Welcome, Teesa Mee❣
1. For those who might not be familiar with you, would you be a dear and tell the readers a little about yourself? How did you get your start in the writing business?
(Teesa) I am the oldest five children and the only girl. My last three brothers were born when I was 14, 16, and 17, so I became their built-in babysitter. I attended the University of Michigan in the pre-med program, but decided I was just not competitive enough to become a doctor. After a bad breakup, I failed to complete one class and forfeited my degree in Experimental Biology. However, I had a job waiting and did not return to college for 36 years. In the meantime, I married, adopted two children, worked in administrative and supervisory positions, and then lost my son to suicide when he was 24. The toll of the grief on my health was devastating. I lost my job in December 2009, and we soon lost our home and a vehicle to bankruptcy. (My husband has been totally disabled since 1999.) When Social Security granted me SSDI to deal with my health, I began to recover and returned to college. I graduated a year ago with a BS in Information Science, specializing in Web Development. However, along the way, I began editing for several independent authors and decided to pursue that instead of Web design. My business is called Indie Editing Services and you can find me on Facebook under that name and my website is www.indieeditingservices.com.
I began writing during my teenage years to deal with the angst I was feeling. I wrote poetry and song lyrics, and composed stories to tell my younger brothers. When I overcame my grief over the loss of my son, I began a memoir on surviving suicide grief. I hope to publish that early next year. I have also participated in several anthologies, published those teen poems in a volume called Looking Back: Poems from the Adolescent Me, and just published my Thesaurus Erotica.
2. Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, please share how you handle it.
(Teesa) Sometimes the words just flow. Other times, not so much. I have a novella on the back burner. I have written 5K of it, the beginning and the end. I’m stuck on the middle section and have decided to just let it sit, coming back to it now and again. I find that taking walks and reading other books often helps.
3. Contrary to what some people envision about a romance writer’s life, it’s not all glitz and glam. Well not for the majority of us. With that bubble sadly busted, when you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?
(Teesa) I have a full-time job as the customer service manager for a start-up software company. The best part is I get to work from home. I also run Indie Editing Services, editing other authors’ books. I enjoy my two dogs and they demand my attention throughout the day. When I can, I spend time with my 11-year-old grandson. He is the joy of my life. Then there’s laundry, grocery shopping, vacuuming, and dusting.
4. I know many writers, such as myself, keep their pastime/career a secret. Do those close to you know you write? If so, what are their thoughts?
(Teesa) I have a pen name to protect my family of birth from my secret career. However, my close family members and friends know that I write and they are highly encouraging of me. Some of my best support comes from other authors I have met on social media.
5. Will you share with us your all-time favorite authors? If you’re like me, it’s a long list so give us your top ten.
(Teesa) Thanks for limiting it to ten, or I could be here all day
and night.
- Edna Ferber, who wrote one of my all-time favorite books, Show Boat, which became America’s first musical!
- Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind.
- Andrew Greeley; I love his view of God as an adolescent girl in a huge crush with humanity.
- Stephen King, especially Salem’s Lot and The Stand.
- Anne McCaffery, all of her Dragonriders of Pern books and her Acorna books.
- JD Robb’s In Death Series. The relationship between Eve Dallas and Rourke is HAWT!
- Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series
- Michael Connelly, especially his Harry Bosch books.
- Jane Austen, who doesn’t love her books and she has inspired so many more writers of Victorian romance.
- Mason Sabre, my good friend, who writes the most emotionally engaging paranormal stories I have ever read!
6. If you could choose one book to go to the big screen, yours or otherwise, which book would you choose and whom would you love to see cast in the parts?
(Teesa) Ooh, that’s a toughie because many of my faves have been turned into movies. I guess I would go with JD Robb’s Naked in Death starring Scarlett Pomer as Eve Dallas and Tom Ellis as Roarke.
7. Would you care to tell us what you’re working on now? That is if it’s not top-secret information. If so, just whisper it in my ear. I swear it’ll go no further.
(Teesa) It’s no secret at all. My current project is a memoir of surviving suicide grief called Who Am I Now? I’m also working on a novella about a family of serial killers and the cop who is hunting them. Then way back, I’m working on a full novel called Mementoes based on the song Lydia the Tattooed Lady.
8. Where can we find your stories, and is there a particular reading order?
(Teesa) In order of publication, but not reading order, I have Looking Back, Poems from My Adolescent Self (
Kindle Purchase Link);
Demon Depression (essay) and Sunshine (poem) in This Beautiful Escape Vol. 1
Don’t Give Up (essay) and Don’t Despair (poem) in
This Beautiful Escape Vol. 2
Two poems in
Warrior Women, Vanquishing with Passion and Path to the Light
Thesaurus Erotica, a reference book for authors of romance and erotica (
Kindle Purchase Link); and finally A Samhein to Remember in Detours in Our Destination which will be published in August.
9. Would you please share how your present and future fans can contact you?
You can find me on social media in all these places:
10. Before we conclude this enlightening interview, do you have anything else you’d like to share? The stage is all yours.
(Teesa) This has been a blast and I just want to give a shout out to all my fans and friends for supporting my dreams, especially Melissa Ann, Mason Sabre, Angela Peters, David S. Scott, Jennifer Cleary Roche, Kathy Ossian, Jan Jimenez, Carmen Meerschaert, my daughter Suzie and her partner Jess, and my hubs Gary, who has the patience of a saint. I love you, Babe!
Wow, Teesa Mee, you have gave me and our lovely visitors plenty of ideas of what to read next. Now the real questions is…. What shall we buy first? Decisions, decisions……..
Before you, my sweet guests, run off to Amazon please take a moment to say howdy to Teesa. Ask her a question. We’d love to hear your thoughts on her responses and the books discussed today.
Thanks,
Kam
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