Monthly Archives: April 2007

“If you’re a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he’s good, the older he gets, the better he writes.”
-Mickey Spillane

Vera Lyn
By Jill Terry

I admired, loved and respected her, because she demanded it, although I didn’t realize it at the time. Always surprise treats with every visit, and never a birthday missed. I’d sit and listen to her stories while I emptied my own bag of M&M’s or picked the peanuts off the drumstick. The tone of her voice, the sound of her laughter, mingled with the heady scent of her expensive perfume, made my little head spin. As I flipped through the pages of the Cosmopolitan Magazines she used to bring my mother when she was finished with them, I remember thinking that I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. Then our day came, just the two of us, shopping in the village and riding in her shiny silver Corvette, quite possibly the reason I still love them today. All was right with the world, until I did something I wasn’t aware of that made her mad and she yanked me by the arm and screamed at me in the crowded little shop. As I looked at her in shocked horror, I remember her gaze, darting around the room, checking the number of onlookers as she proceeded to yell and drag me from the store, paying no attention to me whatsoever. I had no idea at the time what was going on, only that my heart was broken and my image of her shattered forever. We didn’t speak all the way home and I couldn’t wait to run to the arms of my mother. My mother, the woman she pretended to be. She told her stories to a happily married couple with two small children, trying to make them believe her life was an adventure, when in reality it was their life she was seeking to duplicate.

Copyright 2007 by Jill Terry. All rights reserved.

That Smell
By Jill Terry

I loved his body, more than any man I’ve ever known; the way it felt and made me feel, especially the weight of it on top of me. Soft skin over hard, toned muscles, the natural musky scent that was all male, all his and that I can still smell if I close my eyes and remember. He was a manly man, but could be tender and gentle when his libido allowed him to slow down and savor. I admired his commitment to fitness and would have loved to sit and watch as he worked it in the gym. The day I voiced this for the first time he skipped the showers and returned to the office in sweat-stained workout clothes, claiming to be running behind and not having time, but pausing long enough for me to eat him alive; obviously pre-planned for my benefit. Silly things he did to woo me, stroking his ego in the process with my reactions. I miss that game of give and take, tit-for-tat that we played so well, and I cannot help but wonder what kind of playmate she makes.

Copyright 2007 by Jill Terry. All rights reserved.

“Any time you think you have influence, try ordering around someone else’s dog.”
-The Cockel Bur

I was perusing the blogosphere when low-and-behold, I found mention of Wordsmith on Walter Burek’s site, Inklings. For those of you unfamiliar, Walter is an award winning, international copywriter with ties to some of the biggest names in the advertising business. He has a smart, savvy way with words and I, for one, find reading him most enjoyable. Apparently I don’t do it often enough though, as he mentioned me back in February and I’ve just now seen it. His post was about why he blogs and he stated that he’d be interested in learning why I and the other writers mentioned blog; so, this one’s for you, Walter.

I started blogging almost 3 years ago at the advice of my mentor in the publishing biz, (who unfortunately has since retired). I hadn’t a clue what I was doing, but he promised it would be a good way to hone my skills, broaden my reach and expand my audience. It didn’t take long before I was hooked, and as usual he was right!

It’s important for me to flip the release valve at least once a day and blogging is a wonderful way for me to do that. It doesn’t matter if I’m working on a novel, short story, poem, or purging the thoughts from my head, just so long as I’m writing! I tried to set up some sort of structure and schedule in the beginning, but it doesn’t work like that for me. I eat when I’m hungry, sleep when I’m tired and write when the need or want arises. That means I have a huge mix of stuff out there that has no rhyme or reason, other than satisfying my need to put it there, but it works for me and my readers seem to dig it.

A few months ago I discovered the wonderful world of short stories and flash fiction and have been having an absolute ball writing these little gems and publishing them on my site. It’s extremely satisfying for me to be able to create, complete and publish a piece in one sitting and blogging not only lets me do that, but instantly puts my work in front of an audience, who offers quick and honest feedback.

What I find most fascinating are the comments I receive from all over the world, and knowing that my words have a direct affect on the people who read them; sometimes positively, sometimes not, but an affect nonetheless.

I’m not out here trying to sell myself or fishing for a publisher, I’m just doing what I love to do and tickled pink that people are reading and enjoying my work.

My mother thinks my posts have been a little on the dark side lately, so I’m trying to come up with something light, fun and inspiring to write. This might take a while!

“You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question.”
-Albert Camus

Thy will be done
By Jill Terry

She was taken back, to the darkness of that room; the one that only lingered in the deepest recesses of her mind, but was forced to the forefront of her thinking once again. For years he threatened, always looking for a way to make a fast buck, never wanting to work to achieve it, but believing that somehow he deserved it, just for being alive. He teetered on the line between life and death, like a tight-rope walker without a pole, and the first chance she saw to get out, she took without pause. Fifteen years had passed when he turned his attention back to her, certain she was as good as gold. But he didn’t stop with her, he added her husband and child into the fray, knowing full well that they’d pay whatever he demanded or he’d die tying. Either way, it was a win-win situation as far as he was concerned. He’d walk away a rich man and be set for the rest of his life, or the men in her family would hunt him down like the animal he was. What he didn’t count on was the anger and hatred that she’d cultivated over the years, for all the wasted time and mental anguish she suffered at his hand. It didn’t take long to find the opportunity, as he was in exactly the same place he’d been back then, as if a day hadn’t passed and they still had something in common. As if he knew her at all. She approached when everyone else was asleep and asked exactly what his plan was. He assured her his intentions were to take the money and run and no one would be hurt in the process, after all, her family had plenty to spare. He turned his back for a split second and that’s when she grabbed the nearest blunt object and split his skull wide open. He hit the ground with a thud and for a fleeting moment, before his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he was released from his earthly hell, his focus was clear and he reached for her one last time.

Copyright 2007 by Jill Terry. All rights reserved.

The story goes that Earth Day was conceived by Senator Gaylord Nelson after a trip he took to Santa Barbara right after that horrific oil spill off our coast in 1969. He was so outraged by what he saw that he went back to Washington and passed a bill designating April 22 as a national day to celebrate the earth.”

Senator Nelson stated that Earth Day “worked” because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. Though he felt his committee had neither the time nor resources to organize the 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated, these things did happen. According to the Senator, “It organized itself.”

The “holiday” proved extremely popular in the United States. The first Earth Day, in 1970, had participants and celebrants in two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States. More importantly, it “brought 20 million Americans out into the spring sunshine for peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform.”

Senator Nelson directly credited the first Earth Day with persuading U.S. politicians that environmental legislation had a substantial, lasting constituency. Many important laws were passed by the Congress in the wake of the 1970 Earth Day, including the Clean Air Act, laws to protect drinking water, wild lands and the ocean. The EPA was created within three years of the first Earth Day. In 1971 Senator Gaylord Nelson announced an ‘Earth Week’ — for the third week of April — as a yearly event.

Convincing
By Jill Terry

Although the evidence was damning, he plead innocent each and every time. As if she were simply slipping in when we were gone and planting the stuff for me to find. It wasn’t just the obvious though, it was things that I found while snooping, and I’m very good at snooping. Of course those things were never brought to his attention, lest he know I was on to him and move his hiding place! I knew she was there before me, but I assumed he had finished with her long before I came along. Just as I assumed she was the only one. I’d seen pictures of others, but thought nothing of it, as I too had a stash of old photos that I kept for sentimental reasons. It wasn’t until I sat center-stage, front row, facing the coffin that I realized what a good job I’d done of convincing myself; as they lined up and proceeded to pay their respects…one broken-hearted whore after another.

Copyright 2007 by Jill Terry. All rights reserved.