Category Archives: Tiger Drive

Thank You Mr. Tobey

Vitality Stories

Mr. Tobey

In Tiger Drive, Carrie is seventeen years old and desperate to go to college but needs financial aid. She turns to her English teacher, Mr. Hill, to proofread her scholarship essay. He is an honest and candid man, and while Carrie doesn’t fully open up to him, she trusts him. Mr. Hill believes in her, and this makes all the difference to Carrie.

In reality, Mr. Hill was inspired by my ninth grade English teacher, Mr. Tobey, at Carson Junior High School. While Carrie’s story is not my story, writing creates an opportunity to recognize people who have made a difference even when writing fiction. Mr. Tobey is one of those people. But in the past thirty-two years, I’ve never reached out to thank him. In a recent exchange with my hometown high school librarian, I said it was because of people like her that there are adults like me. She made a meme of that comment and put it on her computer to remind herself that she makes a difference. She so does. Our exchange inspired me to reach out to Mr. Tobey, finally, to thank him. To tell him how the following three interactions with him have stuck with me always. Continue reading →

My Overhauls: Then and Now

Vitality Stories

My Overhauls: Then and Now

My Overhauls: Then

Author Cathey Graham Nickell and I recently shared the ways our mothers extended the life of our clothes when we were little. Cathey’s mom would add different colored strips of cloth to the bottom of her favorite jeans to lengthen them–Cathey liked them because she felt very “hippie.”

With my eight brothers and sisters, my mom repurposed our clothes both as hand-me-downs and hand-me-ups. My mom and I had many arguments about fashion once I started kindergarten. The first would be when she tried to get me to wear some used black overalls that were given to us for my younger brother. They were too big for him so my mom said I’d have to wear them until my brother grew into them. “Besides,” she had said, “you need clothes to start school.” But I was having none of her idea. I loved bright colors, skirts, and dresses already. I cried. My mom got creative. She cut out the inseams and sewed bright green polyester triangles to the front and back and voila–the overalls became an overalls dress and I loved my “overhauls”–as I liked to call ’em. I wore the dress all the time until I outgrew it, and my mom turned the dress back into overalls for my little brother. Continue reading →

Biggest Surprise Ever

Vitality Stories

Biggest Surprise Ever

Dear Friend,

Right now, the above video isn’t going to make any sense because in a completely bizarre chain of events–and while I was writing this newsletter to send out–I received surprising news that the hardcover of Tiger Drive is available for shipping/delivery by January 11th via Amazon and Barnes & Noble!!! My head is spinning. I’m adding links here and sending this to you today because you deserve to know first, however, I thought you might get a kick out of my original message below because, just like that–I’m published. All my careful planning and now there’s nothing I can do about it! I have to laugh!!

Note: hardcover is $27 compared to the ~$11 paperback sales price Amazon and B&N are offering.

The Ugliest Baby (originally intended newsletter)

Happy New Year, my friend!

I missed emailing you this past month–really I missed hearing from you. Whenever I send a newsletter, several of you respond with the most interesting stories and experiences. I’ve learned so much from you in 2017, and I hope to return the favor in 2018.

This was the first holiday since I started writing full-time three years ago (yes, I know, three years and I’m just now publishing Tiger Drive–Egads!) that I unplugged and took the holiday off. Writing is no different than running your own business. It sounds romantic going into it–this idea that you will work for yourself–and then you quickly realize that you need to work 24/7 to support yourself, keep the business alive, and get everything done. It’s important to realize that just like any job, one needs a vacation from time to time. A vacation where you give yourself permission to do absolutely nothing or catch up on your non-business life. Work life balance!

So I tried to shut my brain off and stop thinking about everything that should or could be done before Tiger Drive flies out into the world on Valentine’s Day. I talked to my author friend, Cathey Graham Nickell, about it. I was telling her how I couldn’t stop worrying about everything that needed to be done. I’m a process-oriented person, and so I get a bit obsessed with checking boxes (similar to Carrie in Tiger Drive) and if I don’t check all those boxes, Tiger Drive might suffer for it. I’ve put so much of my life into this book. What if I don’t catch any final typos? Making changes and ordering proofs takes time (even though I’ve already gone through two proofs and feel pretty good about it). What if I take vacation when I could save one more typo from assaulting my readers (I’ve hired editors and proofreaders to avoid this, but I still worry)? Cathey and I have talked a lot in the past about letting the project go, that we can’t control what happens once we release our books. But this time she said,

“Now you sort of know what it feels like to have a baby.” Continue reading →

December’s Inside Scoop

Vitality Stories

The past four weeks have been hectic and thrilling. I’ve been experimenting with different social sites to find a balance between the marketing side of this whacky writing business and the joy in the process without feeling like I’m vomiting sales pitches all over my friends. I’ve been posting on Instagram (@terilcase) and on my Facebook page (tericase_author), and since I don’t expect you to track me down on all these sites (I’m supposed to find you!), I’m going to start sharing a monthly “inside scoop” video of what my new friend, TIGER DRIVE, and I have been up to. Here is December’s Inside Scoop. And until 2018, I’m wishing you the happiest holiday and a satisfying finish to 2017.

Thank you for being you.

Teri

If a friend shared this newsletter with you, and you’d like to subscribe for future newsletters, that’s excellent! Just click here (and you’ll also get the first four chapters of my novel TIGER DRIVE).

F*ck It!

Vitality Stories

F*ck It!

Dear Friend,

Exciting things are happening with Tiger Drive. Exciting things as in after several years of writing and editing, I am close to announcing Tiger Drive‘s release date.

I know, crazy right?

But first, WTF is up with my newsletter title?

Well, a few things.

I’ve decided to publish my novel and not pursue a traditional publisher for a variety of reasons, the most significant being,

The resources that were once exclusive to traditional publishers are now available to anyone who is willing to invest in their work (in particular: editors, cover artists, lawyers, marketers, layout designers, and more),
Using an agent and a traditional publisher could mean Tiger Drive might not be published for another year or more,
I would most likely forfeit my rights to Tiger Drive for the rest of my life plus seventy years which means I’d have to get permission on how I market Tiger Drive, would have little insight on what is working and what isn’t working, and if the publisher decides they only want to print 1,000 copies and nothing more, I would have to get a lawyer to try to buy back my rights to do another print-run.

So I decided (with the support of my peers in three creative groups) in a very unusual Teri fashion, F*ck it. I’ll publish on my own.

What this means is things need to start happening, um, yesterday.Tiger Drive is currently in the hands of a copy editor. This week I’m finalizing the back of book description with the help of other authors and the Tiger Drive Squad, and next week, professional designers will start drafting the cover. I’m going to be honest, choosing the right cover and back of book description are more intimidating than writing the novel. Did you know (and I will try not to hyperventilate while I type this) that a book cover only gets 0.2 seconds to convey the genre and attract a reader’s attention? Point two seconds! It took me three seconds to type “point two seconds.”

Exactly!

But F*ck it! I have a team–a professional team–helping me get the cover and description right.Also, Tiger Drive is in the hand of an editor as I type. If I used a traditional publisher, I was going to face a problem that is now no longer a problem: use of the F-word.

Drug dealing, biker gang WJ in Tiger Drive can now be a realistic character and say f*ck as much as he wants. I rarely swear or use the F-word, but as I was writing Tiger Drive, WJ kept dropping F-bombs all over the place like F-ing cigarette butts. No kidding, during the first draft I was so embarrassed by WJ’s potty mouth, I said out loud, “You can’t write that. He can’t keep saying that!”

But F*ck it! A drug dealer, biker gang member like WJ would swear. So I let him.

However, now is a good time to share that many readers frown upon foul language in a book, and it’s possible you might be one of them, and for that, I’m sorry. In fact, using the F-word guarantees at least one negative review on Amazon and Goodreads. So I searched how many times WJ says it in Tiger Drive:

108 times?! WJ gets an “F” for language! But WJ won’t give a fig about an F grade. He’s got other problems to deal with.

Anyway, enough about me. What’s going on in your world?

As always thanks for being you,

Teri

P.S. If I don’t have your first name, send me an email, and I’ll update your subscription 🙂
P.P.S. If you are receiving this newsletter because one of my awesome subscribers forwarded it to you, and you want to subscribe to the newsletter, too, then click here and Thank You!

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Dear Me by Teri Case

Vitality Stories

Dear Me@13,

It’s August, and you’re a thirteen-going-on-fourteen-year-old girl who is super excited to start the 8th grade at Carson Junior High School. This week, you’ll go back-to-school shopping at Contempo Casuals in Meadowood Mall with not only the babysitting money you saved all summer but with a bonus $100 that your dad gave you from his “big win” at the casino the night before. You’re going to buy black Jellies pumps that will kill your feet, a pair of Guess jeans, and those awful cotton versatile white overalls that will get stretched out and stained and look horrible on you, but I’m not writing to warn you about your fashion choices. You’re going to love those purchases, and you’ll prove it by wearing them over and over.

No, I’m writing to prepare you. Life’s about to get difficult. In fact, it’s going to be the most difficult year of our life.

You’re so young and sweet. If I could travel back in time and be your friend for the year, I wouldn’t hesitate. I’d move in with you. I’d go everywhere with you. I’m sorry, but we’re about to lose our “kid-shine” (as the mother, Janice, in Tiger Drive likes to say). It happens so fast, and you won’t be able to point to when or why it happens, but it does. Continue reading →

You Win Some, You Tattoo Some

Vitality Stories

You Win Some, You Tattoo Some

And the winner is…

Two weeks ago, I shared my perspective on tattoos and how I was having a tattoo drawn for a character, WJ Sloan, in Tiger Drive. Like many tattoos are intended to be, the tattoo has special meaning to the character and having it extracted from my imagination and put on paper (or in this case, digital format) has made me appreciate this complex character even more, and as someone who has no plans to ever get a tattoo, I now also appreciate the work that goes into a tattoo. Continue reading →

Tattoos and Tiger Drive

Vitality Stories

Author Missy Wilkinson by Missy Wilkinson

Tattoos and Tiger Drive

Do you tattoo?

Tiger Drive is written from the point of view of four characters, and the most challenging (and foul-mouthed) character is WJ Sloan. In 2011 when I first started writing WJ’s scenes, I’d make myself blush and cringe, often chastising myself, “You can’t write that! He can’t do that! What’s wrong with you–he can’t say that!” And yet he did, and I did. Again and again.

In fact, when Deborah Halverson, DearEditor.com, read one of my earlier versions, she came back to me and said something like, Continue reading →

I’m Opening A Gate

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 →