Sci Fi Movies

Hello There,

Gosh, I love the weekends when SciFi channel shows movies with the most remarkable films. Don't you just love the giant bugs? The movie industry has been creating bigger and badder bugs ever since I was a little kid.

Makes you wonder what goes on in the minds of the people who make these flicks. I know I would hate to be scooped up by a giant spider, injected with her eggs, and wrapped up in layer after layer of sticky silk. Makes my skin crawl.

The thing about scifi movies is that they are not nearly as scary as monster movies, you know the ones, where demented or infected people actually go off the wall and mutilate other specimens of the human race. Those pics are really scary. One of those defectives could really hurt you and they aren't so far-fetched that one can't imagine one such living next door.

I don't worry so much about scifi bugs. They may be big. They may look mean, but they are gone when you shut off the tube and go make tuna sandwiches.

OK, so you don't like bugs. You don't have to. Just stay on the sunny side if you can. Cheers! Terry

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

A Writer's Home

Good Day,

Today I thought of myself as a writer and looked for some clip art that might illustrate how I feel about the craft.

Becoming a writer must have started when I was a child, because I can remember a day when the newspapers on he back seat of the family car became an object of interest. I clearly recall a day when I sat on the floor during one of my father's endless journeys and stared at the black squiggles on the paper. Suddenly, I saw the word 'familiar' very clearly. I can't remember what that news story was all about or if the word I saw was really there, but from that time on I could read and words were the most important thing in my universe.

Perhaps I was born to be a writer. It certainly seems to have been my calling in life and I have done a lot of it. My house is full of words and books and I like it that way, although it is not always comfortable for others.

It has been said that writing is a solitary occupation, and I suppose that is true. It s difficult to concentrate on another person when one is writing. Writing a story can take you out of the mundane world of diry floors and the necessity to cook dinner. This is not to say I have not washed the floors and boiled the beans - far from it. I just did those things in a trance, anxious to get back to the story being spun out in my head.

As such, I would like to apologize to the characters in my life who have come away still hungry from my table. I cannot change my nature any more than they could choose theirs. And so, I say, blessings upon you fellow travelers. I hope your story is engaging and full of wonderful adventures. Stay happy and keep on the sunny side. Terry

Visionary Valentine

Happy Friday Bloggers,

A month ago I was asked to create a submission to a fund-raiser at a new art gallery in Cambridge. The theme for the event was Visionary Valentine. How was I supposed to respond to that particular request? I am a writer, but I do a number of other arty things to keep sane and while away the hours I don't spend in front of the computer.

I'm old and on a fixed income, but I was raised in a situation where there just wasn't a lot of money for toys, so I started making my own. I make a mermaid doll that creates a lot of attention, so I thought my visionary valentine could be a doll. Heck, I have loads of materials available to make dolls, so it seemed like a good solution to my problem.

I got out some things: sparkly velvet, lace, and speciality yarns. I hand-sewed every stitch. The result was a doll I call The Queen of Tarts. This dandy little gal will be auctioned off to some lucky winner on Valentines's Day at Cambridge's Main Street Gallery. She is pretty unusual, so I hope she will bless the gallery with a good sale price.

I made the queen a couple of ladies in waiting, but they aren't nearly as tarty as the queen! Maybe they can go in the gift shop for sale to the tourists that are finding Cambridge more and more as fuel shortages demand day trips for travelers from the western side of the Chesapeake Bay. Cambridge is within spitting distance of Baltimore and Washington. It is also a deep water port. Visitors are likely and welcome.

That's it for today, just thought you might want to see what I do in my 'spare' time! Keep on the sunny side folks, Terry

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

Life in the Computer Age

Hello All,

I was just thinking what great strides have been made in communications since I was a little kid.

Probably my first memories of the joys of writing center around the stacks of paper scraps my grandmother brought home from her job at Vail Bleu Press in Binghampton, NY where she ran a linotype machine. She was a typesetter in a factory that printed textbooks, and I guess the paper she brought home was trimmings from the books the press produced.

The next thing relating to writing that I remember clearly were the yellow pencil and pulp paper tablets - you know - the ones with the lines far apart. The school system gave use one of each on which to do our homework. I drew pictures, and made paper dolls for my girlfriends. Everyone wanted them. I can't remember if I ran out of paper before the end of the month, but paper and pencil were definitely important.

When I was in my 30s, I tried keeping a journal, but the wrong person read my comments and that changed the course of my life. I ended up divorced and writing my memoirs on a legal pad, in pencil. My significant other at the time bought me a very used typewriter, and I hacked at that monster for years, turning out one manuscript rife with erasures and mistakes in grammar and spelling.

I was scared to death I was going to break my first computer, which represented freedom from paper and ink tapes, since one could make corrections forever before I printed a copy of my opus. Hoorah. Did I break the computer. NO... did technology catch me up and rear-end me when I was working away? Heck yes!

Employment at a small-town daily taught me to write fast - and to write clean. It also hinted at something I could hardly believe: the fact that computers in two different places could communicate with one another! Wow.

The next thing I knew, I was online and not only selling on ebay, but writing novel after novel in my spare time. Once, on a dare, I wrote an entire novel (a mystery) in only 28 days. It can be done. My publisher took it right away, said it was in really good shape. I don't know.

I work with my spell and grammar check turned on and always try to repair things flagged, but the gremlins still get in my work and my books in print still have errors - I guess the computer geeks are still trying to get the bugs out.

I just hope I don't have to get back to those legal pads and yellow pencils. So, write on 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/

Hibernation Anyone?

Hello Bloggers,

I have a regular meeting mid-week with the Wednesday Morning Artists, and I find that I would much rather stay home, and maybe even stay in my jammies all day long. Cold country mammals have the right idea. Hibernate.

I can't mention this too often. Hibernation is an idea whose time has come. Just think of all the energy we could save if we decided to legalize hibernation. It would take far less energy to heat our homes, we wouldn't need to worry so much about clothing fashions, and those who chose to hibernate would wake nice and slim each spring. What could be better?

I am not ranting against the WMA. They are a wonderful group of men and women who take on projects to make the city of Cambridge a far more interesting and lovely place. Their first project was an enormous mosaic constructed on the masking walls in front of two burnt-out businesses. Their summer opus will embrace the history of the city, including the passage of heroine Harriet Tubman from nearby Bucktown to immortality. They do good work.

All I am saying is what is wrong with a nice winter's nap? We can look for the sunny side again when the weather warms up. Terry


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

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/

Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day Bloggers,

The ancient Celts spread the belief that shadows cast in winter predicted more days of darkness and cold. The cute little groundhog was an accidental player in the drama that somehow got scooped up and made famous for the fun holiday we all know and love. They say he saw his shadow, so winter will be with us for a while.

I think the groundhog must have made a mistake. Just last Thursday I was out and saw an entire flock of robins on the courthouse lawn. Robins are sposed to be the authority on the arrival of spring. So, just which critter are we supposed to believe?

If you know, I hope you will blog me back and start a dialog. In the meantime, I have a book to edit and cookies to bake. Take care of yourselves and stay on the sunny side. The groundhog could be wrong after all. Terry