What Next?

I have been a writer for as long as I can remember and in addition to the many reports, hundreds of articles, a few dozen songs, some government grants, a flock of short stories, and a covey of letters to the editor; I have produced about 20 volumes with the help of my publisher and friend Arline Chase. Oh, the chapbooks. Some are still available. The others lurk on the Internet, hoping to be discovered one day.

For the past thirty years or so it seemed like I always had something literary cooking on the back burner, and despite the need to support myself, and for the last decade, an older home in a gorgeous colonial city. Cambridge is the background for my books and the place that claimed me when I was finding myself. It is a good place to write.

In fact much of my work here was related to writing. I spent five years writing for The Daily Banner, and I carried a camera to report and record the local news. I had a ball, and found that a deadline is a powerful presence to make one write on time. I worked for the arts center and helped with their newsletter and special programs. You had to write. Then I was hired to be the activities director at an adult day care center. You wouldn't believe how much writing that took.

And in the meantime, I was usually working on a book. But not so much lately. I seem to be stuck.

In fact, I seem to be bookless for the first time in years. I am not all that comfortable, but it may be OK eventually. Lately I have been spending time cleaning house and hanging with friends - important activities in any life, right? I am trying to get used to it, but I agree with Stephen King. A writer's block is no darned fun.

To make matters worse, it is raining out there, so it doesn't look I'll get a walk on the sunny side either. Wish me luck! Sending my love, Terry PS: Blogspot won't allow me to put in paragraphs. So sorry.

Chesapeake Legacy in Print

The print version of Chesapeake Legacy, the second book in the Chesapeake Heritage series arrived yesterday. I was so excited when I opened the book and saw how different the book looks in print.

Working on a computer screen day after day seems to do something to my eyesight. I am having a time getting the bugs out of my work, and finally called in some friends to read the manuscripts and help me produce clean copy for the final editions. The first book in the series is out there with way too many errors and I want to apologize for that.

People have the idea that an editor cleans up a manuscript for her writer, but nothing could be further from the truth. The author is responsible for the state of one's work and I am here to tell you it is a long and dangerous journey. In taking that journey, I have learned the value of more eyes on the manuscript - and that different readers find different sorts of errors.

I am grateful to all of my first readers and hope to be able to present my readers with better books in the future -- with a little help from my friends!

So, humble pie is on the menu today, along with joy that the second volume of my series is in print.

Oh yes! Don't forget to look at the great cover! Dawn Tarr is such a good artist. I am so glad she is doing the covers for this set.

I sure hope you have a great day. If you see the groundhog, remind him that he is good eating and stay on the sunny side. Terry

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

National Book Week

Good Morning Bloggers,

This week is National Book week. I think it is interesting that such an observance is placed in the dead of winter. Certainly, I am in favor of grabbing a good book and a favorite fuzzy blanket to spend an afternoon or evening deep in the adventure of a great book.


I was the eldest of eight children, and there was no money for college, so I went to work right out of high school. I had some adventures that make my own writing richer, and left more than one thing behind in my journey. One of the things I did manage to hold on to was a reading list a favorite teacher gave me in his English class. You have to know I looked for those books - classics - that gave me new ideas about the possibilities of life.

I even got the idea I might write a book or two!

Eventually, I managed to sidestep the toxic relationships in my life and journeyed to the local community college. I sold my kitchen table to pay the application fees, worked afternoon and evenings, and eventually graduated from both the community college and Skidmore College. I told everyone I wanted to be a writer and I worked at the craft, turning out several books while I went through the process of earning a degree. I even found time to read a few good books - and some that are representative of the spiritual underground of the time. Yep! I read Castenanza and Shirley McLaine; Ruth Montgomery and Richard Bach - authors who offered a new way to process information and to manifest the reality of my dreams.

Today I have several books in print and more pubished as ebooks. I write every day and I believe that one day my work will make a difference. Now that difference may affect only one person, and that is all right. I have walked in the footsteps of Poe and Dickens and Wittman and found the journey glorious.

I ask you, bloggers, to think about books when you are looking for entertainment, information or inspiration. Books - in paper or even electronic editions contain the path to freedom and greatness. I am blessed to be part of the endless army of writers who put down their thoughts and made the world a better place to be.

Think about it, and keep on the sunny side! Terry

Author of Ancient Memories, Mystick Moon, Runaway Hearts, The Picker, Hang Your Head Over, Hell or High Water, Imagine, Chesapeake Harvest, Chesapeake Destiny and more. Find her books at Amazon.com, www.writewordsinc.com, Fictionwise, Kindle, All Romance Ebooks, etc.

Fear of Thorns

Greetings Bloggers,

Many moons ago when a writing career was an impossible dream for me, I was be riding down NY 29, a winding country road between Johnstown NY, and Saratoga Springs. Can't remember why I was on this particular road, but I was, and I happened to notice some very interesting graffiti painted on an abutment situated right at the elbow of sharp turn. I expect the source of this folk wisdom was Skidmore College, which later became my alma mater.

The retaining wall was painted with a giant rose, and the legend: "Let not the fear of thorns keep you from the rose." At that time, I was between toxic relationships, wondering what on earth I was going to do with my life - and I was already tinkering with a novel, The Picker. I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but I did not know that I could be one!

Every time I passed that abutment, I saw that rose and read the message, and somewhere in the depths of my soul I began to understand that all things are possible if one is willing to brave the journey. Eventually, I applied to Skidmore, was accepted and graduated, braving thorns all the way. My advisor recommended I explore the benefits of experiencing the International Women's Writing Guild conference held at the college each summer and one thing followed the other - with the help of the Guild, I became the published author I always believed I could be.

Today, I have published more than a dozen books - all ebooks, some in print. I still have to figure out how to get noticed in the larger sense, but I believe that will come in time. In the meantime, if you like my blogs, perhaps you will also like my novels, which can be found at http://www.writewordsing.com/, Amazon.com, Fictionwise, All Romance Ebooks, Mobipocket, Kindle and more.

After that, I would say to you, don't let the fear of thorns keep you from your own rose, and keep on the sunny side. Terry

A Winter's Journey

Good Friday Morning,

Today's art reminds me of the dirt roads of my childhood when walking to school was part agony and part awe. There is nothing quite like a frosty morning with the temps below zero and particles of ice dancing in the air. The passing scenery seen from the back seat of Pop's car on Sunday rides was like something out of a fairy tale.

Speaking of fairy tales, I happened to see The Golden Compass a week or so ago and I was truly amazed at what computer generated characters can do. The battle between the ice bears had me on the edge of my seat and I can see how writers are gradually going to become producers of something much grander as time goes by. This movie garnered all sorts of awards with sequels going by the wayside due to economic constraints, but it was just wonderful.

I have been a writer all my life, and I will tell you that I always struggled to do a better job and to present a better product. My first book was written in pencil on a tablet of yellow paper. The second was delivered from a portable typewriter. I had a better portable for the third, but I was still typing books over and over again as I tried to reach perfect prose.

Back in the late 80s I was introduced to computers and I was scared to death I would do something wrong and break the darned thing. I loved, however, features like spell check and the ability to make changes without using paper or ink ribbons. Then I went to work as a news reporter and learned that the darned things don't break that easily. Page lay-out jangled my nerves. I just knew I couldn't do it -- but I did. The next thing you know I was working for a non-profit and producing 8-page newsletters and all the ephemera attached to event planning. I got so I sort of enjoyed computers and do to this day.

Some of my friends think I am a nerd and call me for help with computer problems, but I am just a writer struggling to keep up and stay on the sunny side. (I call more savvy users myself when I hit a techno-wall!)

Happy computering! Terry

Predictions for a New World

Good Morning Friends,

I sure hope you are keeping warm these days. I know I am finding it increasingly difficult to get out of my fuzzy robe when it is below zero outdoors. You watch, I predict one of these days the medical profession will perfect a hibernation pill and people will be able to nap away the winter with no ill effects.

Is that wishful thinking? Maybe, but I am a writer and I can't help but notice that writers are always thinking up nifty - but impossible - stuff that comes true in 20 or 40 or a hundred years. They call it Science Fiction, but I have the idea something else is at work. I think some writers develop a future sense that allows them to tell others what to expect a few years down the line.

Following that theory, I would like to throw out a few predictions:

In 10 years, people will be vaccinated for the disease of depression, saving thousands of lives and dollars every year.
In 20 years, science will 'discover' that people make themselves sick and that drugs do not fix disease.
In 30 years, people with middle and upper level incomes throughout their lives will have to prove real need in order to collect Social Security benefits.
In 40 years, wars will be waged on computers, with losers required to do community service.
In 50 years, all transportation will use alternate fuels and the use of petroleum products will be outlawed.

If you are still around after that, let me know how I did. Oh yes, and keep on the sunny side! Terry

Chesapeake Legacy

Chesapeake Legacy Arrives!

Friday morning I had a knock on the door and the very first ever copy of Chesapeake Legacy was delivered into my hands. I think the only other experience in my life that came anywhere near the excitement I felt was the day I delivered my son. A book is a big piece of work, one that takes months to mature. You can't imagine the emotion I experience when the first of any volume comes to hand.

I had a busy day planned Friday, but you can be sure I sat down and ran my hands over the cover, admiring Dawn M. Tarr's cover art. Then, I couldn't help but take time to read a few pages. I don't know if a non-writer can understand, but the day the first copy of one's book arrives is a very special time.

The work is pretty much finished, although my publisher admonished me to take time to read the copy very carefully for errors. You cannot imagine how much different one's words appear; first on the computer screen, in the print-out, and finally in a bound copy. I have an idea there are error gremlins that wait until the final copy. It brings home the notion that nothing is ever perfect, but I truly understand why Native Americans always left a hole in a weaving or a mistake in their art - a place to let the bad spirits out. I won't justify my grammatical errors by saying I left them in on purpose, but I do believe I cannot create perfection - only the Creator can do that.

Still, the moment I hold the first copy of any of my books in my hands, I will tell you honestly that I feel my baby is perfect. It is always a sunny day. Terry

Winter Memories in a Cold Season

Good Morning Bloggers,

I am so glad today is Wednesday. It is still raining and hump day offers hope that the rest of the week will clear up and the sun will shine.

It has always puzzled me that the sun is actually closer to Mother Earth in winter than in summer because winter is always a bit inhospitable. Well, I guess there are people who enjoy winter sports, but I never did like the season of cold. I was never quite warm when I was a kid - we lived in a farmhouse heated by a wood stove in the kitchen for cooking and an oil burner that did its best to warm the rest of the house.

There was a great competition at home for spots near the fire and I have clear memories of sitting in the woodbox behind the range in order to do my homework in comfort. Dad had his feet in the oven and the rest of the family was gathered around to make the most of cold winter days. Pop did his best to maintain a party atmosphere, popping corn and making jackwax by pouring hot sugar syrup over fresh snow. We laughed a lot, and we got along. If one was mad, one could get sent to bed and it was cold upstairs, I have clear memories of the snow blowing in under the bedroom window.

Today, I live in my dream house a couple of states south of the wintery days of my youth. The house is cold in deference to fuel shortages throughout the country and my small budget, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I should, however, wish for the sun to shine - so keep on the sunny side wherever that may be, folks. Terry

What's With the Frogs?

Good Sunday Morning,

When I was a kid, Sunday was the best day of the week. We went to church to learn about God and Jesus, and once that was over the whole days stretched forward, with all the rewards of childhood. Sometimes we had a big Sunday dinner and then just lolled around the house (on winter days) staying close to the heaters. When it was nice we would go outdoors and take advantage of all the gifts nature provided.

One of my favorite things to do was to go down to the creek to look for pollywogs. You all know about pollywogs? They are these little fish critters that hang around in the water for a while, then grow legs and turn into frogs. I don't think they worry about either condition.

Which brings me to the point of this morning's blog. Tadpoles and pollywogs don't worry about anything, they just hang around secure in the knowledge God will take care of them - and then they turn into frogs without doing one darned thing. They Fully Rely On God and end up able to hop up out of the water and sit on the bank until some likely bug comes along.

The point is, I have the idea if we just do whatever it is we are supposed to do, we will all end up as frogs one day . . . as long as we Fully Rely On God. Are we seeing a trend here?

I have an idea that Cinderella and the princess who kissed a frog all came from the same line of thinking. People who do what comes naturally no matter what others may have to say, those who trust their own unique process, tend to be transformed in the end.

Let's hear it for frogs. And let's hear it for transformation. I hear it is pretty sunny over there! Terry

False Spring and January Thaws

Good Morning Bloggers,

Seed catalogs arrived in mid-February when I was young, and I always considered them to be the harbinger of spring. Last week, on the tail end of 2008, I received two of them and I felt a little bit let down. Seed catalogs arriving in February bring hope and the reminder that spring never fails to arrive. Seed catalogs in late December make me wonder where to put them in the holiday chaos. Talk about premature!

I know everyone is focused on finances these days, but winter has only just barely arrived and I have not even begun to think about planting anything at all. Anything I plant would die of the cold, even here on the fairly temperate Delmarva Peninsula.

When I lived in the Adirondacks, you couldn't plant anything at all until Memorial Day. Here on the peninsula, which is warmed by the winds off the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, you can't plant until maybe late March or early April. Things grow well here, and it is not unusual for farmer to harvest two crops in the summer, but even these canny husbandmen wouldn't think of planting in January.

The fact is, we have been locked in a cold snap that started back in November and I can't wait for our January Thaw. We used to have those, even back in the Adirondacks - warm days with sunny skies and warm winds would break up Jack Frost's grip and allow us to wander out to sit in the sun for a day or two.

It seems to me that the seed people need to re-think their advertising campaigns. I love looking at seed catalogs, but I really need to do so in the middle of February when I can't stand winter any more and do dumb things like cutting my hair or painting the batheroom chartruse. There are times when you need hope, and times when you wonder where to put the catalogs until it is time to drool over beefsteak tomatoes and purple roses.

That said, I am going to put this out to the universe. Hold the seed catalogs until spring seem tardy - and keep on the sunny side! Terry

Happy New Year's Eve

Happy New Year's Eve Bloggers!

I learned yesterday that the second book in my Chesapeake Heritage series has gone to print! Chesapeake Legacy is the story of a woman caught between two worlds when she is banished for having Indian blood. Hannah, the great-granddaughter of Mary Charles whose history is related in Chesapeake Harvest, becomes Heron and tries to travel North to join the Iroquois, but her band is massacred by a hostile tribe along the Susquehanna River. Heron returns to the Choptank River and finds love and a future with her people the Nanticoke.

The print of for Chesapeake Legacy will be available at Amazon.com and at many ebook sites such as Kindle, Fictionwise, Mobipocket, All Romance Ebooks and from my publisher Write Words Inc. at www.writewordsinc.com.

If you enjoy history and the struggles our ancestors survived to build lives under harsh conditions, the Chesapeake Heritage series offers easy-to-understand history in novel form and a great start for your happy reading in the New Year! Cover art for the series is by Snow Hill artist Dawn M. Tarr. Find her art at www.dawntarr.com

Happy New Year and Happy Reading! Terry

An Early Gift

Good Grief Bloggers, it is cold out there!

Winter has arrived on the Eastern Shore, and lots of hardy souls are going to come out tonight to attend the Cambridge-Dorchester Christmas Parade. I'm staying in where it is nice and warm and shop for books at the new gift guide from Promo 101 Virtual Tours. You can check it out and download a copy at: www.nikkileigh.com/gift_guide_2008.htm.

My gift came yesterday when my friend and book publicist Nikki Leigh sent me my own copy of the gift guide. I was surprised and delighted to be included as her Roving Reporter and featured author! Looks like she got every one of my print and e-books included in the guide and I am feeling hopeful that holiday shoppers will find my books for gifts. Maybe Santa will put some copies under your tree?

I really love to write, and the characters in my books are my sisters - women who prevail through hard circumstances and never stop believing that life is good and love is possible. Maybe one of my heroines will remind you of someone you know? I hope so.

Keep on the sunny side! Terry

Bat Love

Good Morning Bloggers,

I bet you are wondering why I am writing bats in the dead of winter. Well, I have been wondering about bats ever since I noticed one solitary bat roosting between the screen and glass in a bedroom window.

Never having seen a bat at close range before, I took the opportunity to check out the little guy. Less than three inches long, the small flying mammal had its tiny wings wrapped tightly around his/her miniature body. Looking closely, I could see two tiny ears and the little hands that clutched at the screen. Huh. What an amazing creature.

I understand bats can carry rabies, but my miniscule visitor was a pane of glass away and I was fascinated by its proximity. My little bat was present some summer days, but not others - when the hunting was good for flies, mosquitoes and other flying peskies. Some days he/she roosted on one side of the window, some days on the other side. Some days I didn't see the little guy at all.

Last week the most miraculous thing happened. My bat brought home a partner. Now the two of them are cozied up in tight formation in the right-hand corner of my window. Now,, if I found thse guys in my room, I might freak out, but there they are in blissful sleep (bats enter a state of torpor when it is cold and insects are in short supply) just behind the glass of my window. They say there is someone for everyone, and I guess my little friend proves the point.

Stay warm, peeps and keep on the sunny side! Terry

A Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I am writing to ask you for a very special gift. I would like to have peace on earth this year. The old folks used to say war is good for the economy, so why are so many people teetering on the verge of bankruptcy? It doesn't make sense to me, and I know it doesn't make sense to the families who have sons and daughters stationed at one of the hot spots in the world.

I would like to have peace on earth here in the homeland as well. It would be really nice if everyone would stop the frantic activity and step outside on a clear night to look up at the stars and take note that man did not create the sky, nor the stars, nor the moon and sun. Something greater than you or I made the heavens.

Dear Santa, it would also be nice if people could be kind to one another. I post another blog at Virtual Tours 101 where authors take the spotlight. Take a look at C.J. Scarlet, wo offers the Kindness Cure and asks her readers to perform an act of kindness each day. I can only imagine what life might be like if everyone read her book and tried to do that one act of kindness each day! What a wonderful world it would be ... to borrow a like from an old song.

I don't want a lot of gifts this year. There is no room in my house for anything new, so I think I will continue my quest to give the nice things away and throw out the not-so-nice things. Maybe that will make room for some joy!

Take care Santa and don't work too hard.

Terry

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

Good Thanksgiving Eve,

Tomorrow will be a big day for most of us. We will likely share a big turkey dinner with all the trimmings and the guys will watch football while the ladies wash dishes and chat in another room, and plan their shopping for Black Friday.


Why is it called Black Friday? I am not sure, but I think it is to remind us all of the stock market crash back in the 20s. Uh. Do we want to go there given America’s financial pickle? Better not.


I understand Congress has designated the day after Thanksgiving as Native American Day. I think that is interesting, but since I have a Native American heritage, not at all that flattering. Who wants to celebrate an earth-based holiday on the most commercial day of the year? Who thought up that big idea anyway?


Think about it. There wouldn’t even be a day of thanksgiving – or a country if it had not been for the Native Americans who helped their visitors from Europe how to survive in the forests and shores of what evolved to be the United States of America.


I am thankful for my ancestors, both the ones who sailed here to find a new way of life, and to the ones who met the boats. I don’t think my native ancestors would be all that tickled with the way things turned out. Somewhere along the line, the ideal of living without persecution and being able to worship as one pleased got turned around. My native ancestors were persecuted and massacred, scalped for bounties and pushed onto ever more worthless pieces of real estate. In some places, native people were even enslaved.


Where is the gratitude in that? My native ancestors taught my white ancestors how to build shelters and plant food. My white ancestors took their land, their freedom and their right to worship as they pleased. What, I ask, makes some people more entitled than any others? Can someone explain that to me?


The Native Americans were not the only individuals who suffered as this country evolved. Other ethnic minorities were used harshly and enslaved. Some of them celebrate their evolution with as long as a month of commemoration while the Native Americans get to share one day with a commercial spend-feast. Ugh!


Today’s image is a Dawn Tarr creation that she painted for the cover of my newest novel, Chesapeake Legacy, which will be in print by Write Words, Inc. this winter. The novel deals with prejudice, and tells the story of a woman who was not allowed to live among the European residents because she had native blood. She gets pushed around a lot. Life is like that. Sound familiar?


I hope all of you remember the role Native Americans played in the birth of this nation. They were there for us, and it would be nice if we could be there for them at last.


Have a blessed day,

Terry

My Thanks for Then and Now

Good Almost Thanksgiving,

I know the economy is supposed to be in the pits, but what better time to give thanks for all we have. Gas has gone down under $2.00 per gallon, and if that isn’t a blessing, I am not sure what is. Let’s start there.

When I was a kid, we lived in a house with no plumbing, and no central heat. I don’t remember being unhappy because it was what it was. I did wish to be warm a lot. Today, I have a beautiful home, but I can’t say as I am always warm. Fuel is still expensive, but I wear lots of layers and am pretty comfortable all the time. I wonder how warm the lean-tos and cabins the Pilgrims lived in were. No wonder the ladies wore those long skirts and shawls. Talk about tough. They must have had a big lot of faith to endure those times.

When I was a youngster, we walked. We walked to school. We walked to the store. We walked to church. When we were on vacation, we walked to and in the woods, and we walked to visit all the old ladies who lived on the surrounding farms. A car trip was an occasion. Today I have arthritis and can’t walk far. Maybe I should have been more thankful when I was a kid.

When I was a kid, I wore hand-me-downs from an aunt who worked. I was a big kid in high school and that arrangement worked, although I was sometimes less than grateful because I wanted the same sorts of skirts and blouses the other girls in my class wore. Today I happily shop at the local thrift shops, and couldn’t care less what the crowd is wearing so long as I am covered and warm.

We feasted on holidays when I was a kid, living on a farm provided all sorts of foods that seem like luxuries when one has to purchase them in today’s supermarkets. I guess I should have been more grateful back then, because preparing for a holiday is serious business for people on a fixed income.

When I was a child, I wrote my stories on a tablet of lined paper with a always diminishing yellow pencil. Today I use a computer that highlights my mistakes and sends the stories off to my publisher Write Words Inc. at the speed of light. Whodathunk it!

I am grateful and happy for what I have today. I wish that little girl in hand-me-downs could see all I have today. I bet she would be amazed at the harvest I have gathered in my life. I am grateful for the rich variety life has given me, and I am thankful for all of my happy harvest.

Keep on the sunny side,

Terry

PS: I forgot to say I have published more than a dozen books. I am very grateful that particular dream came true.

Appreciating the Dream

Greetings from the Eastern Shore!

Today I will take time out to visit the Never on Tuesday bookstore here in Cambridge to launch my new novel, Chesapeake Harvest.

Chesapeake Harvest is about my 15th book, I am a bit like the old woman who lived in a shoe... by now I can hardly remember all their names after 40 years of writing. At any rate, Chesapeake Harvest is the first of a series set on the Eastern Shore of Maryland from the earliest colony times. The women in the series are survivors, women who wait for love, and take up the reins of life to make their survival a reality.

Mary Charles is the heroine of Chesapeake Harvest. She starts off gentry and slides down the social ladder to end up in a London jail. The next thing she knows, the universe steps in and she is on a ship bound for the New World. Undaunted, she faces up to her indenture and learns how to survive on the mosquito and disease ridden coast despite all obstacles in her way.

Mary's descendents follow the family in the following stories, Chesapeake Legacy and Chesapeake Destiny. If you like a series, I hope you will check my stories out at Amazon.com and www.ebooksonthe.net.

Many thanks go out to artist Dawn M. Tarr for the series covers! I love the pulp fiction look and the pensive characters who seem to know all the secrets of life and love. Find more of Dawn's work at www.dawntarr.com.

Oh yes, I am working with Nikki Leigh to promote her authors on tour blog at http://authorsontour@blogspot.com. Check it out!

Keep on the sunny side, Terry