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Blog by Tess Watch Out for Big Time Wasters!

Teresa (Tess) Riddle

My title is Watch out for Time Wasters, which follows up on last week’s topic about time usage. Then I talked about making use of our time. Today I am exploring things that not only waste our time but hurt our product. Time wasters kill productivity!

This week I want to talk about the time wasters that keep us from getting things done. Here are a few that I’ve run into.

One time waster is being interrupted with a phone call or by someone who shows up at the door unexpectedly.

Being interrupted by a phone call or by someone who shows up at your door unexpectedly. Because interruptions are unexpected, they usually need to be handled on the spot. Your decision will depend on what you are in the middle of at that moment, what you have going on that day, and the length and importance of the interruption.

If a friend, relative, or someone else shows up at your door on short notice, don’t be rude to them. If you can, invite them inside for a few minutes. Be honest with them in explaining that you’re in the middle of a project that must be completed, and can only spend a few minutes with them.  If the person is reasonable, they’ll understand your situation.

The same goes for a phone call. You might say to the person, “It’s good hearing from you. I’m busy at this moment, trying to get something done. Can I call you back, say at six o’clock? I’ll be able to talk to you then without any interruptions.”

Most people will agree to the call back. DO remember TO Call them back at the time you said you would.

More on the other side of this break.

T&R Independent Books brings you this blog post to keep you informed on the issues of today. Authors need to stay informed so that they can relate to their readers facts as well as entertain them with their imagination.

It’s Your Business is a free video service to help authors learn how to set up their business. We provide free video training where you learn why you, as an author, are already a businessman or businesswoman. You also learn basics for structuring your business. Along with these videos is Learning to Write with the basics you need.

To discover how you can be the writer you want to be, write to us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. We will respond with a free copy of our Guide to Writing.

Check us out and get your career moving.

Now back to the article.

Waiting.

How many times have we waited in a long line or waited at a doctor or dentist office, waiting for them to call our name?  How many times have we waited for a meeting to start, but it didn’t get started on time, for one reason or another?

We can all think of situations where we felt like our time was being wasted because we had to wait. It’s unavoidable but is one of the biggest time wasters that we must put up with.

I’ve found that carrying a small pocket size notebook or index cards and a pen on me comes in handy.  When waiting for my name to be called, or waiting for a

meeting to start, I’ve made out a shopping list, written short notes, worked on a ‘to do’ list for the next day, written down some ideas for a chapter I want to put in a book, or made a brief phone call.

If I think I might have a long wait, I’ll have a puzzle book with me to work on, or have a book or magazine on hand that I can read while waiting.

Nowadays, many people will spend time on their phone while waiting for something to happen.

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/Tessriddle.

Don’t forget to comment below. We are always interested in your opinions. And to make sure you get our blogs, simply check the box that says, Notify me of new posts via email.

Company information:

T&R Independent Bookstore is a division of T&R Independent Books founded in 2014 by R. Frederick and Tess Riddle. TR Ministry, aka Ministry Services, is both a charge and an exciting outreach to the Christian Community.

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Blog by Tess Where Did the Time Go?

Have you ever, at the end of the day, thrown up your hands and said out loud, “Where did the time go? It happened again. I didn’t get everything done that I needed to accomplish today.”

We’ve all been there and done that.

Even though there are twenty-four hours in each day, it seems that there is never enough time to get our ‘to do’ list for that day done. Time has a way of running our lives for various reasons.

Many people are content to “go with the flow” and accept whatever may arrive.

Many of us have goals we would like to reach, even if we are sometimes afraid to admit our goals because of lack of confidence or fear of disappointment.

Don’t be afraid to set goals. Thinking clearly about the goals we want to reach is an essential step toward taking control of our time and life.

Here’s a question that we all need to ask ourselves. Are we a ‘morning person’ or an ‘evening person’?

More on the other side of this break.

T&R Independent Books brings you this blog post to keep you informed on the issues of today. Authors need to stay informed so that they can relate to their readers facts as well as entertain them with their imagination.

It’s Your Business is a free video service to help authors learn how to set up their business. We provide free video training where you learn why you, as an author, are already a businessman or businesswoman. You also learn basics for structuring your business. Along with these videos is Learning to Write with the basics you need.

To discover how you can be the writer you want to be, write to us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. We will respond with a free copy of our Guide to Writing.

Check us out and get your career moving.

Now back to the article.

Many people tend to be a ‘morning person’. They are most productive during the morning hours, say between 6:00 A.M. and noon, but sluggish as the day wears on.

The ‘evening person’ is usually sluggish in the early hours of the day, but starts picking up steam by the afternoon, or will work or keep busy late into the evening.

Some people might be a ‘night owl’. They’re up all night because they have a factory job, warehouse job, they’re a police officer, or they work in the medical field, etc. Or, they might have more energy during the night-time hours. I know a few retirees who seem to accomplish tasks better during the night-time hours, rather than during day-time hours.  

Regardless of what time of day our ‘high level of energy’ is, there are some ways we can better organize ourselves, so we can accomplish what we need get one during that twenty-four-hour period.

Before going to bed, write out a list of the things that needs to be accomplish the next day.  Schedule the high-priority items during your high-productivity times so you will get the most from your best hours.

When preparing a list, there will be things that you need to take into consideration.

There are daily job and family responsibilities to take care of, such as preparing meals, doing the laundry, and shopping for groceries. A daily list helps you set priorities and ensures that the top priority items will get done. It also helps you complete other items as well.  

There will be days that you will have a doctor’s or another appointment that you need to go to.

Also take into consideration the fact that there will be some tasks or projects you do may need be long term, especially if you’re writing a book, working on a house project, etc. Set aside some time each day to work on these, even if you can only spend a few hours on that task.

The important thing is, that you spent some time on that project.

My final thought is, ask God to help you accomplish what you need to get done that day.

Next week, I’ll cover some ‘time wasters’ that can keep us from our tasks. I’ll talk about how each one can be handled.

 Until then, have a wonderful week.

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/Tessriddle.

Don’t forget to comment below. We are always interested in your opinions. And to make sure you get our blogs, simply check the box that says, Notify me of new posts via email.

Company information:

T&R Independent Bookstore is a division of T&R Independent Books founded in 2014 by R. Frederick and Tess Riddle. TR Ministry, aka Ministry Services, is both a charge and an exciting outreach to the Christian Community.

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Blog by Tess Research and Preparation

Teresa (Tess) Riddle

Today, I would like to talk about the research and preparation I had to do before writing the first page of my book.

I already knew that I wanted to write a mystery book that was fictional.  I already had an idea of how the story would go.

Back in the day, in the neighborhood that I grew up in, there was a certain house that always looked creepy to my friends and I. Rumors were always going around that if you visited the family who lived there, don’t let them take you down into the basement. We were always careful when we went to that house on Halloween night. One time, when the people weren’t home, a couple of the neighborhood boys went inside and had a look around. Back then, people didn’t lock their doors.

That’s where I got the idea about writing a mystery about an old house from.

More on the other side of this break.

T&R Independent Books brings you this blog post to keep you informed on the issues of today. Authors need to stay informed so that they can relate to their readers facts as well as entertain them with their imagination.

It’s Your Business is a free video service to help authors learn how to set up their business. We provide free video training where you learn why you, as an author, are already a businessman or businesswoman. You also learn basics for structuring your business. Along with these videos is Learning to Write with the basics you need.

To discover how you can be the writer you want to be, write to us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. We will respond with a free copy of our Guide to Writing.

Check us out and get your career moving.

Now back to the article.

Next, I had to come up with a fictional name for the town in which the mystery would take place. That was hard. It seemed like every name I thought of, and checked out on the internet, existed somewhere in the world.

I had a hard time coming up with a name, but finally decided on one that already existed. Since the book would be fictional, I decided I wouldn’t mention a state that the town was located in. That seemed to work out well for me.  

Once I came up with a town name, I had other questions that needed answered. What kind of business places would the town have that I wanted to include in a story? Would the town have a recreational area/park where people could go camping, fishing, swimming, go boating, canoeing, etc.?

I had to draw out a map with street names, and decide which business or place would go on each street.  I also had to decide where the elementary school, junior high school, and high school would be located.

Would the town have a police department or sheriff’s department? How many people would work there? What would be the pecking order be? I also had to come up with names of officers and what their position in the department would be.

I had to decide how the layout of the police station/sheriff department would be inside. Where would the jail and courthouse be located?

Once I got all of that decided, I had to do more research on coming up with names for my characters. I decided that two families would be the main characters in my book. The first family consisting of a dad, a mother, twin sons, and a daughter. The second family would consist of a dad, a mother, a son, and a daughter.

In choosing first and last names for the characters in my book, I had to be careful that I didn’t use the names of actual people that I knew, or had known. I didn’t want them or a family member coming to me and asking why I had used their or a family member’s name in the book.  

 Because I was writing a fiction book, I could make up names of people. 

I also came up with names for the people who had owned the old house that my story would be about. There would also be three troublemakers who were in town.  I had to come up with names for them

I also had to give names to the people who own different businesses around town.

I’d make up a name for other characters, as they were added to my story.

Once I had the names of my characters I needed, I started writing out an outline of how the story would go in each chapter.

 Once I got a basic outline of each chapter written out, I had to set up the format for my document (margins, font, writing style, etc.) before I could start writing the book on the computer.

There are many other decisions to make when writing a book, but I covered most of the basic research you need to do when writing a fiction mystery book. 

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/Tessriddle.

Don’t forget to comment below. We are always interested in your opinions. And to make sure you get our blogs, simply check the box that says, Notify me of new posts via email.

Company information:

T&R Independent Bookstore is a division of T&R Independent Books founded in 2014 by R. Frederick and Tess Riddle. TR Ministry, aka Ministry Services, is both a charge and an exciting outreach to the Christian Community.

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Blog by Tess: Why I became a Writer

Teresa (Tess) Riddle

I want to share with you a few reasons why I became a writer.

First reason for becoming an author.

I started reading books when I was in fourth grade because of the teacher I had. She loved reading books, and would read a portion of a book to us each day, after we had lunch. Her love for books rubbed off onto me. I started buying Nancy Drew books, Hardy Boys books, etc. to read.  

 In 9th grade, I took a “Book Reading” class.  The teacher of that class had a love for books. He had each of us pick books we wanted to read.  As we finished reading each of our books, we had to write a book report, plus do a little research on the author. That’s when I became interested in reading books that had something to do with history.

After the break, I will discuss this further.

We will respond with a free copy of our Guide to Writing.

T&R Independent Books brings you this blog post to keep you informed on the issues of today. Authors need to stay informed so that they can relate to their readers facts as well as entertain them with their imagination.

It’s Your Business is a video service to help authors learn how to set up their business. We provide free video training where you learn why you, as an author, are already a businessman or businesswoman. You also learn basics for structuring your business. Along with these videos are Learning to Write with the basics you need.

To discover how we can help you be the writer you want to be, write to us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com.

Check us out and get your career moving. Now back to the article.

I also had other teachers in 9th grade that loved to read, and who passed that love on to me. My English teacher had us read books and write a report on the book and the author.   In World History class, the teacher had us read “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”.  In English Lit and American Lit both, there was a lot of reading involved.

In the 12th grade, in American Government class, we were required to read the constitution and memorize it.     

It was good that I had developed a love for reading. Otherwise, I would have been in trouble. In certain classes in junior high and high school both, reading books counted as ¼ of our semester grade.

The second reason:

When I took my college entrance exam in high school, there was a portion of the exam that included writing. We were given a few subjects to choose from to write about. Once we picked a subject, we had so much time in which to write a story based on that subject.  When the results from my college entrance exam came back, a school counselor sat down with me and went over the results. He said, “Teresa, in the writing area, you scored in the top ten percent of the nation. I really think you need to consider writing as a profession.”

I dismissed the idea and didn’t think about it anymore. I had my heart set on going to college and taking classes in the business/secretarial field.  Well, during my two years of college, I was required to take a few English classes: “Foundation of Communication One”, “Business Communications”, and “Business Letter Writing”. A lot of writing, plus creativity were in those classes.  I just couldn’t seem to get away from taking classes that involved learning how to think for myself when it came to writing.  

This third reason is really the main reason I started writing books. 

Several people I knew, and some I didn’t know very well, started complaining that more Christian writers were needed to write books.  It was getting harder to find good clean books to read that didn’t have swear words or dirty scenes in them.  It was also starting to get harder to find devotional books for women that used the King James Version Bible verses.

God started dealing with me about writing fiction books that didn’t have swearing or dirty scenes in them. After I wrote my first book and got it published, I started writing my second book. After doing research and started in on it, God spoke to me about putting that book aside and start writing Christian Devotional books for women.

That is what I am doing at present, writing a Christian Devotional book for women that contains KJV Bible scripture.  I hope to have that book published before Easter.

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/tessriddle.

Don’t forget to comment below. We are always interested in your opinions. And to make sure you get our blogs, simply check the box that says, Get new posts by email.

Company information:

T&R Independent Bookstore is a division of T&R Independent Books founded in 2014 by R. Frederick and Tess Riddle. Ministry, aka Ministry Services, is both a charge and an exciting outreach to the Christian Community.

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Blog by Tess: Struggle Writing

Teresa (Tess) Riddle

My struggle writing began in 2014, I was sitting in McDonald’s with my husband. Told him I felt that the Lord was telling me that I needed to start writing books.  He supported me in it.

I went home and started gathering information for writing a book:

  • what type of story would I write?
  • where would it take place?
  • layout of the town’s businesses and streets.
  • what is the size of the town’s police department?
  • What is the pecking order?
  • names and description of each character in my book
  • the list goes on.

After the break, I will discuss this further.

We will respond with a free copy of our Guide to Writing.

T&R Independent Books brings you this blog post or podcast to keep you informed on the issues of today. Authors need to stay informed so that they can relate to their readers facts as well as entertain them with their imagination.

It’s Your Business is a video service to help authors learn how to set up their business. We provide free video training where you learn why you, as an author, are already a businessman or businesswoman. You also learn basics for structuring your business. Along with these videos are Learning to Write with the basics you need.

To discover how we can help you be the writer you want to be, write to us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com.

Check us out and get your career moving. Now back to the article.

After a few interruptions, I finally got around to start writing my book in 2017.  But then came another interruption.

One day a knock came at our door. It was the landlord’s agent who told us that we had 30 days to move out of our Condo. The owner wanted to sell it!

We started packing, but in the midst of it, we ended up evacuating to Lakeland, because hurricane Irma was headed our way. After a few days there, we came back to Port Charlotte and continued packing boxes for our move.

Finding a place to live was a struggle. Everywhere we tried to find a place, they had a long waiting list.  We finally ended up in a hotel for 3 days before moving into a camper loaned to us by a church member. Praise the Lord!

We lived there for several weeks before we were able to move into our current apartment. 

When we moved in on Oct 27, 2017, and got settled, I started writing again.  In January of 2018 I was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo radiation and chemo for several weeks, plus some surgery. That did me in, to the point I could hardly do anything, let alone write.  It took me weeks to get my strength back.  But they had gotten all the cancer!

When I got much of my strength back, I started working on the book again. In 2019, I was again diagnosed with round two of cancer.  Again, I underwent chemo and radiation.  It was 2021 before I could continue to work on my book. I was determined that I was going to finish that book and get it published.

I finished and published it in 2020! It was a wonderful feeling knowing that I had finally published my first book.

I started writing book number two, another fiction. Late in 2021, God started dealing with me about writing some Christian Devotional books for women. I put the fiction book aside and started doing research for a devotional book. At present I am in the process of finishing the book so it can turn it over to my proofreader.  I would like to be able to publish the book by the end of the month. 

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/tessriddle.

RSS feed is tessriddle/feed.

Don’t forget to comment below. We are always interested in your opinions. And to make sure you get our blogs, simply check the box that says, Notify me of new posts via email.

Company information:

T&R Independent Bookstore is a division of T&R Independent Books founded in 2014 by R. Frederick and Tess Riddle. TR Ministry, aka Ministry Services, is both a change and an exciting outreach to the Christian Community.

I promised that I would keep you informed about the website. Well, it is not completed, but the blog has now transitioned to it. And my wife is beginning her own blog!

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Meet Tess

Teresa (Tess) Riddle

Hi, I’m Tess Riddle.

Welcome to my first blog. I am excited about being a part of a Christian writer’s group and launching this new blog.

I want to share a little about myself. I was born and raised in Michigan. From the time I was a teenager, I have wanted to write. When I took my College Entrance Exam, I scored in the top 10% of the nation in writing.

After the break, I will discuss this further.

T&R Independent Books brings you this blog post or podcast to keep you informed on the issues of today. Authors need to stay informed so that they can relate to their readers facts as well as entertain them with their imagination.

It’s Your Business is a video service to help authors learn how to set up their business. We provide free video training where you learn why you, as an author, are already a businessman or businesswoman. You also learn basics for structuring your business. Along with these videos are Learning to Write with the basics you need.

To discover how we can help you be the writer you want to be, write to us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. We will respond with a free copy of our Guide to Writing.

Check us out and get your career moving.

Now back to the article.

But after I got to college, my college counselors told me that I should consider writing books. Over the years other people have told me the same thing. But I didn’t.

Instead, I opted for the secretarial field which led to a career as a clerk and later secretary. It wasn’t until I was 69 years old that I wrote my first book, Haney Place Secrets, which has been published and is available on our website.

At present, I’m working on a couple of devotional books which I plan on finishing and publishing this year.

With this blog I plan to share my journey with you along with tidbits from my books. It is going to be exciting, and I look forward to sharing it with you.

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/tessriddle.

Don’t forget to comment below. We are always interested in your opinions. And to make sure you get our blogs, simply check the box that says, Notify me of new posts via email.

Company information:

T&R Independent Bookstore is a division of T&R Independent Books founded in 2014 by R. Frederick and Tess Riddle. TR Ministry, aka Ministry Services, is both a change and an exciting outreach to the Christian Community.

We promised that we would keep followers of RFrederickRiddleBlog informed about the new website. Well, it is not completed, but the blog has now transitioned to it. Both Tess and R Frederick have their own blog! See you there.