Monday, December 31, 2018
A Letter To My Fans
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 can, but it's pretty much just us and the kids.
The lesbians we know, even the ones who have kids of their own, are not social with us because we don't fit into the social or economic class.
Rosa is going to retire in 2019 so she can take care of the kids full-time so; hopefully, they won't turn out to be the jerks their mother and aunt were when they were teenagers. Again, my fault, you can't beat or love genetic assholeness, and those two got it in spades from their dad and me.
So, I've taken on a part-time cleaning job, I work full-time as a librarian, and try to write as often as I can. You can imagine the challenge. But creating a good story and getting feedback from my fans is totally worth every minute I spend spinning my tales.
I have several unfinished stories that I will either complete this coming year or delete forever (well probably not). Anyway, I've set some pretty high goals for myself, and I hope you will all stay tuned for the stories to come.
Have a safe and Happy New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Love, M. E.
Friday, July 27, 2018
The Wrap-up of Finding Jenna's Chapter Summaries
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 Elliot and Cara work things out, and to find out what the final verdict is for Michael Matthews.
Thank you for following this story.
Thursday, July 26, 2018
Finding Jenna Chapters Twenty-nine and Thirty summaries
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. Caroline is happy that Jenna is alive in Elliot. Cara leaves the room to avoid Elliot, but he finds her in the hospital cafeteria. The two of them talk about Elliot’s changes and why he can’t go back to being Jenna. End the end they agree to try to be friends.
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Finding Jenna Chapter Twenty-eight Summary
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 in his truck and starts backing up when he
sees Steven come out of the restaurant with a gun. Steven shuts out the back
window of Elliot’s truck. Matthews is waiting for them at the front of the
restaurant and starts shooting at them but Elliot gets the truck out onto the
highway and the chase begins that ends on a mountain road. There Elliot will
expose that he was Jenna to Cara and his father in order to save Cara’s life.
I know that only a few people have been
following this blog and I deeply appreciate your visits. So much so that I have
a gift to give away. Actually, I have five gifts. I bought 5 proofs of Finding
Jenna for the Indie Author Fair I attended last weekend and no one wanted a
copy, so I hope you will. The cover didn't turn out like I wanted it to so I
had to fix it, and I forgot to put in page numbers. There are still a few minor
grammar errors, but other than that it's the same book that will be published
on July 31st. Because you've read the blog and come all the way to this point
of the story with me, I'm going to give the first 5 people who respond to the
link below and autographed copy of the Finding Jenna proof. I hope you will
sign up for your free book.
Just click on this link for your free book.
Friday, July 20, 2018
Finding Jenna: Chapters Twenty-six and Twenty-seven summaries
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 his father that he’d been
waiting for was about to happen.
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Finding Jenna Chapters Twenty-five and Twenty-six
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 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.
Monday, July 16, 2018
Finding Jenna Summary Chapter Twenty-four
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 States. It doesn't get reported that way, and most probably
doesn't get reported at all, but I'd bet money it happens.
Building Love was supposed to be just a simple young adult
love story. I've been watching some young adult shows, reading articles, and
listening to the news and found that there is a lot of date rape drug use among
teenagers and new adults. It's been quite shocking. But, that's how the idea
came about for Patti to be pregnant. I think it worked out pretty good. The
story also covers the problem of bullying, which sadly doesn't seem to be
getting any better.
My newest story is another one about a pressing social issue
that comes about from some sick S-O-Bs sending my granddaughter pictures of
their junk on an app called LiveMe. The police are still investigating who sent
these and I hope they catch the motherf*ckers. (Pardon my language). The story
is about a girl, Heidi, who is kidnapped and kept for almost a year, much like
Elizabeth Smart, except Heidi doesn't come home to a happy, loving family. Her
mother was cold and a bit controlling before, but it much worse now and blames
Heidi for her divorce from Heidi's father. Poor Heidi remains a captive, but
this time at the hands of her emotionally abusive mother. The story is told
from Barbra (Babs) point of view. Babs, who knew Heidi, but was not friends
with her, is asked to help tutor Heidi because she is so far behind in her
school work. Babs is very compassionate and becomes determined to help Heidi
overcome what she is going through. The story is still in the developmental
stages, and I'm not positive about how it will end, but it will be a happy
ending because that's one of my trademarks. It will have lesbian undertones
with Babs and Heidi becoming close friends, but I'm not going to publish it as
lesbian fiction. And I will probably release it under my real name, or another
pseudonym.
Anyway, enough of me rambling on. You're here to read the
next chapter summary for Finding Jenna, so here it is:
Elliot and Cara both wake up with the feeling that they are
being watched. Elliot goes to the hotel gym to work out, and when he comes back
to the room, Cara and Megan are freaking out because some guy had come to the
room asking if Jenna was there. Someone had also called the room asking for
Jenna. Cara shows Elliot a truck in the parking lot of a restaurant next to the
hotel where the guy who had come to the room got in a truck. Elliot goes out to
confront the man, but the man backs out of the parking lot quickly and speeds
away.
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Chapter Summaries for Chapters 20, 21, 22, 23
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.
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 to Steven getting in trouble with his uncle who is
helping Steven out if he gets fired.
Chapter Twenty-one
Sandy closed the restaurant early
on the night of the Fourth of July fireworks. Steven invited all of the staff
at the restaurant to come out to where his friends and he were going to be
watching the fireworks and partying. Everyone agree to go with Steven. They
took different cars and paired up on the way out to the lake, where the
fireworks were being shot off. A guy named Chase, welcomed them to the party
when they arrived. Elliot felt that Chase might be Steven’s cousin. Chase
questioned all of the restaurant staff about where they were from and how they
had ended up in Morehead. His questioning made him seem even more suspicious to
Elliot. Cara road back the restaurant after the fireworks. When Elliot asked
her about her major, she told him she was studying forensics so she could try
to find her girlfriend, Jenna.
Chapter Twenty-two
Elliot and Cara are becoming closer
as friends. It’s tearing Elliot up that he has to hide the truth from Cara and
is hoping the charade he is pulling will be over soon. Steven comes in while
Elliot and Cara are talking. He makes some derogatory comments about Cara’s
sexuality that sets her off and she quits. Sandy is furious and would fire
Steven, but Elliot and she need to keep him close by because they have found
out that his uncle, Sam Nelson, is the leader of the Cobra Cartel.
Chapter Twenty-three
Elliot gets a night off and decides
to go to Lexington to relax. He goes to a club and is surprised when Steven
approaches him. He’s even more surprised to find Cara and Megan are there too.
Elliot is suspicious of Steven and Chase’s reasons for being at the same bar,
especially after he finds out that Cara and Megan are there. Elliot convinces
Cara and Megan to go to the hotel room he already has booked so he will be able
to watch over them. He fears that Steven and Chase plan to teach the two girls
a lesson for turning them down.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Finding Jenna Chapter Nineteen Summary
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.
Monday, July 9, 2018
Finding Jenna Chapter Eighteen Summary
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 her to Elliot. She does seem to recognize him as Elliot feared but
he still hopes she hates the job and decides to quit.
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Chapter Summaries of Chapter Sixteen and Seventeen for Finding Jenna
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 at a popular restaurant. They tell him about Cara
tracking his father, and that his father is now tracking Cara. Elliot is upset
when they explain that the FBI is going to use Cara to draw Michael Matthews
into a trap. But, the Bureau is hoping to catch him with members of the Cobra
Cartel before he can do anything to Cara. Dana and Mark try to convince Elliot
that he should go to work at a restaurant near Cave Run Lake where the leaders
of the human trafficking ring, the Cobra Cartel are going to be meeting around
the Fourth of July. They hope he will recognize some of the local hunters as
men his father brought home in the past who might be involved with the cartel.
Chapter Seventeen
Elliot started working for Sandy Cannon at the
restaurant near Cave Run Lake. He convinced her to make some changes to the
design of the restaurant and had already come up with interesting dishes made
with wild game to draw in the hunters and fisherman. Sandy hired Steven Hardin,
a local fisherman and hunter to work as a bartender hoping he would be able to
provide them information about the local hunting scene. Elliot and Sandy also
hoped Steven would give them information about the hunters involved with the
cartel without him realizing he was helping them.
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Chapters Fourteen and Fifteen Summaries
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:
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 becomes Elliot Judson Cross in this
chapter as she begins her transition from a woman to a man. Dana is completely
behind her change and helps Jenna present herself as Elliot. Dana’s boss, Mark
Jonas doesn’t recognize Elliot as Jenna until he sees the scar left by Jenna’s
father. Jenna realizes that her acceptance of being Elliot means he will need a
therapist to help make sure this is the right decision, but he is certain that
being Elliot is the way to a happy future. Jenna becoming Elliot will actually
make it easier for the FBI to protect him. For Elliot, he can finally be who he
truly is without fear of what family and friends will say or think.
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Chapter Thirteen Summary
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.
Friday, June 29, 2018
Chapters 9-12 Summaries
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 person.
Chapter Eleven
Jenna wakes up in the hospital and doesn’t
remember how she got there. Dana questions her about who she is. Jenna
recognizes her name, her mother and Cara, but seeing the picture of Cara brings
back the memories of her father beating her. Jenna goes into a panic and the
nurses give her something to put her to sleep again.
Chapter Twelve
Jenna wakes up to find Special Agent Dana
Tamaski watching her. Dana gives Jenna a legal pad and pen so Jenna can ask and
answer questions. Jenna wants to know how long she’s been there and where her
mother is. Dana explains why Jenna is there. A nurse comes in the room and
Jenna lets Dana know that she doesn’t trust her. Dana calls Jonas and let’s him
know about the suspicious nurse and that they need to move Dana. Jonas sends in
an extraction team that pretends to be Jenna’s parents and they remove her from
the hospital with the suspicious nurse watching their every move.
Chapter Eight Summary
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.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Chapter Seven Summary
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.
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