It has been four years since I did my initial research for my soon to be published novel THE BACKSIDE OF YESTERDAY. It takes place during The Great Depression. At that particular time, I was actually researching a very long book on my family history on both my parents, beginning with their parents. I interviewed relatives that are the surviving children of this blighted era. I wrote the first two-thirds of the first draft (700 pages). The last third dealt very closely with my now late mother. She had been sick for two years and at this particular time, I had to stop. Her illness was acute and 3 months later, she passed away— ten days before my birthday I never looked at the printed draft for 6 months. When I did read it again, I realized I would have to finish it and start over from page one. A monumental task I was not willing to undertake, as I was in denial about her death and not ready to write again on this topic.

 One year goes by and I am ready to write again. With the knowledge I possessed through the interviews that included my late sister and mother (my oldest sister died a year before my mother), I started my internet research on the impact the depression had on the area where my new book took place. I always work with an outline; utilizing an unfinished a book or story, as the foundation for my work. I have so many of them. I never completed long prose. I very foolishly judged my work on the merits of a very rough first draft. And since it was not perfect, I stopped writing the book or story. I also did not at that time, possess the needed perseverance or the dedication it takes to bring a novel to fruition. In other words, I was “a lazy writer”. Through my interviews, research and watching movies of the era (and they certainly were not reflective of the times, as they were escapist entertainment), I studied the “lingo” of the period to create authenticity. I never had a more enjoyable time writing a book. I had just gone through a long and painful process of publishing my first novel (FILL MY EYES) that gave me the tools I lacked to complete long prose. It must be noted I started my writing career as a teenager in the poetry genre. The inspiration came quickly and I could finish a poem in less than ten minutes. My current writing is as compact as poetry. I do not waste time dragging the story out for another couple of hundred pages, I am very precise. Every little word has meaning all its own, to alter a very old song.

 During my fifth and final re-write of THE BACKSIDE OF YESTERDAY, our country experienced the current “meltdown”. It was a long time coming. We overlooked what was going on in this country for so many years, the inevitable happened. And what was more frightening, my research and the book parallels so many aspects of today’s current economic blight. So many of us were born with silver spoons (or at least silver-plated) in our mouths. We are for the most part, a society of “instant gratification”, the quick fix. The Children of the Depression have worried about this problem for years. It was fifteen years ago, I was watching the classic “Grapes of Wrath” on video with my parents. My mother said, “I hope you never have to go through this Terry, but I fear you will.” How right she was. This meltdown is kicking our cans all over the place.

 We have become a very tangled “global society” and it will take more than a World War to get us out of the mess we are in. We have allowed our elected officials and big business suck us into the trouble we are now experiencing. And if we do not act quickly, we may never recover. We are not living in the 30’s when all businesses were solely run. We are a society of merging and at times, greedy conglomerates, and when one small company falls, a “domino effect” occurs.

 The old adage if we do not learn by our past mistakes, history repeats itself, is so true . I do not pretend to have all the answers. I have none and I am frightened. I do know we have to become more aware and vigilant. I could go on and on about other problems that have eroded our society and has contributed to our current problems, but that would take several more articles.

I never really was aware that I always possessed a social consciousness until I discovered hidden on a dark shelf, the original poems of my youth. They were a disdainful indictment of the times, while exploring “the human condition” And this is still, so very evident in my current writing.  I too, was in a “fugue state”. I’m sorry I never woke up sooner. My plans for retiring early and living off my writing has become nothing but a dream, thanks to the current economy. I never wanted to retire and work part time. And if I do, where would I find a job with unemployment in the double digits in certain areas of the country? I have never been one to plan ahead and the one time I did, look where it got me—nowhere! I spent too much time furthering my own ambitions (for the first time in my life), and yes, I am a little bitter. Yesterday once more is a fond expression in song referring to nostalgia. Now the phrase is an indictment. Many of us have been ostriches for far too long.

So, to those of you who are stretching and yawning from a long sleep. Wake up and smell the bedlam! I did and the stench is sour.

Terry D. Robertson

Author of “Fill My Eyes”

“The Backside of Yesterday”