M. E. Tudor

I would say that I'm surprised that I haven't posted since July, but that wouldn't be true. I'm not surprised. This fall has been absolutely crazy, and the beginning of winter hasn't fared much better. Especially after I almost took the tip of my left pinky off with the car door. I have been mostly an optimistic person, but there have been a few really rough patches this year when my depression just about overtook me. I know a lot of you out there can relate. My partner, Rosa and I are raising my oldest daughter's three children. Jacob,14; Jazmyn, 12; and Julian, who is 5 and very good at it. Jacob is bossy and controlling. Jazmyn is a drama queen and hanging with the wrong people. And Julian is busy, busy, busy and making these two middle-aged women tired. We get no help from their mother, financially or otherwise, and that's my fault for being too loving of a mother and not enough of a bitch. Rosa's son and his wife help us as much as they ca...

This is the last chapter summary post for Finding Jenna. I hope that those of you who have followed this blog journey are as excited about the release of this book as I am. There are thirty-three chapters and an epilogue filled with excitement, courage, and love. Chapter Thirty-two Elliot takes his mother to Sandy’s restaurant in Morehead where Darlene and Terry get to meet Sandy. Everyone at the restaurant are excited to see Elliot and happy about the prospect of him possibly coming back to work there. Cara’s mother, Caroline, her grandparents, Ralph and Valerie meet there at the restaurant for lunch. Cara shows up with her new girlfriend, Bonnie. Elliot is disappointed and hurt that Cara doesn’t seem to be able to have the same feelings for him that she did for Jenna, but he knew if was a possibility from the beginning of his transformation. You didn't think I'd give the whole story away, did you? I hope you'll get your copy of Finding Jenna to find out if E...

Many apologies, yet again. One of the things about having children in your life, you can never predict how things are going to go. I thought for sure I'd be able to get online and update this blog for you while I had six of my seven grandchildren, but I was wrong. So here we are, just five days until the release of Finding Jenna. I hope that those of you who have been following the blog will be ready to get a copy of the book and find out how everything plays out. Chapter Twenty-nine Elliot goes to see his mother at the hospital in Evansville. Terry Howard had already explained to Elliot’s mother, Darlene about the changes he’s been through. Darlene wasn’t all that surprised and was just so happy to know that her child was alive that she didn’t care if he was a boy now. Elliot tells Darlene what happened and visits with her until the nurse tells him he as to go. Chapter Thirty Cara and Caroline Marshall are visiting Darlene when Elliot and Terry get back to the hospital....

This chapter is the climax of the story. Elliot will face off with his father. It's my favorite chapter of the whole book. Speaking of the book, we are just 10 days away from the official release date. I'm getting very excited and very nervous. I hope it will be well received.  After you read this summary, I have a special surprise for those of you who have been following the blog and the revealing of the chapter summaries. So, enjoy this short peak at this chapter and see what awaits for you on the other side.  The restaurant is getting busy and Elliot is trying to focus on cooking when he hears a scream come from the dining area. When Elliot goes out to see what is happening he sees his father, Michael Matthews standing in the doorway of the restaurant with his gun pointed at Cara. Elliot gets Matthews to let him take the plates that Cara is holding and uses them as weapons to distract Matthews so he can get Cara out of the back of the restaurant. Elliot puts Cara i...

Chapter Twenty-six Elliot follows the girls home and makes sure they are both safe before heading to his trailer in the woods. When he gets there he notices tire tracks that shouldn’t be there. He loads his gun and goes into the trailer. Whoever had been there and searched it had been a pro. They left very little traces of their invasion. Elliot let's Mark know about this new development. Chapter Twenty-seven When Elliot gets to work Sandy tells him about a man coming to the restaurant looking for him. The man turns out to be Terry Howard, his father’s former friend and the detective from Evansville in charge of the case on Jenna’s disappearance. Elliot calls Mark to tell him about Terry coming to the restaurant but doesn’t get the chance because Mark tells him about Michael Matthews finding out about the dead girl’s body. Mark tells Elliot that Matthews went ballistic and shot Elliot’s mom and now he’s on his way to get Cara. Elliot realizes the big fight with...

I've been having computer troubles. Someone hacked my Facebook account, and then someone put a virus on my computer. So, it's been a rough couple of days. I got my computer back from my repair guy yesterday, but I still haven't set it back up. Fortunately, I work with computers at my job so I'm able to load some more chapter summaries for you all. I hope you all are getting excited about the release of Finding Jenna. I know I am. Chapter Twenty-five After finishing his breakfast, Elliot tells the girls he needs to go to the hotel room to use the bathroom so he can call Mark. Elliot gives Mark the whole story about the guy in the white truck coming to the hotel room and asking for Jenna. Mark assures Elliot that he will look into it. He also reminds Elliot that the sting the FBI has planned is going to go down very soon. Elliot tells Mark that he hopes he’ll be able to tell Cara the truth very soon. Chapter Twenty-six Elliot follows the girls home ...

Fifteen short days away to the release of Finding Jenna and I'm getting more nervous by the minute. This book is so different from anything else I've done so I'm concerned about how it will be received. I'm sure some fans will be turned off by the transsexual story. Sometimes I feel compelled to write a story that I think needs to be out there. Like Suddenly, there are so few young adult lesbian romantic stories that have a happy ending that I felt like I needed to write one. Standing Her Ground actually came out of a story I was writing about Kaitlyn's mom, Catherine, and how several countries, particularly in Africa, use corrective rape as a way of punishing lesbians. I will eventually publish Catherine's story. It's funny, I've worked on that story longer than anything else I've written, and it's still not ready. But while writing that original story, I started wondering if something like that might be going on in the United St...

I have to apologize for being so far behind on my posts here. I've been preparing for a presentation on marketing that I did this morning at my public library. It went pretty well and I even learned some stuff from the attendees. Since I'm four days behind on posting, I'm going to post four chapter summaries. We're getting closer to the release date for the book and I hope these summaries will temp you to buy the book. Chapter Twenty Mark and Dana come to see Elliot at the restaurant to let him know that the Cobra Cartel’s meeting has been moved to August. Steven asks about Elliot’s family when he hears Elliot calling Mark and Dana is aunt and uncle. Elliot tells him the story he’s practices about his parents dying in a murder-suicide and the he was raised by Mark and Dana and his maternal grandparents. Cara and Steven butt heads and Elliot has to step in to break it up. Sandy threatens to fire both Cara and Steven if the problems continue. She also alludes...

Cara and two other girls, Megan and Brittany start working at the restaurant. Steven tries to hit on all three of them, and they all three turn him down. Cara does so by stating proudly that she is a lesbian. By the end of the first night, Elliot can tell that Brittany will probably not be back, but that Cara and Megan will stick around. He worries that Steven is going to continue to harass the girls because he doesn’t take no for answer. When they all leave the restaurant together, Elliot decides to follow Cara home so he will know where she lives in case he has to get her out of the area quickly.

I tried to post this morning but Blogger was not being cooperative. I'm getting so excited and nervous about the release of this book. It's very different from anything I've written before.  Elliot is working with his assistant, Jason Wu when Steven shows up and calls them both girls. It’s an example of how sexist, racist and prejudice Steven is. Sandy sends Steven and Jason off to unload some fresh fish that has just arrived, and then tells Elliot she has some new people coming in for interviews for server jobs. Elliot hears Sandy getting excited about qualifications of the interviewee and goes to see who it is. It’s Cara Marshall, his former girlfriend when he was Jenna. Elliot calls Dana for advice about what to do. She tells him to remain calm and watchful. Dana also tells him that the meeting for the Cobra leadership has been changed from the 4th of July and now they are not certain when the meeting will take place. Sandy brings Cara to the back and introduces...

Life has been crazy the past couple of days and I'm getting a little behind with my posts. I wanted to make sure I got on here today to post the next two chapter summaries before things got really insane. I have six of my seven grandchildren at the house, so the potential for things to get bizarre is ripe. The next two chapters begin Part Two of the book. I should have posted that there were two parts when I started putting the chapters on here, but I forgot. I didn't got into the details of Jenna's transition to Elliot. It would have been a long process and would not have furthered the story. In Part Two, Elliot is fulling into his new life as a man, has finished culinary school, and started a job as a legumier chef. A legumier chef is the person who prepares the vegetable dishes at fancy restaurants. Here are the chapter summaries for Chapters Sixteen and Seventeen: Chapter Sixteen Dana and Mark go to see Elliot at his job where he works as a legumier ...

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July holiday yesterday. Things were super busy and I didn't get a chance to post a summary, but I would have posted chapters fourteen and fifteen together anyway. They both have to do with Jenna making the decision to become a man. Above is a before and after picture of trans man Jaimie Wilson . I read about him after I'd created the characters of Jenna and Elliot, but they have a lot of similarities. I'm including a link to his story. It's pretty interesting. Here are your summaries: Chapter Fourteen Jenna gets the wires taken out of her jaw and Dana treats her to dinner out and a haircut. Later, they spend time talking about Jenna’s future. Dana points out that Jenna’s dreams had been based on what her girlfriend, Cara wanted. After some thought and a hair color change, Jenna decides she wants to go into the witness protection program as a guy, something she has always felt she was inside. Chapter Fifteen Jenna be...

Back on track with the summary posts. Only 28 days until Finding Jenna is released and 20 chapter summaries left. William Defoe goes into his role as Darren Parker and pretends he was trying to do Michael Matthews a favor when he helped Darlene Matthews pack her stuff. Matthews is angry about it, but blows Defoe off when he offers to hang out and watch a movie after getting a phone call. Matthews heads to Owensboro not long after Defoe leaves his house because he thinks Jenna is in a hospital there. He gets a call from Ruby, a nurse at the hospital letting him know that the girl they thought was Jenna had been released from the hospital into the custody of people who were supposed to be her family. Ruby also lets Matthews know that the leader of the Cobra cartel, C1, wants him to dispose of a package that they both know is the body of another woman who was killed C1 has killed.

I'm posting Chapters 9-12's summaries today because they all deal with Jenna being in the hospital. And because this weekend is going to be super busy and I might not get a chance to post. I really appreciate everyone who visits my blog to read about this story. I hope you'll stay tuned in.  Here are the chapter summaries: Chapter Nine Jenna wakes in the hospital in pain and confusion. She flailed her arms and legs trying to get up, but was quickly subdued and given a sedative to put her back to sleep. Dana Tamaski, the FBI agent assigned to watch over Jenna hopes it won’t be long before Jenna will be able to wake up and give them a description of the body she saw in the freezer. Chapter Ten Dana returned to Jenna’s hospital room the next morning to find that nothing had changed. The other agent assigned to watch Jenna, Ada Parsons and Dana discuss the fact that they need Jenna to be able to describe the body so they can tie Michael Matthews to a missing p...

When Darren and Darlene get back to the Matthews’ house, Darren gets a chance to look in Darlene’s trunk for the body when he takes some of her clothes out to her car. The trunk is empty and looks like it’s been recently vacuumed. Darren has one of the crime scene techs check it for fluids with Luminal and an Alternative Light Source torch, but there’s no fluid evidence. The crime scene tech notes that he thought it was weird that there weren’t any fluids in the freezer when Michael Matthews was supposed to be a big hunter and fisherman.

Federal agent William Defoe goes back into his role as Darren Parker as he helps Darlene Matthews go back to the hospital where she works to get her phone and purse. Defoe has been undercover for two years closely watching Michael Matthews in an effort to get more information about the Cobra Cartel’s human trafficking activities. The FBI was very close to closing in on the leaders of the cartel, as well as getting more evidence about Michael Matthews’ involvement with the cartel. Jenna Matthews having be rescued from her father has put the operation’s success in question. And, Defoe needs to find the body Jenna saw in the freezer.