April, 2013
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Story Sparks 

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

 

 

 

Greetings!  

 

 

Bird

In my dream I am with the new owners of the ranch. I'm anxious because I have to tell them that in addition to the house, barn and property they've purchased along the John Day River where we lived for more than a quarter century, there is a second house they now own. It's not on the river but rather on property near the Warm Springs Indian Reservation where I worked for many years. And I have not emptied that house nor sorted a single thing accumulated there.

                

The people are a bit miffed with this new information and they suggest I take what I want from this house they've just learned about (and are standing in) and leave them to figure out what to do with the rest of the items.

                

I look around. The only thing I see that I desire is a palm-sized ceramic bird. It is rounded with a flat bottom, the kind that might fit on a mobile above a child's bed. But this bird is by itself. It's white with deep chocolate lines for feathers and a single dot for each eye. I've seen birds somewhat like this for sale on the beaches of Baja California, a place we didn't get to visit this year because of Jerry's health.

                 

I plan to leave this second house but can't find my shoes. I notice that the new owner is wearing them. But near the door are a pair of soft-as-a- moccasin pair of white shoes, kind of a Mary Jane style.  I slip my feet into them and they fit perfectly. I say to myself as I walk out of the door - with bird in hand: "They will walk in my shoes and I will walk in someone else's shoes now." 

                

Then I wake up.

 

                

When I was in graduate school years ago I had a semester of dream analysis work, reading books by Fritz Perls (among others) the father of Gestalt Therapy. As students, we were finding ways to gain insights from our many, full-colored, wild and exotic dreams.  A few of my dreams - just like my poetry - have slipped into my novels as dreams of Mazy (All Together in One Place) or Ivy (Mystic Sweet Communion).  Perls' practice included becoming the items in a dream, giving each a voice. Not just the people but even the inanimate objects. It was perfect preparation for a novelist that at the time I had no idea I'd become.

                

This past week, from this dream, I became the bird.

                

I'm separated from others.  I am leaving a place of both comfort and chaos. I have no desire to remain and yet now I will not be able to find the others who I thought were part of the spinning mobile to which I belong. I haven't seen the others for a long time so being alone isn't really new. But the site where I will be observing from in the future will be different and separated, I'll have no chance to connect with the other birds in my flock.  But then I feel a certain privilege to have been chosen to go. This awareness helps relieve the anxiety of the changes I'll experience. I am comforted that  I belong to the woman who holds me, who takes me with her so I am not left behind. I'm small yet held in the hand of someone who cares.

 

                

Later, I'll be the voice of the moccasin-like shoes and perhaps my old shoes being worn by someone else. The house itself full of memories and objects left behind will also find a place in my yearnings to leave the past yet take with me what will comfort as I walk a new path. It has not escaped me that  the image I chose first is a bird which in the Psalm is a metaphor for the soul or that birds were used to purify houses in the ancient world. Years ago I chose an eagle as a bird to represent the presence of God in my life and whenever I see one I am comforted. Our ranch was named for a bird, the chukar, and leaving last week two chukars ran up the driveway ahead of me. The bird in my dream was a small, ceramic, artistic bird. What does it mean?  I think I have a smidgeon of insight from that bird.

                

That is the joy of dream work, seeking the disparate connections that make up the gestalt. (Incidentally, I just received a planning document from the Audubon Society of Portland, the arrival occurring long after the dream or my becoming the voice of the bird. It reminded me of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a place I love near Burns, Oregon, a setting of Love to Water My Soul, where thousands of birds flock in April bringing people with cameras and binoculars. Disparate connections).

                 

There is more work to do with the birds in my life but I will be calmed and encouraged in this new path of my journey, especially by my last insight from being the bird, an insight that might comfort you as well: I'm small yet held in the hand of someone who cares.

In This Issue
Choices Leading to One Glorious Ambition
Jane's Schedule
Word Whisperings: Hearts of Stone
Coming Soon: New Website

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The Choices Leading to One Glorious Ambition

 

I get asked often how I can be so prolific in the midst of Jerry's health concerns, the ranch selling and our need to clear out the years of accumulation, etc. etc. I can't afford to have writer's block. As the quote on the top of my computer reads:  "You don't have time for that!" And I don't.  As I see it, my life is no more chaotic nor challenging than other people's. As I noted last month, we are not "hanging from the rigging" while many of you really are. And still, you get up, look after your families, go to work, make calls about prescriptions, child care, insurance, the bank's error, etc. take kids to soccer practice, come home, tend the yard, do all those everyday things that are the deposits to the commitments made to others through the years. That's all I'm doing too. 

                

Early morning is my best writing time not because I'm a morning person but because those quiet hours of darkness with dawn yawning in the distance are carefree. I have no worries about responding to emails or checking on Jerry -  because he's asleep. The dogs' hearts beat at my feet.  And it's said these are the hours closest to dreaming and that creative time. Besides, writing is a kind of prayer for me so it helps me take flight from the daily chaos and enter that "still place in a turning world."

                

That's especially so this month when the release and promotion of One Glorious Ambition is added to my to do list. Jerry has been able to join me again even driving to some of these events! Considering how his body had been startled by all the breaks and system failures, it is a joy indeed to have him well enough to want to travel and greet old friends and new faces garnered from this writing life.

                

Dorothea Dix, the subject of my latest novel, traveled extensively on behalf of the mentally ill. She made good use of her time by limiting her small, daily choices. She wore only dark linen dresses. She daily ate the same breakfast of porridge and tea. I remember reading that Katherine Hepburn limited her choices in the same way always eating steak and a potato for dinner, her closet lined with navy blue slacks and a plethora of white blouses. It's said she had one black dress for formal wear. That might explain my own 80-20 rule where I only wear 20% of the clothes in my closet.  So if you see me wearing the same thing in photographs at events...I've found a "uniform" for events so I can focus more on what I want to say than on what I need to wear.

                

Cutting down on small choices makes it easier to focus on the larger ones we have to make each day. I eat goat yogurt, fruit and half an avocado for breakfast. I've hired help for social media understanding and event planning, the yard and the house. I accept the help and can focus on what really matters that way.  Doing so helps me accomplish what others seem to think are many things as I tell the story of Dorothea, work on the next woman's story and tend to my family, friends and faith, all of much higher priority that deciding what I should wear. Cutting down the choices gives me energy and I find I like the sameness of some things in my life. Excruciating predictability allows me to creatively soar.


Jane's Schedule

   

Take a look and see where our paths might cross during upcoming events.

      Be sure to check the website for updated event information!

 

{I love that Dorothea Dix's story - and all the stories I've been privileged to tell - speak to diverse audiences. Bookstores, a retirement community, book clubs, historical society gatherings, museums and more. As one reader noted, "I'd never heard of Dorothea Dix before reading your book. Now I will never forget her." That's high praise for an author who simply wants to tell the stories that will encourage others in their everyday lives.  I hope our paths cross in the next weeks. Especially check out the walk in Sunriver, Oregon.  A fundraiser and a chance to walk with me and our dogs!}

 

WHEN:  Saturday, April 20, 1:00-4:30 p.m.
WHERE:   Trinity Lutheran Church, 675 S. 7th, Cottage Grove, Oregon
WHAT:  Join Jane for a gathering of story-telling, laughter and inspiration. For reservations call 541-942-5055 or 541-942-2373.

 

WHEN:   Friday, April 26, 6:00 p.m.
WHERE: Paulina Springs Books, 252 W. Hood Ave., Sisters, Oregon

WHEN:  Saturday, April 27, 6:00 p.m.
WHERE:   Paulina Springs Books, 422 S.W. 6th, Redmond, Oregon
 

MAY

WHEN: Saturday and Sunday, May 4-5
WHERE:   Sunriver Books & Gifts, and the Sunriver walking paths
WHAT: A book signing Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in Sunriver and the Walk for Habitat for Humanity at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday. This is the third annual walk  at Sunriver and encourages laughter and the presence of dogs! See you there!

 

WHEN: Saturday, May 11. 10:00 am signing; 1:00pm presentation followed by new Emma's Walking Tour and reception at the former Keil home. Reservations for presentation and reception required; $35 for the work of the society.  Contact www.auroracoloony.org or (503) 678-5754. Mark the date!
WHERE:  Aurora Colony Museum, Aurora, Oregon  Celebrating 50 years of the colony historical society.

WHEN: Mother's Day, May 12. 10-4:00.
WHERE:  Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens, Woodland, Washington
WHAT: A return visit to this lovely garden and subject of Where Lilacs Still Bloom.

 

WHEN:    Friday and Saturday, May 17-18
WHERE:  Overlake Christian Church, 9900 Willows Road NE, Redmond, Washington
WHAT: Northwest Christian Writer's Renewal. Join Jane and a cadre of authors for keynote inspiration and how-to workshops. This writer's retreat (Friday, 8:30 a.m. to Saturday, 6:00 p.m.)is the perfect getaway to re-inspire your writing life or just get you started.  For more information go to
www.nwchristianwriters.org. 

 

WHEN:  Saturday, May 25, 2:00 PM
WHERE:   Salem, Oregon 2600 Center Street
WHAT: May is Mental Health Month and Jane brings her latest novel to life in conjunction with the Oregon State Hospital Museum in Salem. Plan to attend this launch presentation and book signing and tour the new museum.

 

For all event information and updates, please visit 

 

Thanks!   
Word Whisperings

Hearts of Stone

 

 

Hearts of Stone  by Kathleen Ernst

 

Kathleen Ernst is one of my favorite authors. She writes great mysteries (the Chloe Ellefson Series) as well as fine young adult novels including several American Girl titles. She's celebrating the publishing of her 25th book this year by having giveaways on her website. http://kathleenernst.com/index.php.

            

One of her titles that I hadn't been familiar with is Hearts of Stone. It was part of the give-away that I didn't win but, surprise, the book arrived as a gift from Kathleen. What a treat!  The book received a number of awards and was an Editor's Choice, highly recommended from Historical Novel Review. 
           

 

It's a young adult novel that once again proves the point I try to make with my presentations: that people who write for young adults and children are some of the best writers anywhere! Young readers want the essence of the story, they don't want insights lopped on their heads. They want authentic characters, action and the understanding of the emotions that drive great stories. As Willa Cather said, those emotions that affect us most before we turn fifteen  are passion and betrayal. I've added acceptance and forgiveness (which may not be emotions now that I think of it but are still part of the end result we readers seek inside stories).

            

Hearts of Stone is set during the Civil War in Tennessee. All these emotions and desires are intermixed in a nourishing humus of history and the heart. Kathleen notes that she participated in re-enactment events in Tennessee where she first gained insights into the refugee camps and plight of children. In her book, we're on the road as refugees, a position I had never considered when I thought about the Civil War. Parents gone to war or died, homes burned out by warring factions, neighbor no longer helping neighbor because their loyalties are on the wrong side: all result in homelessness and the struggles for survival.  

 

Enter Hannah and her desire to keep her family together after the deaths of her parents, in a valley where once the neighboring boy was her closest friend but is now on the other side. Hannah's cadre of a younger brother and twin sisters becomes an unforgettable family and their fierce love for each other and to survive results in an inspiring story that readers of any age will take into their hearts. 

jkbooks.com 
ComingSoon2My totally redesigned website is just about ready to launch.

 

  • New background information on books & series.
  • Insights into my work as an author.
  • Reader polls.
  • Buy autographed books using PayPal.
  • A totally updated calendar.
  • And much more.

Watch for the announcement.

MorningSpringSky

A robin just landed outside of my office  window. The robin is the state bird of my home state, Wisconsin where I know it is snowing today.They're pretty fat here in Oregon. Just beyond I see three does with two smaller deer, likely last year's fawns. Daffodils have stuck their noses up. My brother and sister-in-law in Minnesota tell tales of yet more snow and a friend said there was so much snow over her crocus that she considered getting her hair dryer out to melt a circle around them so they could breath in spring. I hope you are breathing in spring, the time of newness (and yes taxes which I call bounty counting time) and a time to remember all the goodness we've been given in our lives and find ways to pass that on. I hope this newsletter is one way I pass on the promise of hope no matter the occasion or the season. May you find time this week to feel as free as a bird.


 

Warmly,

 

Jane Kirkpatrick