May, 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!  

 

 

Today begins the next part of our lives when we do not have a ranch on the John Day River. Someone asked "What's next?"  a question that startled. After all, we've been leaving the ranch for a couple of years now and this is just the next chapter in a book that will probably never be finished. People move on. The homesteaders of long ago...moved on. Some had to leave during a drought (think of the Dust Bowl era); some left pulled by new dreams (think the 1848-49 gold rush or Silicon Valley).  But in all instances, the ones who endured to pursue their dreams had these five qualities in common:

                 

1. First, they knew how to make a commitment and keep it and usually it was for something greater than themselves. The little things we do each day make up those deposits and sometimes we discount how important getting up to fix a child's lunch is or deciding not to buy the new car because we wanted instead to take a family vacation. When we make those commitments - to be there for our kids, to open a business, to decide to adopt, to check on a neighbor, to write that book, to downsize - incredible things can happen.

                 

2. Those who endure knew what they had control over and what they didn't have control over and they didn't waste time in blame or accusation when things went wrong. Not because they couldn't win the lawsuit but because doing so kept them from their commitments.  What do we control, anyway? I think we always have control over our attitude and how we respond to what life gives us. Churchill once said "Planning is essential but plans are useless."  It's how we respond that matters. And here are four ways I think those survivors, pioneers, dreamers responded: by becoming clear about what mattered in their lives and having the courage to act on that.  I think of Emma Giesy who chose to allow her sons to be raised by an uncle because their future was what mattered, not her "winning" in the communal society in which she lived.  She must have also increased her curiosity asking "why is this happening?" Or "What could I do differently next time?" And hopefully she also increased her compassion -for herself and for those around her in times of trial. We are almost always doing the best we can. I try to remember that.

                 

3.  Pioneering reformers like Dorothea Dix, subject of my latest novel, also understood that they'd face challenges.  They didn't see them as signs of a dead end but of opportunities to learn something they otherwise never would have learned. Recently on 60 Minutes John Tudor Jones, the founder of one of the largest philanthropic organizations, Robin Hood noted that out of failure comes information so one can make corrections and try again.

                 

4. Community. Those lives we admire for their endurance and perseverance understood the power of community. The prefix com in that word as well as communion and communication once meant "the exchange of burdens" and that's what we do when we share a problem, when we communicate effectively, commune at a table and share our bread. It's what we do when we live well with our neighbors as Jane and Joseph Sherar did with their Indian neighbors even when those neighbors see the world differently. It's not always easy to live in community; being a hermit has much to offer but no hermits I've ever read about fixed much of a problem in the world nor  touched the lives of others in encouraging ways.

                 

5. Those whose stories endure also learned to cope. If you've seen me speak I often talk about the coping saw and how it's meant to fit things into tight places like a cabinet into a corner.  What makes it a coping saw is that the blade is very strong but it's also flexible. As my wise husband once explained to me, if the blade is too strong it will splinter what you're trying to fit and if it's too flexible, it will leave gaps. One must have both strength and flexibility to cope. I think of Hulda Klager when I think of coping for how she saved her lilacs over and over in the times of flood. A coping saw allows the cabinet maker to change directions quickly without a lot of friction. I love that metaphor that serves as a reminder that whatever is "next" in our lives will be better handled with both strength and flexibility.

                 

That's where my heart is today, remembering how we endured a difficult transition all those years ago and made new lives in a wilderness place. We'll do it again with family, friends and faith . And the building called our lives that  we construct in this new time will be stronger for our new commitments, controlling our attitudes, learning from the challenges, sharing our burdens with our community and coping. Maybe those five qualities will speak to your hearts, too, for whatever is "next" in your world.

In This Issue
What's Next?
Jane's Schedule
Word Whisperings: Two May Selections
Coming in June: A New Website

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What's Next in My Writing Life?  Facing Forward. 

Bob & Janet

  

Once again I'm working on an Oregon story that begins in Missouri, just as the Emma Giesy trilogy did but starts almost ten years before Emma made her crossing. This story is about Letitia Carson, one of the first African-American women to travel the Oregon Trail which she did in 1845. She might have been a slave then and certainly had been before arriving in Oregon with a newborn baby. But it's more about what happened to her after she arrived and her husband died. It's a story about justice set in the midst of a citizenry wrangling over joining the union as a free or slave state, the position of women, the role of the courts in responding to an injustice, old hurts, betrayals and the triumph of this mother.  I guess I'm just taken with strong mother stories! 

             

One of  the fun parts has been hands on research in the Soap Creek area of Benton County, OR and being introduced to such things as miner's lettuce. We ate it, right there near Sulphur Springs and it tastes a bit like water cress. Letitia would have eaten it, too. I also got a look at bedstraw, a plant used to stuff quilts for use as mattresses in the early days. Letitia's property is now owned by Oregon State University but you can visit Sulphur Springs whenever you want. I so hope we'll one day be able to take readers on a tour of where Letitia once walked.

         

Botanist/ethnographer/forester/storyteller Bob Zybach joined us. His masters degree dissertation is titled  "Using Oral Histories to Document Changing Forest Cover Patterns: Soap Creek Valley, Oregon, 1500-1999."  Imagine, finding someone who knows the power of stories wrapped up in landscape! And to have someone identify flora was like taking my botany pill I've always wanted: you know, so I'd have instant knowledge without having to work for it!

              

A colleague of Bob's, Janet Meranda, first introduced me to Letitia's story. She and her husband John joined us on our mini tour as well. Both she and Bob inspired me to come to know Letitia and share her life with you through a novel. The working title is Facing Forward. Don't get too excited...It won't be out until the fall of 2014 but meanwhile, know I'll be tromping the hills and surfing the census records to bring you the best story I know how to tell.

 

Jane's Schedule

    

What's next on my schedule?  

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

      Be sure to check the website for updated event information!

 


WHEN: Saturday, May 11. 10:30am book signing, free with museum admission. 1:00 - 4:00 pm Remembering Emma talk with Jane, reservations required. Includes new Emma Walking Tour and capped off with a reception for Jane and event guests at the historic Frederick Keil House. Hosted by the Aurora Colony Historical Society. Seating is limited so call the Museum office at 503-678-5754 and make your reservations today. All proceeds benefit the Old Aurora Colony Museum.
WHERE:  Aurora Colony Museum, Aurora, Oregon 

WHAT: "Remembering Emma." It's Mother's Day weekend so consider spending the day in Aurora listening to Jane, visiting the museum and enjoying other special events being planned. 
 

WHEN: Mother's Day, May 12. 10:30 til 4:00pm.
WHERE:  Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens, Woodland, Washington
WHAT: A return visit to this lovely garden and subject of Where Lilacs Still Bloom Book signing all day and contribute to the fundraising efforts of this all-volunteer organization.

 

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. 
www.nwchristianwriters.org. 

 

WHEN:  Saturday, May 25, 2:00 PM. Plan to arrive by 1:45 to allow for secure escort to Gymnasium.
WHERE:   Oregon State Hospital museum and Oregon State Hospital on Center Street, Salem, OR
WHAT: May is Mental Health Month and Jane brings her latest novel to life in conjunction with the Oregon State Hospital Museum in Salem. One Glorious Ambition: The Compassionate Crusade of Dorothea Dix. Join Jane as she speaks of the life of Miss Dix and helps her step from her 1840's work with Congress to the needs of today's mentally ill. Maybe you'll be inspired to be the next Dorothea Dix! Plan to attend this launch presentation and book signing, tour the new museum, listen to stories of former patients, explore the history of mental health treatment and see the bust of Dorothea done by world-renowned sculptor John Houser. 

JUNE

WHEN: Sunday, June 2, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
WHERE:  Parnassus Bookstore, 105 Stedman St., Ketchikan, Alaska
WHAT: A Book Signing.  Jane has long wished to visit Alaska and touch base with a few bookstores. It happens she'll be in the village of Ketchikan as part of a "working cruise" so all of you in that part of the country, come visit!

 

WHEN: Friday-Sunday, June 21-23
WHERE:  Heathman Lodge, 7801 NE Greenwood Drive, Vancouver, Washington
WHAT: Region I Gathering of Women of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). Jane will be the guest speaker for this retreat event where stories will be the theme as it always is with Jane, as well as building our faith life and moving closer to God and each other. For more information contact Carol Fossum, 
[email protected]. 

 

For all event information and updates, please visit 

 

Thanks!   

Word Whisperings - Two Selections for May

 

Nascence The Story of  Ferroc
by Clayton Oliver Rutschow (createspace/bookbaby publishers)
                 
I'm not much into post apocalyptic stories although I did love The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood and this new book by Clayton Rutschow reminds me of those titles. Even my husband picked up the book - and he never reads anything of this genre. That's always a good sign. It might have been the intriguing cover that first attracted him but it was the story that kept him turning pages.

          

Ferroc is a cyborg . He has the brain of a human but his body is composed of computer-generated and operated parts, robot-like, so in some ways he's immortal.  His computer systems keep re-firing when he has a problem and the tech support is platitudinous! We should be so fortunate but then  this is the future we're reading about here. Ferroc has challenges on the race he undertakes: rantirs are aliens who actually created the computer systems that now operate Ferroc but are unhappy with what's he's doing with their creation. But even more intriguing is that Ferroc encounters humans who remain on this continent. What the story is really about  is the journey Ferroc makes toward humanity.

                 

 I found myself asking what does make us human? Some of the humans in the story behave in ways less than stellar while Ferroc protects and encourages while exploring what it is that makes him truly different from the other machinery-laden beings - and from what Ferroc once was. It's a thought-provoking book well worth the reading time. And yes, it was written by my precious nephew but that's beside the point. Clayton is also an actor, writer and fighter (as in Hollywood film) and he designed the cover which is pretty impressive all around. He's 25 years old and makes me wish I'd been that creative at that age. Or that interested in the machinations of the human spirit and the human heart.

 

 

Breaking Chains: Slavery on Trial in Oregon

 

by R. Gregory Nokes.  OSU press (May, 2013) 

    

One of the things that makes writing an historical novel easier is to have access to really fine research by historians. I've been waiting for this book, Breaking Chains, to come out ever since last fall when I first learned of it at a Crazy Eights author tour.  Mr. Nokes, the author, was in the audience and someone mentioned his book and while I looked for him afterwards, never found him. Then at another book signing in The Dalles I commented on my wait for this book and the owner of the store said, "I'll put you in touch with the author" which she did. And so we began an email relationship and he had his publisher send me an Approved Reader Copy (ARC) that I devoured.

                 

 I told Jerry after the first chapter that "This is how history should be written." This book is a remarkable telling of  Oregon's settlement and the place of slavery within that. My adopted state is the only state in the nation to have in its constitution both that the state would be free and an exclusion clause keeping people of color out!

                 

This book is also the story of a family, Robin and Polly Holmes, and how they worked to earn freedom for the three children they were able to take with them from Missouri to Oregon (while their three other children were sold by their owner before they left that state). It is a page turner because I wanted to know if the Holmes' were successful. But it is also a social history of a place always known to me to be "free and independent" and to have come in to the union as a free state. So it is with some chagrin that I discover not just the warts of this freedom-loving state but historical wounds.

                 

Breaking Chains is a fine read and one that will be well-underlined in my collection of great historical works. I highly recommend it.

 

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.

The targeted launch date is early June!

Bo finally got to post on his blog www.bodaciousbothedog.blogspot.com. I've really kept him from slobbering all over the keyboard because there was just so much going on with Jerry's health and our ranch selling. Jerry, by the way, thanks you all for the many prayers sent his way! He
actually looks better than he has since his stroke and heart attack so maybe the daily injections he has to build his bones are also bringing new vitality to his life. He's been designing his shop/garage/man cave all week!
And to add to the promise of spring, our Christmas cactus that didn't bloom this year during all Jerry's health trials at Christmas time, is blooming now!  May you notice the surprises in your day and be grateful for them, large or small. I am grateful for each of you.  

 

 

 

Warmly,

 

Jane Kirkpatrick