Greetings,

Ron Rash, author of the New York Times bestselling  novel SERENA, a novel, P.S., when asked how places are fundamental to his identity as a writer, responded:  "There's a wonderful term the Welsh use, cynefin, for a primal, fierce attachment to a part of a landscape.  I have read that this attachment can be so fierce that when sheep are sold the owners have to sell the land along with the flock.  The sheep cannot adjust to any other landscape; they become so disoriented ... When I write a novel, I want that same fierce attachment to the landscape..."

Do you have a "fierce attachment" to a landscape?  Or a cityscape? Without a physical geography in which to root ourselves--a place to care for and which cares for us--life itself becomes devoid of life, and hope.  My latest blog post shares brief stories of adults and children all over the world finding hopeful ways to reconnect to the land.  I hope you'll share your stories too. 

Blessings to you as spring grows into summer.   Page

FEATURED POETRY BOOK

Married Into It by Pat Frolander

When we lose the language upon which a culture is built, we lose the culture.  When we save the language--the colloquialisms, the inflection, the life philosophies imbedded in the words and phrases--we save the richness of the human experience. 

"Houston Creek wends its way through the heart of the Bear Lodge Mountains," writes
poet Pat Frolander, "and spills into the Belle Fourche River."  Later, in that same poem, she tells us "on Lambert's land a soddy, its roof caved in, tucks beside a reservoir--the grave on the northside unmarked."  

I know that soddy intimately, have hiked to it hundreds of times, but never knew the family, nor their story.  Yet even in its decay, the soddy remains a testimony to a journey.  Pat's poems, unlike the soddy, will endure for generations to come.  I hope you'll buy this beautiful book, and marvel not only at the words inside that convey a life, but also the art by Sarah Rogers that graces the book's cover.  Thank you High Plains Press.

FEATURED WRITING TIP

from "The Long and Short of It" by Elizabeth Sims

A short story is short.  A novel is long.  We all know that.  But what we don't always know is if the story we want to tell will best be served by the short story form, or the novel form.  Sims make a common sense suggestion.  Ask yourself this question: How much time does the story span?  If the story spans a few hours, or days, or a week--chances are the short story form will serve it well.  If it "spans years or generations" then consider the novel form.  Read more articles by Writers Digest contributing editor Elizabeth Sims.

PROJECT CONSULTATION

Is there a story inside of you? 

A passionate idea yearning to find its way onto the pages of a book? But you don't know where to start? Or you've started but can't finish? Lost your confidence? Need someone to light a fire under you while still understanding the challenges you face?  Contact Page for a complimentary, half-hour consultation.