Terry Shames--New Beginnings

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Terry Shames needs no introduction here on Jungle Red. She's a Reds friend and a frequent guest, and today she has some things to say that I suspect we can all relate to. In fact, I think she's been telepathically eavesdropping on me!

NEW BEGINNINGS

by

Terry Shames

The theme at this time of the year is New Beginnings. But as I look at my list of possible resolutions, I can’t help thinking that I’m not actually going for new beginnings; it’s really the same old, same old. I have a list of personal resolves and business resolves. Every year it’s some variation of the same thing on both lists.

The personal goes something like: lose weight, eat healthy food, get plenty of exercise, be kind, and stay in closer touch with people you care about, not necessarily in that order. I actually make these resolutions pretty much every day as well.

Then there are the personal ones that I resolve to do “sometime this year.” 1) Go through my years of photo albums and (mumble, mumble). Do what? Throw out the ones with people I don’t recognize? (Wait. What if I remember them next week?) Have them converted to digital? (My mind goes numb at this thought). 2) Weed out the clothes/cookbooks/cooking gear that I never use. (But I might use them someday!) 3) Cull my books and give away the ones I know I’ll never read (How do I know that next week I won’t want to read exactly that book?) Learn Spanish. (Just joking, I gave that one up a while back).

The same business resolutions also show up regularly. Every day: Write x number of words, spend an hour on promotion, go through yesterday’s emails and make sure I didn’t forget something, work on whatever blog/speaking engagement/article needs to be completed, and start taking notes for the next book.

Just like with personal I have long-term business goals that I resolve to do “soon.” Learn Canva. (Sigh). Go through my emails and delete the ones that don’t mean anything and file the ones that need to be kept in the proper folders. (When Pam Stack told me that she clears out all of her emails and files them every, single day, I resolved to do the same. That was, I don’t know, five years ago?) Think about doing a podcast (well, think about thinking about doing a podcast). Absolutely promise myself to keep my website updated. Grow my newsletter list. Read those valuable articles about promotion I’ve been saving (most of which are probably outdated). Watch those important Zoom tutorials I’ve been sitting on (for at least five years).

I doubt very much that I’m alone in renewing my resolution vows every year. Same old, same old. So why do them at all? Because it reminds me of my priorities. It reminds me that I have choices. It gives me a jumpstart. It doesn’t mean there won’t be surprises and changes of directions. For example, I had no idea when 2024 began that toward the end of the year I’d take a leap into self-publishing a novel. It was a learning experience, too complex to tackle here, but suffice it to say it was satisfying. And who knew my husband and I would start looking for a different house? Also complicated! 

 

I think beginning a new year is like beginning a new book. And as it happens, I’ve just started writing a new Samuel Craddock book, so I can see the parallels.

When I begin a book I’m excited, even though I have no idea what I’m going to write about. Yep, pretty much like not knowing at the beginning of the year what the year will hold. I’m excited, but… who knows what’s in store? I have a known deadline for the book. 

For life, the deadline is somewhere vaguely in the future. I’m not an outliner, which is probably for the best, since if I were I’d never get a book written. In order to know what I would outline, I have to write the book. Just like in living a life, I have to live it to know what it’s going to be like. Sometimes I do have a notion of what I intend the book to be about. Just like when I begin a year, I have a notion of what the year should hold. But at some point, I have to start writing and then keep on writing. Pretty much like life. I live every day not knowing exactly what will happen, and even if I have a loose plan, all kinds of things can upend the plan—things from the mundane to the alarming. And sometimes wonderful things can upend plans.

In the particular book I’m writing, I’m more unprepared than usual. I have no idea what this book will be. So, just like I wake up every morning and have my routine that I do before I face the day, I have my pre-writing routine. And in both cases, the routine moves me into action. I’ve now written 12,000 words and still have not a clue what the book is about. I’ve lived a whole six days in the year and who knows what it will be about?

A writer I admire tremendously told me once that she also has no idea where a book is going when she begins, and at some point in every book she flings herself around the house sobbing because she KNOWS the book will not get written. That she has lost the ability to write a book. That she’d rather do anything than continue writing. That she’s embarrassed, out of gas…etc. And then she does what writers do. She sits down at her desk and writes some more words. So yes, sometimes in life we fling ourselves around saying we’ve failed, we’re out of gas, we’ve lost the ability to love life, we’re at the end…but then we do what people do. We live some more life.

I leave you, dear readers, with best wishes that you thrive and enjoy life to the max. Life is a small boat and we are all in it together. Love and laugh with each other and as one of my favorite sayings urges, “dance like no one is watching.”

DEBS: And that is certainly a fitting motto to take us into the new year! 

Reds and readers, do any of your New Year's resolutions look like Terry's?

Here's more about Terry: Terry Shames writes the popular, ard-winning Samuel Craddock series. The eleventh in the series, The Troubling Death of Maddy Benson, was a 2024 Amazon Editor’s Pick. The tenth in the series, Guilt Strikes at Granger’s Store, was named one of Library Journal’s top mysteries of 2023. Perilous Waters, the first in her Jessie Madison thriller series, was published in April, 2024. Out of Control, December 2024, is her first domestic suspense novel. Terry lives in Los Angeles and is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the Texas Institute of Letters. Visit Terry at www.Terryshames.com.

And here's more about her recent books:

The Troubling Death of Maddy Benson

Everyone knows everyone in a small town like Jarrett Creek, Texas. So Chief of Police Samuel Craddock is perplexed when he receives a call from a woman asking the police to rescue her sister. Who is Maddy Benson?

When Craddock finds Maddy, she's already dead. As he learns more about the woman and the real reason behind her recent move to Jarrett Creek, his career is plunged into jeopardy. Can he unravel a knot of lies, threats, and dangerous politics to reveal the truth about why she died?

Out of Control

Insecure and timid after being brought up in a strict religious cult in Texas, Julie Amundson escapes and moves to San Francisco. There, she marries Martin Heller, a high-flying businessman. At first their marriage is blissfully happy, but gradually Martin becomes  volatile and physically abusive. Julie discovers that not only is he involved with another woman, but his financial investment firm is committing fraud. After witnessing the murder of one of Martin's most important clients, Julie learns that Martin intends to frame her for the murder. In order to save herself, she has to find evidence of her husband’s criminal endeavors. How will she break out of her cloud of self-doubt and summon the strength she needs to prevail?