I am slowly going to close this blog down, please follow me at www.tessadeanauthor.com

I will slowly be removing what I want to save from this blog and then deleting it. My new work is now almost completely on www.tessadeanauthor.com.

Hope to see you on my newest blog.

Tessa – 

Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses

New Author’s Website – http://www.tessadeanauthor.com

Author – Old Writing –  http://www.finallyawriter.com

About my life –  http://www.tessacandoit.com

Author of a book published on the blog, https://tessacandoit.com/government-property-a-memoir-as-a-military-wife/

I am also a youtuber in the authortube section on writing. See my videos here:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpNS-6gfJ0s8eD1berLwQg

I am now following and streaming on Twitch.tv. Find me under www.twitch.tv/tessadeanauthor

To see my most recent work check out the blog post below.

I write a lot of my stories as serial stories using prompts. I have many different stories, the longest one is 50 parts if I am not mistaken. My current one is here and still in progress. You can use this post to start with part one and work your way through and then go directly to that blog and continue it.

This blog contains several serial stories and I used a lot of them in varying sizes in my very first novel which will eventually go online on the newest blog http://www.tessadeanauthor.com and then if I continue writing novels as a series I have several longer serial stories on that same blog as that is the one I update all the time. I don’t update this one very often. Those serial stories contain the middle of a possible novel and need both a beginning and an end. As most prompt sites request family-friendly work I will be updating those stories to murder or mystery stories and definitely on the dark side. So you can see why these aren’t quite as dark as they could be. I don’t go into much detail. Book One/Intro To The Possible Series is not a dark murder mystery as I am just getting used to writing that genre and I don’t think I know enough to make it a psychological thriller/murder/suspense story.

Tessa – 

Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses

New Author’s Website –http://www.tessadeanauthor.com

Author – Old Writing –  http://www.finallyawriter.com

About my life and stories –  http://www.tessacandoit.com

Author of a book, on the blog, https://tessacandoit.com/government-property-a-memoir-as-a-military-wife/

I am also a youtuber in the authortube section on writing. See my videos here:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpNS-6gfJ0s8eD1berLwQg

Looking for my most recent work, check out my new blog listed below.

My newest blog is http://www.tessadeanauthor.com. I rarely update the two older blogs anymore.

Tessa – 

Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses

New Author’s Website –http://www.tessadeanauthor.com

Author – Old Writing –  http://www.finallyawriter.com

About my life –  http://www.tessacandoit.com

Author of a book, a work in progress on the blog, https://tessacandoit.com/government-property-a-memoir-as-a-military-wife/

Highlighted chapters are done and ready to be read.

I am also a youtuber in the authortube section on writing. See my videos here:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpNS-6gfJ0s8eD1berLwQg

The Lottery Ticket – Part 2 (written 8/12/2012)

This piece follows “The Lottery Ticket”.

The Lottery Ticket – Part 2

The ticket flutters in the wind, Tim’s mouth is opening and closing, but he’s unable to form a single, coherent word. One-way flight to the moon?Is this for real? What a strange lottery!

The news announcer expectantly glances around the crowd waiting for someone to yell that he or she has won. Except for the crowd muttering to itself, silence reigns.

Tim finally breaks his reverie and yells, “I won!” The crowd swarms around him, pressing in.

“Out of my way, out of my way,” the announcer says as he tries to get to Tim. Slowly the crowd parts and he eventually makes it to Tim’s side. Someone tries to yank the ticket out of Tim’s hand. The cops begin moving the crowd back, using force where necessary.

Tim swallows nervously and eyes the crowd.. This whole experience is surreal. Is he dreaming?

“Ladies and gentlemen may I have your attention please?” The crowd begins to quiet down and look expectantly towards the announcer.

“Sir, what is your name?”

“Tim Ryan. Is this a joke?”

“No, sir, it is not a joke. Lunar Landings is offering this once-in-a-lifetime prize to help populate their new development on the moon. The prize includes the one-way shuttle flight to the moon, a job at Lunar Landings, plus your own house. The only requirement is that you must stay with the company for at least 10 years and if you decide to return to earth you will have to pay the cost of the return ticket.

Tim grins. A job, a house and his ex-wife and her mother far, far away. What could be better?

“When do I leave?”

~~~~~~~~~

Tessa –

Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses, also a devout Christian

Author – http://www.finallyawriter.com (this blog contains my old work mostly although occasionally I do add something new here), new work is mainly on this blog http://www.tessacandoit.com

 

The Lottery Ticket – Part 1 (written 6/7/2012) (sorry put wrong date on this)

The prompt: You have 500 words to write a piece, fiction or non-fiction, which includes the phrase “to the moon.”

Now showing my age, I have to admit the first thing that popped into my head was “The Honeymooners” with Jackie Gleason, where Ralph Kramden says to his wife Alice, “You are going straight to the moon, Alice.” However I couldn’t work that into anything helpful.

While I was trying to figure out what to write I pulled a bunch of books out of the shelves and read the first lines. One of them struck a chord and something flowed from it. I didn’t use that person’s line, but it was enough to send my creative juices flowing.

500 words seemed like a lot when I started and then once I got to writing I found that it wasn’t enough so I spent last night during my sleepless hours tweaking it down to about 496 words according to the word counter. This is my finished version.

**********************

The Lottery Ticket

By Teresa Smeigh

The wind whistled loudly down the alley and Tim Ryan tried unsuccessfully to turn up his collar to protect his neck and ears. He should have dressed warmer. He didn’t even have gloves or a hat. He couldn’t leave to go get them either because the line behind him was growing rapidly.

He had been daydreaming ever since they announced on the morning news that they were holding a special lottery at midnight. A lottery where you didn’t have to purchase a ticket. Only so many tickets would be handed out, but they wouldn’t announce how many they were going to hand out. You had to be there to win. They weren’t even going to announce the prize ahead of time, but they promised that it was a once-in-a-lifetime prize.

Tim Ryan was down on his luck. His ex-wife was demanding her alimony and he didn’t have it. She was threatening to report him and get him thrown in jail for not paying his support. He had lost his job a few weeks ago and hadn’t been able to find a new one yet, but being in jail wasn’t going to help. Surely she had to see that? He knew this lottery just had to be the answer to all of his problems. He would do anything to get her off his back.

So here he was, standing in a freezing alley with hundreds of others. He had hurried to the drawing spot as soon as he had heard the announcement. He just knew that the place would be packed. He noticed that the line was getting even longer behind him.

Tim was jumping around trying to keep warm. He certainly hoped that the prize was worth all of this. He was cold and tired. He had to stay alert to make sure no one jumped the line. This prize just had to be his.

The clock tower struck midnight and the crowd quieted down expectantly. The announcer stood on the back of a flat bed truck and spoke into his microphone telling everyone to stay in a straight line and begin moving towards him and take an envelope, but they were not to open it yet. The line would continue to move until all envelopes had been handed out.

Tim followed the line in front of him. Finally he was close enough to see that they still had a pile of envelopes. He was going to get one. He was told to move over with the others. Once the last envelope was given out, the announcer wished them luck and told them that the winner would know what their prize was when they opened the envelope, there were 99 blank tickets and one prize, but not to open it until he said “go!”

Once the announcer yelled “go” the crowd ripped open their envelopes. Tim ripped his open and his mouth fell open. Printed on his ticket was “ONE-WAY FLIGHT TO THE MOON.”

PAGE 228, LINE 19 – 4/2/19

Rules from the Haunted Wordsmith:

If you haven’t participated in this fun little prompt before, it’s quite simple. Grab a book…any kind of book…and flip to page 228, then count to line 19. Use that line as a prompt for a post. You can take the quote directly as used in that story, or simply find inspiration in the line and come up with something else.

Simply provide the quote (along with book title and author) and have fun!

If you want to participate, simply write a post and link it back to this post so everyone can read it.

________________________________________________________________________

“I cannot understand it…It would be easier to understand if he had been shot…”

Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie

(had to use 2 lines to make sense as the sentence ran more than one line)

********************

People stood around perplexed and looked at the body.

There was so much blood, but no sign of a wound.

“I cannot understand it…it would be easier to understand if he had been shot!”

********************

Tessa –

Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses, also a devout Christian

Author – http://www.finallyawriter.com (this blog contains my old work mostly although occasionally I do add something new here), new work is mainly on this blog http://www.tessacandoit.com

PAGE 195, LINE 4 – 3/11/19

PAGE 195, LINE 4

Rules from the Haunted Wordsmith:

If you haven’t participated in this fun little prompt before, it’s quite simple. Grab a book…any kind of book…and flip to page 195, then count to line 4. Use that line as a prompt for a post. You can take the quote directly as used in that story, or simply find inspiration in the line and come up with something else.

Simply provide the quote (along with book title and author) and have fun!

If you want to participate, simply write a post and link it back to this post so everyone can read it.

________________________________________________________________________

“That is the way things were done when I was young, Monsieur.”

Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie

********************

The teacher and his class watched the author getting ready for his lecture. He pulled out a pad of paper and some pencils and announced he was ready.

“Where’s your computer,” the young teacher asked.

“I use pen and paper,” he answered. “That is the way things were done when I was young, Monsieur.”

********************

Tessa –

Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses, also a devout Christian

Author – http://www.finallyawriter.com (this blog contains my old work mostly although occasionally I do add something new here), new work is mainly on this blog http://www.tessacandoit.com

16th Birthday – prompt by Light and Shade Challenge – June 4, 2017

Image from WikiCommons, taken by dave7 and used under the Creative Commons Agreement

16th Birthday by Teresa Smeigh – June 4, 2017

All Johnny’s friends were getting new cars for their 16^th birthdays. Johnny wasn’t sure what he was getting for his. His parents had been quiet.

Just as Johnny got tired of hearing all his friends bragging, his parents mentioned he was getting a car too.

Johnny started dreaming about a bright yellow mustang. He had mentioned it to his parents many times. He couldn’t wait to see it sitting in the driveway.

He started to count down the days to his 16^th birthday. The morning had arrived and he sat at the window keeping a watch on the driveway. No yellow mustangs or other new cars went past and backed into his driveway.

Around noon a beat up red sedan pulled into the driveway. His dad and mom got out and wished him happy birthday.

Johnny just stared…

________________________________________

This story is for the Light and Shade Challenge.

 

Teresa (Tessa) Dean Smeigh

-Advocate for Mental and Invisible Illnesses

-Author of Articles, Stories and Poems

http://www.tessacandoit.com

http://www.finallyawriter.wordpress.com (moving posts to other blog and will be deleting this one).

Will Power – Inspiration Monday – May 11, 2014

WILL POWER – by Tessa Smeigh May 2014

The coffee was steaming. Sue drank it in an effort to warm up after her long walk to the coffee shop to meet her girlfriends from college. She hadn’t seen them since graduation last year.

While she waited she fantasized about her new boyfriend. They had gone to college together and she ran into him last month. They went out for dinner on their first date and by the second one they had slept together at Sue’s apartment. She couldn’t wait to tell her friends how happy she and Steve were.

She wanted to see him more often, but he told her he was really busy at work and would contact her when he was free to spend time with her. She wasn’t happy with this. She had no will power and it took all of her strength to keep her promise to not call him while he was working. He told her he worked nights and weekends mainly. This made her happy since she also worked nights and most weekends, leaving her days free.

They hadn’t talked much and she had no idea where he was living at the moment. They exchanged cell phone numbers and then chatted briefly. She did most of the talking as Steve didn’t seem inclined to tell her much.

She wondered briefly what the girls had been up to. They really hadn’t kept in touch and this was their first meeting to catch up on each other’s lives since they graduated. She wished they would hurry up!

She heard laughter at the door and looked up to see a group of girls and one guy entering the coffee shop. Her friends, but she was shocked to see Daisy arm and arm with Steve. She became aware her mouth was hanging open and she closed it and stood up to greet her friends trying not to stare at Steve.

She was shocked when Daisy introduced Steve as her new husband. They had told no one and eloped a few months ago.

She wanted to cry, but shock kept her from doing anything at the moment. She tried not to stare at them, but she felt Steve staring at her. Tears were starting to form and she quickly excused herself to go to the ladies’ room. She didn’t realize that Steve was following her and he grabbed her arm once they were out of the front of the coffee shop.

“I am sorry I didn’t tell you that I was married, but it really doesn’t have to matter.”

“It matters to me,” she said fighting back tears. “I don’t want to be the other woman. Besides Daisy is one of my friends. She deserves better.”

“Come on Sue we had fun the other night. Don’t break it off! I have plenty of free time during the week days. I work for myself and determine my own hours.”

Sue had claimed earlier she didn’t have any will power. She agreed weakly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay; write 200-500 words on the prompt of your choice. You may either use the prompt as the title of your piece or work it into the body of your piece. You must complete it before 6 pm CST on the Monday following this post.

The Prompts:

LUKEWARM REVENGE

WILL POWER

MADMAN’S TRICKS

WOODEN KEY

ANTI-MAGIC

Want to share your Inspiration Monday piece? Post it on your blog and then give Stephanie the link in the comments below the prompt. (She’ll also love you more if you link back to her); She’ll include a link to your piece in the next Inspiration Monday post. No blog? Email your piece to her at stephanie (at) bekindrewrite (dot) com.

Teresa (Tessa) Dean Smeigh

-Advocate for Mental and Invisible Illnesses

-Author of Articles, Stories and Poems

http://www.tessacandoit.com

http://www.finallyawriter.wordpress.com (moving posts to other blog and will be deleting this one.

For those following my Judy and John series, another part is out – #13

http://finallyawriter.com/2016/02/12/friday-fiction-with-ronovan-writes-prompt-challenge-13-judy-and-john-the-cave-not-so-safe-after-all/