Happy Holidays

Ho Ho Ho,

Well, today is the big day, and although I live alone and there weren't so many packages under my tree, I was up at 5 am and ready for the day. Old habits acquired in childhood may linger for a long, long time. Of course, I never really gave up my belief in the jolly old elf, so that might have something to do with it.

I always look forward to Christmas. My father loved the holiday and he made a big deal out of cutting and decorating the tree. Gifts were piled up under that tree from Thanksgiving on - giving us kids fits of curiosity. One time we came home and opened one gift early when our folks were away from the house, but it seems to me that the thrill wasn't really there. Christmas morning is for opening gifts - not some after-school activity.

We never did that again. And we never told we had been bad. Instead, we found some tape and re-wrapped those gifts and put them back under the tree - partly from guilt, partly from the fact that there is no magic on Christmas gifts unless they are opened on the proper day.


I have a lot to be thankful for this year. The Maryland Energy Commission sent some specialists over to clean my furnaces, and another complement of men to insulate my attic and walls. They caulked windows and blew insulation all the way around the house. I will admit that the house is warmer, especially the upstairs where I used to bring a two-liter bottle of hot water with me when I went to bed because otherwise it took forever for my feet to thaw out. I consider that a real blessing and thank HEAP for the referral. HEAP is a program that helps seniors with low incomes with paying energy bills. I guess they were just making sure the people they help are warm as well as having enough to pay their bills.

Today I will go to a friend's house to share a holiday meal, a date of long standing with good friends. It is always nice to have people to spend the holiday with, since I have had Christmas days when I never saw a soul. I lived through them, though, and that was the blessing in those lean years - I wouldn't really like to repeat those days. People are better than no people every time.

I hope you are having a great holiday, that Santa came to your house and left you the gifts of your dreams, and that the coming year is better for all of us. HO HO HO

PS: The wonderful window art that the Wednesday Morning Artists did for Pleasant Day Medical Adult Day Care center in my last post was sold for $300! What a great use for something that might otherwise have been thrown away! As a matter of fact the gentleman who donated the window when the exterior of his house was updated purchased the same window back as a present for his wife! The Festival of Wreaths gala was a great event with the community turned out to support the facility, which cares for more than 75 clients every day.

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com

A Small-Town Gala

Last night I went to a gala to benefit the local medical adult day care center. What is that, you ask?

Medical adult day care is a program for people with chronic health problems who require daily medical supervision. Clients are picked up in a distinctive blue bus and are treated to two meals and a snack, activities, social interaction and medical support, and while some folks have long term care insurance to help pay for their care, others may not.

Which does not mean that those individuals who don't have the means to pay for their care are denied entrance in the program.

The Festival of Wreaths is a major fund-raiser for the medical adult day care center, earning thousands of dollars for patient services. The event, paired with a Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours, is so well attended one can barely make his or her way down the halls in the center - halls that are decorated with dozens and dozens of gorgeous handmade wreaths that have been donated to the program. Visitors receive a pencil and a ballot for the "People's Choice' award, and can place bids on the wreath they want via a silent auction.

In the center's great room, a live auction draws great interest, garnering even more funding to keep the program going. The photo I posted today is of a window sash painting executed by my favorite group - the Wednesday Morning Artists. Sixteen artists painted portions of the painting of a compote full of fruit; the result a vibrant painting that glows behind the ancient window sash donated by the program's director.

On a sweet note, the director's husband bid cheerfully for the painting, and surprised his wife with the birthday present she had admired from the day it was delivered at the center.

The Wednesday Morning Artists were gratified to see that the painting sold for a healthy price and were glad to know the money it earned will go to help others less fortunate. I am happy to say I helped.

It was a wonderful night and a grand gala. I am always delighted to see people helping people and I hope to share in this gala for many years to come.

Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com

In The Wake of Thanksgiving

I was talking with my brother the day before Thanksgiving and he mentioned that he was going to a neighbor's to share their turkey dinner. I asked if he bagged the turkey in his somewhat rustic yard and he was horrified.

"I couldn't shoot them," he said. "I feed them every day."

Which just goes to show that there are indeed different strokes for different folks. When I was a kid, one of the book-a-month selections was: Don't Get Personal With a Chicken, a long story about a girl who tamed her chickens and therefore could not stand poultry on her plate. I guess this is about the same thing. Guy is just too soft-hearted to shoot anything anyway.

But turkey is far from the focus fifty years after our childhood. Dad used to stop at the locker plant and pick up a fresh turkey for the holiday and we just stayed home and played games and made cookies and fudge for the rest of the weekend. The holiday was quiet and soothing.

Today the next thing people do after the big dinner is to write out a list of everything they want to purchase for Christmas. Then they get up in the wee small hours of the night in order to stand in line for hours in the cold. This affords them the opportunity to get into the big department stores first, to grab the bargain items (of which there are never enough to go around) and to shop until one dropped - or ran out of money.

Well, back in the day, Dad never bought things the family could not afford, and most of our gifts were clothing. Today, people buy all sorts of things and pay for them the rest of the year - if not the rest of their lives. Credit cards are great thing if one uses them correctly, but way too many of us have at least one experience of over spending that left us wrestling with huge interest charges. At one point I cut up every credit card I had.

Did I go out and brave the storm of shoppers on Black Friday? No indeed. I spent the day pretty much getting over the effort of making a turkey and traveling.

I also spent some time thinking about all the good things that have come to me over the years. It was a good day and a good year since the last Thanksgiving feast. I hope yours was good too.

Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com

I found this image on the net and saved it some time ago. When I looked at it today I got the feeling that the world may really be run by a frog who sits on the North Pole and rules with a steady hand.

Frogs understand transformation. They are born fishes, and after a while their tails are absorbed by their little fishy bodies and they turn into frogs. Frogs look wise, you know it? Those big eyes look to me as if they see everything that is going on. They have big, capable hands, hands that can handle any emergency.

The trouble with frogs these days is that we have messed up their world. No, I am not a tree hugger, but I would hate to think that the world is going down because people think they have to have everything they see.

My heritage is an odd mix of country girl and twenty-first century princess. I must be a pricess. I have more clothing than I need. I have a nice house in a pretty good neighborhood. I have all the food I need, and more books than I can read. I don't have a car, but I pretty much have all the transportation I need. I have my health, even though I have some chronic conditions that need to be monitored.

What I don't have is a frog - or a toad, which might be more to the point. When I grew up, every garden had toads. As kids, we picked them up. Mine always wet on me, but that didn't prevent me from enjoying the cool, dry heft of a big old toad in my hand.

As a princess, I look out for frogs. My television tells me there are hundreds of varieties of frogs, and I am glad. I hope we can save them all. And I hope I run across a frog soon. I always wanted to try kissing one just to see if it could turn into a handsome prince.

I know. Some days I am just a little bit teched.

Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com

Hello there,

I have been busy editing my latest novel, Drama Queen Rules, the story of a young woman who has her eyes on the prize, no matter what friends and family might have to say about it.

Lainey Cook wants to go to college and ditch her cocktail waitress job at Paradox's bowline alley. People say she doesn't have the equipment to get a degree, but she refuses to believe their put-downs. She knows she is worth more than she is getting out of life.

Lainey's boyfriend, Skip Boyer, is not quite as ambitious. When he want the cash to buy her a ring, Skip hooks up with a group of outlaws. Too bad he didn't get to the market in time to get them out of there. So he's more or less wanted. Even Lainey wonders if she shouldn't look in another direction to find her bliss. When Skip takes her for a joy ride, she is more convinced than ever, but he keeps coming back like the proverbial bad penny.

Someone once said we write our own stories over and over again, and I will admit some of the elements in this story are pretty close to my personal journey. I did, however, change the names to protect the innocent.

If you like a light read, I will send you the first chapter of Drama Queen in return for your comments.

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading my blog.

Terry

Beach Glass Jewels

Whenever I meet someone new they seem to be astounded by the number of things I do.

Ok. I write. I make dolls. I fashion jewelry out of various materials - this year's focus is on beach glass.

Beach (or sea) glass is hard to find. Some beaches seem to have lots of glass scattered along the shoreline along with shells, seaweed, and a few other, less savory, articles. Flotsam and jetsam? Perhaps.

All I know is that beach glass looks like gemstones to me. It comes in a variety of colors: brown, amber, white, green (pale and dark), and lavender. The pale purples are more rare, possibly because the glass contained lead, which turned purple under the light of the sun. I pretty much think the lavender color is safe, unless one were to lick it - but we are not talking about jewelry for the under-five set here.

I love the random shapes of beach glass, which is the product of someone's garbage that has been rolled in the surf by the constant motion of the water until the surface is smooth and frosted, silky to the touch.

Latelly, I have been experimenting with wire and beads, working pieces of beach glass into pendents that can be worn on a cord or chain. I displayed the resulting jewelry on a driftwood 'tree', which seemed appropriate.

The Main Street Gallery on Muir Street in Cambridge will feature a display of my beach glass pendents starting Saturday. I hope to be there Saturday evening, and I hope my friends will be there as well.

Oh yes, if you can't look up, take a walk on the beach and look down - you may find a beach glass jewel of your own.

Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

'Tis the Season

This morning I realized that I am right in the throes of gallery season with the Wednesday Morning Artists. This Saturday evening we will be stopping by the Dorchester Arts Center to support the arts in Cambridge and the surrounding county.

At about the same time, Second Saturday will be underway on Race Street, with businesses open during the evening for holiday shopping.

Holiday shopping? No!

Yep. Thanksgiving is three weeks away. I sure hope you are ready, because I sure ain't.

I haven't even finished with this weekend yet. The Main Street Gallery will be showing work by many of the WMA, so do stop by if you are in town. The theme is Art-cess-ories, and I have submitted a dozen sea glass pendents and a very special doll to the show.

As you can see from today's photo, the Marsh Maiden is a bit different from the mermaids of fairy tale, although they go hand in hand with sailors and their dreams. So, I have sculpted this doll in a camoflage tail and bustier. Even her hair helps her to hide in the marsh grasses. I have an idea she is truly one of a kind.

I nearly forgot. Saturday will be a book day for those of you who love the written word. The Dorchester County Public Library will host its Second Saturday book sale until noon and I will be signing my Chesapeake Heritage books at Bay Country Shop from 1-3 pm with friend Arline Chase.

And then there is Christmas!

Judging Books By Their Covers

If you have been following the process of publishing a four-book series, you will know that it is not something you do overnight.

One of the most interesting things I encountered during the process was commissioning the covers for the four novels by Snow Hill artist Dawn M. Tarr. Now, this may sound like a fairly straightforward process, but it isn't at all.

In the first place, Dawn is busy making a living and while she did her best to keep up with the theme each book represented, I think it was a true labor of love for her to do these covers.

This is what happened: I emailed Dawn and asked if she would be interested in doing the cover for the first book. At the time, one book seemed to satisfy my writing itch, but it spread.

When Dawn said she would do the cover for the first book, I was over the moon. We have been friends for ages, and it meant a lot to me that she would do the art for Chesapeake Harvest. I shot her a brief synopsis of the story and she shot back the cover art.

Same thing with the second book, and the third, and the fourth. Dawn 'got' each story from the brief descriptions I sent, keeping the art in the same colors, but varying costume and hairstyles to echo the differing eras in which the stories took place.

The cover for Chesapeake Destiny was definitely difficult. Jane Elliott marries badly and lives to regret it. She might have given up and become a faceless woman like the one in the unfinished painting in her attic if not for the wandering artist who returned to give her his heart. This novel is set during the Revolutionary War and spotlights the Eastern Shore of Maryland as the breadbasket for both the rebel and British armies.

Dawn caught the story perfectly, and read it a year later! Our telepathy seems to work pretty well, at least I think so.

I will be in Snow Hill signing books at the Adcock Gallery for First Friday this week and at the Bay Country Shop on US 50 in Cambridge from 1-3 p.m. on Nov. 14. See you there! Terry

Drama Queen Rules

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Drama Queen Rules is the story of Lainey Cook who wants to rise above her rasin'. Lainey has a good heart and she finds her niche in life at the old ladies home down the street, but just about everyone she knows has something to say about her chance to get an education and her quest for a better life.

There's Skip, her criminally handsome boyfriend, Emma Grace her drop-out sister, her mother, who is on oxygen because she never could quit smoking, and the old folks who can't remember Lainey's name from day to day, but love her just the same.

My newest novel is looking for a publisher, and I am asking all of you gals who have had to deal with drama queens in your life to say a little prayer for the success of this book so I don't end up in the home wondering what happened. Drop me a line with your email address if you think you would read an excerpt from this story.

Reach for those stars girls, and keep on the sunny side! Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Colombus vs. Aboriganies

Today is Colombus Day, a holiday celebrated by thousands as the day of discovery for the American people. I hate to say it, but science has discovered that Chris was a relatively latecomer to the continent. Apparently there were people walking and sailing into the same shores for hundreds of years, and when they did, they left all sorts of clues to their passing.

As a Native American, I have the idea some of my ancestors were here to meet the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. They were here to meet the Jamestown settlers, and they were here to meet the Mayflower, welcoming the voyagers with food and friendly acceptance - or so the history books say.

History, however, is a rather uncertain science, full of inaccuracies and rumor, set down by the winners in any given conflict. I don't doubt that my ancestors met the various boats arriving from points west in Europe. I don't even doubt they might have met the intruders, but it seems likely they might have looked askance at pale, emaciated (from the poor shipboard food and seasickness) individuals who came ashore hoping for fresh food and water.

What happened next? Those pale, thin white folks proceeded to simply appropriate any bit of land that took their fancy and declare the original inhabitants savages and unworthy of honor.

It seems a pity to me. Looking at our history, it is easy to see that the original inhabitants of this continent were pushed back and pushed back until they lost their hunting grounds and cities grew at the mouths of every river. Who could blame them for not fighting back when they could?
The genocide here in the Americas was nearly as bad as that of the Germans during the anti-Semite days.

Who says being white and Christian makes one individual better than any other sort of person? I don't think God has anything to do with it. Native people living in the Americas had their own gods and religions and seemed to be getting along pretty darned well, thank you very much.

I heard the government has named the day after Thanksgiving as Native American Day, but that seems to be swallowed up in the biggest shopping day before Christmas. Isn't that a shame? I have the idea Native Americans deserve a better observance - they gave us this beautiful land after all.

So, I don't think Christopher Colombus really deserves a day, he started all this prejudice mess, after all. I sure hope someone takes a look at this and fixes it. If you ask me - and who does? - Native Americans should have more than one day, and no one should shop on that day. They might do well to think about all the lives that were lost when Colombus set foot on our beautiful shores. Come to think of it, maybe we ought to take it back.

In the meantime, keep on the sunny side. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Showcase

This coming Sunday will see historic High Street in Cambridge full of artists and shoppers at the Dorchester Center For the Arts juried arts and crafts show - Showcase. The show runs from noon until 5 p.m. with hundreds of participants.

The Wednesday Morning Artists will be on the street offering art by several of its members including Pat Hayes, Debbie Haynes, Anne Albuery Hock, Marilyn Stone, Marilyn Benton and others.

The WMA will also sponsor an art drawing of a set of handcrafted sterling silver jewelry from Pat Hayes and a painted screen door (as seen in Baltimore) by Debbie Haynes. Drawing will be at 4 pm and the first ticket drawn will give the owner first choice of the screen door or jewelry.

I will be offering my books: The first three novels in the Chesapeake Heritage series and Runaway Hearts. In addition, I will offer 75 grab bags which hold handmade necklaces valued to $25. These grab bags go well and often suit the new owner perfectly. One third of all my sales and all of the income from the drawing will go to the Cambridge Mural Project which still lacks a considerable amount of funding to pay off the costs of this enormous project. If you have not yet seen the mural at Cannery Way off Race Street, do stop by to see a pictoral history of Cambridge done by local artists.

It is going to be a great day, so keep on the sunny side! Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Chesapeake Destiny

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I don't know if I mentioned it lately, but Book Three in my Chesapeake Heritage Series is in print and available as a print or e-book from Amazon.com at Bay Country Shop in Cambridge, MD and from me.

I have been looking forward to the release of this book, which tells the story of Jane Elliott, who marries Thomas Fitzjohn and moves away from the plantation Baron's Hope to the home her husband built for her and named Regret.

Jane suffers greatly from her husband's abuse and eventually is released from her harsh existence, but she is so beaten down and exhausted from caring for the plantation she inherits, she wonders if she will ever find love.

While her husband still lived, he commissioned a painting of Jane, but it is never finished. Little does Jane know it, but the wandering artist will bring more than the completion of her painting on his return to her plantation.

The novel is set against the backdrop of the Revolutionary War when the Eastern Shore of Maryland was the breadbasket for both the English and Yankee troops.

I hope you like this effort and look forward to the last book in the Chesapeake Heritage Series, which will be published in the new year.

In the meantime, keep on the sunny side, Terry
'
Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Life After Death?

Hello There,

Ten years ago my father passed during the Labor Day weekend, so it is always an interesting time for me concerning emotions.

I loved my father, you see, and I missed his funny determined attitude toward life. So I am always lonely for his cussing out in the shed.

But in another light, Dad had a good life, and apprently - a good death. Check out the orb over the steeple. It sure looks like a smiley face to me and so no one has yet proved to me that there isn't life on the other side. And once I realize this, I laugh because somewhere out in the cosmos my father is laughing over something too.

Keep on the sunny side,

Terry L. White
Author

Glinda's Ghost, continued

I have been trying to post the cover of Glinda's Ghost and there seems to be a gremlin in the computer in regard to this awesome cover done by Dawn Tarr. This coloring book for pre-teens has a great story that teaches Melissa Dawn that Glinda is right - little girls need to love themselves! I don't think anyone can hear that too much.

So. I hope it works this time. Have a great holiday and keep on the sunny side. Terry

Glinda's Ghost

Oh My Gosh!

I was getting some things ready for a reading I will be doing in Snow Hill on November 7. I will share the evening with Jim Adcock who also has a new book to share and I am really excited about the chance to share the Chesapeake Heritage series with people here on the Eastern Shore, which has been the home of my heart ever since I landed on its shore in 1993. The good news is that the third book in the series is now in print and I will have some with me for the reading.

At any rate, when I moved here, I met a wonderful lady named Dawn Tarr and we hit it off right away. We even did a project - a coloring book called Glinda's Crystal Garden. They are pretty cool and each one has a crystal butterfly necklace. There are still a few around, but the message is pretty universal - you gotta love yourself.

So, Glinda lives. So much so, in fact, I have located my old Glinda files (which were on one of those 3.25 inch floppies! Remember them? I am back to work on what I hope will be a real book-sized volume. Wish me luck! Glinda is a very quirky lady indeed.

Wishing you happy reading - and keep on the sunny side. Terry

Correction

Good Afternoon,

I am an old newspaperwoman and try to keep my posts accurate, but I have mistakenly attributed the Eat Drink and Buy Art campaign to Dorchester Tourism when it more properly should be Dorchester Economic Development.

I am wholeheartedly behind these efforts to put Dorchester County on the map. This place has an intriguing history, wonderful residents, and a rich cultural heritage to share with the world. I predict a wonderful result from the Eat, Drink and Buy Art initiative and am glad to be a patron of the campaign.

Interview Scheduled

Hello Bloggers,

Just a note to let you know Linda Faulkner will post a new interview about me on September 2 on her Author Exchange blog site. Find it at: http://www.lindamfaulkner.com/Blogs.htm

The hurricane has passed, and the clouds are moving on. Keep on the sunny side wherever you are. Terry

Whatever Works in Advertising

Yesterday I received an email from Dorchester County Economic Development, which is busy putting together a tourism intuitive with some other Eastern Shore counties called Eat, Drink and Buy Art. Natalie had put out a call for gifts to be included in two drawings: one for the kick-off to the campaign and the other for a grand prize that will include an overnight at an area luxury hotel. I offered a package that includes three of my recent works. The way I see it, the more I can get my work out there, the more people will see and hear about it.

Natalie said the program would be glad to accept my donation of the first two books in my Chesapeake Heritage series, and a copy of my volume of poetry called Runaway Hearts, which revives the unique characters I've learned about during my two decades on the Eastern Shore.
Runaway Heart was read on Radio for the Blind recently, and I owe many thanks to Don Banning for his efforts in getting this book read on the air.

Chesapeake Harvest and Chesapeake Legacy are stories set in colonial times. The first is the story of an indentured servant and the second chronicles the travels of a woman who is cast out of a settlement due to her Nanticoke heritage because Indians could no longer live in the community. I have done my best to breathe life in these times so that people can learn more about how difficult it was to settle on the Eastern Shore.

An added bonus is that the covers for the Chesapeake Heritage series were done by Eastern Shore Artist Dawn M. Tarr. Dawn's covers are unique and I think they show the strong, hopeful spirits of the women who pioneered these not always comfortable shores.

Chesapeake Destiny, soon to be released in print, takes place during the American Revolution and spotlights a culture that saw women as chattal. Chesapeake Vision, the fourth in the Heritage series, takes place during and after the Civil War when being blind made little difference when there were farms to run. I think you are going to like the women of Baron's Hope, the plantation that sets the scene for each of these historical novels.

So. My books are out there and it is going to rain. Keep on the sunny side anyway! Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

The Heart of the Matter

Today I would like to announce that the third book in my Chesapeake Heritage series is now available at Amazon.com, Kindle and lots of ebook vendors such as www.ebooksonthe.net, Mobipocket, Barnes and Noble and others around the map. I don't have copies yet, but I see the book is available at these other venues so if you like the series, I hope you treat yourself to this third volume.

Dawn M. Tarr, that wonderful Eastern Shore artist, has created the cover for this volume -- as well as the other three for the four-book series. If you explore earlier posts on this blog you will see the other covers - which are vivid illustrations of the heart of each story. This week she launched a Facebook flurry to tell the world about the books and a little bit about our friendship.

The day Dawn and I met, there were angels dancing in the air and we both knew we would be doing some amazing work together. To date, Dawn has done five book covers for me and I cannot express my gratitude enough for her ability to work straight out of the ether.

All I had to do in each case was to tell her my vision for the cover and a few hours later I would get a post with the new cover pinned to it. The other day she said she was amazed at how well the cover fit the book. I think we both paint - but in different ways: she with pigment, me with words.

Together the product is unique and memorable.

That said, keep on the sunny side! Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Tempest in a Teapot

Hello,

I have been watching the town meetings over health care reform with interest and I am amazed that so many people are talking so loudly they can't hear the very people who have come out to gather information and to provide answers about the proposed changes in the way health care is delivered in the United States.

I grew up in poverty, and when I was a child my folks would wait until Death came knocking, take me to the local doc's and he would thump my chest and give my mother a little envelope of pink or white pills for me to take. I got better and Dad paid the doctor $3.00 if he had it. If not, the doctor put the debt in his ledger and hoped for the best.

My parents did everything within their power to see I got through high school. After that, I was pretty much on my own. Dad said I could do anything, and I believed that was true. Eventually I worked my way through college and published a whole armload of books.

But that isn't why I decided to blog today. I can't see anywhere in the Constitution that says that the citizens of the United States are entitled to free medical care. Don't get me wrong. I am on Medicare, and I do appreciate the services and care I have access to since I can no longer work. I wish I could, but everyone comes to a point where they need to lean on others and I think our government is doing a good job trying to take care of everyone.

I want to believe that health care will be better after this tempest in a teapot. I want to believe that routine care won't cost more as time goes on, since routine care fends off catastrophic care. Choosing the former makes sense.

As for end of life care counseling, BRING IT ON! I do not want to be kept alive an extra day if I am so unwell I can't recognize the people taking care of me or ask that my needs be met. I have completed my Five Wishes and people know where it is in my house. I have someone to make the decision to pull the plug. I have someone to take care of my possessions. I wouldn't want it any other way, but I know a lot of people never give these things any thought.

We live in a society that somehow thinks death is not a natural part of life. It is, and when I am ready, I want to sleep away, free of pain, and without a lot of people arguing about what to do with my failing body.

I hope we can get through this touchy discussion with all hands intact -- if not, I'll see you on the other side. In the meantime, keep on the sunny side!

Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

New Book Vendors

Hello All,

What a busy summer! It has been nice and cool so far, so I guess I have been out and abut more. I had a nice week at Fire Island with friend Claudia and several days in Delaware with my friend Sue.

Sadly, the bookstore in Cambridge closed recently, leaving no outlet for local writers. What a shame! I did however, find a gift shop that will carry my Chesapeake Books. Bay Country Shop on US50, on the way to Ocean City is open every day and carries a wonderful assortment of gifts for the discerning traveler. Do stop if you get the opportunity.

In other news, Barnes and Noble now carries my books! You can find them by searching my whole name (Terry L. White) in their search engine. (Thanks Arline for your work on all of your writers behalf.)

That's all for today, have a good one and keep on the sunny side! Terry


Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Vacation Daze

Hey all,

Boy! Have I ever been busy. I went to visit a friend over the weekend and we spent some good times shopping, which is nice for me since I don't drive and shopping is always a treat.

So, Sue and I went downstate to a little town called Snow Hill where my friend Dawn Tarr had a gallery show at Adkin's Gallery just off the main drag. Everyone was so nice and Dawn was delighted to get a couple of the books she did covers for during the past year or so.

I was delighted because Jim Adkins agreed to handle my books and a couple of my character dolls - see the pic! I am going to have to make a few more dolls pretty soon. They are all hand sewn - not just with a machine, but with a needle and by hand. I paint the faces with water colors and sharpies and the like. Take a peek, maybe you will like them. If you do, let me know and keep on the sunny side. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

An Eastern Shore poem

Mom Mom

She keeps her hands in her lap at rest,
Fingers bundles of broken twigs,
Brown and knotted, scarred,
Big-knuckled from long hours with the knife
Worrying the sweet meat
From horny red shells that cut to the quick.
If she didn’t have all those years
What would there be
Beyond the work?

Her dress is clean,
Faded at shoulder, thigh and breast
Patches over patches
Covered with the soft apron
Of dim rose print.

Her hair is pulled back each morning
Anchored against the wind,
The constant wind.
Fine lines fan out from
Eyes once as blue as bay and sky,
Now faded into ancient haze.

She was always there
In the house beside the water
Where the fiddler crabs
Clattered their shells
At break of day,
Annoyed at her steps
As she tended the goat,
The chickens, the pig.

She doesn’t need much.
The neighbors look in
And see her hands in her lap
The fingers knotted like salt-hardened lines.
She smiles, says she is fine.
And they leave, shaking their heads
At her presence at all.

Her voice is now an echo
Of the persisting wind
As she whispers her prayers
Over sourdough batter
Started years before and
Stirred with a tarnished spoon.

Her children stay on
In faded portraits ranked
By size and age on the mantle shelf
Where the flu is cold
In the summer damp.
They rarely call.

Her man was heavy of hand,
His shoulders as broad as a tree.
She loved him true when they were young,
But he laid him down to sleep
One night, and did not breathe
In morning’s light.

There was a time she waited
On the bridge near the water’s edge,
For the sight of a well known sail;
And now for the Maker’s call.
There’s nothing more,
Her world has passed
And soon will fade to memories
In a book that once fell into the water
So that the ink ran
And the tales were lost.

Keep on the sunny side folks, Terry

I'm Back!

Hello All,

Well, here I am, more or less recovered from my computer crash, and a wonderful week at Fire Island where I got to commune with the ocean, ride a ferry, meet some wonderful people and make some new beach glass creations.

Oddly enough, the ocean left me no presents as far as more materials go. I was surprised. I thought beach glass was a fairly common thing. Not so.

Coming home was bittersweet. I had a ton of work to catch up, and was delighted to sleep in my own bed once again. Life is indeed good.

For now, I will post from time to time and try to keep the hedge trimmed, the grass cut and my tomatoes watered - great news on the last: I planted the tomatoes from seed and they are already setting fruit. What a gift. Makes you want to keep on the sunny side.

Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Just So You Know

Hi Bloggers,

Sorry I've been missing of later. This sort of work seems to come under the heading of casting one's bread upon the water - but doesn't it all? Given the crash of my computer, I got way behind in my posts, and can only aspire to keep up the posts for the rest of the month when I am going on a week's vacation.

Last month, I got caught up in a couple of rummage sales for my art group - one at a fair for senior citizens. (Shhhhh! Don't say it!) While there, I happened to be talking with a disc jockey who asked me to stop by the station for an interview.

I hope I sounded intelligent. One of the things I was able to do was to talk about Book Three in my Chesapeake series.

Chesapeake Destiny should be in print this autumn and I am looking forward to that announcement. Again, the art was done by Dawn M. Tarr of Snow Hill. This has been a big project and the final book is finished, so I am looking forward to seeing the entire series on your bookshelf. In the meantime, keep on the sunny side. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

The Recovery Trail

Hello Bloggers,

I guess I mentioned that my computer crashed last week. What a chore it is to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I don't know how I could have done it without the help of two very kind friends. I won't mention their names, but I do want to send out a heartfelt thank you to Doug and Alan. I am back in business, except for losing all of my photo files.

That will teach me!

Hopefully I will get out and take some new photos and find the sunny side again. In the meantime, I will try to get some posts out as time permits. Have a great day. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Computers for Fun and Profit

Hello All,

I would like to say my absence has been due to a nice book tour or something like that, but alas, my computer crashed and I am still trying to restore its memory - and mine!

This post will be brief, written in the hope future posts will be longer and include art, although all of mine seems to be lost along with who knows how many other lost files.

Like my mind, I miss them all.

To make this short: I am still mowing my own lawn, my resident bat has flown from my window, and the Wednesday Morning Artists had a successful yard sale. Things are going well on most fronts and I have been invited to a week on Fire Island, which will be my yearly vacation.

Hopefully things will get back in order soon. Bless you all and keep on the sunny side. Terry

How can you say that selling is spiritual service?

How can you say that selling is spiritual service?

Earlier we shared with you how Jim discovered the idea that selling is spiritual service. But that concept may seem foreign to you, even impossible. So what we've said bears repeating. Now we go more deeply into what we mean by Selling Is Spiritual Service.

This perspective on selling is based on the profound reality that we are all connected. We are all one interconnected web of consciousness. We all create together the experience of being alive, so we all need each other. That's a simple and profound fact of life.

As John Donne wrote in the seventeenth century, "No man is an island."

When someone has a problem they can't solve by themselves-and you have a solution in the form of a product or service-you have an ethical, even moral obligation to make your solution available to as many people as you can.

If you don't, you shortchange your own creative spirit as well as your business. You shortchange all the people who need what you provide. And you shortchange Spirit or God, or whatever it is you deem to be The Source of All.

This point of view is fundamental to your larger success as a soft sell marketer, and The Heart of Marketing is devoted to supporting you and the growth and expansion of your heart-based marketing.

So let's look at this more closely.


What Is Selling?

Selling is the process of converting someone from being a looker, a seeker, a searcher, a prospector into becoming a Customer.

It's the art and skill of helping your reader make the decision they know they need and want to make in order to solve the problem they're wrestling with. The selling process guides them to that decision for the benefit of both of you.

As a soft sell marketer, when you add the commitment to sell with respect and care, your priority becomes the well-being of the relationship between you and your buyer, which also includes the sale.


What Is Spiritual?

At the core, practical spirituality takes us to the fundamental connectedness that permeates and creates this world and the need we all have of one another. When you take in the emotional truth of our interdependence-and let it guide your business dealings-you begin to market and sell with consciousness and conscience.


Consciousness-with awareness of the co-creative life that joins us all together, the customer becomes not just someone who will buy, but a necessary partner in determining the best outcome for both you and your buyer.

Conscience-reflects the care and respect for ourselves and our customers as feeling-filled human beings, not just walking wallets.
Doing business with consciousness and conscience you advance the experience of being alive by recognizing and supporting the well-being of the whole-the whole of life on this planet through the whole transaction-that is, your awareness of both the seller and the buyer.

When you participate in a spiritually motivated sale you recognize the gifts you, the seller, bring to the marketplace as well as the need brought by your buyer. There is a unity of purpose and respect that is expressed through and manifested in a value-for-value exchange.


What Is Service?

Service is the assistance you offer as you put yourself forward to support and advance your prospective customer's buying experience. When in service, you contribute to the well-being of your prospective customer even if they never become a buyer.

However, when you come from service, you must avoid martyring yourself. To fully participate in the buyer/seller partnership you must make sure to serve your own self-expression, your own personal value, and your own economic well-being. Otherwise you negate the partnership and are thrust back into the every-man-for-himself mindset. It's essential that you respect and support both you and your customer.

When you take to heart that Selling Is Spiritual Service you are on your way to release from fear, shyness, embarrassment, guilt and any other internal millstone holding you back from marketing with passionate commitment. You are emboldened to use your marketing to educate your readers about what you know, what you've created for them, and you invite and encourage them to make the decision they already know they want to make.

You share your story, you outline the many benefits they can enjoy, and you provide testimonials from satisfied customers so that your readers know, truly know they are in the right place. Then when they buy, when they put money in your bank, their payment is a form of appreciation and gratitude.

That's the power of Selling As Spiritual Service.

The Heart of Marketing is a great resource for anyone looking for solid marketing strategies and tactics with a Soft Sell, heart-based approach to create real profit and long-term customer relationships. Order your own copy of The Heart of Marketing within the next 24 hours and receive over $8,400 in bonus gifts from experts around the globe. Go to http://www.theheartofmarketing.com

Take Me Home, Country Roads

I think one of the most difficult - and miracalous things about life is the roads that bring us home.

My journey started on a small dirt road in the Appalachain mountains of northern Pennsylvania, a place where the summers were endless and the winters so bitter I often suffered from frostbite, a condition my dad remedied by a brisk application of snow to the already chilled digits and toes.

My parents kicked me out of the nest the day after my high school graduation, and I know I should be grateful for the shove - even though I was still a kid and scared to death of what I might find in the world.

How did I do? I am still here. I followed some county roads and a few city streets - although I liked those shaded rural lanes much better than the fumes and rumbles of city blocks. I ambled along the roads that led to enlightnment, and did my best to bless the dead ends.

I live in town now, on a pleasant, quiet city street where services are close by. The critters play in my yard and the lawn needs to be mowed most of the time. I love it here and spend my days doing what I love best - writing.

Today, I think of country roads and I know the journey was especially designed for me. Think of that - and keep on the sunny side! Terry

PS: The incredible photo is by prize-winning Cambridge photographer Lisa Krentel.

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Relativity Rocks

A couple of years ago I was privileged to take a road trip cross country to South Dakota with a friend. I purchased a card for my digital camera and was able to take photos of many things we saw onthe journey.

Of course,I took a great many more images on the trip out than I did on the journey home. Vacations are like that. You are fresh on the trip out and every visita is witnesed with wonder. Coming home is less magical. The road is much shorter, the scenery less inspiring.

For one thing, the trip is a lot quieter. My companion and I had run out of small talk days before. We were weary, and the golden days of autumn had been washed away by a dismal gray rain. The dogs were used to traveling now. They slept between pit stops. Even our wardrobes had lost their savor - we learned that one or two outfits with discreet layers are more than enough fashion for a great trip.

I was thrilled, however, the day we crossed the Mississippi River. I believe we were driving across Minnesota, and one particular rest stop featured a hiking trail that seemed pefect for exercising Cinder and Pebbles, Melanie's toy and standard poodles.

Wonder of Wonders! The path we took led straight to the banks of the river - a river I had crossed much further south where it was ever bit as mighty as one might imagine. The Mississippi of our odyssey, however, was no more than stone's throw across - a mere creek bordered by trees just beginning to don their autumnal finery. The sun shone for a brief moment, and I snapped the photo you see above.

I still think of the Mississippi as a grand river, and it is. Everything, you see, is relative - especially when you happen to catch a glimpse of it on the sunny side. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Burning The Past

A few years ago I was a struggling writer, living on hope. I took classes, pored over Writer's Digests listings, wrote my stories and sent them off to magazines almost daily.

Back in the day there was no such thing as an electronic submission. One had to produce a pristine manuscript in the publisher's preferred format, and include return postage for the package.

You sent the stories off, then you waited. For some manuscripts, a reply could take more than a year, and that long-awaited reply often took the form of a mechanically reproduced rejection letter that looked as if it had never been touched by human hands. For all I knew there was a machine available to publishers that punched out those cold rejection letters at the touch of a button.

Could have been, but back in the day there weren't any personal computers. I wrote my first book eleven times, trying to produce that shining story so complete, so perfect a publisher could not resist.

None of it did much good. Over the years I collected a stack of rejection letters three inches tall. Wow! That represented a lot of optimism, a boatload of hope, and an awful lot of spaghetti dinners eaten to save money for postage. Talk about being a starving artist!

To make a long story short, there came a day when I was invited to a bonfire. The invitation urged participants to bring the things they wanted to 'burn' out of their lives. One fellow charred his girlfriend in effegy. Another toasted his unemployment. I burned the rejection letters. It felt good.

And a few weeks later, I got a check for my very first sale. Apparently, getting rid of the negative paid off. I was a real author! Someone paid me for my work! Yay!

Think about it friend, and keep on the sunny side. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Why Do We Write?

I was talking with a friend the other day and one of the questions that came up was why we write. I have an idea there are as many answers to that question as there are writers.

Writers used to be fairly exclusive club, but there was the remote possiblity of being discovered. Your manuscript was actually read when you submitted it over the transom. Or a friend of a friend knew someone in the industry. Or - you had been writing for the pulp magazines and someone decided to collect your work.

Being a writer has traditionally been the occupation of the leisured classes - or the demented. Today, there are millions of literate folks with stories to tell. After 40 years of practice, Amazon tells me I am ranked about five million short of wealth and fame for all my trouble.

Poverty has not always been a good excuse to write, often because the poor are not always literate. Edgar Allen Poe has the reputation of a drunk, and so, having weathered two recessions in his brief life - settled for writing dreadful tales of horrors beyond belief. Poor Eddie never met Stephen King or Robert McCammon. Their tales might have scared even Poe.

So why do we write? For many of us, writing is an itch to be scratched, whether it is good for us or not. There is something about stringing words into sentences, paragraphs, chapters and books that brings satisfaction to our souls. Our work may illustrate - or punctuate - our history, or present or our future.

It is all good, which is why I keep writing and looking for the sunny side. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

What's Is Your New Book About?

Hey Bloggers!

About a month ago I finished the last book in my Chesapeake Heritage series and decided I was going to take a break and just take care of my blogs for a little while.

Wouldn't you know it? I was tired, worn out, and ready to bawl. Writing four books in just over a year really did me in. If anyone had asked me, I would have said I was going to find some nice, non-literary activities to keep me busy for a little while.

Wrong! I doubt if I had a week off rest and whatever recreation the writer's life affords when I had this dream. It was one of those vivid Technicolor epics that followed me into my waking life.

I knew the title, I could see the setting, and I had a great certainty about how the tale should begin. Long ago, I learned that an impelling message like this had to be honored. There was nothing to do but to quit the spring housecleaning and head for the computer.

So here I am. The words just keep rolling in. Every morning I sit down for my daily dictation. You have to do it. You signed on for the journey after all.

There is one problem. What to do when someone says, "Well, what is your new book about?"

I'm not going to tell. I would appreciate it if you can honor my superstition that it is bad luck to talk about a story not yet completed. Rest assured, I write every day, usually first thing in the morning, right after I read (and forget) my daily horoscope.

When I finish this new book, you will be the first to know. In the meantime, we've got a pretty day going, so keep on the sunny side. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Porching Revisited

Hey Bloggers,

Yesterday I posted an essay about the great American porch and its role in society. Today, Good Morning American did a bit on porching.

Talk about synchronicity. You just don't see people talking about porching that much any more... then all of a sudden the universe hiccoughs and there are porches everywhere.

Like I said, I love my porch. It becomes an extension of my living space every summer, giving me a break from the den where I write all winter long. Don't get me wrong, I am still writing. I just like to enjoy the sunshine and neighbors as much as I can.

The porch also gives me a place to give my houseplants a break from the long winter months in the sunniest windows I can find. I think they like it a lot better outdoors because they grow and gain in beauty every day.

It was neat that Good Morning America recognized the American porch. It just shows that people in this country are going back to the old days when people sat on porches and exchange greetings with their neighbors. They didn't need electricty to keep cool, there were always the peninsula breezes that make the Eastern Shore so pleasant.

If you have a porch, I do hope you use it. It is a wonderful way to keep on the sunny side. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

To Porch or Not To Porch

Yesterday spring arrived. The sun was shining and it got so hot upstairs I had to open some windows to let in the fresh air and a little pollen.

In case you didn't know, porch is a verb here on the Eastern Shore. People porch. They sit outside and talk, they visit with passers-by, they enjoy the birds and bees and the neighbor's cat.

I love to porch. There is nothing like sitting outside with my morning coffee and a good book. The sun works wonders on my skin.I feel better when the sun gets into my bones.

I know, we aren't supposed to tan these days, but in the words of an old friend, "You're going to look damned stupid if you get to the Pearly Gates and find out you died of nothin'."

I like that. I want to be like the woman in that poem who would have danced more if she had know how life would end. She would have eaten more ice cream and worn extravagant hats. That's me. I want it all.

So. Spring is here and the porch is waiting. There is nothing like porching - alone or with a friend. So, take time to sit on your own porch if you have one, or go find a friend on her porch. There's nothing like it for staying on the sunny side. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

House For Sale, Boat Included

Hey Bloggers,

I was looking through the photos I took last weekend when I got to spend time on Hooper's Island. A few years ago, the island was a place where fishermen raised their family and spent their days on the water catching fish, oysters and the famous Marylnd blue crabs. Today, many of the boats deteriorate in boatyards while those very same families are wondering how they will make out in the emerging world village. There is no work and legislators block fishing for species they fear will become extinct.

There are a couple of small communities on Upper Hooper and Lower Hooper islands. A beautiful causeway connects the two islands. You drive the main route through the village of Fishing Creek, past the Hoopers Island Volunteer Fire Company, Hoosier Memorial Methodist Church and Old Salty's a seafood restaurant seated in the island's old school. Much of Hoopersville, the lower island is untended, the tides eroding the shorelines as boats and houses sink slowly into the wetland.

There are lot of properties for sale on the island, places that are being sold because so many of the watermen and their wives are moving to areas where there might be more work.

The true depression is on the faces of these displaced workers, some of whose family members have plied the Honga River and Fishing Bay for hunreds of years. A number of homes on the island have been sold to people who can afford to live and work elsewhere. Some of the houses are simply abandoned.

Sadly, many of those abandoned houses are simply waiting, their empty windows staring out across the waters, a boat slowly sinking into the marshy yard that stays wet throughout the summer because the lawn has not been mowed.

I want to say a prayer for the ghost houses and the unloved boats. It doesn't seem right, but perhaps the greening of America will restore the fishing and bring those fisherment back to the waters of Fishing Bay. One can only hope.

That's all for today, keep on the sunny side! Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Driftwood

Good Day Bloggers,

Did you ever really look at driftwood and the quiet beauty of the wood?

I have an idea that while we often think we are in charge of our lives, the winds of change are scouring and shaping us into new and different beings.

When I look in the mirror, I see an old woman. My features have blurred and my hair can't decide how to behave. Unlike men, who can grow beards to disguise the troubles life has etched on their mugs, I can only tie back my thinning tresses and look upon the countenance time gave me.

Inner beauty does not seem to come through the mirror, and so the question of who is fairest of them all becomes moot. All one can do is to hope that the metamorphases of age reflect a beautiful and instructive life.

Driftwood, after all, echoes the past life of a tree that blossomed in spring and harbored the mockingbirds and jays and owls that called to me in day and night.

I hope the next person sees me as driftwood, stripped to the quiet beauty that remained hidden in my youth, and that the tide washes at my feet carrying bits of sea glass and shell to wear in my hair.

Ghost Houses

Good Day Bloggers,

This past weekend I spent a couple of days on a nearby island at a friend's house. We wandered about, picking up sea glass from the windswept beach, admiring the emerging plants in Linda's gardens, watching the drama as two two osprey males courted one femals, and poking around ghost houses.

I have always enjoyed riding in the countryside and looking at abandoned houses. I want to know why someone left a perfectly good house to rot into the marsh. I want to know what happened. Did the owners die? Did they move away to find greener pastures? Did they have kids in the city who got to busy to go to the country and keep the house up.

One of the things Linda and I did over the rainy weekend was to watch movies. It was cozy in her living room with the stove going. Outside the wind moaned through the screens, and the bay was the color of pea soup gone bad - with occasional patches of agitated white froth - surely better to watch than to experience.

One of the flicks we watched was a movie called Grey Gardens, the story of a ghost house. Mother and daughter (Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore) sank deeper and deeper into disfunction over the years in this presentation of what turned out to be a true tale of the fate of two women who somehow allowed a beautiful 10 bedroom mansion to turn into a rubbish-strewn hulk shared with maurading raccoons and feral cats- and how they were rescued by the late Jackie Bouvier Kennedy .

There was just such a house on the island I visited this weekend. The lawn was overgrown and marshy from not being mowed regularly, and while the windows all were draped, one could just make out precious trinkets and a grand piano waiting for a mistress who will never return. The photo above shows one of the abandoned porches, chairs at ready for a hot afternoon drink with friends. (In this case, the owner is sick, and the house waits for her death - and perhaps a new owner.)

So, this time I learned what happened at the ghost house to cause it to fall into disrepair, although it is a stretch to say no one lives there. An osprey has built its nest on the chimney, so hope remains.

So. That is the story for today. I am going out to admire my own gardens and do my best to stay on the sunny side. Hope you can too. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Tuesday April 21, 2009

Good Day Bloggers,

Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tours has offered a number of interesting blog stops in April.

Early in the month, we visited with Dyan Garris as she promoted her book Money and Manifesting. Hear the interview with Annie Smith on April 2 at http://www.modavox.com/voiceamerica/vshow.aspx?sid=1480
Listen to the show or download the show later.

Darryl Hagar, author of The Man Overboard, writes aout a broken relationships, nearly losing custody of his son, and alienation from his family and friends. The book is now available as a trade paperback. Watch a video from one of Darryl's speaking events at http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2009/01/man-overboard-by-darryl-hagar.html or hear an interview with Mr. Hagar at http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2009/03/darryl-hagar-interviewed-on-wcsh6-in.html

Dan Fogelburg has enjoyed a busy month of blog stops and interviews starting with an interview with Fred Migliore. The interview filled two CDs. Sales benefits the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Fans will enjoy the chat as Mr. Fogelburg talks about the thoughts beyond the music. Purchase the CDs at To buy your copy - http://www.fmodyssey.com

Remember, comments are always welcome on authorsontour.blogspot.com. Have a great day and keep on the sunny side. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/
Follow Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tours –
www.twitter.com/litekepr'Promo 101 Tours -www.virtualblogtour.blogspot.co

Runaway Hearts Read on Radio For The Blind

Greetings Bloggers,

A couple of years ago I found myself writing a history of Dorchester County in verse. Well, I had been compiling pieces of the book, and finally got it together to present it to my publisher as a book called Runaway Hearts. A couple of weeks ago the book was read on Radio For The Blind and I will eventually have a CD I can copy and pass around.

I didn't mean to write a book of poetry. I write novels. Poetry is for love-sick people and it is rarely punctuated. My taste in poetry ran about a hundred years behind the pack. But there it was.

Okay, why Runaway Hearts? Well, like us, each of the characters in the book are running either to - or from something. Notable among the collection is the story of Harriet Tubman, who was born near Cambridge where I live.

Harriet was a slave. She stole a bunch of her peers and walked them up to Canada, eluding slave catchers with the help of sympathizers and Quakers along the way. Harriet was a Union Spy, a battlefield nurse and corresponded with John Brown and Queen Victoria.

The art for this edition came from several bound copies of Peterson's Magazine, a publication something like Woman's Day. The years are 1867, 1874 and 1875. Each issue included recipes, clothing and craft patterns, advice on nursing, a short story and at least one engraving. I scanned the engravings and cropped out pieces that went along with the poetry's theme. (Grandma attended the Spiritualist Church, I guess she knew where I was going before I did.) Even the windmill on the cover is pertinent, because mills like that were common on the peninsula.

Isn't it odd how life hands you stuff and you lug it around for years before it makes sense with your life? I think so.

So. That's my story for today. Enjoy, and keep on the sunny side. Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Painting the Town

Hello Bloggers,

A year or so ago a fire ripped through downtown Cambridge, destroying a couple of storefronts and damaging several businesses. Cambridge was shocked. The downtown was humble, but part of a large historic district. Imagine the shock when first seeing the destruction.

The buildings were propped up and individuals in the community came forward to beg that the facades of the damaged buildings be restored. The buildings were shaky, a million tons of water is hard on brick and mortar. The facades were propped up and the storefronts covered with chip board. We just had to make the best of it for the next few years until restoration efforts could be funded. In this economy! Quite a task indeed.

Luckily, one of the artists in the Wednesday Morning Artists saw a way to take the pain out of the event and carry the downtown into a new and better future. She mobilized the community and by the end of summer the chipboard used to keep people out of the damaged buildings had been turned into a block-long mosaic! Nearly all of the materials were donated, hundreds of people stopped by to stick one - or a hundred- pieces of glass, tile, or broken dishes on the mosaic. People spent eons grouting and polishing.

The result is both interesting and beautiful, and while the art project is still somewhat hidden by the props that keep the facades standing, you can walk under the arcade for nearly a block to see what a community can do when disaster strikes. Plans are afoot to place the mosaic once the materials are no longer necessary to protect the void in our downtown.

This summer we hope to do another mural on another wall so Cambridge can show our community pride again. If you get the opportunity, do visit. If not, keep on the sunny side! Terry

A Salute to the Cover Artist, Dawn Tarr

Hello Blogger,

You know, I often talk about my writing and the process of finding an idea and then bringing it to life as a book. I sometimes fail to mention what a great effort goes into the art for the covers.

My publisher has done most of my covers, but when I decided to expand my Chesapeake novel into set of four, I asked my friend Dawn Tarr (www.dawntarr.com)to do the covers. The image you see above is the cover for book three, Chesapeake Destiny.

Dawn is struggling with the economy, just like all of us, and has had to put her art to one side and take a job at Curves. She is a ravishing redhead with a diva's figure that can only be enhanced by a tone-up. I just know she will find something good to do with the experience. She is just that sort of girl.

Dawn was the inspiration for Chesapeake Destiny, the story of a woman who frees herself from an unhappy marriage and finds real love with an itinerant painter who shows her how beautiful she - and life can be. All this is set against a backdrop of post-Revolution Maryland. I loved writing the story and I was absolutely knocked out when I saw the cover Dawn extracted from the story. I personally think she is a genius and want to tell the world.

I have several of Dawn's paintings, and I find them very pleasant to live with. They really set off my walls and give me a good feeling about being a woman and diva in my own right. So, carry on and let your own diva out and, as always, keep on the sunny side! Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/

Where Do They Come From?

I know, I have been among the missing lately. Can't say as I have a good excuse except that I keep waiting on spring to heat up enough for tank tops and shorts. I love the moderate heat of late spring, the gilded days when you can sit on the porch well into the evening and watch your flowers grow. As yet, it has been too cold and much too rainy to do that yet.

The only thing left to do is to stay inside and write. So, with the weather too old to sit outside and read, I have started not one, but two books. Now, I am superstitious enough not to want to tell you anything about these books other than how I came to start them.

The first came as a result of another book I wrote years ago. It is supposed to be a sequel - or maybe not. I haven't decided if I have enough momentum to do another series. The Chesapeake series about wore me out since I wrote four books in something less than two years. These volumes are about a single farm (and family) on the Eastern Shore of Maryland during the period from colonization until after the Civil War. I suppose I could have gone, but like the old saying goes: the flesh was weak.

The second book idea came from a dream. I woke up and I had a name and a few pages of story in my mind. It took me three different times to get the computer to save the darned thing, there was so much energy attached to the whole thing. It happens.

I have written books after visiting a place, picking up a rock, and hearing a particular comment from another individual. I don't know where books come from - only that they are give to me to transcribe from somewhere out there. Yah, yah! I know. You think I am crazier than a loon.

Perhaps. But I don't think I am the only writer to experience this sort of manna. One has to be open to the process and magic happens. AND, if you don't act on the impulse, the idea will fade away like the manna in the Bible.

I don't know how you write, but this is how it works for me. All I know today is that at this point in time, I have not one but two stories tugging on my shirttail.

So. Keep on the sunny side. I got work to do. Best, Terry

Terry L White -Author of the Chesapeake Heritage Series
"Travel Through Time With Terry"
http://www.terrylwhitesblog.blogspot.com/
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