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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!