Thru Terry's Eyes

I write, therefore I am.    At least I call myself a writer.

                              I've certainly been called worse.

                                    Welcome to my website!

I also love to do art so there's a section crammed with junk I've done.  (Or at least there will be shortly)  If you see something you'd like to have feel free but  please give credit if you use it. I will be creating a section of art that is there for the taking, avatars and banners and stuff, I know everyone is doing this but I love to make them and what are you gonna do with them once they're done? 

I'm told I can be very intimidating when I'm not being charming. (My son says , I'm not intimidating...I'm frightening (?) I never did anything to HIM) It depends on what I want and whether or not my good friend prozac and I have united that day. (The fact that I am writing on this web site instead of sitting in prison for murder or lying on my back in a grave is a testament to what that little jewel can do.)

I have been, among other things, an antique dealer, an exotic dancer, a graphic designer, layout artist and art director, a bakery manager/cake decorator, cafeteria manager, used books dealer, a car dealer and a suicidal depressive.

I own four large, lazy, useless cats and am in possession of a very patient man who readily indulges my various obsessions and treats me like I am made of glass.

I have two children who have happily grown up in a kind of 'Night of the Living Dead' world. (If the world is ever overcome by vampires or zombies, my kids are who you want at your back). My tastes have always drifted toward the bizarre and I guess I passed that along to them.

My own mother once asked me (after finding a bunch of books on witchcraft under my bed) not to get too weird. I'm the relative that gets pulled out at family groups and is introduced to strangers as "You've got to meet Terry!" When I was a kid I spent a lot of time playing in the graveyard near where we lived, (trying to break into the masoleum, if you really want to know).

We collect swordcanes, among other things, (my son stabbed me in the leg with one once, long story, accident...he said) and I keep a hunting knife next to the driver's seat in my car, (It belonged to my grandmother, what can I say, I'm sentimental like that). I took up knife throwing at my husband's encouragement. Hell, he has a 7 foot blowgun and a hand held crossbow. I carry a pocket watch and the best presents my husband ever gave me were a stuffed elephant I sleep with and a Swiss Army knife. I don't sleep with that, he won't let me because of the spider dreams, but it goes where I go.

We have a brass lantern that used to hang off  of a horse drawn hearse mounted by the front door. (It's just amazing what you can find in a relative's storage building. They were gonna sell it for scrap metal! Is still scandalized at  the thought...)

He also recently gifted me with a beautiful wooden stake to add to our vampire kit. It's got a good grip, well balanced and the business end is sharp as hell and smoother than glass. (Well, I liked it!) Craftsmanship is craftsmanship.

As an anniversary present, he got me a life size animatronic zombie butler for our entry. White gloves, tuxedo, the whole nine yards. We named him Edward and he breathes, laughs, talks and moves his eyes. A man who truly understands a woman's needs is a gift! (I am not into Goth in case that's what you're thinking.)

I once set myself on fire (never volunteer to light a big pile of gunpowder with a kitchen match) and was once thrown from the back of a truck after an unexpected game of chicken (asphalt burns HURT and when people write about the effects of concussions on this site they're not kidding around, it IS possible to see two of something. It took 20 years to find out who was driving the other vehicle.) Oh yeah, and I once punched my best friend in the eye with the butt of a gun. Thinking back, it was really her fault, she wasn't supposed to be standing there

I think it's a sin to take yourself to seriously, or anything else for that matter. Unbelievably, there is humor in everything, or at least something to smile about, even if it's a sad smile and it takes a little time to find. (As proof, I offer the fact that when my mother died we picked out a casket that reminded us of her car and kidded around about having her beloved bumper sticker put on the coffin. It read. "Not a well woman." She would have loved that.)

I'm very sarcastic by nature and am one of those acidic people who can look at someone and see the neon sign on their forehead that flashes 'potential victim'. Some people are born with silver spoons in their mouth. In my family, we're born with razor blades for tongues. It's a sickness...

Hopefully, I will be able to channel my darker side into my stories and not outward at the people who are forced to share space with me. They tend to keep a safe distance anyway.

I will keep writing as long as someone tells me they want to read my stuff. I won't stop writing it for my own sick entertainment, but it's nice to know someone else is giving it a look and hopefully enjoying it, so it's worth posting.

Ta to everyone who reads my stuff, whether you liked it or not. Hopefully you did. Ta always for any comments, good or bad. Hopefully good. Writers are nothing without the readers, we are trees falling soundlessly in an empty forest without you wonderful people to acknowledge us and throw treasured tidbits our way. Ta so much for them, they are priceless.

And ta for taking the time to come here and try and find out who I am. If you figure it out, e-mail me. I'd like to know too, although I do have my suspicions.

Family mantras:

1. Work with what you got.

2. It's NEVER to late to try.

Family lessons: (No crap, my kids will repeat this verbatim if you ask)

1. In the case of zombies. Cut the head off, then burn the body and head in seperate piles.

2. You can't get out of the back of a police car if you don't have a screwdriver.

3. ALWAYS carry a knife. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

Family policy: Be nice. If nice doesn't cut it, then do what you need to, to control the situation.

You know what the really pathetic thing about this profile is? Every damned word is true...

Onward and upward or as I am wont to say...beauty is pain.

My daughter, Shey,  has a movie coming out on DVD in August 2008, called Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence, from Dissolve Pictures distributed by Brain Damage Films. She's Johnny.

The one wearing electrical tape.

If you want to read a review of the movie click on the poster at right.   I'm very proud of her. After you read it you really will wonder what kind of a mother I am.

I AM ashamed of one thing about the movie, though.

She KNOWS that's not how you kill zombies.

Where did I go wrong...

My fanfic, "Chipping Away", won first place in the category, Chick Flick Moments and Best Story Overall in the 2nd round of the SNFA Awards (http://www.sensue.net)

"Cry In The Night" won something too but I forget what. (rolls eyes, I can't believe me)

"Memento Mori" was published in Rooftop Confessions avaialble thru GriffinSong Press. 

"Let Me Count The Ways" is in a new Zine called "Every Possible Way".  It is available right now at conventions or thru http://www.Agentwithstyle.com

I was an artist and writer for the first and second Supernatural Virtual Season.

My Virtual Season Episode "Writhe" http://www.Supernaturalville.com won first place in the category, Daytime TV and was Runner Up for Best Story Overall in the 4th round of the SNFA Awards (http://www.sensue.net)

The Virtual Seasons of Supernatural is now available in print as full color magazines with story art inside and original cover art. Season one is in print and Season two is just now becoming available. Get it at conventions or thru http://www.Agentwithstyle.com