In This Issue
Word Whisperings
Letters
Marie Dorion's Recognition
Touching Base
Free Books
 

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Word Whisperings 
 
This month's book Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth. It's a funny, insightful book about the way we fill up -- or don't.  "For almost two decades," she writes, "the suffering I felt about anything -- my parents' marriage, my boyfriend Sheldon's death, my chuby moon face -- was expressed in my relationship with food."
 
I read the book quickly and then re-read it slowly, finding myself moved to tears more than once  Ms. Roth, who also wrote When you Eat in front of the Refrigerator Pull Up a Chair, believes that we often eat (or spend time on the computer or consume alcohol and drugs, or overwork, or excessively exercise, etc., etc.,) because these things are less painful than attempting to deal with the pain of our lives.     
 
Women are notorious for demeaning our bodies.  It's often safer to comment on fat thighs or bulkly hips than to deal with that painful phone call we had this morning from our mother or the hurtful words we sent and then got back from a spouse or friend. Better to have a Hagan Daz than stir up more emotional turmoil by facing what we fear, right? 
Women Food and God is an inspirational book that is  a path for taking care of ourselves, letting go of blame and shame and allowing ourselves to become spiritually satisfied, the greatest hunger reduction there is.  I hope you'll enjoy it.

 

 

Reader & Docent Letters

So many of my stories are made richer through museums and historical societies.  The Winona History Center was vital for my last two books.  I practically moved into the Aurora Museum in Aurora, Oregon, while writing the Change and Cherish Series about Emma Geisy  and Aurora, the quilt book.  I received this lovely note from a docent at the Aurora Museum I thought you might enjoy.
 
About 8 minutes before closing I had three sisters come through the door. Telling them we were closing I asked where they were from? They'd driven up from Redwood City CA. Being from out of the area I offered to let them go through the Museum and I would just stay. One of the sisters said that they had been rushing up the freeway to Portland, OR, to catch the birth of (she points to one of the other
 ladies) a new granddaughter. But just as they were going through Salem they received the call that the baby had arrived. They had missed the birth.
The race slowed down when they read "Aurora'' ....so many miles ahead.
The discussion turned to "Oh, my gosh....Emma ....Emma lived in Aurora! " Suddenly the baby was not important, it became "all about Emma". All three of them had read the series and were so excited to see where Emma lived. We normally  close at 4:00 and I didn't leave until  6:15. They were a lot of fun ...I enjoyed them and their excitement.  They had a WONDERFUL time walking on Emma's floors and being in her home. They then proceded up the freeway to see the new baby. I thought it the "best"
visitor experience I've had this year: Emma over the importance of a new baby  -- once she had arrived....the baby would still be there but they had to see Emma's Aurora right then.
 
We Authors always hope our fiction will "move" people.  Emma moved those three sisters off the freeway and into the heart of Aurora.

Story Sparks

"Stories are the sparks that light our ancestor's lives, the embers we blow on to illuminate our own"

Greetings!  

Today I emailed the manuscript for The Daughter's Walk seeking final editing and approval.  I finished it late last week then started obsessing about it:  maybe I should change this part; maybe I need to cut that section; maybe...well,  you get the picture.  So I sent it off with the trust that my editor will guide me as she always has before.

It's been an interesting journey writing this book. I changed much from the first draft. Some revisions were recommended by my editor and others grew out of more time spent with the characters and their decisions as the story unfolded. Yes, I know, I'm writing these characters but they develope their own ways of wanting the story told.  Weaving fact and fiction is always my challenge in writing stories of remarkable women and this was no exception.

The story was inspired by Linda L. Hunt's book, Bold Spirit, Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America (Random House 2003) that told the story of a Norwegian woman and her daughter, Clara, who took a wager in 1896 to walk from Spokane to New York  hoping to earn $10,000 and thus save their family farm.  Things happened. But the sentence that intrigued me noted that after their return from New York City, Clara changed her name and later had no contact withthe family for more than twenty years.

Wow!  Why did she change her name? Why did she leave the family or was she sent away? What did she do during her years of separation? Was her separation related to the walk to New York or something totally different?  Clara "helped" me answer some of those questions; I hope as readers you'll agree that like her mother's journey, the daughter's walk was just as remarkable. There'll be more to come about this book.
Marie Dorion's Recognition
On July 10th I had the privelege of helping unveil a new
Marie Dorion Kiosk
Dorion Kiosk
Kiosk in Keizer, Oregon, that celebrates the life of Marie Dorion the only woman who traveled west with the Astor expedition in 1811-12 following Lewis and Clark's return.  Madame Dorion is the subject of my Tender Ties series beginning with  A Name of Her Own and ending with Hold Tight the Thread.  The last book brings her to what became the Keizer area near Salem, Oregon.  Keizer resident, Octogenarian Barbara Clement was the impetus behind this kiosk.  She'd read the books and realized that Marie had lived in the region yet nothing indicated she'd been there.  Barbara took that to be a travesty and thus began a two- year effort to bring Marie to the attention of the city council, Keizer Heritage Center and the Keizer Points of Interest Committee and ultimately to visitors and citizens who pass through the Keizer Station Park.  All agree it was Barbara who kept the interest and like Marie Barbara is a "can-do" woman.   More than 150 people including dozens of descendants attended the event.
Touching Base
 
Jane
Join me at one of the upcoming events!  Check out www.jkbooks.com new additions.  
 
 
  • July 24, 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Monmouth Christian Church, 959 W. Church St. (1:00 p.m.) and Cornerstone Books, 110 N. Monmouth Ave., #101 (3:00 p.m.).
    WOMEN'S SPRING EVENT and BOOK SIGNING will follow at nearby Cornerstone Books. For more information call Liz Halligan at 503-837-0925  [email protected].

  • AUGUST
  •  

    • August 8, 2:00-4:00 p.m., Shaniko Books N' More, 48786 F St., Shaniko, Oregon, a ghost town reviving. 
    • August 11-12, 11:00 a.m. Albertina Kerr Center, 424 NE 22nd Ave., Portland OR 97232
      ALBERTINA'S PRESENTS JANE KIRKPATRICK.  Tenth annual fundraiser helps with Albertina's work serving adults and children with disabilities.  Reservations  required Call 503-231-0216 to make reservations or for more information. 
    • August 15, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Rockaway City Hall, Hwy. 101, Rockaway, Oregon
      OREGON WRITERS COLONY'S FOUNDER DAY CELEBRATION & AUTHORS' SHOWCASE.  Open to OWC members and their guests.  For more information visit www.oregonwriterscolony.com.
    • August 18, 6:30 p.m. Tillamook County Library, 1716 Third St., Tillamook, Oregon
      The Library's Adult Summer Reading Program winds up with this celebration event.  Jane's presentation is open to the public, admission is free. For more information call 503-842-4792 ext.1708, or [email protected].
    • August 19, evening. Time Enough Books, 157 Howerton Way, Ilwaco, Washington. Contact [email protected]. for details.
    • August 21, 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m.Lincoln City, Oregon, in the plaza next to Bob's Beach Books, 1747 NW Hwy. 101. 2010 NORTHWEST AUTHOR FAIR.  Lots of authors will be there signing books.  Jane will attend, sign her latest and other books and watch the kite flyers that bring such color to the beaches of Lincoln City.  Make it a beach weekend!
  • Librarian Alert and Contest for Free Books! 
    Reading!  I reward myself for having written by always having a good book to pick up.  Got one in the car (you never know when construction will pause a trip.  It's a perfect time to read!) Books piled next to the bed. Books on the coffee table. Books in the bathroom, too.  I give books as gifts and urge people to get library cards as early as possible and I love attending book groups whether in person or by speaker phone.
     
    I know many of my readers find my titles in libraries.  One woman wrote to say she found me while looking for a Stephen King novel she hadn't read and found my titles  right next to him in general fiction so she checked out one of mine!  Voila! A new reader. Last year A Flickering Light the first book of a duet about my photographing grandmother was named to Library Journal's  Best Books of 2009 list so as much as I like libraries, I like to think they like me too.
     
    Because I love libraries (I serve on our local Public School Library Board) I'm offering a drawing for a number of novels published by my publisher, WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a division of Random House. All you do is visit my website www.jkbooks.com, click on "contact Jane" and tell me a brief story connected to my books and your favorite library.  I'll pick six winners, request your snail mail address and send you the books.  After you read them, I hope you'll donate them to your local library who inspired your story.  Feel free to visit my Words of Encouragement and other blogs (including Bo, my dog's blog) while you're there.
     
    Jerry with McKennaThe photograph features my husband Jerry reading with our young friend three year old McKenna Fine.  We visited McKenna's grandparents when I made a presentation about An Absence so Great  at the Harney County Library in Burns, Oregon. 
    As I travel this summer and meet so many of you I am humbled.  Your love of stories and the historical women who inspire them help inspire me to do the work I am best suited to and hopefuly work that the world needs doing. I hope you find the same in your world. 
     
    Warmly,
     
     Jane

    Jane Kirkpatrick