(Editor’s note: we were pleased to get a comment from Terry Freeman of Centerville on Friday. He and his wife, Judy, still live in Centerville on land which has been in his family since 1924. They have one grown son, Nathaniel. Terry is a graduate in journalism from Georgia State University who retired from Georgia Power Company after a 25-year career. He holds an MBA degree in management from Shorter College and a certificate in geological research from Boston University. He taught marketing at Covenant College and is now writing a study of the last words of Jesus Christ when on the cross.)
By Terry Freeman
SNELLVILLE, GA. | Here I am 71 years old. Here’s what I’ve been up to recently.
Ever since 10th grade English from Mrs. Evelyn Aiken at South Gwinnett High School, I’ve always fancied myself a writer. One day she gave us an assignment to write a poem. I’d never written a poem before, but I did my best to produce a sonnet worthy of Shakespeare himself. Mrs. Aiken loved it, and encouraged me to continue to write. All through high school and college I occasionally wrote poems in long hand.
Freeman
Then, life happened.
Fast forward to 2006. That year I began to gather all those poems with the intent to publish them. After many rejection letters, I finally talked to a kind editor at what is now B&H Publishing, who said, “Even if your poems were exceptional, you’ll probably not find anyone to publish them. I think you should self-publish.”
So, I did. It was a long, tedious, and expensive process. The result is Rebel Soldiers, and Other Musings on the Vanity of Life. I can say, with confidence, it sold under a million copies. How about under a hundred copies?
Judy and I moved to the mountains in 2012. There, I began to convert a Sunday School class lesson I’d written about into a book. During that process the idea for another book entered my mind. All I had was a title, Dust from a Red Dirt Road.
Fast forward to 2016. We came back to Centerville from time to time to check on Mom and Dad (Molly and Morris Freeman). November 2016 was one of those times. Dad and I were in his shop. We were laughing about the number of hammers and screwdrivers we’d accumulated when it happened. I had my back to him and heard a crash. He’d fallen. He had a stroke, and so began five years of caretaking. First Dad, who passed away in August 2019, and then Mom passed in July 2021. Their memory is a blessing.
Fast forward to May 2023. The phrase, “dust from a red dirt road” popped into my head. I said, out loud to myself, “You need to write that book.” So, I did. I wrote for eight hours a day, six days a week, for five months. I was a man possessed.
Finally, Dust from a Red Dirt Road was finished. Right now, it’s available on Amazon, but soon it’ll be available everywhere. Here’s the Amazon link: https://a.co/d/dsuDd1P
I also republished the poetry under the title, Rebel Soldiers. Right now, it is only available through Amazon. Here’s the link: https://a.co/d/7sdsHj8
In addition, I’ve started a publishing company, Tóg bog é Publishing. That name is a Gaelic phrase. It roughly translates “Take it Easy.” My focus is two-fold: to preserve the Southern storytelling tradition, and to be a positive resource for our writers, and our readers.
We have two more books coming soon. Farm Boy a memoir written by V. Clark Harrison of Loganville. It should be out by the end of February. The Narrow Path Leads Home is a 365 day devotional book written by Baptist Pastor Kyle Watts of Tiger, Ga. It will be out in time for Christmas 2024. Our website will be up and running soon.
Who would have thought that this old man would end up not only writing, but also publishing books? That was the big turn in my life.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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