M. E. Tudor

I don't know about you all, but this year has been a wild ride of ups and downs. Just the past two weeks have been like being on the Falcon's Fury at Busch Gardens ( which I have never ridden and wouldn't, but I've seen a video). Life was going pretty well. No one had gotten Covid, I went to two family Thanksgiving dinners, and everything was beautiful, just like the ride up on the Falcon's Fury. And then life took a nosedive, just like the ride. I have to admit that things have slowed down like the ride does right before you hit the pavement. Hopefully, the ride ends soon so we can all get off and throw up. Before Thanksgiving, I still hoped to get Learning To Love Again published before the end of the year. At one of the Thanksgiving dinners, my oldest granddaughter hugged me and told me she loved me, something she doesn't often do, but I ate it up while enjoying a wonderful visit with in-laws (I should have known better). Parents, please, please read everythi...

  Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. It runs neck and neck with Spring. I love the colors and the cooler air. I'm sure everyone who has dealt with the heat this last summer is ready for some cooler weather. Fall also makes me want to get outside more, so I've been doing a lot of yard work. I wish I could blame that on the reason for missing last month's blog post date, but it's not. I was torn about what to write last month, and before I knew it, it was October.  Part of the problem was that I wanted to tell you all that I would have a new book coming out soon. Yes, I know I just released Through This Together , which I hope you will check out, especially if you're struggling with all the issues caused by Covid. Through This Together is a hopeful story about how a family can rally around each other during these challenging times. It is also available on Kindle Vella if you are interested in checking that out.   The other part of the problem was that I...

I'm running very late on posting this month. It's been a crazy month as August tends to be. My grandkids from Colorado had to go home. My grandkids who live here in Kentucky had to go back to school. I'm trying to get stories out there for my fans. Just busy, busy busy. Plus, I had to mow the yard a couple of times this month. And it's my birthday today. Officially a senior according the the library I work at. But, at 55 I can't get any real senior discounts yet. But, I finally slowed down long enough to write this post and share some exciting news with everyone. So last month I posted that I had made Through This Together available on the new Kindle Vella program. Well, it's not getting much attention there. So, since it's been over a month since I posted in on Kindle Vella, and it has more than 10 chapters, I can publish it to Kindle Unlimited now. I've been listening to the story again on Natural Reader. I've tried to catch any mistakes that hav...

  Hi! How's everyone's summer going? Or winter, depending on where you live in the world. I hope everyone is keeping safe. This new Covid delta variation is making me nervous. I've been vaccinated, but I still worry that I could catch Covid and bring it home to my family members who are not vaccinated. Depending on how the numbers here in Kentucky start looking and depending on how nervous I get, I may go back to wearing my mask at work. Please keep safe out there! Speaking of Covid, I've released my new book, Through This Together , on the new Kindle Vella program. You can read the first three chapters for free, but apparently only if you live in the United States. I guess I didn't realize that when I put the book in the program. It really sucks because I know I have fans worldwide who might want to read this story. I have to leave the book in the Kindle Vella program for 30 days before I can expand it to the regular Kindle program. That means it will be the middl...

I'm running about a week behind on my posting schedule, and I'm still trying to wrap up my newest book,  Through This Together.  I'm on the 9th or 10th round of editing and ready to get it out there. It's going to be interesting to see what kind of feedback I get from this story. Even though the story has a young adult romance that I think is very sweet, my readers so far have thought the story was a bit dry. I guess we'll see after more reviews come in after I publish it. I'm shooting for the 4th of July, but we'll see if that happens. It's one of the nice things about self-publishing. I can change publication dates if I need to. Some of the books I've written have been very deep and a bit dark to some degree, but I'm ready to write something happy and light. I think we've all had enough darkness for a bit. I guess that's why I'm concerned about how well  Through This Together  will be received. It takes the reader through the pandem...

  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 ...

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....

  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 ...

  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...

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 t...