The School Mistress – by Tess Thompson

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Hi to all you Petticoats and Pistols readers! I’m thrilled to be guest blogging today. I thought I’d share a little about me and my books and do a giveaway of a paperback of The School Mistress.

I write mostly small-town romances/family sagas, some contemporary and some historical. Almost always, they’re set in the Pacific Northwest. (I’m from Oregon originally and have lived in Seattle for thirty years.) As a writer and readers, my true love are historical novels but I wasn’t sure my contemporary audience would agree. I’d had a lot of success with two small town series set in Oregon and northern California. However, that all changed two years ago with the release of my first Emerson Pass Historical, THE SCHOOL MISTRESS. It and the others in the series have been in the top twenty American historical romances on Amazon for almost two years. I’m delighted, of course! Mostly because that means I get to write more of them.

 

Often readers ask me what inspired a certain book or series. I’m never totally sure how to answer because once the creative process starts, it is easy to forget how you came up with the idea in the first place. However, the origin of Emerson Pass I remember well. One morning about three years ago, I woke up from a dream in which the Barnes family were the main characters. I grabbed my notebook, kept at the side of my bed for this very reason, and wrote down the names, ages, and descriptions of the children as well as Quinn and Alexander. The scene I’d dreamt was of a young woman arriving in a frontier town on the train with snow falling all around her. This is the first scene in the book.

I was in the middle of writing my Cliffside Bay Series, thus I had to set aside the Barnes family for about a year. Finally, in December of 2019, I gave myself a present. I would write THE SCHOOL MISTRESS as a Christmas gift to myself. I didn’t think it would sell well or be a hit at all, but it was something to fill my creative well. It was a book I would like to read!

I was wrong about the hit factor. Readers loved the tale of my courageous schoolteacher and the widower with five children. It was so popular that I committed to writing a story for each of the children. Then, Quinn had two babies, so that made their stories necessary too. At the same time, I decided the descendants of the first characters should have some stories too, thus the contemporary Emerson Pass were born!

I’m about to begin writing the eighth and final book of the series. The seventh comes out September 20th. I feel a little blue saying goodbye to this family I’ve known so well. However, another historical series will release next year with a new family and new love stories.

If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, the whole series is in there, so you can read them for free!

GIVEAWAY

I’m also giving a paperback copy of THE SCHOOL MISTRESS to one lucky winner. 

Just tell me what your earliest memory of school is.

To enter to win, head to my website and subscribe to my newsletter and then comment to let me know you did it.

You get a free novella just for signing up!

PURCHASE THE SCHOOL MISTRESS HERE

 

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39 thoughts on “The School Mistress – by Tess Thompson”

  2. Sitting in a reading circle in first grade (I didn’t go to kindergarten) in wooden chairs and reading round-robin style.

  3. I have an October birthday and was only 4 when I started school – I remember opening my gifts on my 3rd birthday and still have one of them!!

  4. I have several memories of kindergarten. I remember getting saltine crackers and white milk for snacks, laying down on a braided rug for nap time, and playing a game where we would drop a handkerchief behind another child and race to their spot.

  6. I attended a one room school house in Iowa. Mrs. Roebuck was my teacher’s name. The school is now preserved by an historical society. Years ago, I went back to Haven, Iowa and got to spend time in that school house. I found my name written in three of the books. I was given permission to keep the books. I treasure them. You are a new author to me so I will be looking up your website. Thank you for coming to P&P’s today. The book cover is gorgeous by the way.

  7. I’m already subscribed to your newsletter. 😀
    I remember watching my two older brothers working on schoolwork at the kitchen table and wishing I could do school too.

  8. Two things stand out in my memory of kindergarten. First was the 1st grade teacher recognizing my mom as one of her previous students and wanting me in her class. She had me switched in the middle of the year. And secondly, at nap time we were all suppose to lay on our backs. I was a tummy sleeper and refused to lay on my back and was sent to the cloak room for nap time.

  9. I was in kindergarden with friends when a boy knocked over something and told the teacher i did it, I was then put in detention and sent to the 1st grade class where i was put in the closet where i could see the first graders

  11. I remember first grade when the teacher read to us See Spot Run! Please enter me in the drawing as I love reading print books! Blessings to you!

  12. I remember in Pre-K, pretending to be a turtle on the playground with a plastic bin for a shell. I’d pop under when other kids ran by, then slowly emerge and keep crawling.

    I visited your website and subscribed! Thanks!

  14. I remember my first day of Kindergarten, I cried because the teacher didn’t sit me by my friend of whom my family was very good friends with his family, so my teacher Mrs. Bennett finally sat us together. I remember the Jack and Janet books and I remember putting our sack lunches in lockers. It was so much fun, our teacher was a little strict though, and she would use her paddle, I was never paddled though, but some boys were.

  16. My first day of school was actually first grade, no pre-k, no kindergarten, just started first grade! I loved it!! I was 6 yrs old and by the end of the day I had about 20 new friends and I loved my nice, sweet teacher, Mrs. Watson. But, poor William cried for his Mama all day and had a very ugly discharge pouring out of his nose that I kept having to see! I just kept wishing the teacher would get him to blow that yucky thing!! Lol My first day of school memory…

  17. I remember being in first grade.
    One of my sisters had the same teacher when she went to first grade. I remember getting a snack every afternoon two playing graham crackers and a little pint of milk. I Loved first grade.???????

  18. I signed up for your newsletter! I remember riding my bike with friends to kindergarten. A parent would walk. We’d lock up our bikes at the bike rack. I loved kindergarten! A nice teacher and I was happy!

    I love historical and contemporary!

  19. I remember in kindergarden that we would have mats to lay on to rest. That was back when we only went to school for half the day. My Mom would walk me to school everyday. She became involved with PTA, Mother’s Club and Room Mother. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.

  23. Sorry I missed this one. Thank you for a peek into your writing process. This looks like a series I will enjoy.

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