Vitality Stories
Dear Me,
If I could go back to myself, 20 years ago, I would tell myself to not search for peace, security and happiness in a man, or any relationship; to not need from outside myself. I think the “need” fostered from a childhood with an alcoholic mother and broken family. My father was not in my life, until around the age of 10 when my mother allowed me to visit him, only to have him die of a massive heart attack one year later, when I was 11 years old. Continue reading
Vitality Stories
photo by Gretchen LeMay Photography
I Can’t Believe I’m Doing This
This week, I made two decisions that I would never have frigging considered this time last year. Continue reading
Dear Me,
If I could have whispered in your ear way back when you were around twelve years old, I’d tell you that you’re perfect just the way you are.
Oh sure, you’re going to learn many things over your lifetime — you’re a work in progress, but you don’t need to be perfect. You don’t have to have the perfect report card, the perfect hairstyle, the perfect figure, or the perfect answer for everyone in every situation. It’s okay to mess up; it’s okay to say “I don’t know.” It’s even okay to say “I made a mistake.” Continue reading
Vitality Stories
I’m Opening A Gate
A journey awaits
Dan Blank’s Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience was released on Tuesday. I’ve had the honor of being a part of Dan’s launch team and have read a few drafts of this book. My one-word review: Amazing.
Book Description:
Many people feel the drive to do creative work, but get overwhelmed by the process of connecting with an audience. They follow “best practices” in marketing that never seem to pan out, don’t produce results, and make them feel lost and oftentimes, frustrated. Be the Gateway offers a powerful way to have an impact.If you want to share your voice and inspire people with your writing, art, craft, or creative idea, you have to be the gateway for them. Instead of throwing “products” out into the marketplace, you open them up to a new way of looking at the world, of knowing themselves, and connecting with others. You unlock new experiences for them — not just through what you create, but through the unique way in which you share it with the world.
Too often we think about the creative process as being separate from the marketing process. Instead, view them as the same. Replace the inclination to “promote” with the desire to share and engage. How and why you create is a story — and is the best asset you can use to truly engage people. Be the Gateway shows you how to use that gift with joy and confidence.
I’m a Dan Fan. I met Dan in his online course, “Get Read,” in October 2014 and it’s entirely his fault, I mean his credit, that I started a website. I was so hesitant to start a website. What would I write about? Who cares what I have to say? I would feel so exposed. Dan gave me this advice, Continue reading
Vitality Stories
What’s Up?
What I’ve been working on
2017 is off to a busy start. I’m still on track to complete the first craptastic draft of In the Doghouse by the end of March, and I’m looking forward to telling you more about this story at that time*. And thanks to feedback from Author Accelerator** and Kelsey Browning’s Big Creative Project*** course, I have a concrete plan of action to address the final edits of Tiger Drive. And when I say final, I mean I will have written Tiger Drive to the best of my current capability, and it will be time to seek out and receive guidance from an experienced agent and/or editor so both Tiger Drive and I can continue to grow to our full potential. Continue reading
Vitality Stories
I first wrote the following letter as a guest blog for a website that is no longer active. I’m going to be resurrecting my Dear Me series. Contact me if you’d like to write a letter to your younger self. Serious or light, most lessons are welcome 🙂 Enjoy!
Dear Boobies, Continue reading
Vitality Stories
It’s All In the Name
The stories we are told
A few newsletters ago, I confessed that “My family is full of it.” I promised to start sharing some of my family’s stories and urban legends, and I thought it would be fun to share how my name, Teri Lynn Case, was chosen by my parents. TLC–great initials, right? So sweet.
I’ve heard the story of my name numerous times throughout my life–after all, there was a moral to the story. But this week I asked my mom how they chose my and my siblings’ names, and in my case, the story was similar but different. New details. Same result. Same point to be made. Same moral. Both versions say so much about my parents’ touch-and-go relationship. Continue reading
Vitality Stories
What’s Your Secret?
My goals
Happy 2017.
I’m currently immersed in a 30-day creative course and working on one of my goals for 2017 – doing the final edit of Tiger Drive. It’s too soon for me to tell you how and why I’ve finally been able to make these changes, but I promise to explain more as soon as I can, or when I’m done. But what I can tell you is that I’m more confident than ever about reaching this goal within the next few weeks thanks to the course I’m in and thanks to a collaboration session I completed in December. Continue reading
Vitality Stories
I’m Sorry
My house is clean
I’m still thinking about breakups thanks to my latest novel-in-progress, In the Doghouse, and I can’t help but think about what “I’m sorry” means to my characters.
“I’m sorry” is far reaching. These two words can cover condolences, empathy, regret, guilt, or even stand in for “excuse me.” And these two words can also be empty words and mean absolutely nothing. Continue reading
Vitality Stories
My Family is Full of It
Secrets & Urban Legends
Blame it on timing, social resources, world events, abuse, mental health, narcissism, addiction, guilt, shame, CYA, or simply several different perspectives about an incident, and my family is full of secrets, conflicting stories and urban legends. And at forty-six years old, I’m tired of guessing what’s true and what isn’t.
The truth is tricky because perception is all we have, and perception is reality, right? What each person perceives, they experience, and the experience can be a different experience than the person standing next to him/her, and if you hear something over and over and never check it, it morphs into “common sense”* even when “in truth” something doesn’t make sense at all. Judge Judy has a great line she often uses in her televised courtroom: “If it doesn’t make sense, something isn’t true.” Does this apply to everything that happens in this world? Maybe not. But within my family, I think Judge Judy’s philosophy works. Continue reading