Kathleen Ernst, a writer friend and quilter, too, has posted an interview with me on her blog www.sitesandstories.wordpress.com She lives in Wisconsin and writes fabulous young adult and children's books that have won awards but more, touched the lives of young readers in powerful ways. She brings history alive for kids which isn't easy to do. Check out the interview.
As for my own writing life: today I'm working on finding a map of a railroad route in 1896 and trying not to get distracted from all the interesting historical pieces there are on the web. And I finished my final edits for An Absence so Great. Here's another photo of my grandmother, one we are not using in the sequel to A Flickering Light. That book, btw, was named to Library Journal's Best Books of 2009. Hurrah!
As part of ranch life, we're applying for an easement to put our irrigation pump lines into the river next year. We've been doing it for 25 years (we have water rights) but because the river we live on has been designated a "navigable river" , with the state owning the beds and banks to the high water mark, all owners along the river are now "using" public property when we have irrigation lines going into the river. So an easement (and a fee) is necessary. It's an indication of how things change. I actually think it's good that Oregon has this policy that people can't own the access to such rivers or the ocean beaches so we are all able to walk along the shore lines and appreciate the glorious creation we are blessed to live close to.
What we do hope is that with the increased public land (and our property went from 160 acres to 134 acres with that pen stroke) that there'll also be increased policing as people have a habit sometimes of leaving trash, camping where they aren't supposed to, having camp fires they neglect or just not paying attention to the beauty they drive so far to see and then leave evidence of their disregard behind. So it's the little details of every day life that I'm dealing with today.
Tomorrow it's off to the "valley" what we refer to as the population corridor of Oregon. I'll be making a presentation in Forest Grove home of Pacific University for a PEO fundraiser (they provide scholarships to women returning to school). On Sunday afternoon it's the Audubon wild Arts Festival at Montgomery Park in Portland. Come see artists and craftsmen and me! Signing books along with lots of other authors. Happy traveling if you are! Warmly, Jane
