Hello dear friends! I know not everyone who visits my blog is interested in my fictional books, but for those who are, I just wanted to give a quick update on what’s going on!

I’ve published six books so far in the Tess Schafer-Medium series: BE STILL, MY LOVE (Book 1), HIDDEN VOICES (Book 2), VANQUISHING GHOSTS (Book 3), ROSEMARY’S GHOSTS (Book 4), GHOST TROUBLE (Book 5) and HAUNTING GROUND (Book 6). My character, Tess, is getting better with her medium abilities and that makes it more challenging to write her story! As she grows, so do I and so should our written journey!

One of my main goals in creating this series was to incorporate the things I’ve learned about the spirit world (as well as other tidbits of information I find useful or interesting) into a story that is told through a character who reflects this knowledge. Not only that, but she also explores the things that I often speculate on and believe in. Heck, she even looks into things I DON’T believe in! Tess performs this task quite well. Beyond my expectations actually. When I’m writing as her…I feel like I am HER and what comes out in the story is as much a surprise to me as someone reading the story for the first time! In fact, Tess has me constantly learning things for I am endlessly researching stuff. For instance, she’ll mention the metaphysical properties of something and there I go, off on the internet to look it up and learn more about it!

Since the Tess series is told through my character, I do find it interesting when reviews take me to task on not using proper terminology for things. For instance, a bunch of crows is called a “murder of crows” and Tess called them a cackle or some such thing. But the fact is, Tess is writing these books and though I wish she knew everything there is to know…she doesn’t. She gets things wrong. As she should, because she isn’t a know it all (though I sort of wish she was…because then that would mean that I know it all and that would be rather cool).

Fact is, Tess has her beliefs and opinions and assumptions and I let her go with them…give her full reign…even when they might clash with my own! She’s a strong character. Even when I wish for things to go MY way, she does exactly what she wants. If I try to override her (or should I say “overwrite”?)…the story becomes “off”. That’s when I sigh, berate myself for trying to write her story instead of letting her tell it, and I change it to how she wants it to go. It’s an interesting process. It really is! Seriously, it’s like I have other people in my head, all wanting to tell their part of the story and my sole job is to write down what they tell me to write!

When I was younger, I thought I wanted to be strictly a romance writer but the Tess books came to me so fast and so persistently that I HAD to write her stories! Happily, Tess has her own romance going on so I’m getting my “romance” fix as well! I love Tess and Kade. They are a great compliment to each other.

As for my writing other stories besides the Tess series, I have written the paranormal drama NO MATTER WHAT. It’s based on the premise of reincarnation, which I do believe in and am totally intrigued with! Also, I have completed two stories which I would categorize in the genre of contemporary romance. I am hoping to have both published in the near future. Their titles are TANGLED UP HEARTS and MOMENTS IN THE MOONLIGHT. There’s a character in “Tangled” that gets her own story in “Moments” and would you believe Tess showed up in that story too? She surprises me like that but then it’s one of the many things I love about her. She has a lot to share…so why restrict her?

Stories should have a point, a reason for being, a MEANING. When you get done with a story, don’t you want to feel like you’ve completed some sort of journey? Don’t you want to be amazed at how it all came together? Not all stories are like that. There have been some that I’ve became engaged in (because I kept thinking it was all going to come together somehow in the end) and then when it was done, I was like … “What the freaking hell was the point of that?” And I feel cheated. I feel like my precious time has been WASTED. Time is very precious…I hate wasting any of it!

I don’t have to BELIEVE in the premise of the story to read it or watch it, but I do want it all to make some sort of sense. Whatever world the author has created, it needs to be a cohesive one. Now, as for my books, some people might think they are senseless because they are about the spirit world, the afterlife, the dead speaking to the living…ghosts. Well, I don’t write for those people…I write for me and for those who do like stories involving those things. You don’t have to believe in ghosts to like ghost stories. Heck, I don’t believe in vampires but I like to read about them or watch shows involving them! For that matter, I don’t believe in the existence of zombies, but I love The Walking Dead. There are, however, some inconsistencies with the Walking Dead world but the show is character driven and it’s their stories that keep me riveted. That’s as it should be. That’s good story telling!

Once I get my two romances published (not sure I will do more…I mean, this is what I’m thinking as I’m writing the love scenes: my MOTHER is going to read this! Maybe even my DAUGHTER!). So I really worked hard at trying to make them sound good without warranting a phone call from my mother asking me what the heck was I doing writing that stuff! (smile)

Speaking of romances…I think most of us who read them want a “happily ever after” in the end. I know if I don’t get that, oh boy do I get upset! It’s why I committed to the story in the first place…I EXPECT the two characters to work it all out and get together. Also, the whole story needs to be leading toward that climax! I want to go through the trials and tribulations of the relationship. I want to feel happy and relieved when the characters find a way to overcome all the adversity they had to go through to get together. For me anyway, if there is no adversity, no conflict to excite the story, then it’s a BORING read…or watch if it’s a movie. I do hope that people who read my two romances don’t get to the end feeling it was all pointless or senseless. Also, I especially don’t want them to be BORED! Not that we can please everyone because we can’t. Those who like reading erotica, for instance, would probably find my books boring (smile). What I do try to convey, at least in my romance stories, is that love is worth everything a person has to go through to get it. THAT, my friends, is the point of romance books. At least to my way of thinking!

As for Tess, I’ve started another one of her stories but I only have one chapter done. Although I’ve been working on “Tangled” and “Moments”, Tess had something to say so I sat down and wrote it. When the chapter was done, I thought to myself…”Hmm, this is pretty good. We need to see where it takes us.”…then I went back to work on my other books. I’m thinking by summer’s end Tess will have another story to share! That’s exciting, I’m always eager to see what she’s going to experience next…what new thing we are going to learn.

So that’s where I am with my writing and specifically The Tess Schafer-Medium series. For those of you who’ve read one or more of them…THANK YOU! Also, I appreciate all your comments and reviews!! Good or bad…I learn something!

At the end of this post I am including a link to a book trailer of sorts that I put together using a cool app called Animoto. It’s a pretty decent app you might like if you want to put short movies together using your pictures! I think the result was rather neat (and yes, amateurish but still!)

If you have any questions about the Tess books or anything else I might help you with, please feel free to ask! Either she or I will be happy to answer them.

Blessings to all and peace out!

http://animoto.com/play/QoX92Nvuw6TF6WmnVzXBwQ?utm_source=&utm_medium=player&utm_campaign=player