I hope you fall in love with the hidden parts of yourself. The parts you deem unworthy of love. I hope you become less fearful of letting them rise to the surface. They have suffocated long enough beneath your mask.
Read MoreAhhhh! After three years (pushing four) you all are still reading Spirit Lake! As I sit here signing and preparing to ship out more books, I am filled to the brim with gratitude. I am so incredibly thankful for all of your support and words of encouragement. As writers, we put our hearts on the inked line and hope for the best. It’s not always easy or rewarding but you guys have taken tremendous care of mine.
Read MoreEarlier this month, I had the absolute pleasure (and I don’t type that word lightly) of meeting Zadie Smith at an event at Arizona State University. Zadie Smith, who is a novelist (best selling author), essayist, short story writer, and a professor at New York University is also a writer whose work I’ve never had the pleasure of reading (I’m ashamed to even admit that).
Read MoreIf anyone were to ask me about my childhood, I’d tell them that is was like no other, the best there ever was. Reminiscent of 80s and 90s childhood movies. The ones that made you feel good, when kids were just being kids, looking for adventure, running into a challenge here and there but always coming out victorious. The Goonies, The Sandlot, etc. What kid didn’t want that life? But it wasn’t always fun and adventure. Sometimes it resembled a scene from a different kind of movie…a horror movie.
Read More“If I could write you love letters, they’d be filled with love and hate, a cool balance of both. The love that I feel for all of you, and the hate because it will never be.
Read MoreMaybe I should write to change the world, but I don’t. I write to escape it…and perhaps for me, that is the same thing.
Read MoreWARNING: Spoilers. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading now because I don’t plan on withholding information. But can there really be spoilers when a show is based on real-life events? My daughter always gripes whenever I allow the trailer to play for episodes we haven’t seen yet because she doesn’t want to see spoilers. I just look at her and say, “You do know this has already happened right? It’s history…literally, but, if you’re anything like my daughter, and you plan on watching the show, this isn’t the post for you. Go watch season 1 and come back. I’ll still be here.
Read MoreWe’re in our last week of 2020 and I know that most of you are ready to bid this year goodbye and good riddance. It’s the ongoing theme; 2020 was the year from hell. I get it, it was tough, but what if throughout it all, something glorious was happening?
Read MoreThrowback to Halloween when I recreated Ms. Angelou’s iconic photo. I had so much fun with this and to top it off, my 8 yr old was the photographer! Round of applause for my little man.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed reading. Library time was my favorite at school. Even when my teachers would have story time, I was eager to listen to them read whatever book they had chosen, especially my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Martin. She stuttered but that didn’t stop her from being animated and bringing all the characters to life with her dramatic voice changes. To this day, I have yet to encounter a better storyteller. Well done, Mrs. Martin! (Wherever you are)
Read MoreTis the season to…barely decorate and get just enough of it done so your children won’t have a conniption because you didn’t put enough thought into the Christmas decorations this year. Look, I barely got the tree out of the garage, I was so uninterested, which is highly unlike me. I’m usually the mom who has the entire house decorated within the first week of November. It goes without saying that this has been a trying year and frankly, I’m tired of talking about it. We all get it. Let’s just be grateful for what we were able to accomplish.
Anyway, here’s Christmas in the Denga household...
Read MoreRarely do we live in the present. Our minds are constantly racing to and fro between the past and the future. Worrying about things we can no longer change or things that are out of our control. I’ve heard so many times this year that God is in the present, not in the worries and cares of tomorrow or the mistakes of the past. He’s here now, right now, revealing Himself in ways that we often miss because our focus is elsewhere. There are so many treasures to be found in the present moment, fullness of joy, pleasures forevermore.
Read MoreThis week I am resting in this scripture. Not in the fact that I have several short-comings that will never measure up to the standard that God desires, but in the truth that even though I do not measure up, I am justified by the finished work of Christ. There is nothing that I can do to make myself more accepted by God, nothing that I can do to earn the beautiful gift of salvation. It is not of myself that I have been saved, but by the grace of God. I don’t have to prove myself. I don’t have to compete with others. I don’t have to measure up. My Savior has redeemed me and loves me fully. I am free. I can rest. We can rest.
Read MoreThe last tour I shared with you guys was of my home library where I would get the majority of my writing done. It’s still one of my favorite rooms in the house, but not necessarily the most convenient place when it comes to writing, mainly because its an open space so I literally hear everything that’s going on throughout the house, and secondly, the kids come and go as they please which tends to drive me up a wall. I was constantly asking them to quiet down or give me some space so that I can actually write a sentence in peace. That got old quick.
Read More"Just As I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside. In these pages, I am indeed Cicely, the actress who has been blessed to grace the stage and screen for six decades. Yet I am also the church girl who once rarely spoke a word. I am the teenager who sought solace in the verses of the old hymn for which this book is named. I am a daughter and mother, a sister, and a friend. I am an observer of human nature and the dreamer of audacious dreams. I am a woman who has hurt as immeasurably as I have loved, a child of God divinely guided by His hand. And here in my ninth decade, I am a woman who, at long last, has something meaningful to say.” –Cicely Tyson
Read MoreThe latest novel is complete. Release date? Who knows? Seriously, I don’t. For this particular novel, I’m taking the road I was never sure I wanted to travel…traditional publishing. I’m currently querying agents, which has been a challenge in itself. My confidence and my joy for writing has suffered a little from reading constant rejections about how agents aren’t particularly interested in this story—a story that I spent a year and a half researching and writing. One that I've given a lot of myself to…but I digress.
Read MoreFor as long as I can remember I've been obsessed with books. I loved when it was time for the book fair at school because I couldn’t wait to stalk the shelves in the school’s library to see what new read awaited me. Whenever the teachers handed out the scholastic book order forms, I’d spend hours going through every item and circling what I wanted so I could beg my mom and dad to purchase them all.
Read MoreI’ve got my work cut out for me. Who was it again that told me to write a historical fiction novel? Oh yeah, me. I guess I can’t shoot the messenger. *several deep sighs later* …Okay, don’t get me wrong—historical fiction has become one of my favorite genres to read, and deep down, I just knew that I wouldn’t be able to move on with my other novel ideas until I wrote a historical fiction story—but whoever forgot to mention the research that would go into getting it done (that would be me again) has seriously done me an injustice.
Read MoreI recently celebrated my 38th birthday, and amongst the dinners and celebrations, I found myself mildly reflecting on past years and ones that await me in the future. In doing so, one word kept resonating over and over again, and that word is thankful. Oh, I could go on and on about all of the mistakes I’ve made, the fears of the “what ifs” that still float on the surface of my mind, or whatever else it is that we tend to ponder when we obtain another notch on our age belt—and though there is an obvious undercurrent of vexation, knowing that I’m getting older, floating in the air, I’m not so much as worried about the number as I am about learning the lessons that have accompanied the experiences.
Read MoreToday marks one year since Spirit Lake first released. I felt so many emotions while writing this novel and I still feel so many as I reflect on the past year. This was my baby, my first born, one that will forever hold a special place in my heart. I am still very much in love with the characters, the storyline, and the town of Spirit Lake, and as I gather new ideas for the second book in the series, in light of this special occasion, I decided to give a little BTS on what it took to bring this love story to life.
Read MoreAll book lovers know that of all the joys in life, buying a new book settles somewhere at the top of the list, but we also know how expensive the habit can be, especially for those of you who are like me who need to buy books—several, in fact—almost weekly. So whenever we come across a bargain, we’re most grateful. Here’s a list of the top five places I like to buy books on a budget:
Read MoreTamarria Denga is a Christian, wife, mother, poet, and writer living in Arizona with her husband and three children. Having a passion for writing and poetry since she was a child, she is releasing her first novel.
Debut novel, Spirit Lake, now available.
WELCOME TO SPIRIT LAKE... A small town in northern Arizona where the people are as charming and beautiful as the town itself.
Meet Teylor and Jamie; Teylor and Jamie have been inseparable since eighth grade, when Jamie defended her from the school's bully. Now, seventeen years later, they still remain the best of friends; that is, until Jamie returns home from a two week stay in Paris bearing the news that he'd recently proposed to Carrie; his girlfriend of six months! In the wake of that revelation, Teylor's world is shattered, and what was supposed to be the most exciting time in Jamie's life thus far, has become a turbulent roller coaster for the two best friends. And to add to the chaos, Teylor has been hiding a secret of her own.
Will the two find their way out of this emotional maze before it ruins their friendship? Or, will their bond die once she reveals the hidden truth she's kept from him for seventeen years? Fall in love with Spirit Lake as the author takes you on a romantic adventure to a town filled with tests, trials, and most importantly, love...
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