Author: Chelsey M. Ortega

Thanksgiving in a Paranormal Story? A Conversation with B.L. Allen

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

In April 2022, debut author B.L. Allen’s first book, To Haunt or Be Lost was made available for readers. I read it in October of this year, and when I got to chapter 21, I immediately knew that I wanted to highlight her book as one of my November posts. Chapter 21 highlights Thanksgiving, and while I’m sure other authors have done so in their work, it’s not something I have come across often in the books I read. 

Before we get to that chapter, let’s summarize To Haunt or Be Lost. The main character, Lori, is an only child in her early years of college. Lori has social anxiety and is studying art. Her younger cousin, Agatha, comes to live with Lori’s family when Agatha’s parents die in a car accident. Agatha and Lori don’t get along, and now have to live together and share a car. This puts Lori riding the bus to college every day where she meets a young man named Gabriel who she develops feelings for. Simultaneously, Lori gets thrown into Agatha’s desire to get vengeance on the other driver involved in the accident because they survived. And all of this requires Lori to dig up difficult memories from her past and finally heal from them using the help of the last beings she believed in: ghosts.

 Agatha and Lori have a rough past. They are both only children, and were forced into frequent sleepovers when they were kids. Agatha believes in ghosts and witchcraft, and Lori does not. During one of their sleepovers, an incident occurred where one of Agatha’s magical seances physically harmed Lori and sent her to the hospital. Not believing in magic, Lori is convinced that Agatha purposefully injured her; while Agatha stays firm in her claim that a spirit had possessed her and hurt Lori. Both Agatha’s and Lori’s parents believe Lori, and the two girls are no longer forced to see each other anymore. The next time they do see each other, it’s Thanksgiving at their grandparents house, and Lori is prepared to defend herself.  

Lori packs pepper spray because her parents have decided to forgive the whole incident, and she is expected to do the same. During dinner, Agatha makes faces at Lori from across the table, and even draws her finger across her neck while glaring. Towards the end of dinner, Agatha’s mom proposes everyone say what they are thankful for. It starts out as normal stuff: family, home, health, jobs, etc. When it gets to Lori, she says:

“I am thankful for pepper spray, which I can use to defend myself with if I’m in danger.”

Lori’s comment causes a short awkward silence. Then it’s Agatha’s turn, who says:

“I am thankful for this body that I am able to live in.”

And with those two comments, Thanksgiving was ruined. But was it really? Is it really Thanksgiving if that crazy family member doesn’t say something?

I enjoyed To Haunt or be Lost. I’ll admit, it took me a while to like Lori. I thought she was a judgmental spoiled brat in the beginning. But her redemption arc is well done. So, I reached out to B.L. Allen – okay, I admit, she’s my cousin, so it didn’t take much to send her an email – and she agreed to a digital interview! So, for the rest of the post, enjoy getting to know B.L. Allen. 

How did you come up with the storyline for To Haunt or Be Lost?

To Haunt or Be Lost was an idea that came to me rather quickly, in a way that I’m not sure I can fully explain. It was October of 2015 and I knew I wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo, which was only a couple weeks away. I had other story ideas, but I wasn’t excited about them at the time. One day I was goofing around with my husband when I threw a blanket over my head and said “I’m going to bury myself alive to cheat my way into the spirit world!” and at that moment a whole story started to click in my head, or at least that’s when a bunch of separate ideas conglomerated into one. I made a quick outline for the idea in a notebook, and then wrote the first draft that November.

Several key parts of the story were actually inspired by real life events, which is perhaps my way of taking “write what you know” a bit too literally. For example, when I was in college I took public transportation to school, which is at the center of a major plot point in the story. When I took the bus, there was this older woman who would sit next to me on the bus nearly every day, which lasted a few months I think. She never said anything to me, but she’d come straight to the seat next to mine and sit down quietly for a few stops before getting off. I thought maybe I felt like a safe person to her, since there are often creepy individuals who take the bus and it can be scary to talk to them. We had a strange unspoken agreement that we were “bus buddies” keeping each other safe, and I liked that. So in To Haunt or Be Lost, I took that idea of an unspoken friendship/agreement and made it a romance.

The story also involves repeated mentions of a worry doll, which I had no knowledge of until I was visiting my sister’s work one day. One of her co-workers had just come back from a trip to Guatemala, and had bought a bunch of worry dolls as souvenirs for everyone in the office. My sister and I each got one, and I really liked the concept of speaking to this tiny doll about your worries, putting it under your pillow, and letting it worry for you so that you wake up with a weight lifted off of you. Regrettably, I seem to have misplaced my worry doll, but I’m sure it’s in a box somewhere and I’ll find it again one day.

But perhaps the main focal point of To Haunt or Be Lost is the relationship between the main character, Lori, and her cousin, Agatha. At this point it shouldn’t be surprising that Agatha’s personality was directly taken from people I know in real life, although I won’t name names because if they’re reading this it might be awkward. I had one friend who was quite bubbly, but I also often butted heads with her. She was more of a friend who was convenient, but not really someone I meshed with very well. Lori and Agatha’s relationship is strongly inspired by my relationship with that particular friend. I had another friend who enjoyed witchcraft, and would teach us fun witchy things like how to predict the number of kids you’ll have and what letter your soulmate’s name will start with. This friend also would do tarot card readings for our group, which was especially fun around Halloween. I’m sure my mom wasn’t too happy about that, but it was all in good fun. Ultimately I combined my bubbly friend and my witch friend together into one character, and Agatha evolved into my favorite character in the book. Lori, on the other hand, happens to be my least favorite, but it might be because she’s a bit of a self-insert.

When it comes to communicating with the deceased, how much of the technique that Lori and Agatha do is research based and how much did you create for world building?

As far as how much of the spirit communication was made up and how much was based on research, I’d say it was about fifty-fifty. Some aspects I invented specifically as a means to progress the story, and other things I based on what I had read about. When it came to Bloody Mary, I tried to keep it as close to what the childhood game of summoning Bloody Mary might be like. The candles, the chanting of her name, the turning in circles and waiting for something to jump out and scare you…it was all part of that familiar sleepover experience many kids attempted with their friends and dared each other to do at one point. When I was a kid, my friends and I even went so far as convincing ourselves that our elementary school was haunted by Bloody Mary. Strange spots on the wall? Must be blood. A classmate acting strangely? Must be possessed. We were invested in this conspiracy and wholly believed we were ghost hunters on a mission to protect the school.

Agatha also performs seances, which do have some truth surrounding what a seance might look like such as holding hands and creating a circle of candles, but as far as chanting in Portuguese and painting blood symbols go, I’m pretty certain I made those things up if I remember correctly. Also something that’s central to the story is that believing in ghosts is what causes a person to be able to see them, thus explaining why Agatha can see ghosts, but Lori cannot. This was made up for the sake of the story progression, but I quite like how it played into certain plot twists.

One of the ghosts that Lori meets is Bloody Mary, who is supposed to be Mary Tudor or Mary I of England. When it came to her physical appearance and personality, how much was based on the historical record, the paranormal record, and your own imagination?

The chapter where Lori meets Bloody Mary is actually my favorite chapter in the book. She is strongly inspired by Mary Tudor and it’s implied in To Haunt or Be Lost that that’s who she was meant to be in life, but in reality it’s not entirely known if the legend of Bloody Mary stemmed from Mary Tudor or some other Mary. I based her physical appearance mostly on Mary Tudor, although I chose to describe her hair as black because I thought that might be creepier. As far as personality, I based it off of the supposed paranormal experiences surrounding Bloody Mary. Primarily, Bloody Mary is described as an evil and dangerous spirit, although sometimes is seen as friendly. I leaned into her evil side more, but also attempted to humanize her. I asked myself: if she was a real person, and if she were, for some reason, waiting to be summoned from bathroom mirrors at sleepovers all over the world, what might she say to these people? Anger and misery felt like the most appropriate emotions for her. Angry it’s a game to people, miserable to be haunting the earth forever, but also accepting this fate in a strange and twisted way.

Out of all the holidays you could have highlighted, what made you choose Thanksgiving?

The honest answer, which is a ridiculous answer but is absolutely true, is that it was Thanksgiving at the time I wrote it. Because it was a book I was writing for NaNoWriMo, which takes place in November each year, I was staying at my husband’s grandparents’ house for a few days that month while still trying to churn out the first draft of my story in only a month’s time. I was stuck and didn’t know how to progress the story, so what did I do? I took from my surroundings, which is a common trend for me. Because Thanksgiving was what was going on at the time, that’s what I wrote about. So stupid, but it actually turned out well in the end I think. It gave me an opportunity to highlight family dynamics that otherwise may have never been highlighted, especially since Agatha’s parents are known to be deceased at the start of the book. The Thanksgiving chapters, which are set in the past, help to show her parents and their personalities more, making it an extra gut-punch knowing that in the present time they are actually dead. I also had a unique opportunity to make Thanksgiving a little bit…creepy. Sure, Halloween might be the go-to holiday for ghosts, hauntings, and spooky things, but taking a holiday of gratitude and giving it a sinister twist with Agatha’s creepy behavior was strangely satisfying.

Is there anything from Lori’s Thanksgiving dinner that was inspired from your own Thanksgiving memories? What are your Thanksgivings like?

Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that varies from year to year. It all depends on which side of the family I’m spending it with. In my husband’s family, they have the tradition of going around the room and asking everyone to name one thing they are grateful for, which is exactly what Lori’s family does as well. Fortunately though, my Thanksgivings don’t typically feature a crazy cousin out to kill me. 

What’s the next step in your writing career?

I’ve now had a taste of the self-publishing world and have learned a lot. I’ve done some things right, and some things horribly wrong, but going into it I knew that the first book was primarily going to be a learning experience. I should probably note I was only 21 when I wrote the first draft of To Haunt or Be Lost, and I’m nearly 28 now. To say my writing has evolved tremendously over the years would be an understatement, and my next book will have so many more layers and depth than past stories I’ve written. Although I suspect that my second book will be a learning experience as well, I already know many ways I’m going to approach my next book differently. I’m currently working on another standalone book, and this time it will be longer than my first book and will also be less inspired by people and events in my personal life. In fact, it’s more largely inspired by various religions and cultures around the world, and of course it’s a ghost story because those are the types of stories I like the most. Get ready for heavy topics like suicide, familiar legendary beings like the Grim Reaper, as well as heartbreaking backstories for a wide array of characters. Don’t worry, I’m sprinkling in some dark humor and an overarching theme of hope as well. I refuse to believe the afterlife is meant to be bleak, although perhaps it can seem that way. I will be self-publishing again, and my next book should release sometime next year, although I do consider myself a professional procrastinator. Once I feel like a more seasoned author, I might try my hand at traditional publishing. 

I hope you enjoyed learning about B.L. Allen and her writing inspiration. To Haunt or Be Lost currently averages 4.17 stars on goodreads and 4.6 stars on Amazon. It can be purchased as a digital copy or paperback. 

Follow B.L. Allen:

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Happy Love Your Editor Day, Sam!

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

October 31 is Love Your Editor Day at The Wild Rose Press. My editor, Samantha Keating, is the reason why I even had a chance. I owe her so much. She has officially been my editor since August 2022, but I have been in contact with her since November 2021. 

When I was ready to query Bondwitch, The Wild Rose Press was my first choice publisher. When you query TWRP, you send your query to a general query email, so I didn’t know who exactly would be reading my query. Thirteen days after I sent my query I received an email from Samantha requesting the first three chapters! 

A little over two weeks after that, Samantha responded with a very detailed and helpful critique on what skills and style TWRP expects, which I did not quite meet. She explained that to improve my story to WRP standards would require a rewrite, so she couldn’t accept my full manuscript. She encouraged me to keep writing and not give up.

As more rejections came in from other publishers, and I had conversations with my fellow writers, I learned that Samantha’s helpful critique was a rare gem. I also learned that the suggestions she made to improve my writing weren’t unique to TWRP. Almost all publishers today want the same thing: show, don’t tell. I still really wanted to get a second chance with TWRP, so I got to work rewriting Bondwitch with the suggested improvements.

It took me four months to fix my manuscript. When it was ready, I emailed Samantha directly, and asked if TWRP allowed resubmissions. She responded that they normally don’t, but she was interested in finding the answer to a cliffhanger scene in chapter 2. She invited me to resubmit the first three chapters, and she would take a look at my improvements. Two weeks after that, Samantha requested the full manuscript!

I didn’t hear anything for three months – which, I understand, is pretty standard for a full manuscript request. Then, on my wedding anniversary, I was sitting at a table in Cafe Orleans, Disneyland when my phone alerted me to an email from Samantha. My heart rate accelerated tenfold. I looked across the table at my husband. “I’m scared to read it.”

“Just open it!” he said.

I clicked on the notification, read the first few lines of the email, and screamed in the middle of a Disney restaurant. Samantha had finished my story, and was pushing it forward to the managing editor, who has the final say. 

A week after that, Samantha emailed me that Bondwitch was being accepted by TWRP, and the official contract would be sent to me within twenty-four hours. She also told me that she would be my editor. Once again, I was in a public place when this email came through. This time, I was in a hotel lobby for a work retreat, so I couldn’t scream out loud, but I definitely teared up.

Samantha and I are currently knee deep in editing, and I love working with her. Her style of editing is to approach it from a teaching angle. For the content editing, she made comments for the first one hundred pages with the goal that at that point I would have learned from her comments enough that I can find and fix the rest on my own. At first I was nervous about that. I didn’t think I could do it. I thought I would need her to hold my hand the whole time. But she knew exactly what she was doing – and that’s why she’s the editor! I’m three chapters beyond where Samantha stopped making comments, and I can “hear” her in my head pointing stuff out as I read over my words.

I owe this wonderful journey to Samantha. She went above and beyond by giving me detailed feedback long before she was my official editor. She believed in me and gave me a second chance. And she is an amazing teacher. 

Happy Love Your Editor Day, Sam. I’m so grateful you are my editor. I look forward to our continued partnership.

Favorite Fictional Halloweens Part 3

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

Unlike Harry Potter and Pretty Little Liars, my final fictional Halloween is not a larger series where Halloween has a small highlight. This one – and best one – is a movie whose plot surrounds Halloween: Hocus Pocus.

Hocus Pocus has everything I love about Halloween: fun costumes, witches, magic, trick-or-treating, and parties. 

I’m sure you know this story very well, but let’s do a quick summary. Max and his family move to Salem, Massachusetts just before Halloween. Max isn’t into Halloween, but gets roped into taking his younger sister trick-or-treating. In an effort to impress his crush, Max shrugs off his dislike for the holiday and disbelief in the town’s legend about three cursed witches, and lights the fabled black flame candle; bringing back the very witches that are meant to be a story for tourism. 

And here we have some of our favorite Halloween witches that have inspired countless trick-or-treating,  party, and cosplay costumes: Winifred, Sarah, and Mary Sanderson. These three sisters stay young by sucking the life out of children, and they have their eyes on Max’s sister Dani. On the surface, this is a really creepy and evil plot, but the delivery is so comedic, that the story can be enjoyed by all ages.

Throughout the rest of the movie we follow Max, Dani, and Allison (Max’s crush) as they try to evade the Sanderson Sisters while figuring out how to get rid of them. They get help from a black cat named Binx (who is really a human cursed by the Sanderson sisters) and a zombie named Billy. They sneak into the school, crash the party their parents are at, and do lots of running in the woods. There is also the constant hilarious reminder that Max is a virgin. As a child, I never noticed that. As an adult I find it hilarious and cringe at the same time. And as a mother, I pray my children don’t ask me what that means for several more years. 

I want to dissect a few scenes that were inspired by historical beliefs about witches. 

First is the scene where the Sanderson Sisters are hailed by a man wearing a devil costume. In the time of the witch trials, it was believed that witches made a pact with the real devil. Lucifer/Satan/The devil was a very real fear back then. Christians believed him to exist in the flesh, and that he could physically harm them. Christians believed that witches signed their name in a real book and that the devil would visit them and feed from them (a large mole indicated that was where the devil sucked, like a nipple). Witches were the devil’s bride the way nuns were Christ’s bride. 

To make this scene more tame, the Sanderson Sisters bow to the fake devil and he invites them inside. The man’s marriage is clearly on the rocks, so he enjoys their attention, thinking he’s playing pretend. His wife arrives and kicks them out. But since the Sanderson Sisters believed this man to be the real devil, it goes without saying that in the Hocus Pocus world, the devil is real.

Throughout the movie, Allison runs around with a container of salt, believing it will protect them from the witches. Salt has always been used to ward off evil throughout history. 

In the end, Max sacrifices himself to save Dani. He drinks the potion that allows the Sanderson Sisters to suck his life force out. Luckily for him, the sun rises before Winifred can finish, and she and her sisters turn to stone and explode into dust.

Hocus Pocus is almost 30 years old, and it remains a beloved Halloween tradition, and I imagine it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Favorite Fictional Halloweens Part 2

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

On Monday I covered a Halloween highlight from a book/movie. Today I’ll be covering my favorite Halloween special from a TV show.

Pretty Little Liars

Unlike the Harry Potter book series and movie adaptations, the Pretty Little Liars book series and TV show are not close enough to do a comparison. So, I will only discuss the TV show for this particular post. Specifically Season 2 Episode 13: “The First Secret.” This episode is the Halloween special for season 2. But before we dive deeper, a quick summary of the series for those who have never seen it.

Pretty Little Liars is about four teenage girls dealing with the disappearance of their best friend and leader, Alison DiLarentis. Each young woman has at least one scandalous secrets that only Alison knows. A year after Alison’s disappearance, they start receiving notes, text messages, and emails from an anonymous person (“A”) who knows the same secrets Alison does. The girls spend episode after episode trying to figure out who A is, prevent their secrets from spreading, and trying to figure out what happened to Alison. 

“The First Secret” is unique because it is a prequel to the pilot episode. It’s also entirely from Alison’s point of view. Up until this episode, any scene with Alison was a memory that belonged to Aria, Spencer, Emily, or Hannah. This episode holds information the four main characters don’t know. 

It’s Halloween, and the five main characters are going to a high school costume party. Even as a grown woman in her thirties, I still love dressing up for Halloween. Every year my husband and I match. Alison dresses up as Lady Gaga, Hanna as Britney Spears, Emily as Pocahantas, Spencer as Mary Queen of Scots, and Aria as a witch. Prior to Halloween day – and the party – Alison gives viewers a glimpse of two important details: the beginning of her issues with Jenna, and the knowledge that A existed long before Alison disappeared. 

Jenna’s family moved in just before Halloween, and she is invited to the Halloween party. She is buying a Lady Gaga costume, and Alison tells her not to because that’s who she is going as. Jenna says she’ll think about it, but “disobeys” Alison anyway. Alison overlooks this problem and offers Jenna her friendship and promises popularity. Jenna declines, making Alison angry. And the rivalry between the two begins – which we know will “end” with Alison setting off some sort of firework that causes Jenna to go blind. 

A was tormenting Alison long before they targeted Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily. In this episode, Alison gets a text from a blocked number that says, “I’m watching you. – A” During the party she gets a text that says, “Dying to know who I am? You’ll soon find out. – A” 

In between the two texts, Alison plays a prank on her girlfriends that goes too well. She texts them that she’s in trouble and needs their help. The girls go running to help her in a creepy house that had been highlighted earlier in the episode. They find Alison who claims someone locked her in there under threat of death. In an attempt to get cell phone service, they get separated from Alison, who gets locked in the room with a masked man. Alison and the man fight. Alison becomes confused as the man is fighting harder than he is “supposed to.” When Alison and the girls meet up again, she tells them it was a prank and the masked aggressor was their classmate Noel Kahn.

When they return to the party, Noel apologizes for not being able to make it to the prank. Alison then realizes that whoever fought her in the house was actually fighting her. This leads the viewer to believe that whoever attacked Alison in the house is A. 


The reason why I love this episode and added it to my series of favorite fictional Halloweens is first, and foremost, the costumes. I love how much effort the costume designers put into these special episodes in Pretty Little Liars, and they did not disappoint for this one. The second reason is the trope of the prankster becoming the one pranked. While Alison did succeed in scaring her friends, she also received her own fright from A and other classmates who despised her. Alison definitely reminds viewers to be careful who you harm, you never know who will bite back. 

Check back on Friday for part 3 of my favorite fictional Halloweens!

Favorite Fictional Halloweens Part 1

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

Halloween is the best holiday ever. From cutesy blow-up decorations to haunted houses, almost everyone’s interests can be met. My home decorations are themed around traditional Halloween characters: witches, ghosts, bats, and black cats mixed in with my Harry Potter obsession. (You can watch a virtual tour on tiktok here.)

Halloween specials on TV shows, highlighting Halloween in books, and full length movies all about Halloween complete my entertainment for October each year. So, I would like to share with you my favorite fictional Halloweens.

First: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Chapter 10 Halloween in the Sorcerer’s Stone is the best Halloween in the Harry Potter series. 

Let’s start with the decorations. A thousand live bats bewitched to flutter near the walls and ceiling, and a thousand more bewitched to swoop over the tables. Have you ever experienced a cauldron (yes, that’s really what they’re called) of bats flying right above you? There was an alcove in my first apartment that a cauldron of wild bats had chosen for their home. The landlord either didn’t know or didn’t care because for the two years I lived there, an exterminator was never called. I actually really enjoyed hearing and seeing them as the sun set.

We also know that the Great Hall is filled with carved pumpkins and lit with candles. The movie gives us a more advanced visual. The jack-o-lanterns are floating, the ceiling is dark with thunder and lightning, and the tables are full of apple and pumpkin desserts and other candies in fall colors. This is exactly the sort of holiday party that I would love to host, but alas, I do not have the culinary and decorating skills to do so. 

In that same chapter, a more important part to the plot would be the  

What J.K. Rowling does with this scene is something I am practicing myself as a new writer. At this point in the book, Harry – and the reader – are still learning about magic, Hogwarts, and the wizarding world. So, when Hermione is correcting Ron’s “Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa” in charms class, Harry and the reader (at least, for our first time reading it) don’t yet realize that we are being set up for an important plot point. Ron’s loud complaints about Hermione send her to the bathroom to cry; which is where the troll ends up. 

There are some small detail changes between book and film. In the book, Harry and Ron see Snape going off on his own to the third floor (where the three headed dog is), then they see the troll walk into a room. They lock the door, only to hear Hermione scream from within the room. In the movie, they simply follow the troll into the bathroom. Harry and Ron attempt to fight the troll, with Ron being the victor as he chants “Wingardium Leviosa!” correctly, crashing the troll’s own club on its head.

“But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.” – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, pg. 179 

Once again, the book and movie go in different paths at this point; but the main idea is Harry eventually figures out that while the students were rushing to the dormitories, and the teachers were rushing to the dungeons, Severus Snape went to the third floor and was bitten on the leg by Fluffy (Hagrid’s three headed dog). This leads Harry to investigate, deduce that the Sorcerer’s Stone is being guarded by Fluffy, and Snape must want it for himself or Voldemort. All of this happened because Hermione angered Ron, and Ron insulted her in return. 

I know what you’re thinking, “I figured this out the first time I read it, why are you pointing it out to me over twenty years later?” Well, I appreciate it more now that I’ve attempted it myself. Making a seemingly benign moment full of important hints that the reader will remember later takes a lot of careful thought, planning, and at least a dozen rewrites.

This scene in the Sorcerer’s Stone will remain a favorite for me for the rest of my life. In fact, it inspired my classroom door decorations for this year. And maybe one day I will host a party that spectacular – or maybe on of my future characters will.

Check back in on Wednesday evening for Part 2 of my Favorite Fictional Halloweens.

Reading Apps Are My Guilty Pleasure

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

Guilty Pleasure: “something, such as a movie, television program, or piece of music, that one enjoys despite feeling that it is not generally held in high regard.” – Google Dictionary

I bet if more people were open and honest about their guilty pleasures, they wouldn’t have to be guilty pleasures anymore. One of my guilty pleasures is to read fated mate romance stories on reading apps. Such stories can be found on Dreame, Readict, Radish, iNovel, iReader, Kindle Vella, and dozens of others. I currently have a reader’s account with Dreame and Readict. 

The stories on Dreame are either completely free, charge coins to unlock chapters, or are “wait-for-free.” Where a story lands is up to the author. The cost of a story is based on word count, so the more coins a chapter costs, the longer the chapter is. “Wait-for-free” means one chapter unlocks every 48 hours. Free coins can be earned by checking in and reading for a certain number of minutes.

The stories on Readict are completely free to the reader because there are 30 second ads to watch in order to unlock the next chapter. The reader can use coins to skip the ad.

How I came across these two apps was for research for my debut novel, Bondwitch. The main character is a teenage witch who is new to magic. She meets and befriends vampires and werewolves throughout her journey to grow in her magic. When I was world building for Bondwitch, I very easily figured out what kind of abilities and characteristics I wanted to give witches and vampires; but had no idea what to do for werewolves.

My prior knowledge came from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, and Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. As much as I love them all, they are considered older – though I personally struggle to accept that – and so I needed something recent. This led me to serialized fated mate shifter romances, and I fell in love with them.

The main plot behind a fated mate romance is that there is one mate out there for each “person” that is their perfect fit. A deity chooses the pairs, and reaching adulthood usually sets in motion the ability to find one’s mate. Conflict arises when mates do not want to accept each other, their parents disapprove, crazy exes become jealous, or one half of the pair is human or a different species. I believe these fated mate stories started with werewolves and other shifters (werecats, werebears, etc.), but have since branched out to include vampires, demons, witches, and even angels. 

My two favorite tropes for fated mate stories are: 1. One of the mates is a human, and 2. The pair are of separate paranormal species. 

In stories where one of the mates is a human, the reader gets to be slowly introduced to the paranormal world along with the human character. There are generally several funny moments where the human is completely confused with the paranormal character sniffing them and growling “mine!” like a caveman. The human character is also able to ignore the mate bond longer than the paranormal character, which allows for love to actually develop rather than jumping right into bed because of the “mate bond”. 

When the mates are different paranormal species, we get my favorite: forbidden love. 


As much as I enjoy reading these stories, I decided to take the shifters in Bondwitch in a different direction. So, there won’t be any fated mate plot lines, but there will still be plenty of swooning, sighing, and squealing.

How I Got Into Writing

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

I think at some point in our youth, all of us desire to be famous. Whether it be an actor, athlete, musician, or writer; we want to be known for our talents. When I was a child, I wanted to be an author, with JK Rowling as my inspiration. When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a professional ballroom dancer, with the cast of Dancing with the Stars as my models. The funny – or sad – thing about dreams is at some point they change to be more “practical.” My practical dream was to be a teacher. I specifically wanted to teach History and ESL, and I reached that point in my career only 2 years in! But as I went through college, became a wife and mother, and started my teaching career, I still had a desire to write. 

It always goes back to that teacher who believed in you.

My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Hansen, embedded a love of writing into my nine-year-old heart during her fractured fairy tale unit. We read Dinorella, Prince Cinders, The Three Javelinas, and many others. Then, it was our turn. I wrote a Sleeping Beauty story using Star Wars characters. Darth Vader was Maleficent, Luke was Prince Philip, and Leah was Aurora. I was so proud of my story, and from then on, I wanted to be an author.

Three years later, in sixth grade, my teacher Mrs. Bunce had a unit where we got to actually “publish” a book. She connected this project with our world history unit on Ancient Egypt. We each wrote our own story based in Ancient Egypt, split up the parts of our stories into pages, and typed each page up. After printing out the pages, we drew the illustrations. Then Mrs. Bunce helped us copy our pages onto larger papers front and back so when we folded the pages, it made a book. We sewed the pages down the middle. We then hot glued fabric onto cardboard to make our book cover, and hot glued the first and final pages to the cardboard covers. If we wanted to leave one with Mrs. Bunce, we made two; which I did.

I kept in touch with Mrs. Bunce, and every once in a while she would say, “I still have my copy of your book! I use it as one example when I’m introducing the project to my current students.” Her support really lit a fire in me that maybe I could really publish one day.

Teenage Angst Poetry

During the difficult teen years, I had a notebook for poetry. Everything that upset me, I wrote a dramatic poem about. I still have my notebook. Most of the poems make me cringe, but there are a few that still tug at my heart. 

My attempt at mommy blogging

I was a new mom in 2013 when mommy blogging exploded onto the social media scene. And I thought, “I’d like to do that.” So I started my own blog: Milk Chocolate. I published between every other month to once a month for nine years. I wrote about motherhood, pregnancy, myself, my religion, and how my family celebrated each holiday and birthday. My ability to publish frequently decreased when I started my teaching career. I also started writing fiction at the same time, and have focused on that since 2020.

Guest Contributor

In 2016, I submitted a guest article to (what was at the time) Mormon Women Stand (now called Latter-Day Saint Women Stand). They accepted my guest article, and a month later invited me to join the website as a monthly contributor. I wrote religious articles for Latter-Day Saint Women Stand for three years. This experience helped me improve my writing skills significantly because there were designated editors every article had to go through before it could be published. With my personal blog, I was in complete control; with LDSWS, I had to work with others. 

COVID – the killer or creator of dreams?

Throughout my early years of motherhood and blogging, I still had a head full of ideas for fiction. I started two separate novels I never finished. In May 2020, my husband lost his job, which became a huge motivator for me to make something of myself. I had been a stay at home mom for five years, and I was ready to expand my horizons. Because of my husband’s unemployment, we needed a consistent income right away. So I simultaneously applied for teaching jobs and began writing another book. Well, third time’s the charm. That was the book I finished and will be published soon. (My journey to finding a publisher will be a separate post.) 

Writing has always been a part of my life. From short stories, to poetry, to blogging, to my big dream of full length fiction. I’m so excited and grateful to be here, at the cusp of my dream. And I’m grateful that you are here on this journey with me.