(Terri, a muse, catalyst and creative)
I'm sure this blog will reveal much about me. It is a place for me to talk about things I'm interested in, creating, working on, my ideas and my life. The professional level of this blog is not on par with the pieces I provide through freelance and newspaper. However, as a personal account and exploration, it is what it is.
In newspaper, I have published hundreds, if not thousands, of stories as a staff writer for the Texarkana Gazette (three years) and The Marshall News Messenger (two years and counting), where I also performed layout and editing. I have covered beats from general assignments and weekends to the police beat, city government, county government, courts and legal, as well as sensitive feature topics and business.
A college trained journalist, I have a bachelors in mass communications from Texas A&M University-Texarkana (2009). Preparing for that, I was also a staff writer for The Bray, a college weekly at Southern Arkansas University (two years).
Awards I have received include an Honorable Mention in 2011 for Specialty Reporting from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors, a Second Place ASPY award for Online Convergence from ASP Westward, and Second Place in Review Writing from the annual Arkansas Press Association contest for college newspapers in 2006. (Former member of the Arkansas Press Association.)
I'm also the current marketing/office manager of a full-service computer company, Hometown Computers, which has shown tremendous growth during its first year of operation under tech wizard Charles Compton. Prior to discovering news writing on a full-time basis, I worked and trained for 10 years in customer service.
As the world of media is changing fast, I look forward to writing more in-depth East Texas works for magazines to better share my love for this region with the rest of the world. This area has a wealth of stories, oddities and warm-hearted people trying to make a difference. And I hope to make some difference in collecting their accounts.
I'm madly in love with Caddo Lake and its environmental issues. I'm equally in love with the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge and the process of growing a national park from the bones of the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant. I'm sure there will be many photos on my blog from there, of the ruins from the plant, of the animals and nature. Other loves I have are creative thought and the process of "meeting the muse" to access creativity.
I expect to include my own poetry exercises, pieces on creativity block and challenging your own creative standards. I'll probably write some on politics and on being reasonable in an unreasonable world.
And to be blunt, I hope my blogs are keen enough to turn you on. I'm absolutely in love with my work as a newspaper reporter and occasional photographer. But perhaps I am more than a proficient prose pirate, probably a poet just pretending to be a jolly journalist.
My love of writing has driven my entire life. I'd wither without writing and the contact it affords me to interact with and investigate the world around me. I'm consistently thrilled by my opportunity to dive deep or to dance dangerously across an anchored tension of time, like crossing a high wire of notes and memories, at deadline.
I intend never to stop challenging myself to become more and greater, to access soul-touch, healing and passion. Without zeal, what's the point? And I don't mean the synthesized warmth most choose to show, but fierce sincerity. You may notice some of my sign-outs are the same as when I write letters. That's because this is just another of my love letters to the world.
Peace - Terri
