May 20, 2024
Read the Book Review and Q&A with Author Jane Kirkpatrick
The Title of the article is “The Healing of Natalie Curtis” written by Laura DeNooyer.
The following is an excerpt from the book review and interview with Jane: “In this novel, a Yuma woman asks three healing questions, “When was the last time you sang? When was the last time you danced? When was the last time you told your story?” Such a beautiful way to reach the heart and soul of a person. This is one of many things I learned about the Yuma tribe while reading this remarkable biographical historical fiction.”
How long did you aspire to be a novelist before your first novel was published? Please share a bit of your writing journey.
Jane: I’m a frustrated poet and wrote what I called wretched little poems when I was a child. Teachers kindly encouraged my writing and what they thought was unique in my storytelling. But I didn’t start writing for others to read until years later as an adult, when my husband and I moved to our remote ranch.
Before moving, I took a creative writing class at my local community college (in Bend, Oregon). My instructor was Bob Welch, author of numerous wonderful, inspirational books. Back then he was a sports writer but he was very kind and encouraged me to sell some of my assignments that were essays and non-fiction pieces. Several got published.
When we moved to our ranch and got electricity, I’d write and let family and friends know that we were still alive. One of our friends said when they got my letters, they turned off the TV and read them aloud because they were like a chapter in a book. That inspired me to try to write about our journey from suburbia to Starvation Lane. That book became Homestead (1991).
My first novel, A Sweetness to the Soul (1995), came from reading an historical essay about a couple and their life with the Wasco, Warm Springs, and Paiute people in the 1850s. I happened to be working for that tribe and thought it was a great story about how they lived well with their neighbors. I couldn’t write it because it wasn’t my family, I hadn’t lived in the area for 100 years, and I’d never written fiction.
Somewhere I read that if you can write an essay that moves people, chances are you can write fiction. Several of my essays garnered fan letters and phone calls from across the country. But it was my husband saying if I thought it was a great story, I should just write it. If people didn’t like it, they could write their own version…”
The full article can be accessed and read here!
P.S. I often get requests from those wishing a book list of my titles. Incidentally, Wikipedia has some errors. Visit my Bibliography webpage for the real scoop.
