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

Chesapeake Heritage

I made a resolution to do my best to promote my Chesapeake Heritage series in the coming year. My series of novels follows one family of women who live and love on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, facing hardship and privation as they helpe build th colony that became a state.

Chesapeake Harvest, book one in the series, follows the adventures of Mary Charles who came to what is now known as the Delmarva Peninsula as an indentured servant. Her great-granddaughter Hannah is ostracized for her Nanticoke Indian blood. Hannah's granddaughter Jane faces the terror of an abusive husband, and her granddaughter Jewel learns a new way of life following the end of the Civil War. Each of these women has a compelling story to tell.

Chespeake Harvest, published by Write Words Inc. is available in print or as an ebook from Amazon.com, Kindle, Fictionwise, Mobipocket, All Romance E-books andmore. Chesapeake Legacy is available as an ebook with print copies available after the first of the year. Chesapeake Destiny is due to be released as an ebook in the spring of 2009. The final book in the series should be available in late 2009. The distinctive cover art for the series is by Snow Hill Marland artist Dawn M. Tarr.

For more about the Chesapeake Heritage series go to www.chesapeakeheritage.blogspot.com

Terry L. White

Looking for the Light

Good Friday Morning!

Well, Christmas is over and now that the celebration is has subsided, things get a little quieter. Sure, the stores will be crowded with people looking for post-holiday bargains. Then there are the gifts you need to return for one reason or another. The stores are full and all the shoppers are either impatiently looking for refunds or wandering around with a look of vague lunacy in their eyes.

For myself, I look for light. Winter is the season for hibernation - which should be a legal occupation for those of us with seasonal affective disorder. I can't go to a warmer place for the winter, I think we should be allowed to stay in bed until the weather warms up, but you and I both know that can't happen.

The thing remaining is to look for the light. My friend Sue, who has spent much of the free time in her life volunteering to help those less fortunate, collects lighthouses. Book publicist Nikki Leigh uses a lighthouse as a theme running through her wonderfully hopeful novels. Lighthouses remind us to look for the light in the darkest night, and I think the people who collect them have the right idea.

What brings the light into your life? Good friends? Your spirituality? Little kids playing in the snow? Even the darkest of days have a ray of hope. I got a seed catalog the other day, an arrival that always reminded me that spring always comes. All I can say is if we look for the light, it is always there.

Have a great day folks and stay on the sunny side! Terry

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

Thoughts on Christmas Eve

Cheerful Greetings,

Well, Christmas Eve us upon us. Today I plan to make some oatmeal cookies and try to stay out of the living room. Up until yesterday, I had boxes and boxes of gifts to be delivered to my pet charity. It looks pretty empty today, but I know there are a lot of senior citizens in towns who had a nice gift they didn't expect.

I remember Christmas Eves as a kid. We went to church and they had a Christmas play when each little class recited parts of the Christmas story. Then we went home with our little box of candy and had one gift to hold us until morning. We sure had trouble falling asleep, and when we got up we could only open the stocking because the grown-ups were sleeping. I don't think we realized it at the time, but those very parents wanted to watch us enjoy our gifts - and they surely deserved the rest.

I wish I had such an eventful holiday to anticipate, but I have had a really great holiday so far. Linda and I had a great time handing out presents yesterday and then we went for lunch. That was fun. Then Jeanne came by and we exchanged gifts. That was wonderful too. Tomorrow I will go to Arline's house and have a big dinner and exhange gifts there. That seems like a lot, when I stop to think about it.

What about the church part? I pray all the time now, and I didn't do near so much when I was young. Talking to God is a big part of my day, and I know it will be a good sized part of my holiday activities. I pray that the people I love have great holidays, that they get the gifts they want and have the wherewithal to purchase those that someone else doesn't think of.

As for my readers, I sure would like to wish them the most merry Christmas they can conceive. Keep it real sunny folks! Terr

Happy Holiday Greetings

Good Holiday Morning,

Yeah, yeah, I know. Christmas isn't here yet, but 'tis the season to reach out and touch people who mean a lot to you. Some of those people are close by and those individuals get something from my kitchen - cookies, or maybe some of my famous chocolates with macaroon, nut and raisin or pineapple under the dark chocolate. Mmmmmm.

Folks further away will get a call or maybe a card, although I send fewer and fewer cards as time wears on. Techno-Christmas finds me writing long emails to folks I cherish.

There is a lot of yap about how the Internet is free, but who among us does not fork out a sum of money each and every month to keep our computers hooked up to all those other computers? There is hardly a home without a working Internet link. People have cell phones to keep them connected on a daily basis. I don't know, but I cherish that daily call or frequent emails from some special person. They say that the other person cares and sure feels like a blessing to me.

And so, to all of you, I wish you a happy, prosperous and blessed New Year. Have a holly jolly! Terry

Angels Around Us

Happy Holidays Bloggers!

This morning I am thinking about all the angels in my life - and there have been many. I wish I could seek them out to thank them for the wonderful things they have done for me when I thought hope was gone.

Let me tell you about some of them: There was my childhood friend Janie, who liked me in spite of my differences. There was the English teacher, who encouraged me to write. There was Dorothy, who gave me a job whenever I was between jobs or husbands. There was John, who coached me in shameless self-promotion. There was Arline, who let me sleep in her living room for an entire year until I got my own place. There was Vinnie who helped me see I am a good musician, and Jewel who taught me how to see - period. I guess I could go on, but you get the idea.

Angels don't necessarily float down to decorate my life in clouds of glory. Sometimes, they are just regular people who have common sense solutions to my seemingly insurmountable problems: like Nikki Leigh, who found a way to help me promote my books; Vernon who fixed my roof and painted, and Dawn Tarr, who does my book covers (see today's art). I can't thank any of these folks enough, and I hope they all have a wonderful holiday season - no matter how stressed their lives seem.

So, count your angels and have a happy holiday season. Terry