Would You Read This Book?

Last summer when my publisher was sick, I took a leap of faith and self-published a novel called Drama Queen Rules. Next week I hope to enter it in a "breakthrough novel" competition sponsored by Amazon.com and Penguin Books. Do me a favor?

Read the following pitch and tell me if you would read Drama Queen Rules.

Thanks a million!

THE PITCH FOR DRAMA QUEEN RULES:

Her mother says Lainey Cook will never amount to a hill of beans. Her sister Emma Grace, who contentedly lives on welfare, says Lainey isn’t smart enough to change her life. Boyfriend Skip Boyer doesn’t say much of anything at all. He has no ambition at all that doesn’t involve fast cars and cold beer.

Readers know Lainey Cook. She is the gal from the trailer park on the edge of town – but not necessarily the wrong side of the tracks. She’s smart, savvy and willing to work hard at whatever life throws at her – even the grabby guys at the bowling alley where she works as a waitress to pay the rent. She may have to walk to work in a howling blizzard, and bury her mother on Christmas Day. She may have to hitchhike all the way home to upstate New York from Alabama. She may even have to work at the bowling alley a while longer, but she won’t give up her dream of a better life that will allow her to help others despite the drama queens who predict her failure at every turn.

Drama Queen Rules is a story about hope and dreams that come true – but not without struggle and faith. It is a story about the variety and vagaries of love – and what it takes to change one’s stars. Lainey Cook’s courageous struggle will make you wake your partner up in the small hours of the night because you are laughing so loudly – and cry for happiness when she achieves her goal. She’s your home girl, your baby sister and most of all the girl you’d love to be.

Thanks again - and keep on the sunny side! Terry

Reading: A Writer's Chore.

I try spend some time writing each morning, work on crafts in the afternoon, and then try to read in the evening. Keeping busy is easy if you have plenty of things to do and anyone with a house knows there is always things to do.

Sure, I run the vacuum and do the dishes and laundry, but no day is complete without spending some time with a good book. It is part of my real work.

Last autumn I had the opportunity to do several book signings and to my surprise people bought just as many of my older books as they did the newer volumes. Most of my books are historical fiction, with a few exceptions. My degree in American studies helped me with some of the material culture in more than a few of my novels. In other cases, reading has helped me with the details of cultures I would never be able to have otherwise - and the Internet makes research easy.

Some of my stories, however, have a more modern focus. The Picker, for instance, is the story of a man whose calling did not always make for a happy life. He is a country musician. It isn't easy to chase one's dream, but the dream will call you on for good or ill. The Picker leans more heavily on my personal experience as a working musician. Still, reading all sorts of books helped me with the voice of this quasi-memoir and picking it up recently told me I was always a storyteller - again, for good or ill.

I think a writer has to be a reader for that is where they find the recipes for their tales - it is part of the writer's must dos.

Today's writer has a tough time getting noticed in the vast sea of writers also looking to make their mark on the world. Today one of my books was rejected - and hey I simply applied for a review! It is not a vocation for the weak or faint of heart.

You know what? I believe I am past the point of no return and I am going to continue to find stories to write and take the time to make them as good as I can. And I'll keep reading - it is part of the writer's work.

Good luck on your own journey and keep on the sunny side. Love, Terry

Visionary Valentine Planned

Hello All,

Exciting news! The Main Street Gallery is planning its third Visionary Valentine show! In addition to valentine art of all sort, the gallery will offer a lavish reception on February 12 from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.

This should give everyone time to enjoy the Second Saturday excitement and then drop by the Main Street Gallery for its biggest fund-raiser of the year.

Music will be supplied by Eli McCoy and Tom Sparks and friends offering Dorchester County's best in bluegrass sounds.

A live auction will feature all sorts of donated items auctioned off by well-known auctioneer T. George Wittstadt.

The Main Street Gallery is operated entirely by volunteers and is in partnership with New Beginnings, an after-school programming offering access to the arts for children in the community.

Plan to come out for this special reception! We'll be looking for you.

Live, Love and keep on the sunny side. Terry

Fat Years, Lean Years

I got up this morning to the news that the price of everything is going up. Isn't that a heck of a note for the last day of the year? I would like to know why we can't have a little good news once in a while! What could be wrong with that?

The truth is that I have lived a poverty level most of my life and there has not been a lot of difference between the fat years and the lean no matter how hard I tried to better my lot in life. Are there really supposed to be seven of each in a never-ending cycle? When I was a kid, there didn't seem to be much difference, and there isn't now. Life is pretty much a struggle one way or the other. The news says that big lottery winners also win their share of misery from the folks who want to share the wealth.

It may depend on how we look at the year that was. As a nation, our new African American president seemed to lose ground as he struggled like Atlas to push the boulder of American debt uphill to the promised land. I can't figure out why any sane person would want his job, and it is a true wonder that he is still standing after all his hard work and the hard words much of it generated. After all, he inherited generations of mis-management and folks are upset that he couldn't fix the downhill slide in only two years! I don't know if Mr. Obama is a good president or a bad one, but at least he is trying! Give him a break people.

On a more local note, it is sad to ride past a marina and see all the workboats stored on dry land. Generations of watermen are looking at their kids and shaking their heads and wondering how the young people will fare if they can't work on the water.

It is sad to ride down Race Street and see the homeless people sitting by the new mural commemorating the good old days in Cambridge.

It is sad to know people have lost their homes.

It is sadder still to see everyone with a cell phone, so familiar with the devices they forget the thrill of a call from a loved one far away.

I published three books last year, which on the face of it seems like a huge accomplishment - the only trouble is that there are millions of other literate and talented writers out there who also published new books last year.

The trick of the whole deal these days is to get noticed and to rise above all of the other hopeful authors who also want to have their work become best sellers.

I saw a Kindle the other day and the owner had loaded one of my Chesapeake Heritage books so that our friends in the art group could see what the device is like. Heck yes! I would love to own one - and for every person who ever had a Drama Queen in his or her life to purchase a download for their Kindle or Nook or other reading device! I would love to have a best seller!

So, that is my wish for the New Year. If I sell enough books, then maybe I will survive the past few lean years and see what a fat year looks like for a change. I can think of some things I would like to do if I had plenty of money - like teaching children trades, and providing food for the elderly - stuff like that...

In the meantime, I think I had better keep working at my writing and other crafts.

As for the new year, I hope you have faith in the future and stay on the sunny side! Love, Terry

Myth to Me: Songs From The Inner Light

Wow! The Christmas holiday was so busy that I didn't get to post an announcement that my newest book - the 17th! - was published in December. Myth to Me: Songs From the Inner Light is a book of verse inspired by just about everything!

Some of the poems in this new book have been hanging around in notebooks for some time. Others were written during the summer and autumn of 2010. While it is true I have published a volume of poetry before, Myth to Me was a different sort of work.

Runaway Hearts is my first book of verse and it is centered on the history of the area in which I live and includes stories about a pirate, a waterman and the history of Harriet Tubman, who wove a legend so large it cast its shadows across the years and shines as an example of selfless courage to the young people everywhere.

Myth to Me is a collection of shorter verse, with much more personal focus. Some of the verses take on the world and my take on current events. Some are from my personal history and a few are more classically formed. So far, my readers have had good things to say about the collection, I don't know.

I never really thought of myself as a poet, and certainly never aimed at that designation. The thing is, when I have an idea, I don't always have much control over the form that idea must take in its final form.

A great deal of my interests and theories appear in my novels, and sometimes in the country songs I make. Poetry is more rare, so it took years to put Myth to Me together. I am not sure I will write another, but like my good friend Dawn Tarr always says, "It's all good."

I hope that everything you do is goo and that you keep on the sunny side!

Love, Terry

PS: If you love poetry, Myth to Me is available at Amazon, Kindle, etc. Happy
Reading

PPS: The photo for this edition is Fire Island Walk by my great friend Claudia Conlon.

Postcard Snow

The snow came with perfect timing this year - the day after Christmas and a Sunday, which allowed everyone to enjoy the white stuff a bit before having to deal with slippery roads and time clocks. It was perfect.

I remember winters of my childhood when we had to mush through a foot of snow to get to the little three-room school down in LeRoy, a town in Pennsylvania where French royalty were to come and hide during their revolution. It didn't happen, but the snow fell deep back in the 50s and it wasn't unusual to have to walk through a considerable amount of the white stuff to get to school. School never closed in those days. As long as your feet worked, you had to go.

When I grew up and moved to upstate New York, it seemed like the winters got even worse, a gift of the jet stream, which often saw two-foot drops that meant moving tons of the white stuff before going to work as a waitress or chambermaid - jobs that never shut down for a little bit of snow. At one point I drove a '47 Willys that could go through anything - but you had to plug in the block heater or it wouldn't start. Heck, when I went to college, they even offered ice fishing as a PE class. You couldn't miss any of those days either.

After a while, my life changed and I moved to Maryland, where snow is rare and winters are mild. Someone even told me they had roses in December, a concept I couldn't quit fathom, but they do - at least in the beginning of the month.

Winter here starts late and ends early. You hardly need boots, and often can go about in a sweater and call it good. I still don't care for snow, and last winter I lost a big portion of a huge hedge due to the weight of a huge snowfall. The broken branches had to be hauled to the dump and emptied my piggy bank paying for a man to come cut and haul away my beautiful, beloved yews and boxwoods.

Today I looked out my window and saw my cat - an all black, long haired critter - racing around the yard, climbing the one bush that survived the snow we got last night. He was definitely having a good time. Not me. I'm in for the duration and plan to stay in and just enjoy looking at our postcard snow. Hey, it's a Christmas gift. Gotta love it.

Keep warm and on the sunny side,

Love, Terry

Winter Songs

Christmas is just one day away and carols echo all through the land as frantic shoppers scrabble through nearly empty shelves looking for the perfect gift to give their loved ones. The carols, in case we don't understand, are playing to keep us in the mood to buy - and not so much to celebrate the birth of one of the world's greatest teachers.

People have always married songs to the way they worship - sometimes with complicated orchestration, sometimes to the pulse of a single drum. Music seems to make the magic and it certainly does when it comes to Christmas.

Some Christmas songs are reverent and beautiful, evocative (one supposes) of the peaceful night in Bethlehem when a baby was born in the stable of an overflowing inn. The carols mention the beautiful star, the pilgrimage made by wise men, and the stillness of a winter night when not even a baby's cry can be heard.

Other Christmas songs could not be sillier. Grandma got run over by a reindeer while a little kid looks for his (or her) two front teeth and Mama is seen kissing Santa under the mistletoe. Reindeer have bright red noses, and Santa slips down the chimney to leave lots of toys for little girls and boys. HO HO HO

Well, whatever your favorite holiday music, I hope it is playing in your heart and that you have the best Christmas ever! Love, Terry