Writers Archives - Tena Stetler

May 11th Where Have I been?

First of all, I want to apologize to everyone for just kinda disappearing. After my husband’s retirement and our wonderful trip of a lifetime, I returned home, and terrible things began to happen. This is not a poor-me post; this is a life-happens post, and you have to live with it.

First our companion dog of 13 years became really sick. She could no longer walk, had to be carried everywhere, even outside to go potty and upstairs to go to bed.. She’s a 50 lb chow chow so none of that was easy. Eventually, she was in so much pain we had to let her go on October 6, 2025. A terrible day.

Then we discovered that my husband had to have four major surgeries. September, November of 2025, then April 2, 2026. One surgery is still pending. Hoping to put it off till 2027. This is a man who was rarely sick for most of his life and never complains. He is my rock and knight in shinning armor.

A bright light in our lives happened December 14, 2025, A new chow chow puppy entered our life. She is an unbelievable puppy, no house breaking problems, rarely chews on anything she shouldn’t, learned her commands, sit, stay, down, stand, come, and place very quickly. She is now just over 7 months old and much bigger than the picture.

Then disaster struck again. On April 29, 2026, our 28 year old companion parrot had a seizure. We did everything we could to save her. Rushed her to the vet. He tried life-saving procedures for three hours. She passed in our arms. The shock and hurt is still terrible. She was integrated into every aspect of our lives and travels. From keeping my husband company when he shaved, to playing backgammon in the evenings and of course our many RV trips. I realize she had a good life, but still doesn’t help. We are just lost without her.

All these things have affected my ability to write and do promo. I promise that soon, I will complete the book that’s been waiting for over a year, and the other two in the pipeline.

For the first time in over a year, I will be making a public appearance at the Pikes Peak Public Library Mountain Of Authors. Colorado Springs, CO on May 16, 2026, from noon to 5:00 p.m. I hope you’ll come see me! I’ll have all my books with me for sale.

Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged family tragedies, pet loss, PPLD Mountain of Authors, Writers by Tena Stetler with no comments yet.

Nov 5th NaNoWriMo – A Tale of 50,000 Words in Thirty Days – WOW!

Along with millions of writers around the world, (okay maybe not millions, but close) I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWrimo).

UPDATE – Day twenty-five and I’ve logged 50,520 words. Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner. Even better only two chapters left to write! Yippee!

A challenge to write fifty-thousand words in thirty days. For weeks, our minds have worked out the logistics of the story, our fingers are twitching to tap that keyboard and kick off the race to our latest novel. The National Novel Writing Month challenge is a great confidence builder and something we writers look forward to November 1st every year.

NaNoWriMo as it’s fondly referred to has become somewhat of a tradition for me starting in 2010. I’ve made my goal of at least 50,000 words every year since with the exception of 2013. That year I failed miserably at only 17000 words. My day job was a monster, the hours were long,and by the time I arrived home, I was the monster. Anyone know what I mean? But I digress, at 17,000 I still had a working story, plot and characters. Yeah! Finished it up in the months that followed, polished the manuscript and submitted it. Since that time, I left the monster of a day job and writing is now my full-time job, and I love it. CHARM ME AGAIN is my 10th novel since 2015.

Breaking the curse is only the first step to forever.

Click on the cover to read more or purchase.

Ten novels that NaNoWriMo helped me to create have been published by The Wild Rose Press. Last year’s NaNo project, CHARM ME AGAIN is available for pre-order right now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble. and itunes Yippee! CHARM ME AGAIN releases December 9, 2019, just in time for Holiday shopping! Psssst…. to help you with your holiday shopping, my e-book of A WITCH’S HOLIDAY WEDDING is on sale beginning November 15th for 99 cents for a limited time at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and itunes. Download a copy today and join the magical, romantic fantasy adventure, you’ll never want to leave!

This year for NaNoWriMo I’ll be working on GYPSY MAGIC the third book in A Witch’s Journey Series. I’m so excited to share Brock and Gwen’s story and return to the world of Pepper and Lathen and wildlife rescue!

Along with the Romance Writers of America and Pikes Peak Writers group, who gave me the tools, NaNoWriMo gave me the confidence needed to stick my toe in the murky waters of the publishing industry. The 50,000 words, approximately 1,667 per day, usually is three-quarters of a pretty darn good novel. Each year I build on what I’ve learned throughout the year and use it to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge. The camaraderie among participants is phenomenal making the challenge a fun way to kick off the holidays!

Wish me luck! Keep checking back for updates on my progress this year. Will I make the 50,000 words? Only time will tell, but you can bet I’ll do my best! I know you’ll be cheering me on! If you have a chance, I’d love you to leave me comments of encouragement.

Have a fun and safe Thanksgiving! Eat lots of turkey and enjoy family and friends. After all that’s what its all about!

Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged 30 days, 50000, A Witch's Holiday Wedding, Charm Me Again, Novel Contest, Novel Writing Month, November, Paranormal Romance, Tena Stetler, Worldwide, Writers by Tena Stetler with 2 comments.

Nov 2nd NaNoWriMo – A Tale of 50,000 Words in Thirty Days – WOW!

Along with millions of writers around the world, (okay maybe not millions, but close) I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWrimo).

A challenge to write fifty-thousand words in thirty days. For weeks, our minds have worked out the logistics of the story, our fingers are twitching to tap that keyboard and kick off the race to our latest novel. The National Novel Writing Month challenge is a great confidence builder and something we writers look forward to November 1st every year.

NaNoWriMo as it’s fondly referred to has become somewhat of a tradition for me starting in 2010. I’ve made my goal of at least 50,000 words every year since with the exception of 2013. That year I failed miserably at only 17000 words. My day job was a monster, the hours were long,and by the time I arrived home, I was the monster. Anyone know what I mean? But I digress, at 17,000 I still had a working story, plot and characters. Yeah! Finished it up in the months that followed, polished the manuscript and submitted it. Since that time, I left the monster of a day job and writing is now my full-time job, and I love it. CHARM ME AGAIN is my 10th novel since 2015.

Click on the cover to read more or purchase.

Ten novels that NaNoWriMo helped me to create have been published by The Wild Rose Press. Last year’s NaNo project, CHARM ME AGAIN is available for pre-order right now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble. and itunes Yippee! CHARM ME AGAIN releases December 9, 2019, just in time for Holiday shopping! Psssst…. to help you with your holiday shopping, my e-book of A WITCH’S HOLIDAY WEDDING is on sale beginning November 15th for 99 cents for a limited time at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and itunes. Download a copy today and join the magical, romantic fantasy adventure, you’ll never want to leave!

This year for NaNoWriMo I’ll be working on GYPSY MAGIC the third book in A Witch’s Journey Series. I’m so excited to share Brock and Gwen’s story and return to the world of Pepper and Lathen and wildlife rescue!

Along with the Romance Writers of America and Pikes Peak Writers group, who gave me the tools, NaNoWriMo gave me the confidence needed to stick my toe in the murky waters of the publishing industry. The 50,000 words, approximately 1,667 per day, usually is three-quarters of a pretty darn good novel. Each year I build on what I’ve learned throughout the year and use it to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge. The camaraderie among participants is phenomenal making the challenge a fun way to kick off the holidays!

Wish me luck! Keep checking back for updates on my progress this year. Will I make the 50,000 words? Only time will tell, but you can bet I’ll do my best! I know you’ll be cheering me on! If you have a chance, I’d love you to leave me comments of encouragement.

Have a fun and safe Thanksgiving! Eat lots of turkey and enjoy family and friends. After all that’s what its all about!

Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged 000 words, 30 days, 50, A Witch's Holiday Wedding, Charm Me Again, NaNoWriMo, Novel Contest, November, Paranormal Romance, Tena Stetler, World wide, Writers by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.

Aug 14th This Is My Theme Song–Sing It Loud & Proud! Believe it!

Good morning everyone. I’ve been following 52 Week Blog Challenge, sometimes I post, sometimes I don’t. It’s the renegade in me, I can’t help it. <shrugs> Today I noticed a topic – Do I have a theme song? Giving that thought, I decided if I do, it would be Rachel Platten – Fight Song. Yep, that’s me sending big waves into motion with more than a single word. Explosions, well not always on purpose, but yeah I’ll own that too!

Take back my life. It gets away from me more than I’d like to admit. Writing deadlines, family obligations, social engagement demands, and I hate to admit it I cringe at leaving my writing cave at times. It’s safe there and I don’t have to live in reality. Reality is completely over rated in my book! Which explains why I write Paranormal Romance/Suspense.

The peace and quiet of my sun room, in the company of my parrot and dog, the birds chirping outside allows me to center and take back my life on my terms. The support of my own real life hero and best friend of many, many moons, my hubby, keeps me striving to meet my goals.

Air whooshes out of me in a rush when I look at my to-do-list for the next six months. Yep that’s why I’m writing this instead of my books. Procrastination at it’s best. The list several pages long flutters to the floor and for a moment I consider leaving it there. That won’t do, so I pick the cursed things up and my real world whirls into focus. Am I in too deep? I contemplate that for a moment or two. Hell no, I’m living my dream and I’m going to grasp that brass ring and reach the top! Hear me Roar! Oops another theme song. Kate Perry <giggle>

Well enough reflections, time to get back into the battle and fight for what I want. Those damn books won’t write themselves. I hope you’ll join me in fighting for your dreams. No one said it’d be easy. Together, we’ll change the world, regardless of who believes, and we’ll do it one book at a time!

AN ANGEL.S UNINTENTIONAL ENTANGLEMENT – Where Caden goes, trouble follows until he discovers a badly beaten woman barely clinging to life. Unprepared for the entanglement she brings to his doorstep, will he move heaven and earth to save her?

Available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon AU, itunes, The Wild Rose Press, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble.