“Terry’s advice was to sit down and write. Writing was so much a part of our 24 hours a day. We wrote our books on our screened in porch together. His typewriter and desk was on one side and mine was on the other. We would go to bed and he talked about whatever he was working on until I had to ask him to stop and let me sleep. He died in 2013, and it scares me to death to think of writing another novel without him. I sold the movie rights to my last book, Thelonious Rising, and have been so busy I haven’t had time to think about the next one. I do have a box of material for a book I have been thinking about writing for the past 20 years. Terry was the one who told me I could be a writer and I never would have taken anything out of the drawer if it weren’t for him. I didn’t start out wanting to be a writer. I am a quiet person and spend a lot of time alone. I use writing to sort out my thoughts. I lived by myself for a long time, then lived with Terry for a long time, and now I’m on my own again. It is a strange transition. Things have happened to make it easier such as the sale of my book and being a part of The Shoe Burnin.’ I have been really lucky that I have had things to do instead of staying home and watching TV. A wise woman once told me if you are going to stay home and mope, people will let you. You are going to have to rescue yourself and change your life on your own, no one else is going to do it. People have rescued me but that wasn’t their intent.”
Judith Richards
