While a senior in high school, I dated a young man who wrote poetry. Actually, he wrote poetic letters. His words lifted like a drum beat off the page. As memorist Phyllis Theroux once noted, "a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart." His letters moved my heart.

After we broke up I thought I needed to rid myself of his missives and remember re-reading them a week before my wedding then tossing them in the trash. It still feels like I burned a good book. Keeping them seemed disloyal, though. In truth, while I can't remember the exact words, the emotion he expressed still brings me joy so perhaps I didn't totally rid myself of his gift.

Today if you visit my website and click on "books" you'll see a new addition. Sincerely Yours is a novella collection of four authors. We were each given the task of writing a story that began with a woman receiving a letter and how that letter changed her life and maybe even brought her love. (There's also a Goodreads Giveaway ending April 1, the release date you can sign up for.)  My latest blog posts are also about the power of letters.

I confess, I had a number of story ideas. Write a story with a Publisher's Clearinghouse letter that wasn't a tease but gave winnings. (The premise of the movie Nebraska is based on a man receiving such a letter he believes is real and his journey to collect his winnings). I adored the novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (By Mary Ann Shafer and Annie Barrows) written as letters between different characters. Very touching.

I settled on a narration inspired by Gregg Olsen's book: Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest. This non-fiction story of a remote hospital at the turn of the century and a malicious doctor intrigued me. But how to work it into my otherwise hopeful rather than dark-side stories?

Enter Grace Hathaway in "A Saving Grace." That's the title of my novella that will be released as a single ebook some weeks after the collection. Grace, a music teacher at the turn of the century traveled between the big spreads of Eastern Oregon bringing piano and voice lessons to the children of wealthy ranchers. She receives a letter from the daughter of a friend in The Dalles, Oregon, begging her to bring her mother home from a hospital in the woods.

This is a story about what fills us up. In my mental health world, I could explore what happens when grief over-takes us, changing our self-image and making us lose perspective on what truly matters. Letters read - kept or not - can profoundly change our lives. Perhaps the poet says it best: "And None will hear the postman's knock/Without a quickening of the heart./For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?" W.H. Auden.

Is there someone waiting to hear from you? Consider writing a letter.

C-Span Book TV arrived at my door last week. Tiffany Rocque, the videographer journalist, set up her cameras and lighting, petted the dogs who were fascinated by the equipment, and then we sat down to talk about Homestead. I don't know how C-Span got my name, but their crew was in the area as part of their local content programming bringing the history and presence of a region outside of Washington DC to viewers predominately in the east. Bend, Oregon, was their subject last week.   

The interview will air sometime during April 5-6, the first weekend on your local channel that carries C-Span programming. (During the week C-Span covers Congress. On weekends they interview guest non-fiction authors from around the country.) That'll be me. The interviews will also be viewable online .

Homestead, first published in 1991, has had many iterations. It begins in Bend, Oregon where we lived in 1984 and now we've returned just in time for a re-release by Whitaker House. No, it has nothing new but I hear so many people say they gave their copy away...or copies, so I'm glad it's back in print. I know one woman who has purchased and given away 15 copies! Another woman told me that when her doctor told her she'd have to spend the last six months of her pregnancy in bed he also gave her a copy of Homestead and said "This woman got through her challenges. Her story will inspire you to get through yours." Still others tell me that their husband/son/friend who never reads...became engrossed in Homestead. I hope you'll enjoy the interview and if you're in need of a good book to give someone to encourage their days, I'd be honored if you remembered Homestead.

Here it is! The cover at last. While I would have liked to have the mountain in the background look more like Mt. Hood than the Alps, I love the feel of this cover. I love the mood it sets for this novel of courage, compassion and transformation based on the life of a remarkable African-American woman. But then, aren't all my novels about remarkable women? And how fitting that we can begin to celebrate Letitia Carson during this month of Women's History. I've been busy planning events for this fall to celebrate the release of my 26th book. Letitia was one of the first black women to cross the Oregon Trail, give birth along the way and later bring a lawsuit during a turbulent time in Oregon when people of color were not allowed to testify against a white person and during several years, exclusion laws were passed to keep them out and make those who were already in the territory, leave. I've been living with Letitia Carson for a couple of years now and on September 2, you'll get to live with her too.

If you live in the Northwest, please mark your calendar for Powell's Books (Cedarhill Crossing) in Beaverton, Oregon, on September 2. The first historical event will be not far from where Letitia and her family settled near Corvallis, OR on September 13th at the Benton County Museum in Philomath. I have the pleasure of being with author Greg Nokes (Breaking Chains: Slavery on Trial in the Oregon Territory) at the Oregon Historical Society for their Sunday lecture series on October 12. Lots of other events to follow but for now I hope you'll enjoy a first look at the cover!

Pilgrimage through Loss: Pathways to Strength and Renewal after the Death of a  Child by Linda Lawrence Hunt. Westminster John Knox Press.

Some of you know of Linda Hunt's fabulous book Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America. That book inspired my own The Daughter's Walk. Because of those stories, Jerry and I have spent time with Linda and her husband in Spokane and other places. Conversations with Linda are always enlightening, hopeful and respectful especially so when the conversation turns to the death of a child. The Hunts beautiful daughter Krista, was killed in a bus accident while doing humanitarian work in Bolivia some years ago. Out of that great suffering came the Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship, an organization dedicated to service both home and abroad.

I've read Pilgrimage Through Loss more than once already. The various ways in which parents grieve and bring their suffering to greater good is inspiring. Linda interviewed a number of parents and brings her own compassionate lens to this most delicate subject. When I learned of the Sandy Hook tragedy I had already read a draft of Linda's book and I so wished it had been published so that those parents might have it for the road ahead. And so the aunts and uncles and friends who wonder how to walk beside those facing such sorrow could read about ways others have grown through tragedy.

While its truly for parents, Linda's words speak to any loss one might face. New research about the so-called stages of grief offers insights and pathways to understanding pain. Linda's own love of nature and the arts is woven into these beautifully crafted poignant stories of parents finding strength and renewal. The loss of a child is one of the most difficult losses. This book celebrates transforming those losses into a better world. If I gave stars, this one would get five out of five. I highly recommend this book.

March 16, 1:00 pm. Fort Clatsop Lewis and Clark National Monument, Astoria, OR Jane will speak and sign books as part of this annual In Her Footsteps program.

March 31, 7:00pm Weston Public Library annual meeting presentation 7:00 pm: "Three Winners in Weston: Libraries, History and Homesteaders.

April 1, release of Sincerely Yours

April 1 4:00 pm Leavenworth, WA signing at A Book for All Seasons and 7:00 PM, presentation at Leavenworth Public Library

April 5-6 C-Span Book TV programming - interview with Jane

April 5, 10:30 am. Special presentation of a play by Janis Durham based on All Together in One Place. Methodist Church, Bend, OR

April 11-13, Church on the MT. Annual women's retreat, Willapa Bay area of WA.

April 16, 6:30 pm Sherman Public Library, Moro, OR Annual Read Aloud. You all come!