A New Maze to Navigate
Thank you for being here. I know for some of you, it wasn’t easy.
A friend of mine suggested that technology was “the hairshirt” of our times. For those not familiar with a hairshirt, it was worn in Biblical times by saints, monks and later among certain groups, as a means of penance, self-punishment and for discipline, to remind themselves to stay pure. They wore the shirt, made of coarse, scratchy, deliberately painful animal hair. They chose to do so. They did it to themselves. I laughed at my friend’s characterization, but I agree with her.
In that vein, let me thank you for your diligence with Story Spark changes and pray you don’t see it as a hairshirt experience. My cousin Mike called and asked why did I have to fix something that wasn’t broken. He liked the email coming in and could read it and go on to other things.
We made the change for a couple of reasons. I really want to keep Story Sparks free but it was costing me nearly $100 a month whether I sent out a Sparks or not. Secondly, my writer friends thought it was a great idea to send the newsletter through my website. Why? Because readers might stay and peruse the site. Maybe find a title they haven’t read, check out the reviews or download writer tips.
Cousin Mike said he understood now what had been broken and wouldn’t complain about having an extra step. But the hairshirt did continue as some readers said they found the email in their spam and others couldn’t open my website. Glitches I hope we’ve cleared.
I’m reminded of a study that gave rats new mazes to learn. The finding was, “Even old rats when their brains are challenged, grow new brain cells.” Not that you wanted to, but thanks for participating in my growing new cells. Hope you do too!
And by showing up, you are automatically entered into the giveaway drawing With the Enduring Tides. It includes an antique shell-covered duck decoy, like the kind Jewell, of Across the Crying Sands, created. I imagined it into the text but then wondered if someone else had had that thought and they did! Found it on an antique site.
Women in History Month
Think of a woman in your life who is precious to you. They don’t have to have died, really. Historical is now considered older than 50 years. Books written in the 70s are historical. My favorite mystery series The Alphabet Mysteries by Sue Grafton, of the 1980s, are historical. I’m historical! Yikes! But I don’t think we have to reserve our celebration of women in our lives to those who have gone before us.
I’d like to tell you about Marilynn Davis. She’s a retired teacher living in the little town of Enterprise, Oregon where she spent most of her teaching years after earning her degree at the Quaker related college, George Fox. This was followed by a teaching internment ship at the University of Oregon and a Master’s degree. For her first job, she chose Enterprise and stayed there 31 years. She lives alone on acreage in the mountain country and now approaching 80, perseveres through a range of health conditions that make her life hard. But she persists and touches the lives of others. She’s introduced me to Chris Williams music that I love; referred/sent me books I treasure.
And when I had no electricity for a night, a solar lamp that also charges cell phones was in my bedside stand, thanks to Marilynn. She’s a fine writer, a wonderful observer of life, a prayer warrior of the first order. I haven’t seen her for several years, but we correspond. I celebrate her for a lifetime of serving children through teaching, for allowing her dogs and horses to bless her through the years and for accepting help when needed. This is not easy to do. I know. She has an array of friends, many former elementary school students included, and that’s how I know she is herself a great friend. I celebrate her and all teachers past and present. This month, the female ones most of all.
Events
With the Enduring Tides Book two in the Women of Cannon Beach Series, comes out in April. I’m in the process of setting up events. I hope to see you at one.
Paulina Springs Books
April 21, 2026 – 6:30pm – Paulina Spring Books launch of With the Enduring Tides. Hood Street, Sisters, OR
The Bowman Museum
April 23, 2026 – 6:00pm – Presentation, signing and access to Jane’s latest and other titles. Bowman Museum, 246 N. Main, Prineville, OR.
New dates are TBD, we will keep you updated!
Cannon Beach Library
May 8th – 5:30 – Cannon Beach Library presentation, 131 N. Hemlock Street, Canon Beach, OR. Jane’s first event on the Oregon Coast for With the Enduring Tides.
Cannon Beach History Center and Museum
May 9, 2026 – 11:00am-2:00pm – limited space, Register here. A copy of With the Enduring Tides is included with the $55 dollar fee. All proceeds go to the History Center.
Mothers Day Book Signing
May 10th – 12:00pm – 2:00pm – It’s Mother’s Day and a signing at Beach Books, 616 Broadway, Seaside. Bring your mom and come chat with Jane.
Annual Letitia Carson Symposium
May 15 – 5:00pm – 8:00pm – Third Annual Letitia Carson Symposium, sponsored by Oregon State University, Oregon Black Pioneers, the Letitia Carson Legacy Project, Benton County Historical Society, Corvallis Museum, Corvallis, OR. An optional trip to the Letitia Carson property, 2:00pm – 4:00pm. Registration opens in late March.
For those interested in the 2025 symposium highlights, click here to learn more.
Writing Class & Presentation
June 30 – 1:00pm – 3:00pm – Writing Class, and Presentation 6:30-8:00pm, Marten Center, Mondovi, Wisconsin (Jane’s home town). Sponsored by Mondovi Public Library. Snacks by Friends of the Library with Books for Sale by Flora’s Books and Bread (Eau Claire).
Word Whisperings
The Correspondent
A novel by Virgin Evans
Crown Publishing, 2025
The “Wall Street Journal” said of this book “The Correspondent is this year’s breakout novel no one saw coming.” Maybe they didn’t see it coming because it was a first novel and some tend to dismiss them. Or maybe because the author is a mature woman. Or maybe because it is written as letters as the main character “corresponds” to different friends, new acquaintances.
Some readers don’t enjoy epistolary novels, but another one I love is the Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shatter and Annie Barrows. Perhaps that reviewer who was surprised didn’t notice how we are experiencing as a people many levels of grief. And the Correspondent was too. The protagonist uses the written word to discover more about herself and help us find new paths through loss. It’s funny and full of wisdom, too. I laughed out loud, cried more than once. The author is a wife, mom and a dog lover. She got her Masters degree at Trinity College in Ireland, the land of epic story-tellers. I hope she keeps telling stories.
Rupie's Renderings
I’ll keep this short and sweet because my mom wants to tell you about a special birthday present my dad gave her. (I miss him!) She’s crying a lot less which is good because it takes a lot of work for me to do funny things to make her laugh when she wants to cry. Well, I don’t know if she wants to cry exactly. Because her heart’s been “acting up” she says. She’s been having other people walk me and they’re nice, but they don’t carry treats nor play the “wait” game where I get to run to her after she turns around. Except for Aunt Nancy.
She stayed with me while my mom was in Mexico and we played the wait game every day! I love my friend Syd, too. She takes me to the dog park on Dinah Shore Drive. It’s right off of Bob Hope Drive and Frank Sinatra Drive. My mom says those names when she turns onto the road. I have the names memorized but I have no idea what they mean. I’ll be glad to get back to Oregon to Crane Meadow. I know what cranes are. And streets like Dogwood and Birch. At least they produce sticks I can carry around. My mom said she went to high school with Syd and now they live close to each other on the desert. I have no idea what high school is either. Sometimes I wish she’d talk about things I understand like “treats, treats, treats.” Have a good month. Woof! Woof!
The Birthday Present
Last year on my 79th birthday, Jerry came home from his second admission at Eisenhower Medical in Rancho Mirage and he moved into hospice. It was a hard day; the beginning of the end. The day before my 80th birthday this year, saw me at that same hospital for my second zapping — in two weeks — to get my heart in sync. The medical term is cardio reversion but zapping works. I’m fortunate that I had both relatives and friends visiting who went with me to the ER and hospital. I came home with the recommendation that I take it easy, do light work if any. I was beginning to think my birthday would bring memories of bad times forever. On my actual birthday, because our friends the Gants (from Homestead) had come to CA to paint our home and help me get new floors, they had tasks to tend to while I sat and did nothing. So Sherrie set me up in the living room to go through boxes of books deciding which to keep and which to thrift. I did that, looking at novels I’d read, books I’d bought for their covers but hadn’t yet opened. I paged through each one to see if I’d hidden some treasure there and had forgotten about it.
I was almost through one box when in one book, I saw an envelope peeking out. It was addressed to me from a reader in New Mexico. There wasn’t a postal date stamp so I couldn’t tell when it was sent.
When I turned it over, in block letters someone had written I HOPE YOU GET THIS. Then all around it, in Jerry’s handwriting with strikeouts and additions, he had written a poem he titled “Summer Lake.” It was about a time when we went to Summer Lake, this lovely body of water in Lake County, in the Out Back of Oregon. He described our trek into the caldera, the dawn and then the astonishing flush that took our breath away. Thousands and thousands of snow geese lifted then wove through the dawn. Wave after wave, circling upward over the cliff, their black-tipped wings filtering through the sunrise. I had no idea he had written such a poem. It brought the comfort of a past memory. We shared the waves on the lake, those snow geese rising. A present on my birthday to wipe away any bad birthday memories and replace them, always, with this one. And it came with a card saying I HOPE YOU GET THIS. I did. He always had impeccable timing. He is still an extraordinary man.
I hope you’ll contemplate a special woman in your life during women in history month. And if you’re inclined, send me a note or post on my facebook page so I can celebrate her too.
