1.) Tenesha, first and foremost take a second to introduce yourself and tell me how/ why you decided to get involved with writing.
I am a native of Louisville, Kentucky who is currently living in Atlanta with my husband and dogs. I’m the CEO of Writerwerx University and an indie author writing in multiple genres including mystery, fantasy, self-help, and erotica. I don’t know that I had a choice about becoming a wordsmith! My mother is a voracious reader to the point that I joke that she genetically passed a love of reading on to me. And my father started reading books to me as a child so that the gene was triggered and there was no turning back for me! Taking the step from reading books to writing them was a no-brainer and I’ve been writing since around first grade.
2.) I too was a huge fan of horror movies growing up, constantly renting the same ones from my local Blockbuster. Do you believe the movies and media you were interested in as a child has had an influence on the way you write today?
Of course! I think that any kind of art you consume–whether you view a painting or watch a television show or read a short story–influences you as a writer. The proof is in how twisted a lot of my writing is. Getting a master’s degree in addictions counseling only made things worse! With an even more sophisticated technical understanding of human psychology added to my sick fascination with people like serial killers, I would have a tough time trying to keep those more nefarious elements out of my writing.
3.) I’ve noticed that you not only write your own novels and stories but also strategies to help others advance their writing abilities. Do you enjoy doing these or feel obligated to the ones who are struggling?
I love helping new writers. I went through so many struggles in my own writing career that it feels good to help people avoid the barriers and pitfalls that I’ve run into along the way. There’s no sense of obligation, per se. Just a drive to help people have an easier time of it than I did. This is a major reason I started WriterwerxUniversity.com. So that new writers could have somewhere to go to, without spending a dime, and get step-by-step guidance on how to plan, write, groom, and publicize their work. If my little website can help save someone thousands of dollars of their hard-earned money or years of their precious time, I’m more than willing to be of assistance.
4.) I’m sure being an addicition counselor has Introduced you to some real life characters over the years. I myself have been in recovery for the last six years and going strong. Do you often take that experience into your creative work, or do you keep the two separated?
Well, first of all, congratulations! Every day in recovery is something to celebrate and I wish you another six years and then some. I regularly lean on my psychotherapy training in my work, and I think it’s important to do so (for me or anyone else). Those outside, non-writing-related experiences that we have in life are what help us create our individual writing styles. What we focus on in a scene, how our characters speak, the mechanisms that drive our made-up universes–all this comes from our life experiences.
Even in my work at Writerwerx University, I apply skills I learned as a therapist in order to help understand people’s goals, walk them through getting traumatic experiences out of their hearts and down on paper, and relay information to them in a way that works for their learning and communication styles. I probably could’ve made do without my education and professional experience in the mental health field, but I think what I learned makes a huge difference in the level of customer service I can provide for writers.
5.) While writing is an obvious priority for you I see you also make music and participate in other creative activities. I do as well, I also have an NFT project and paint in my free time. Do you believe that contributing time and effort to other activities is harmful or beneficial to your writing efforts?
The same way that going out and living life helps with writing, engaging in other creative ventures can as well. Sometimes composing a song is a way to let my brain rebound from writing an intense scene so that I can move on with other tasks with a clear head. Other times, something like producing a composite illustration of what I think a character looks like actually helps me write them in a more authentic way. For me, expressing myself in various ways only helps me become a stronger writer.
6.) How do you feel about self publishing as opposed to signing a deal with a big time publishing company?
I generally advise that people be open-minded as they figure out what works best for them. As someone who has always been an indie author and who has friends who are (still attempting to become) traditionally published, it simply looks like two paths to the same exact goal. Unfortunately, traditionally published authors seem to have to work a lot harder to get there than us indies do. As the technology needed to self-publish becomes more sophisticated, affordable, and easy to use, it seems to make less and less sense to jump through all of the hoops necessary to attempt traditional publishing. Especially since, after begging for an agent and then struggling to get noticed by a publisher, there’s still no guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted. Life is hard enough, so I try to work smarter and not harder where I can. Based on my experience, it seems that indie authorship is the faster, easier, more lucrative way to publish a book.
7.) Do you have any current WIP you wish to share today?
Though I usually reserve sneak peeks at WIPs for my paid subscribers, I can tell you a little bit about one of my upcoming releases, I suppose! I’m in the planning stages for a book about a woman whose power to resurrect someone from the dead only works if another human is watching her. The catch is, whoever sees her raise someone from the dead is then sacrificed in their place. The book opens with the main character and her wife coming home to find their teen daughter has committed suicide.
Does she let her daughter stay dead or sacrifice her wife in order to resurrect their child?
Or is there another option? (hint: there is!)
I plan on having a lot of fun with this dark premise!
8.) What does literary success mean to you? Do you believe you will achieve that goal?
To me, literary success means achieving the literary goals you set out to, no matter what those goals look like. Your goals may change from one day to the next or one year to the next. Your goals can be microscopic, like writing 100 words before the end of the day. Your goals can be massive, like selling $100,000 in books each year.
For myself, I think I already have achieved the literary success I’m looking for, for the most part. I get paid to spend my days writing and reading books. I couldn’t ask for anything better than that! Like most people, I wouldn’t sneeze at making a bit more money doing it, but I’m certainly not going to complain about where I am now in my career.
9.) What should everybody expect to see to come from you in 2023?
For 2023, I have at least four books that I’ll be releasing this year, if all goes as planned. One is even in a new writing genre for me: romance! As someone who loves to write gory, disturbing things, I wanted to write a romance as a way to challenge myself and stretch my literary muscles. I read a lot of romance by authors who specialize in the genre (Julie Olivia, Terra Weiss, Jill Cobb, etc.), and enjoy it, but I’ve never tried to write any (unless you want to count my erotica!). However, early feedback on my first draft has been great so far, so I hope that means the book will be palatable to die-hard romance lovers.
I’ve also been given the honor of directing the Atlanta Writers Club’s Atlanta Self-Publishing Conference this year. Though it’s my first time directing an event of this size, I’m confident that all the attendees will have a good time and learn how to take their literary careers to the next level.
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