Musings from the Writer's Desk

Winter Sunset

Terri DeVries — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:00:40 +0000

Winter sunset

We have lots of trees in our neighborhood, so many that we can’t see the sunrise or sunset other than through the branches. This was a beautiful sunset with just enough color filtering through the snow-covered branches to make the scene incredibly lovely.

Winter Wonderland

Terri DeVries — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:20:15 +0000

We managed to skate through Christmas with practically no snow fall, but things have changed. Winter hit with a vengeance a few days ago, leaving behind the most beautiful scenes I’ve seen in a long time. The snow was wet and clung to every branch, every random leaf and every power line in the area. It reminded me of a Currier and Ives painting. Today the sunshine and warmer temperatures will erase the fairytale images and replace it with a normal winter landscape, but it certainly has been something to behold.

Cattails at Blandford

After the challenge

Terri DeVries — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:00:42 +0000

I took the 50,000 word challenge from the National Novel Writering Month, and I finished with just over 54,000 words. It was a tough month, since it was November and all that involves, but I got it done. My second novel, The Last Good Summer, is taking shape. I have about 30,000 words to go, but I like how the story is developing, and at some point I’ll include a chapter or so for your reading input.

The challenge has proved to me that I can do almost anything if I really put my mind to it. Whether or not it will develop into anything remains to be seen, but I love the characters in all their human frailties.

What fascinates me is that this is a totally different story than Passages, my first novel. That was strictly historical fiction, where this is what is currently being labelled as mainstream fiction. I had always thought that if there were to be a second novel it would be a sequel to Passages, but as it turns out, that didn’t happen. I’ll tell the story of how this newest book came into being sometime in the future.

One of my favorite authors is Anita Shreve, and what initially intrigued me about her writing is that each book is so totally different from the others that you wouldn’t be able to pick one up and say, “Oh, this must be an Anita Shreve book.” Her style changes with each story. I think that may have just happened to me as well.

What can I say. I love to write. Every day the characters tell where the story is going and what they are about to do. The best job in the world? I certainly think so!

The Plot Thickens!

Terri DeVries — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:04:19 +0000

I’ve reached the halfway point in my challenge to write a novel in a month. Here’s a brief synopsis of the story:

Will Thompson has a terrible secret. Until Romy Smithfield came to town, he was able to stuff the ugliness into a dark corner of his heart, but Romy begins to soften him, starting with the stray dog she brings into his life.

Romy has secrets of her own. Diagnosed with a brain tumor, she’s had surgery to remove most of it and endured a round of treatments before
deciding this wasn’t what she wanted for herself. She moves from Madison, Wisconsin, to Harristown, Washington and starts a new life in the small rural town, where she meets Will. As headaches increase in intensity, Romy forges a strong bond with him.

Mandi Newton is a seventeen-year-old runaway whose policeman father has molested her since she was nine. Romy meets Mandi as they ride the
same bus cross-country. Mandi settles in Kamiah, Idaho for a time, but eventually moves to Harristown to be with Romy.

How the three learn of each other’s secrets and become a supportive, unorthodox family unit paints a poignant picture of three strong individuals in 1975 Washington.

Challenge!

Terri DeVries — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:48:16 +0000

I’ve accepted a challenge by the organizers of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer’s Month) to write 50,000 words by the end of the month. Yikes. How did I get myself into that one?

I’ve finished the first draft of Passages and have done the first edit. Then I submitted the whole thing for grammar checking on Autocrit. Now it needs to set for a few weeks until I can do a read-through with fresh eyes. So in the meantime, I’m up to the challenge! The novel I’m doing for the NaNoWriMo is called The Last Good Summer. I’ll be posting a bit about the plot and characters in later blogs. Suffice it to say it’s a whole different animal from my first book.

This is going to be fun!

Artprize IV

Terri DeVries — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:42:07 +0000

CD Cascade II

: CD Cascade

I’m using the CD cascade as my photo to focus on this time, but I have to tell you about the exhibit that really caught my attention. Set in a corner of one of the venues was an exhibit which included several portraits of elderly people. The portraits were very well done and, from a distance, really portrayed personality in each of the folks represented. But then I got close and found out what a remarkable artist this was. painted into the lines of each persons face was a life history. In hindsight, I wish I had photographed more of them. Look closely at the paintings I’ve put into the photograph section to the right.

Artprize III

Terri DeVries — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:30:40 +0000

Glitter Girl--made up entirely of sequins attached with pins

This was one of my favorite pieces at Artprize. It was absolutely beautiful, the detail incredible. I was surprised it didn’t make the top ten.
I’ve added some more pictures of other entries in the photograph section to the right of this post.

Artprize Part II

Terri DeVries — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:13:40 +0000

Here are more photos from Artprize 2011.

Lottery ticket scene, made entirely of lottery tickets

Another view of the lottery ticket room

See the Photographs section for more Artprize–to the right of this post.

Artprize 2011

Terri DeVries — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:18:02 +0000

Wow. After two long afternoons of visiting the Artprize sites, I must say I am amazed by the talent and creativity of those artists who submitted their work. There are a few exceptions to that ‘creativity’ definition. A glass of water projected onto a wall by an overhead projector–really?

Most of what we saw was well worth the hours of walking around town. I’m posting a few photos today and will post more as time permits. If you weren’t able to see some of these, you’ll get an idea of what creative minds can do.

To see several more, go to the Photo section of this blog–on the right of this post.

Enjoy!

Recycled plastic bottle flowers

Plastic bottle flowers in blue and green

Plastic flower garden

Writing in a wiki world

Terri DeVries — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:53:11 +0000

At Maranatha this morning we are hearing a panel discussion on the world of publishing. One comment made is that we are living in a wiki world. What that means is that so many people are writing at random on the facebook page or a blog or twitter or google plus, and often what they write is not thought through. Once it’s on the internet, it’s there forever. It sticks. The moral: be sure you write something you won’t be ashamed of later on.

One hot topic is that of self-publishing versus going through a publishing company. Today’s panel is suggesting you be very careful if you want to self-publish. Be sure to read the fine print. Also be sure you know how much work you are committing to as far as marketing, etc.

A good point made today was the importance of having a good editor review your work before it’s submitted. It can make a good book a great one. Food for thought!