Tag Archives: writing

Thyme four a Homonymese Tail

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Thyme fore a homonymese tail, write?

Wants upon a thyme their lived a we buoy named Peat. Peat liked two run threw the fourest inn the mourning when the mist was still lifting from the earth and the day creatures were just waking up. Hee wood all weighs run two the top of the hill too watch the sun rise over the land below hymn.

Won mourning hee saw TOO suns rise over the land.

(Eye am now going two end this won like every student at sum point in grade school has ended an impossible story.)

And then hee woke up.

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

“Why Do You Write?”

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Why?

Because I’m a writer. That’s what writers do. Artists use brushes; I use a keyboard.

But what’s the point? Do you think you’re going to change anyone’s minds about stuff?

No, I know that’s not likely. And that’s not even my purpose. I don’t have a need for people to believe and feel and think exactly what I believe and feel and think about everything. People can believe whatever they want to believe, as long as their beliefs don’t cause harm to others.

You know why I share my thoughts and feelings in writing? Because I know there are other people out there who share similar feelings and I want them to know I understand what they’re feeling. I want them to know they’re not alone. I want to understand the perspectives of other people, too, and I want to give them the chance to understand mine – whether we agree with each other or not, I think it’s cool when we can understand each other.

Writing is how I connect to others. Writing – and reading what others have written – helps keep us from feeling isolated from one another.

That’s why.

Four Five Star Reviews!

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Friends! I have four reviews for Are You Taking Me Home Now? on Amazon – which… if you’re an author you’ll understand how grateful I am for this feedback. I so appreciate that these folks took the time to give me encouragement and support in this venture. It means a lot to me.

Dr. Bill
5.0 out of 5 stars
Written with love
September 18, 2018
Verified Purchase

Betcha can’t put this book down! Even if you do not know Dee Molenaar, or know of his life of adventure, the pure love and joy of a father-daughter relationship done right shines through on every page. This is a wonderful read, full of root beer floats and day trips including Dee’s 100th birthday return to Mt. Rainier. Karen writes so effortlessly and we can only hope she brings us another book on Dee’s 101st. And, in such often indecent times, this book will reaffirm the power of a family that loves one another and is never shy about saying it. Buy several copies; you’ll want to share with friends…and family.

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars
A father-daughter love story
September 30, 2018
Verified Purchase

“Are You Taking Me Home Now?” is a heartfelt tribute from a daughter to her 100-year-old father, whom she clearly adores. In the journal-style entries, we get to know this duo intimately—through their long drives in the country; in waiting rooms and doctors’ offices; and in the adult care home where he lives, now that his beloved wife (and the author’s mother) has passed.

The writing is warm, engaging, and unpretentious. Her optimism contagious.
The book swells with vulnerability and courage, appreciation and generosity. Taking an ambling ride with these two will renew your faith in humanity.

Princess Mei Mei
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely, poignant, moving
September 28, 2018
Verified Purchase

As always, Karen Molenaar Terrell delivers a poignant tale that gives wonderful glimpses into her life. This novel features the authors adventures with her now 100 year old father, a famous mountaineer and climbing expert.

Through short stories, we are given a lovely look at a beautiful father-daughter relationship that will leave you happy, teary eyed and wanting for more. The stories let us see the love a daughter has for her elderly father, and the love he returns to her. A beautiful book, and I loved every page.

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars
A memoir of the love between a father and daughter
September 30, 2018
Verified Purchase

This book was so good, I bought copies for family members and friends. It perfectly captures the love between a father and daughter. In short vignettes, the author tells us of her drives with her dad, and recounts some of their conversations. It warms my heart to read of a relationship as good as this.

adventures with dad book cover

Latest book!

 

The Connections that Come from Sharing

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It occurs to me that if I hadn’t agreed to sing at that wedding back in December 1982 I never would have met Scotty. If I’d never gathered my courage and published my first book I never would have stumbled into the Amazon forum and met all those amazing hooligans who have since become such an important part of my life. If I’d never put my photos out there I never would have connected with my fellow photography buffs. If I’d never shared my stories about my drives with Dad I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to connect with the dear people who have entered my life in the last year because of those stories. And If I’d never started this blog I wouldn’t have met YOU. Even if nothing more comes from my creative endeavors than these connections with others, my life has been made so much richer because people opened their hearts and let me share with them. And my life is so much richer because YOU all have had the courage to share your gifts with me!

Thank you! ❤

***

More about the Humoristian hooligans –
So back in 2007 I was checking my first book out on Amazon and at the bottom of the book page I saw this list of Amazon discussion forums it was suggested I might be interested in. I thought I’d take a peek and see what was going on there. I stuck my toe in one of the forums – the “Christianity” forum – and my toe almost got bitten off right away – there was indignation and huffing and puffing and sermonizing and talk of hell and… yeah… so I pulled my toe out of there and tried out the “Religion” forum – and that is where I found my home – a wild and wonderful mix of atheists, agnostics, Jews, Buddhists, Wiccans, pantheists, and all flavors of Christian – Mormons, Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, Catholics, and at least one Christian Scientist – and what these people all had in common was the ability to laugh at themselves and get along with each other. They weren’t afraid of talking about their beliefs and debating them – they weren’t easily offended if people questioned them, and they could talk about stuff in a way that was straightforward and genuine – and they were willing to listen to what other people had to say, too – It was like a micro United Nations.

I started my own religion on there: Humoristianity. Here are the tenets:

1) You must be able to laugh at yourself.

2) You must be able to recognize how ludicrous your beliefs might appear to others.

3) You must want nothing but good for everyone, everywhere in the universe.

4) You must have a natural aversion to meetings, committees, and scheduled events (as we will be having none of those).

5) You must enjoy the humor of… (here we had some internal conflict within the faith – but if you’re a Jerry Lewis kind of guy, you might want to think about starting your own religion – although we wish you nothing but good).

I met some of the most amazing people on there – and I still consider these people my dear friends – they got to know me, and my beliefs and thoughts, in a way that a lot of folks in my off-line life weren’t able to do – I mean, how often do you talk about religious beliefs with your co-workers and neighbors, right? All of them were writers, too, and together we wrote a book, The Humoristian Chronicles.

And some of my Humoristian friends I’ve actually been able to meet in the person! I shall include a collage below… along with the cover from my latest book, and a picture of the evening sky from last week. My offerings for today…

Are You Taking Me Home Now? Adventures with Dad
Evening Clouds over Bow
Humoristian Friends

 

Finally – A One Star Review!

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Yes, my friends, it’s true! After years of boring old four star and five star reviews I have finally earned my first one star review! It took me 11 years, but I have at last entered the dangerous, high-octane world of REAL authors – a world of controversy, intellectual debate, and take-no-prisoners searing critiques.

Of course, I always thought the one star review would be for one of my Madcap Christian Scientist books – I never would have guessed that Finding the Rainbows: Lessons from Dad and Mom would be the recipient. Frankly, I never guessed anyone except my family and friends, and maybe other people with aging parents, would even be interested in READING that book. (And, actually, I’m pretty sure the person who gave me the one-star review DIDN’T read the book – there’s no “verified purchase” with the review and I think this might be someone I kicked out of a Facebook group for telling my friends to eff off – but beggars can’t be choosers and I’ll take the one-star however I can get it.)

The reviewer was really detailed and blistering in her/his offering. I mean. Well… okay… maybe not so much detailed. Or blistering. Alright, alright… it consisted of two words: “Total snoozefest.” As an author this was really helpful to me. I’m wondering now if I should have maybe added more car chases and fiery explosions and scintillating romances and stuff. I’ll have to keep that in mind for my next book.

Anyway. I just had to share. An author doesn’t often get this opportunity to brag. 🙂

book covers 2016

 

How cool is this?!

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Well, HERE is a cool thing – and I know my fellow writers will appreciate the full coolness of this: I just brought one of my books, Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist, up on Kindle and discovered that people have been highlighting some of the passages in there! I know, right?! How cool is that?! And yes, my readers are obviously people of great good judgment and perspicacity. 🙂

Ahem. Okay, so there aren’t, like, scores and scores of passages highlighted or anything. I mean. Well, there are three. But three is more than two, right? And two is more than one. So. Yeah.

Anyway. Here they are:

From the chapter about our Christmas Dog –

highlighted 1

from Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist

From the “Car Stories” chapter –

highlight 2

From Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist

 

And from the chapter titled “Mental Malpractice” –

highlight 3

From Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist

***

Okay. There you go. Thank you so much for letting me share this milestone with you!

Carry on then… 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tenth Birthbookday

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We all have our stories to tell – everyone has something of value to share with others – I’m convinced of this. I hope that if you haven’t shared YOUR story, yet, you will find the means to do so. Your story is important. YOU are important.

***

Ten years ago today I clicked whatever last button I needed to click to officially publish the first Madcap book. The whole process – from typing the first word on the first page to the moment I clicked that button – had been like magic for me. I’d written other books before – at one point I’d even managed to get myself a successful literary agent to represent one of my books of fiction for young adults (a book I later asked my agent to stop trying to sell for me because I no longer liked it) – but none of those experiences with writing had quite the same feeling as the four months I worked on Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist.

I started writing Blessings in April. My original goal had been to have  the manuscript finished by Mother’s Day – I wanted to bind it up and give it to my mom as a Mother’s Day gift – a thank you for raising me to believe in the power of Good. But at some point early on – and I’m not even sure how this happened now – I began writing the book for a wider audience.

Authoring Blessings was effortless, really – the words flowed in a steady stream out of me and onto the paper. This time I wasn’t writing to try to impress or please whatever random editor might end up with my manuscript in her hands. This time *I* was the editor, and my target audience weren’t the executives at some high-falootin New York City publishing house, but people like me – people who could laugh with me at life’s embarrassing moments, and join me as I climbed mountains, traveled to Europe, met my husband, became a mother, and rescued The Christmas Dog.  There was a certain freedom in publishing my own work that I didn’t have when I sent my work to others to publish for me – I had complete control over my words and my story – Blessings was not subject to the whims and dictates of anyone else. That felt good.

The only real obstacles I can remember in the authoring process were technical ones – the printer not working; my computer’s hard drive blowing out; not being able to connect with the internet when I needed to communicate with the folks at Booksurge (the print-on-demand publisher I used). But it never failed – every time I would start getting discouraged by the technical challenges I would get a call from a friend or family member supporting me and encouraging me – and the obstacle would vanish. Really, there was a whole community of loved ones who were as much a part of publishing this book as I was.

When I stopped worrying about trying to impress people with my writing, I found my voice. When my motivation was to share laughter and inspiration with my fellow adventurers, no obstacle could stop me. My skills and talents as a writer were no longer an end in themselves – a way to earn praise and kudos – but now they were simply useful tools to help me tell my story.  Writing this book felt “right” to me. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such joy and freedom in the writing process as I did when I wrote Blessings.

***

We all have our stories to tell – everyone has something of value to share with others – I’m convinced of this. I hope that if you haven’t shared YOUR story, yet, you will find the means to do so. Your story is important. YOU are important.

***

In celebration of the tenth anniversary of its publication, the kindle version of Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist can be purchased for just $2.99 on Amazon for the next week or so. What a deal, right? I mean… $2.99 is less than you’d pay for a 12 ounce mocha at Starbucks. Or a pack of 24 pencils at Staples. Or a tortilla lime chocolate bar from Komforte Chocolates.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002OHD2IY/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

Tenth Anniversary Special

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At this time ten years ago I was busy putting together my first book, Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist. That little book has brought a whole lot of good into my life in the last decade. Because of Blessings I’ve been able to connect with new friends all over the world – with Chip and his partner, Eric, in Florida; with readers in a book club in Chicago; with members of the local Unitarian Universalist church; with Norman in Africa and Tui in Australia; and with a whole host of wonderful hooligans on an Amazon discussion forum. Blessings has led me into cool new communities and opened new doors for me, and the encouraging response I’ve gotten for Blessings over the years has touched my heart and inspired me to keep writing..

I re-read my three Madcap Christian Scientist books again this week – Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist, The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Middle Book, and All Things New: Further Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist – and… is it alright for me to say that I really liked them? 🙂

As I read them, it was fun seeing my own development and progress over the last ten years. I wrote Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist in 2005, when I was in my forties. My sons were 13 and 10 when I published it. I hadn’t yet experienced the crises with depression or my career – I was chatty and friendly and “mostly harmless” (as Douglas Adams would say). I published The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Middle Book seven years later, in 2012. When I wrote the Middle Book I’d just come through a life-changing depression, and wanted to share my healing – hoping it might give hope to others dealing with the same challenge. The Madcap Christian Scientist: All Things New was published two years after The Middle Book. When I published All things New my sons were no longer youngsters, but grown men, the depression was behind me, I’d entered a new career, and I’d just discovered the writings of Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, and D.E. Stevenson, and wanted to share them with my readers.

It’s interesting to contemplate what new adventures and friends, authors and healing, I’ll be able to write about in another ten years. I know there will be new adventures and friends. I know I will discover new authors that will open up, for me, new ways of looking at the world. And I know there will be healing, too.

To mark the tenth anniversary of the publication of Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist I’ve reduced the price of the e-book version (found on both Kindle and Nook) to $2.99. Note that $2.99 is only $2.99 away from nothing – and that’s not bad, right? 🙂 (And if you’ve already purchased the print version, you can get the Kindle version for FREEEE!) (Twenty-nine reviews and 4.8 stars now!)

This link will take you there:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002OHD2IY/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

Madcap collage for four books

Free Book!!! (Free is good, right?)

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Xander Terrell, who descends from a noble and spectacular lineage (ahem, he’s my son) is offering his book, Artful Living, for free on Kindle for the next five days. If you don’t own a Kindle… what’s WRONG with you?… No, just kidding, I’m sure you’re a fine and upstanding  citizen of the world… but if you don’t own a Kindle you can bring Kindle to your computer or mobile by downloading the Kindle Reading App.

Link to his book: Artful Living

Link to Kindle Reading App: Kindle Reading App

And if you want to follow Xander on his blog (and who wouldn’t, right?!) go to xanderterrell.wordpress.com and join his legion of followers.

And now a poem from Artful Living:

Where Happiness Lives

Golden lights
and the deepest shadows.
Smiling faces illuminated by life.
A commodity where I come from.
An inherent condition here.
Where joy runs rampant,
like that one naked man who,
in the presence of a police officer,
streaked across the town in the wake
of the city-wide party,
the officer laughing in mutual enjoyment
before calling the man by his first name,
as a friend and a neighbor,
to get his shit together.

-Xander Terrell

If you enjoy Artful Living, please write a review and let your friends know about the book. The management thanks you. 🙂