Story Sparks

February 2022 Story Sparks September Release! Once again I get to tell you about a woman who… The title of my fall release is Beneath the Bending Skies and the woman is Mollie Sheehan Ronan. There will be more about this story in the months ahead. For now, I hope to tweak your interest

January 2022 Story Sparks Breathing in the New Year I think many of us will be taking deep breaths as we face another year of uncertainty. Deep breaths are so important. I first became aware of the power of breath in 1972 as part of my training in Clinical Social Work. I chose a

December 2021 Story Sparks For Advent, that preparation time before Christmas, Jerry and I have participated in a Poetry and Prayer zoom devotional. A half an hour to hear poems, reflect, ask for prayers and pray for others and then hear a blessing. It’s been a calming, insightful way to approach Christmas this year.

November 2021 Story Sparks One of the scenes in The Healing of Natalie Curtis that readers are talking about concerns Natalie and another white woman, a teacher, singing happy birthday to an Indian child not allowed to sing her own songs.  Minus the prohibition on singing, this scene came right out of my own

October 2021 Story Sparks October offers a variety of special “days” to celebrate. A favorite of mine is National Poetry Day (7th) along with World Teachers Day (Oct. 5th).  World Ballet Day is the 19th and World Singing Day is the 21st. Those latter two carry special meaning related to The Healing of Natalie

September 2021 Story Sparks Updated Sept. 3, 2021 People often ask if I have a favorite title and I answer with “the one I’m working on now” which is true. But The Healing of Natalie Curtis, out September 7, is a close second. It’s a story of the power of music and intention in

June 2021 Story Sparks "People without hope do not write novels. Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I'm always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it's very shocking

May 2021 Story Sparks Writer Brian Doyle in One Long River of Song wrote that Europeans who first saw them called them “flying jewels.”  They had never seen them before and lo, hummingbirds are only known in the Americas. Every morning in late March, Jerry and I watched as two hummingbirds traded time and

April 2021 Story Sparks Praise to the Poets “I have woven parachutes out of everything broken,” wrote Oregon’s first poet laureate William Stafford. Poets are honored this National Poetry Month  (as are libraries during National Library week. Wordy  — and worthy — celebrations). I love Stafford’s poetry and this short poem especially as he

March 2021 Story Sparks I’ve spent a fair amount of time on the Oregon Trail.  Driving it. Walking it. Reading diaries from it and putting characters on it. In 1852, the first year that the most families came across, there were all kinds of fascinating things that happened. It was the first year that