Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Teresa Keefer is a self-published author by night and a ‘temporarily retired’ human resource professional during the day. Her primary interest is romantic fiction; however, she has been known to dabble in other genres when the mood strikes her. Being an avid reader of everything from non-fiction to horror to romance and erotica since she was young, her dream of becoming a published author herself became a reality in 2013 when she published a contemporary romance she completed in 2007. She is a current member of Romance Writers of America as well as the Indiana Chapter of RWA.
Coming Home was released in February 2013 through Amazon’s Create Space and Kindle Direct Publishing. Blood Vengeance-Book 1 Vengeance Trilogy was completed and released by the same platforms in July 2013 with the subsequent books due to release in 2014. On Valentine’s Day 2014 she released her second contemporary romance Yesterday’s Promises. She also has written several short stories and essays as well as poetry which may be found on www.fanstory.com.
First-hand experience breathes life into her stories because they are set in places that she has visited. Coming Home is set in the beautiful, peaceful Smoky Mountain area of East Tennessee, which is her favorite place to relax. Blood Vengeance is set in the steamy, seductive New Orleans, a place where she and her daughters visited and to which she hopes to return. We should also watch for locations such as Las Vegas, New York City, Washington D.C. as well as some fictional locations that she has created in her own mind. She says that if she is able to start working on her bucket list soon, there will also be a visit to Ireland and hopefully a story from there too. Her favorite author saying is ‘be careful what you say or do…you might end up in my next novel’. Not to say that her fictional characters bear any resemblance to actual people, living or deceased. Readers have said things like ‘she pulls at the heartstrings’ and ‘she makes you feel like you are right there’ when reviewing her books. She says between book ideas that are fed to her by friends, her own imagination is continually coming up with new book ideas and she has no less than three works in process at a time.
Teresa is a lifelong Indiana resident living in a rural community in the east central portion of the state. As a single mother of three daughters, she returned to college as an adult and earned an MBA from Indiana Institute of Technology. Teresa has spent over 25 years in the human resource profession and has often threatened to write a humorous depiction of life in the human resource profession. Oh, the stories she could tell! She has been known to debate political and social issues with passion and generally does not back down, sometimes resorting to dry sarcasm to prove a point. In addition to spending time with her daughters and grandchildren she has a lot of other interests that compete for her time such as cooking, sewing, gardening, crafting, studying spiritualism, and traveling.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I released Yesterday’s Promises on Valentine’s Day 2014. I was inspired to write this book after going to a small town midwest annual fall festival a few years back. I love fall festivals in the Midwest! There are crafts, food, music, and Harley Davidsons with hot men on them.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Unusual? I don’t think so unless you count that I will be working on one book and get an idea for another one and pretty much abandon the first one to go put my idea down in writing, usually by getting the first chapter written. I have to admit that right now I have 2 WIPs under my own name, 1WIP under my pen name, and another one that my best friend gave me the idea for that has nothing remotely to do with romance but with his help, I think I’m going to give writing a psychological thriller a chance. I like to write in my pajamas on the sofa in front of the television with a glass of tea and snacks close by and if I need a break I will either really watch what is on television or go grab a craft project out of my endless stack of craft WIPs!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh my gosh! I have been reading for so many years but really got hooked on romance back when I read my first Janet Dailey title when I was just in my early teens. I got hooked on Harlequins for awhile and then moved on from there. And I don’t just stick to romance either! I would have to say that I am so very impressed and in awe of the romance works of Nora Roberts, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Linda Lael Miller but then I also like the romantic thrillers by Heather Graham…in fact I am working my way through her Krewe of Hunters series right now. I also like Nicholas Sparks and it really impresses me that a man could write such wonderfully tender love stories. Of course, I love Stephen King and when my best friend gave me his autobiography On Writing as a way to get me to push myself into actually writing seriously, I’d have to say that was the start of the full novel period even though it took me 11 years to get the first one out to the public.
What are you working on now?
I am working on the second book of my paranormal romance Vengeance Trilogy. This second book is titled Vengeance Unleashed and I will be putting up some teasers on my Facebook page over the next few weeks. This book will pick up with the continuing story of the medium and the vampire but will also introduce the relationship between the oldest vampire of the team of vigilante vampires and the vampire he created in the first book. Because he was only in his late teens when he was created he has a tendency to act like a kid and his created vampire is a teenager and a hot mess! She will get in a lot of trouble I’m afraid and he will have to clean up after her messes until he takes her in hand and straightens her out.
I have also started working on the first book of my other paranormal romance trilogy which will be called Sisters Three. I don’t have a title yet for any of the books in this series or I would share. Again, watch my Facebook page for teasers in the upcoming months. Sisters Three is about a family of witches that have gone their separate ways until a predicted evil rears its ugly head in the lakefront town where the eldest of the sisters live. They will be joined by the grandson of a Shaman, a police officer and another sexy man whose occupation remains unknown. And I’ll let you in on a secret about this series…..each of the witches will closely resemble the personalities of each of my own daughters….but please don’t tell them!
I have also had requests to do a story as a sequel to my first book, Coming Home because there were a couple of single gals in that book that really need to get the hook up! I will start working on one of them by mid-summer for maybe a Christmas 2014 release.
My best friend gave me an idea for a psychological thriller series which is not my normal genre…but because he’s my best friend AND because I love his idea as long as he pitches in as he has promised I will collaborate with him on this one. Maybe a 2015 goal?
Coming soon I am going to dabble in the erotica writing but will be doing so under a pen name so as to not mortify my adult daughters. These will be a series of novellas about a very high class and wealthy prostitute. First one will be released on or about 2/22/14 on Kindle only. If you are into erotica and like it smutty and dirty my alter ego has put one together. Watch for releases by Autumn Drake…
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still learning and tracking my progress as I market. I’m not sure what works the best yet. Since I do have a full time day job until 2/28/14 it has been hit and miss because I’d really rather be writing when I have time off! But due to corporate centralization my position is being eliminated and I’m going to be temporarily retired and hope to spend a lot of time…not too much…working on my marketing plan. I have an MBA so business plans and marketing plans are right up my alley. Tell you what…check with me at the end of the summer and see what I have to say about this topic then.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up! If writing is your passion then go for it because life is too short to spend all your time doing something that doesn’t set your soul to flight! So what if you only sell 5 copies? It’s about doing what you enjoy and enjoying what you do. I know…that sounds like a bunch of fluffy motivational crap but I really mean it! I’ve wanted to write books since I was in high school but never really put my mind and effort into it until one day my best friend gave me an idea for a book and I wrote the first three chapters the same day and emailed them to him. That’s when he started pushing me and little by little I got up the courage to put my work out there. Please don’t get discouraged if you send your manuscripts out and get a ton of rejections! Keep writing and when you know that you’re ready, self publish if you want to. That’s what I did…I wasn’t about to wait for a big publishing company or an agent to tell me yes…I told myself yes.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I’ve heard lots of advice over the years and not all of it is related to writing. I will share some of my favorite tidbits:
“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!”
“Being an author is a marathon, not a sprint.”
“Some of the best lessons learned are those learned the hard way.”
“The best revenge is living well.”
And best for last…sorry but I can’t resist…
“You can’t turn a hoe into a housewife but you can teach a housewife how to be a hoe…”
What are you reading now?
Because I love to read, my to be read shelf is overflowing! On my hardback/paperback shelf are Dr. Sleep/Stephen King…Beneath a Blood Red Moon/Heather Graham…Demonic/Ann Coulter…How To Hear Your Angels/Doreen Virtue and as soon as my best friend finishes it I will read Lone Survivor/Marcus Luttrell
On my Kindle the list is endless and don’t even want to start listing…the one click option is as dangerous for me as a casino is for a gambler! But I will tell you that the two that I am actually reading right now are Blood Red/Heather Graham and A Discovery of Witches/Deborah Harkness.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I am going to write, write and write some more! My goal is to release the second and third book of the Vengeance series…the first book of the Sisters Three series…and perhaps do a contemporary Christmas romance for release after Thanksgiving 2014. Of course there are the erotic novellas under my pen name to get out there. I have a never ending flood of ideas so you will definitely see a lot more from me this year!
I also hope to be able to attend the RWA Conference in July in San Antonio and perhaps do a couple of book signings in the upcoming months.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I don’t even want to think that would be possible…to be stranded on an island with only 3-4 books? Are you planning on leaving me there for more than a week? If so, you better give me more than that to work on! Seriously…I would probably have to say a Stephen King book…a Nora Roberts book…and a Doreen Virtue book.
Author Websites and Profiles
Teresa Keefer Amazon Profile
Teresa Keefer’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile