Three years ago, Terri Depue decided there was one person she no longer wanted to put last in life: herself.
Her hobbies had taken a back seat to her around-the-clock career, and she wanted to strike a better balance between her personal and professional worlds.
Terri had been working on Oracle projects for 18 years at the time, and she had extensive experience with implementations and upgrades. Her job pursuits landed her at Perficient as the EBS Applications Support Lead, and she quickly seized the opportunities that came with it.
Perficient’s flexible work environment has allowed Terri to continue to grow her career and do the things she loves in the Oracle arena, while taking back her nights and weekends.
Terri has certainly made the most of her free time. Around the time she joined Perficient, she had decided to rekindle her lifelong love of reading and writing.
“I’ve always been an avid reader,” she said. “I’ve always been good at telling humorous stories. My mom reminded me at one point, ‘you used to write short stories.’”
Terri picked back up her pen and nurtured the seed of a story that was planted in her head a while back, the story of a young girl named Annie Reed who leaves behind family and friends in Seattle to move to Magnolia Creek, a small town in rural Virginia. Annie, Terri writes, changes her life by taking “one courageous step.”
Terri took one, too.
“I wrote a 69-page draft and sent it to one publisher, and they picked it up,” she said. “I knew it was meant to be.”
Terri published her first book, Blooms: A Magnolia Creek Novel, in 2014, and she’s hosted many successful book signings, speaking engagements and gatherings since then. Her book will also be featured in the New York Times Book Review in the spring of 2016.
Blooms is the first novel in a series of three. The second installment, in which she shares even more tales of her fictional friends in Magnolia Creek, is currently in production with an estimated release date of May 24, 2016. Terri and her publisher are currently in talks with Hollywood producers to explore the option of turning her novels into movies.
Terri typically spends about 2 to 3 hours writing on any given weeknight, and she also dedicates time on weekends.
The central theme throughout her novels is courage – the courage to take chances, to always continue down the road of self-discovery because you never know where it might lead.
Now, when people ask Terri, “so, what do you do?” she doesn’t completely self-identify through her career. She can say she’s fulfilled her dream of writing a book, and she’s continuing to cultivate her craft.
“I’m proud of my achievement,” she said, “and I hope to inspire others to be courageous and actively pursue their life.”
Visit Terri’s website for more information on her writing ventures, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter at @terridepue for updates as well. You can purchase Blooms: A Magnolia Creek Novel at Tate Publishing, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million.
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