Author Spotlight: Terry Newman

Terry Newman is an award-winning author of romantic comedies with a paranormal twist. She enjoys writing humour, creating off-beat characters, and putting them in implausible situations. She’s spent most of her adult life writing in some form. She has been the Editor-in-Chief of a national health publishing company, as well as an advertising copywriter for a firm selling dietary supplements. Terry has spent the last several years as a freelance writer, creating eBooks and articles on a variety of topics.

She’s lived most of her life in Northeast Ohio, where she sets the majority of her fictional towns. She has a daughter, a son-in-law, and a grand-puppy, and lives in North Lima, a real town in Northeast Ohio with all of her characters. Yes, it does get crowded at times.

 

This is Author Terry Newman’s writing and publication journey in her own words…

 

 

I’ve always loved to write. As a child, I had envisioned making a living writing. My first full-time writing job was as Editor-in-Chief of a national health publishing company. It had a small staff. I was editor and ghost writer, as well as advertising copywriter for its sister corporation, a dietary supplement firm. It may not have had many employees, but its reach was national.

I’ve also worked for two manufacturing firms. With the first, Delphi Corp, a division of General Motors, I was a supervisor. I worked at the York, Pa. Harley-Davidson plant, where I was a communications specialist, responsible for the writing of the weekly employee newsletter. What a fun job and what an interesting company culture.

I didn’t write seriously until I experienced a life-threatening health issue. In 2019, I was in a coma, and doctors didn’t expect me to come out of it. But look! I did. When I woke up, I wrote a note to my daughter: “I want to do so much.” The note, now framed, sits next to my computer as a reminder that life holds no guarantees.

I was in a nursing home for over a year recovering (it’s a long story and I had several health issues). While there, I started editing a story I had written and put aside. By December 2020, I had signed a contract with The Wild Rose Press. From that moment on, I’ve never stopped writing.

I cannot emphasize enough that you should never stop dreaming. Always keep pursuing your dreams. Want to write? You can do it. You’re never too old and the dream is never too big.

 

Newman’s inspiration to start writing…

Reading. As a child I loved to read, and wondered if I could write. Well, I don’t think I wondered at all. I knew I had to write so I just started. I had begged my mother to buy a series of books that were mailed to our home monthly, The Happy Hollisters. I knew after reading a few, I wanted to write books. I read everything I could. And because I was a child, I didn’t question my ability. I just jumped in and wrote my own stories. I remember writing one in junior high school about UFOs chasing two girls. In my eyes every single story I wrote was spectacular.

 

Challenges as a writer…

 

The biggest challenge is self-doubt. I wonder if I’m good enough sometimes. I don’t view the steps of writing as challenges, but as opportunities to become a better writer. That lousy first draft? It’s not a challenge writing the second draft. It’s an opportunity to develop a better story. The first round of edits isn’t a challenge. It’s an opportunity to learn more about my craft. That may sound Pollyannish, but I’m so grateful to be doing what I love. I try to look at all the benefits writing brings me.

 

Newman’s favourite quote from her novel Hearts on the Rocks…

 

“When I realized that, it didn’t matter that the senior jock made fun of me. I was meant to be here. I was made of star stuff. Even if no one else realized its implications, I did. And it inspired me to become a geology major and it made me less lonely.” He looked at the sky. “How can you be lonely when the stars and planets—gazillions of them—are your cousins?”

 

Newman’s works…

 

Heartquake is about a coffee shop owner who runs for city council on an anti-fracking platform, and her billionaire boyfriend. It’s rumored around town he’s a lion shifter.

Rewrites of the Heart, a romantic comedy, is the story of JJ Spritely, romance writer, whose characters jump out of the pages of their story into the real world to help her write her own love story. What could possibly go wrong?

The Wizard of her Heart, a romantic comedy, tracks the professional (and personal?) relationship of Sydney Thomas and her boss, Wyatt Ginn. Sydney doesn’t believe in magic, but Wyatt claims he can cast love spells on jelly beans.

 

Does writing a full book ever get easier?…

 

Every book comes with its own set of challenges. Writing is easier in one sense since my first one because I have more confidence. Confidence helps.

I find that writing a book comes in stages, though. Some of which are easy, some not so easy. I get super excited when I have an idea. That makes writing the first 10,000 to 15,000 words easy. I’m carried away by my enthusiasm. Then, to use a bad pun, the plot thickens, and my writing slows and I question my next steps. Once I can get out of that middle and see the end in sight, the writing is easier. And when I write a satisfying ending, well, that’s pretty exciting.

 

Future works in the pipeline…

 

I’m 43,000 words into a contemporary romantic comedy, a beach read, called Murphy’s Laws. Murphy Clarke was left at the altar by her musician boyfriend who took a gig of a lifetime over a lifetime with her. She becomes a life coach to help others, but she also develops a set of seven rules for her life. The first one is never take vacations.

When we meet her, she’s broken it. Can the other rules falling be far behind?

 

Words of advice and encouragement from Author Terry Newman for aspiring authors…

 

Never give up on your dreams. Look at me. Who would have thought that five years after a life-threatening coma, I’d have four books published, awaiting the first round of edits on my fifth book, and working on my sixth book?

It’s never too late to make your dream come true. I’m living proof of that. And if I can do it, you can too.