Blurbs Are So Hard

 

I would bet that almost all of the writers reading this blog agree that writing the blurb for you book is a daunting task. Sometimes it feels like it's harder to write the blurb than it was to write the book. I've been working on the blurb for Through This Together for several weeks and I'm still not happy with it. Partially because I have to decide which audience I want to target. The book is mostly about a family's challenges that they face because of the coronavirus shutdowns and the racial tensions caused by George Floyd's death. But, there's also a deep family story about a young woman being rejected by her family for being gay, and another young woman's fear of being rejected by her family for the same reason. The story is about friendships, relationships, and a sweet romance that blooms. So how do I put all of that into three hundred word advertisement?

Here's the most current blurb for Through This Together. I would love to get some comments and thoughts. 

Seventeen-year-old Natalie Weatherby, like most teenagers, didn’t give the news about the flu-like virus in China much thought. It wasn’t something that affected her life, and then the virus began to spread worldwide. Soon after, Kentucky, where Natalie lives, saw its first in early March, Natalie’s world turned upside down because the nursing homes stopped allowing visitors, and the school went virtual-only. 

Natalie loves school, and she and her mother visit her Grandma Tremmel in the nursing home every day. Like many people, Natalie assumed that things would be back to normal after a few weeks, but things continue to spiral out of control.

Being forced to work with her nemesis, Jill Harper, on a virtual school project and developing a crush on Jill is just the beginning of Natalie’s problems. Her grandmother has Alzheimer’s. After not seeing Natalie in person for several days, she starts thinking that Natalie is her sister, Bertha, a sister Natalie’s mother, Jennifer, didn’t know existed. 

And then, the racial tensions in the United States explode after the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Natalie didn’t think anyone in her family was prejudiced, but the protests bring out a side of Natalie’s brother, Ben, that she never knew existed.

   

The truths revealed during these family crises will have lasting effects on Natalie and her family. Are they strong enough to get through this together?

New Book Cover!

Happy April, Everyone! I come to you bearing good news. Amygdala Design has created another fantastic book cover for me. I started writing Through This Together about this time last year as we started our journey into life with the pandemic. 

I wrote this story from a seventeen-year-old high school junior's point of view. The main character, Natalie Weatherby, is a combination of teenagers in my life and a reflection of how I think I would have handled things if I were seventeen now and going through this crazy time.

When I was a teenager, we didn't have computers available to the general public, let alone social media. We did have prejudice and fear about what the future held, and we dealt with it to the best of our ability. I listened to my grandchildren and their friends talking about how they felt about what was happening around the world, and here in the U. S. They were more concerned about not getting to see their friends initially than they were about the virus. As time went on and the death toll rose, they started becoming afraid about what would happen if someone they knew got the virus.

On top of the virus, the United States was going through one of the most turbulent political times that I can recall. All of us who are over 50 have seen many good and bad changes in this country, but I've never been more afraid of where this country is headed than I am now.  

I touched on the George Floyd story and the politics because of changes I saw within my own family. There were already some issues about who liked Donald Trump and who didn't, but the tragic death of George Floyd brought out prejudices I didn't realize people I knew had. It's been an unfortunate discovery. 

I'm excited about releasing this story soon. I'm working with an editor to make sure there aren't many booboos. I was hoping to have this new book out by the end of April, but it's looking more like the end of May. But that's just around the corner. I hope you all will be watching for this story to become available. 

 

Spring Renewals

 

Spring has always been one of my favorite seasons. Not only does it mean that winter is ending, but it's a time of renewal. Everything starts feeling fresh and new. Baby leaves begin to form on the trees. Bright green grass is growing. Flowers are blooming, and the world seems to be awakening. This is more true this year than ever. Last spring was the beginning of the extended shut down put people in a state of panic and fear over the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though the grass grew and the flowers bloomed last spring, everything was tainted with a dark hue. 

This spring, there is hope in the air. People are getting vaccinated, and the number of Covid cases and Covid deaths are going down, hopefully for good this time. For many people, especially older people, this may be the first time in a long time that they feel safe enough to venture out to see family and friends. Sadly, visiting family and friends will mean going to their gravesites and memorials for too many people. I'm always sending my prayers to those who have lost people to this awful disease and pray that we will soon have it behind us. 

Spring is also time for me to renew several business contracts. I have to renew my GoDaddy contract for my website. I'm renewing my subscription to Grammarly.com. I'm also renewing my advertisement contract with Robin Lowey's e-zine, Epochalips. If you have not had a chance to check out this online magazine, I hope you will. There are some really great articles about lesbians we should know. And things we should know about lesbians. 

I've been advertising on Robin's page for several years now. It's helped a lot of readers find my books, which of course means new fans. 

Unfortunately, I don't have a new book coming out yet. I'm still waiting to hear from the publisher about the young adult lesbian romance story I just finished. It will probably be a few months before that book will be out if the publisher does take it on, so I'm going to be promoting my favorite Happy Ever After stories on Epochalips. It's been over eight years since I published my first young adult HEA, Suddenly, and it's still a fan favorite. Last year I published Sheltered by Love right around this time of the year, but as we sunk into the Covid depression, I didn't do much advertising for it. And I still haven't put it in print form. Something I hope to get accomplished before the end of this month. 

Both books will be a part of the I Heart Lesfic Mega Spring Sale next week, so this would be a perfect time for you to check them both out. 

As far as my writing, I'm still working on my adult lesbian romance that features women in their fifties. I hope to finish the first draft of that book, tentatively titled, Learning to Love Again, by the end of this month too. My goal is to have most of my writing projects tidied up by the end of March, so I can participate in NaNoWriMo's April writing camp and hopefully get another 50,000 words of a new story written. 

I've been so proud of myself because I've managed to post to this blog every month so far this year. Maybe I'll finally get into an excellent monthly trend. Until next month, I hope you'll stop by Epochalips and check out the stories there. I also hope you'll stop by I Heart Lesfic's Mega Spring Sale and load up on some good books. I know that's what I plan to do. 

Happy Spring, Everyone!

Patience

 

Patience is not one of my virtues. Although, if you talk to the people I work with at the library, they would tell you I have it in spades. If you ask my family, they will just laugh because they know I don't have any patience. But, it's one of those demons I deal with on a daily basis.

I mention this because I'm still "patiently" waiting to hear back from a traditional publisher about my next young adult lesbian romance. If I were self-publishing this story, I would probably already have it available. Still, the reason I want to publish traditionally is to get feedback from professionals about my writing. 

Yes, I have fans who love almost everything I write, and I so appreciate them all. But, I guess I want the industry recognition now. Not that I expect to win any awards or anything like that. There are far too many other more talented authors in the lesbian fiction genre for me to compete. But, I would like to have an editor or publisher say, "Your story is something we want to publish."

This is totally an ego thing, I guess—kind of like going to college for someone from a family like mine. I could easily make more money and not have student loans that I will never get paid off if I would have just gone to work in a factory. That's where many of my family members have made a ton of money. But, I desperately wanted a college degree, and now I have two. 

Even with my college degrees, I could go to work in a factory and make a lot more money than I do now, but I like my job at the library. And as much as I don't like people in general, I enjoy helping people, especially in times like these when everything is so uncertain for so many people. 

While I'm "patiently" waiting, I'm also working on my next adult lesbian romance and a genderqueer story. 

The genderqueer story has come about because of a friend who identifies this way. I've known him since he was a very little boy, as he is the son of friends of my ex-husband's and mine. The young man's parents were Godsends during very tough times brought on my ex-husband's eccentricities, and I will forever be grateful for the love and charity they showed my family and me. 

As I've gotten to know this young man as an adult, he's opened my eyes to a part of the queer community that is often disdained by many. He has been lucky enough to find a girlfriend who is comfortable with who he is, but I can only imagine how hard that must have been. As he said, "It's a minefield out there." That's true for everyone, straight or gay, but I can imagine it's even more so when you don't fit into one of the pigeon holes society and our communities want us to fit into. 

So I'm writing a tale based on his story because I think it needs to be written. That's how I got into this business to start with. More than ten years ago, when I began writing, Suddenly, there were very few HEA for young gays and lesbians, and that's why I wrote that story. I wrote Finding Jenna because there are precious few stories about transgender characters and even fewer that I not solely about coming out. I feel compelled to write this story for my friend and all the other queers like him who may not feel they fit into queer or normal society but who deserve to find the love of a soulmate.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday and was able to share it with someone they love. And I pray that everyone stays safe in the next week to come since most of the U. S. is under a winter storm warning, including us here in south-central Kentucky. 

Things Will Be Better In 2021?

I don't know about the rest of you, but 2020 is a year I would like to pretend didn't happen. Unfortunately, that is not possible for so many reasons, and especially for the over 2 million families who are morning the loss of loved ones due to the coronavirus. 

I had high hopes for 2021. Joe Biden is going to become president of the United States and Donald Trump will go away. The virus will hopefully be contained, and I will hopefully publish some new work. Sadly, Trump is not going to go away. It will still be months before the virus is contained, but I'm still hopeful about publishing. 

After Sheltered by Love didn't do as well as I had hoped last year, I went into a writing funk. I started doubting my ability to write a good story. Add some family drama and too much alcohol to that, it made for a rough year. 

The family drama has gotten a little better. I've put my drinking hat on the shelf to give my liver and head a break. But, I'm still in a bit of funk that is proving hard to get out of. I'm writing. I even sent my new young adult story about the pandemic to a publisher and hopefully they will publish it. I'm working on another story that I'm really enjoying writing, but I just don't have the enthusiam I've had in the past. I hate that I feel this way, and I believe it's because there is still so much drama and uncertainty in the world right now. Especially, here in the United States where many of us live in fear of what the next few weeks will bring. 

One thing that I have learned to do over the past several months is to focus on this moment. I can't change the past, and who knows what the future holds. But, this moment right now, I'm writing to my friends who read this blog. 

I hope the new year is starting out better for you than it has for me. And I pray that happiness will find you and bring you great joy this year. That is my wish for everyone, including myself. 

Hopefully, I'll have news about my story being published soon. So pleast watch for updates and have a fabulous day. 

Birthdays and School

In this picture from left to right: Deborah, Michelle, Jim, Julian, Jacob, Samuel, Gage, Jazmyn, and David.

It has been a wild couple of months. Of course, if you read my blog, you already know that my life is crazy. July and August are filled with birthdays. Starting on July 12th, my oldest grandson, Jacob, turned 16. I still can't get over that he's driving now and can grow a full beard. July 14th is my second oldest grandson, David's birthday. He turned 13 this year and is going through some early teen blues. July 23rd is my oldest granddaughter, Jazmyn's birthday. She turned 14 and started high school this year. August 4th is my youngest grandson, Julian's birthday. He turned seven and is all boy. August 24th was my birthday, and August 29th was my partner's oldest grandson, Ranger's birthday, and turned 6. Between the two of us, we have 11 grandchildren. Seven of them are mine!

On top of all the birthdays, school started on August 24th. It was supposed to begin on August 10th but was pushed back because of the coronavirus. It's funny how school beginning times have changed. When my mother was pregnant with me, back in the 60s, my sister and brother started school in September. Since Mom had me via cesarian, she opted to have me before school started. By the time I started school, they had moved the start date up to on or near August 24th, so school started for me on my birthday more often than not, including my senior year of high school. 

As any of you with kids know, this school year is totally different from any we've had before. Our school system is offering virtual or in-person classes. We opted for in-person for Jacob and Jazmyn, and we're homeschooling Julian. (Oh, if you're reading about my family for the first time, my partner, Rosa, and I are raising my oldest daughter's three kids. It's a long story.) Jacob and Jazmyn go to school on Monday and Wednesday and then have virtual classes Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The best thing about this is that we only have to drag them out of bed at six in the morning on Mondays and Wednesdays. The rest of the week, they have to log into their Google classrooms before noon. 

The kids are having a harder time with this than I am, but I get it. They miss their friends, and now, with the way things are set up, they still don't get to see most of their friends because they go school on the days my kids don't go to school. Just crazy. Plus, both Jacob and Jazmyn are in the marching band, which is they are still trying to have along with high school football, but we'll see how long that lasts.

On top of hosting birthday parties over the past two months, I also managed to get a picture with my ex-husband's father with all of the grandkids. I've been trying to do this for almost three years. My ex, Kelly, died of pancreatic cancer in 2010 at the age of 46. Our divorce had been reasonably amicable, and we had become friends again before he died. Kelly's family continue to consider me part of their family, for which I feel very blessed. His dad is going to be 80 next month and is not in great health. I'd been trying to get this picture done ever since my youngest daughter had her daughter, Deborah, three years ago because I know it's something both of my girls would want to have. We finally managed to get everyone out to Kelly's dad's house, except my oldest daughter, who had to work, but I plan to photoshop her into the picture and make a copy for both girls and Kelly's dad. 

Believe it or not, I have managed to get some writing and reading done over the past couple of months. I've read a mix of lesbian fiction and non-lesbian fiction and some nonfiction. I read Love and Forever by Chloe Peterson. It was an okay book, but not really my cup of tea. I just finished with Reservations of the Heart by T. B. Markinson. It's a sweet and very sexy romance, extra emphasis on the sexy. If you like a lesbian romance with lots of steamy sex, this is your story. I also read Leave No Trace by Mindy Mejia. It's a young adult thriller/adventure story, which was very good. And I'm listening to John Bolton's book, The Room Where It Happened. It's been very interesting and enlightening. 

I'm still working on the young adult lesbian drama story that takes place during the pandemic. You can read part of it on Wattpad. I'm also working on an adult lesbian romance that takes place in Florida and Kentucky. I'm hoping to have it finished and out by Christmas. 

And, if you've read this far into the blog, I have a special treat. I'm giving away autographed copies of Avalanche of Love. I have three copies to give away, so if you're interested in getting a copy, please email me at metudor.com@gmail.com.

I hope you are all holding up well amid the pandemic, raging heat, hurricane, and wildfires. I am sending out prayers for those of you who are suffering. 

Much Love. M. E.

This Upside Down World

It's been another crazy couple of months. I'm back to working in the public full-time and I have to admit, it's a bit scary. As some of you know, I work as a reference librarian at a public library in Kentucky. I think our library might be the only library in the state that is open to the public. Our patrons are very excited about us being open, especially people who don't have the Internet or cable at home. Most people wear masks when they come in, but there are way too many people who don't. 

My job is to help people on the computers and doing that from six feet away can be a little tricky. I've got a laser pointer and that helps. Most people are understanding about keeping their distance because of the virus, but at least once a day I get one of those people who's not wearing a mask and who wants to be in my personal space. Thankfully, I'm allowed to tell them to back up and keep their distance.

How's your life going in the midst of this crazy, upside down world? Do you work in one of the necessary services and have never gotten to be off? Or are you still out of work, just praying you'll have a job when this is all over. 

Life has been super crazy since I've gone back to work. It's made me realize how much procrastinating I did when I was off because now I rarely have time to spend a few hours on a computer. 

This past weekend our air conditioning was out (really how did we survive before air conditioning) and it was 85 degrees inside my house all weekend. Needless to say I didn't do much writing because I was on the back deck where it was cooler, but that was also where the children were playing and making a ton of noise. 

This weekend is the Fourth of July weekend I plan to work on a lesbian romance that I hope to publish in September. I'll post more about it soon. I'm also hoping to get a few more chapters from We Will Get Through This Together on Wattpad and Inkitt. Please keep an eye on my Facebook page for updates about this story.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday. And I pray you are all safe and enjoying every minute of life. Until next time, peace and love.