M. E. Tudor

You might remember seeing this picture in a previous post. I used it to depict how my life was going at that time, and it's been like that again. I honestly can't remember all that has happened since August, but I do know I forgot to do a giveaway of Learning to Love Again for my birthday, so I'm going to do it for Christmas. Not only do I have several print copies of Learning to Love Again . , but I have copies of my YA thriller, Finding Jenna , as well.  And, if you are not interested in a print copy, Learning to Love Again will be going on sale the last week of December as part of I Heart SapphFic's big end-of-the-year sale.  This has been a completely bizarre year. I published Learning to Love Again on January 1st of this year, and I thought I would publish more books this year, but that didn't happen. My doctor found a lesion in my skull, and for several terrifying days, I thought I might have metastatic brain cancer. I had brain surgery at the end of March

August is my birth month, along with several other family members, including two grandsons in our family. So to celebrate, I ordered a bunch of print versions of Learning to Love Again and will do a giveaway on my birthday, August 24th.  Things have finally slowed down a little bit now that the kids are back in school. I've actually had more time to do some writing and editing. Getting Suddenly republished with the new cover by the end of the month is still a big maybe, but I'm hopeful. The main thing that reworking this story, ten years later, is that I can see how much I've grown as a writer.  I haven't had the desire to write another young adult novel for a while. I think that's because I'm having trouble having positive thoughts about young people right now. So many of the young people, especially young queer people, are far removed from me. The world is such a different place from what it was just ten years ago that I'm not sure I can write a realistic

  1723206   ©   Ralf Kraft   |   Dreamstime.com I found this picture on Dreamstime.com, which accurately depicts my life for the last two months. I have been a swirling mess, and I can't find the road going forward. I have so many projects and plans that I have overwhelmed myself and don't seem to be able to find a starting point. Well, that's not necessarily true. I keep bouncing from project to project, and I need to pick one and see it through.  The one I've decided to focus my attention fully is the re-editing and re-publishing of Suddenly with a new cover. The very first version of Suddenly was published by Itoh Press in August 2012. I hope to have the revised version with the new cover available by the end of August, but I'm not sure I will make my deadline. You will find the new cover at the end for those of you taking the time to read this post.  Reading Suddenly now, with new eyes, has been fun and refreshing. I'd forgotten how much I loved this story.

A lot has happened in my life since my post last month. My surgeon called and told me that the place they took out of my skull was not cancer. PRAISE GOD, THE UNIVERSE, ALLAH, and whoever may be in charge. I saw the surgeon a week later, and he said my incision was healing nicely. I guess as far as large scars go, it's not bad. It's right at my hairline, so you can't really see it. I saw my local nurse practitioner because I still have headaches and fatigue. She did a bunch of bloodwork, and everything came back okay. I guess it's just part of recovering from major surgery.  The second bit of good news comes with a bit of melancholy, but it's a good thing overall. I've decided to retire from my job at the library where I have worked for 15 years. I hadn't planned on retiring this soon, but with my continued health issues and a lot of prompting from my life partner, Rosa, who is ready to start traveling, I decided it was time to take a new path. This will als

March was a month filled with cancer. A close friend died of cancer, a friend from high school's husband died from cancer, and I had brain surgery to remove a lesion that might be cancer. Ever since my dad died at the age of 52 of a heart attack, I've always worried that I would have the same fate. It never occurred to me that I might get cancer. Now that the risk looms large, I see that cancer runs in my family pretty prevalently. My father's mother died of stomach cancer at 64 years old. My sister had cervical cancer, but I plane crash killed her. My brother is recovering from lymphoma, and now I may be taking on cancer myself.  As a result, I've decided to make some major changes in my life and focus on how I want to live for however much longer I have. Getting cancer is not usually an immediate death sentence, and I certainly pray that is not the case for me because I feel like I have a lot more left to give. But, ultimately, God decides how long we are allowed to s

I keep reading all these posts about how important it is for a self-published author to grow their mailing lists. I'm sure the authors of these posts are probably right, but how does an author who is strapped for time keep up with writing a newsletter once a month when they do good to post on Facebook occasionally.  I have a newsletter that I have been sending out periodically to the 30 people on my mailing list, but I also have this blog and a website that I try to keep up with. For those of you who have been following me for awhile, you know that my partner and I have been raising three of my grandchildren on top of working. My partner retired which helped a lot with the grandchildren, but the loss of her income put us in a tight spot financially. On top of working a full-time job and writing when I can, I've taken up delivery for DoorDash part-time for extra money. Trying to spread myself into so many places has worn me pretty thin. Now, just because I didn't have enough

This year is already zipping along. It's February already. Every year I tell myself I'm going to write a book with a Valentine's Day theme that will come out in February, but I haven't done it yet. Maybe next year. But, my newest book Learning to Love Again is a charming, romantic, dramatic, over 50 story. So for us older women who still believe in romance, this is a great story about what could be. And for the younger women, it will give you hope that love can still be found later in life.  Learning to Love Again has already received many  4 and 5 star ratings and reviews, which is very exciting. I've been asked if there will be a sequel, and I've already come up with some ideas for one. Of course, I have to find time to write which hasn't been easily lately. But, that's my fault, I took on a second job and I've become addicted to the money. The theory behind the second job is to get my debts paid off so I can write full time, but it's still a

 Learning to Love Again is live on Amazon! I'm so excited about finally getting this book out there for my fans. I'm waiting with bated breath for my first review. You can just never tell how people will respond to a book. I certainly hope everyone enjoys it. This is an After 50 lesbian romance. It's also about self-discovery and self-esteem. Many of us have suffered through a bad relationship that made us feel less than our true worth. But, in this story, my main character, Ava, overcomes her lack of self-esteem and creates a happy life for herself, with the help of a special friend.  I've set up a Goodreads Giveaway, but they haven't sent my approval email yet, but hopefully that will be available soon. If you follow me on Goodreads keep an eye out for that.  I hope that this new year has started out well for all of you. If you've watched the news at all, you know our small city, Bowling Green got hammered by tornadoes in mid-December. It was terrifying to s