TJ: Hello! Welcome to Author Spotlight where both new and veteran authors share a little about themselves and their work. Today we have Paranormal Women’s Fiction author Tee Harlowe. Let’s get into it. Care to tell readers about yourself?
Tee: Sure! I live in Kansas City, Missouri, with my husband, two kids, and ten-pound dog named Beasty. Apart from reading and writing, I’m an avid traveler and have been to fifteen countries (and counting). I’ve lived in Oaxaca, Mexico; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Dusseldorf, Germany. My next big bucket list trip is to Banff National Park in Canada, where I hope to see Lake Moraine.
My husband and I also have a sand volleyball team that we play with during summers, and even though we’re exceptionally bad, it’s a ton of fun. Oh, and in my spare time, I spend way too much time browsing Zillow even though we have absolutely no intention of moving anytime soon. Okay, okay, and last fun fact about me: my current obsession is Mooncat nail polish (I swear I’m not an affiliate—just a huge fan of the polish). They have the prettiest colors, so once a week, I have a date night with myself, put on a favorite TV show, and paint my nails.
TJ: That’s a great Bucket List goal. I love to travel as well, and where I go, often inspires my stories. Speaking of inspiration, what inspired you to become a writer?
Tee: I’ve always loved to write and knew I wanted to be a professional writer but never quite knew in what capacity. I moved to LA and got my bachelor’s degree in screenwriting, hoping to make it as a big-time movie writer . . . which did not happen. After graduation, I grew really frustrated with waitressing during the day to pay the bills while also interning at studios and trying to network so I could catch my big break. Eventually I got tired of not having any money and decided to become a teacher. I know, I know. Really not the best career choice if what I wanted was to make money. So I got my master’s in education and became a teacher. About six years later, I was incredibly burnt out and needed a change. My husband read a screenplay of mine I’d written in college and told me I should turn it into a book. A book? I had absolutely no idea how to write a book. But he sparked the idea in me, so I adapted it into what I thought was the best thing I’d ever written.
Reader: it was not, actually, the best thing I’d ever written.
It was really, really terrible. But it led me to finding the writing community on Twitter, meeting amazing critique partners, beta readers, and some of my very best friends to this day. I worked hard on improving my craft and became a better writer. I also got an idea: I could open my own editing business and slowly work toward being a full-time writer. So I did just that. I’ve spent the last five years as a fiction editor while pursuing a traditional publishing path. Recently, I re-evaluated my goals and realized if I want to be a full-time author, I have to take charge. So here I am: pursuing the indie path with my first book coming out March 28, 2023.
T.J.: That’s so exciting! I love hearing authors talk about their journey. We see a lot of the insta-fame and not a lot of the long hard road. Thank goodness the writing community was so warm and welcoming! Now, we get to read the best version of your writing. Next question: If you could meet any person dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Tee: Oh gosh. This is a hard one! So I’ll just go with a current obsession and say Shonda Rhimes. I’ve watched and loved every show she’s created, and I’m a Bridgerton fanatic (I’ve binged seasons one and two a shameful amount of times). I’d love to spend time with her and pick her brain about her creative process in general. I find her so inspiring and just all-around amazing, so it would be really cool to get to meet her.
T.J: Now, is my favorite part of the interview, hearing all about your work. Can you tell readers about Be Careful What You Witch For?
Tee: Yes! Be Careful What You Witch For is coming out March 28, 2023, and it’s about a witch named Clara who has the rare ability to grant wishes but left behind her home and her life of magic twenty years earlier. Now, at forty, she’s recently widowed, a single mother, and in some financial trouble, so she has no choice but to return home and face her past. The prequel to this book, Witchful Thinking, is out now and readers can get it for free when they subscribe to my newsletter!
TJ: Stories about reclaiming your power are so important. Many women feel an awakening in their forties. Paranormal Women’s Fiction is the genre that represents that awakening in a fantastical light. This has been fun. Thank you for visiting my blog. Hope to have you back again!
Where to follow Tee Harlowe:
Website: www.teeharlowe.com
Facebook Fan Group: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089012525984
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teeharlowe/
Where to buy Tee Harlowe’s books: Subscribe to Tee Harlowe’s newsletter at www.teeharlowe.com to get Witchful Thinking for free!
Witchful Thinking
Whoever said forties are fabulous lied. I didn’t expect to be single and divorced at forty-five, never having been anything but a wife, still feeling like a wife, even though I very much am not.
So when a stranger tells me about a town that grants wishes, I decide to take a weekend trip and soak up the silly, clearly not-real magic of Whispering Willows—and I can make a wish while I’m there, for the fun of it.
Except when an elderly woman sprouts wings and tries to eat me, I learn that demons are real, and when I accidentally slay her with a glowing golden sword, I learn I’m a demon slayer. So maybe magic is real, maybe wishes are real, and maybe I can make forty-five fabulous after all . . . I just have to survive first.
