I was thinking more of a subtitle with the character names that are featured mainly in that story. For example, book 1, would be:
Murder in Angel’s Cove:
Scott and Sarah Callan
or Scott and Sarah
and
Book 2 would be:
Murder in Angel’s Cove:
Ginny and Thomas
and
Book 3 would be:
Murder in Angel’s Cove
Cassie (right now she is the main character, no counterpart yet or maybe not at all)
Now here are a few ideas I was given by others. Maybe you like one of these or it sparks something new for you. I am looking for suggestions so please, give me your opinions.
Angel’s Cove: Dark Obsessions
Subtitle
Angel’s Cove: Lethal Angels
Subtitle
Angel’s Cove: Lethal Hits
Subtitle
The Angel’s Cove Files
Subtitles
The Angel’s Cove Dossiers
Subtitles
The Angel’s Coves Murders
Subtitles
Murderous Vibes at Angel’s Cove
Subtitles
Please leave any suggestions in the comments or email me privately at terri_smeigh@yahoo.com
Tessa –
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
New Author’s Website –http://www.tessadeanauthor.com
Author – Old Writing – http://www.finallyawriter.com
About my life – http://www.tessacandoit.com
Author of a book published on the blog, https://tessacandoit.com/government-property-a-memoir-as-a-military-wife/
I am also a youtuber in the authortube section on writing. See my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpNS-6gfJ0s8eD1berLwQg
I have now completed the first part of my memoir. There are 9 chapters. Click here or on the page above that says books for the link to read it.
Tessa –
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
New Author’s Website –http://www.tessadeanauthor.com
Author – Old Writing – http://www.finallyawriter.com
About my life – http://www.tessacandoit.com
Author of a book, a work in progress on the blog, https://tessacandoit.com/government-property-a-memoir-as-a-military-wife/
Highlighted chapters are done and ready to be read.
I am also a youtuber in the authortube section on writing. See my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpNS-6gfJ0s8eD1berLwQg
Click here to read the entire memoir. This is the last chapter.
Chapter Nine
Time to Re-enlist?
We had about one year left of his current enlistment. His four years were almost up. He had a year and a half left of reserve duty as well. He had to decide whether to re-enlist or get out and just live out the time left in his reserve status and hope he didn’t get called back into full duty.
We were trying to decide if we wanted to have another baby. We needed to do this before his time ran out, or he had to re-enlist. It was getting close. We required over nine months to have a baby and make sure everything was okay for travel with a newborn. So, we had a few months to try, and then time runs out. Do we re-enlist or not?
At that time, the Iran Hostages were a big issue. Our decision depended on who would become president of the United States and perhaps land us in a war. Neither of us wanted him to be sent overseas during active wartime.
Time passed, and I didn’t get pregnant. The only way to do it, so we had the baby in the military, was re-enlisting. We continued to weigh the issues. They were starting preparations for going overseas to the war zone. The wives were all being issued power of attorney since their husbands were going abroad. No one was exempt. The whole unit was going.
We decided not to re-enlist and quit trying to have another baby. He put in his request to get out in December 1980. His enlistment date was December 26, so we figured that would be his separation date in 1980. Our best friends were also getting out that very same December, but they had a separation date before us. It was quite a surprise when they told us Andy’s separation date would be December 8, 1980. Due to the holidays, the people who were not re-enlisting got earlier separation dates. Now we were getting out before Charlie and Kim were.
We prayed they didn’t rescind his separation date and make him stay and go overseas after all. The closer time came, and they were starting the procedures to send the unit abroad, the more we worried about this happening.
We started packing. Slowly packing things we wouldn’t need daily at first, and then more and more of our belongings. We had to decide whether to move with a U-Haul or have the military pack us up and move us.
One thing we couldn’t get out of was the military inspection of our quarters. We had to pass it, or we weren’t going anywhere. We did a cleaning, but with the threat above our heads about what would happen if we failed that cleaning inspection, we finally decided to hire a cleaning service that would clean and stand that inspection for us. That meant getting out of our housing unit early. We had to stay with someone or at a motel for a couple of days. They would clean, and per the contract, they would stand the inspection.
We decided to go with the U-Haul option. He would drive the U-Haul, and he would have the two dogs. I would drive our car with the children and our cat, who needed a cat box available.
We made arrangements with one of our neighbors on the court to spend a night or two there until we could leave on our separation date. They took us, our children, and our pets in, thankfully. A motel would have been more difficult.
We packed the last of the boxes in the U-Haul and moved down the street for the night. The next morning, we went to leave. Our neighbors had gathered around to say goodbye, and we started to load the vehicles with children and animals. The cat escaped us and took off. We looked for him everywhere. By now, I was in tears. We had to go, and the cat was nowhere in sight.
My next-door neighbor promised to keep an eye out for him, and if she found him, she would keep him. It was all I could expect. It was better than nothing.
Still crying, I got the kids buckled into the car. Andy got the dogs in the truck, and he proceeded to leave the court, which led to the highway. I was following him. We had to go out to the road and then turn right to the turnaround to get to the other side.
We drove down the highway. We turned around and headed back when my neighbor Caroline came running across the highway to the median. She had the cat in her hands. We stopped on the road, and I got out and got my cat, thanking her profusely.
Now we could go. We had about a 10-hour trip, not counting stopping for food and bathroom breaks. Andy didn’t have a radio, so he was traveling with just the dogs for company. I had the radio on, and just before we got home, they announced John Lennon’s death on December 8, 1980. I started to cry, and when we stopped for a bathroom break, I got out crying. Andy asked me what was wrong, and I told him. He wasn’t as upset about it as I was, of course. I was the Beatles fan, not him. Plus, I was the emotional one. Things like that didn’t bother him.
We got back into the vehicles and finished the last leg of our trip, and eventually arrived at his mother’s house. We had made arrangements with another friend in New Jersey to store our belongings until we could find our own home. We could stay with his mother, but our belongings couldn’t. She didn’t have the room to store them, although there was a lot less than we would have had if we didn’t use some of the furniture supplied by the base. The truck had to be emptied at his friend’s house and then returned to UHaul.
We were now civilians again. Our lives were about to change. Military and civilian life was different.
First off I am sorry to have been missing so long, but I am just getting over a severe case of colitis and my stomach is finally allowing me to eat solid foods, very limited solid foods, but solid foods. I was in the hospital for a week and a half and on 2 antibiotics to try to kick this out of my system. Now to make sure it is not an autoimmune disorder such as crohns, ulcerative colitis or diverticulosis I have to have a colonoscopy on February 1st! UGHHH!
Now for the exciting news. I have finally finished my novel. I wrote “The End” on Monday night and am editing now for beta readers which I will need volunteers for. If you are interested in beta reading a thriller/mystery/suspense novel let me know either here, at instatgram @tessawritesfulltime, or email terri_smeigh@yahoo.com. I need an email address in order to share a google doc with the reader. There will be questions at the top which you are not absolutely required to answer, but I would appreciate if you would, plus google docs allows you to add comments (I think you just highlight it and after that I am not sure how it works, but my first reader did it). This is my very first novel and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a lot wrong with it. I didn’t read a bunch of craft books either.
Title – Murder in Angel’s Cove
Synopsis – philandering husband, 2nd wife suspicious and on the hunt, throw in a stalker or two and then add 2 murders and stir.
Tessa –
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
New Author’s Website – http://www.tessadeanauthor.com
Author – Old Writing – http://www.finallyawriter.com
About my life – http://www.tessacandoit.com
Author of a book, a work in progress on the blog, https://tessacandoit.com/government-property-a-memoir-as-a-military-wife/
Highlighted chapters are done and ready to be read.
I am also a youtuber in the authortube section on writing. See my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpNS-6gfJ0s8eD1berLwQg
By Tessa Dean copyright August 2020
Most writers are either a pantser, which means they write by the seat of the pants or a plotter, which means they have to have an outline that lays the whole story out before they start to write. Now there are a few people who are a combination of both and they are called plantsers.
Pantsers write one day at a time letting the story tell itself. When they start they are not sure whether it will be a novel, novella or simply a piece of flash fiction. They must be ready to scrap their work if it doesn’t work out. The pros of being a pantser mean that you can kill off a character and not have to rewrite the whole outline. The cons though mean that it is far easier to get stuck and not be able to continue on until you straighten it out in your head. You have no plans to fall back on.
A plotter or planner plans their whole novel before they start writing. They methodically plan it out from start to finish. It can be scribbled on a piece of scrap paper or neatly written or typed out. It can be plain and simple or fully color coded. This is great for people who don’t want to go off plot because they can’t focus. They don’t want to go off their original plan. The pros are that they hardly ever have writer’s block because they can’t finish their outline until the whole story emerges anyhow. The cons though are really rough as they can’t just make changes on the spur of the moment as they will have to change their whole outline to fit in the changes each and every time they make a change.
Although I am a pantser for the most part, when it comes to novel writing it is too long for my memory to remember all the details so I am becoming a plantser as I have to create a story bible with my world built in it. It may be a contemporary story, but there is still a world to create for fiction.
Tessa –
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
New Author’s Website – http://www.tessadeanauthor.com
Author – Old Writing – http://www.finallyawriter.com
About my life – http://www.tessacandoit.com
Author of a book, a work in progress on the blog, https://tessacandoit.com/government-property-a-memoir-as-a-military-wife/
Highlighted chapters are done and ready to be read.
I am also a youtuber in the authortube section on writing. See my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpNS-6gfJ0s8eD1berLwQg
I won Camp NaNOWriMo this July with my new thriller (40,000 words so far) which I am calling “A Dark Obsession.”
Tessa –
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
New Author’s Website –http://www.tessadeanauthor.com
Author – Old Writing – http://www.finallyawriter.com
About my life – http://www.tessacandoit.com
Author of a book, a work in progress on the blog, https://tessacandoit.com/government-property-a-memoir-as-a-military-wife/
Highlighted chapters are done and ready to be read.
I am also a youtuber in the authortube section on writing. See my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpNS-6gfJ0s8eD1berLwQg
Tessa Dean - Author 