Complex Classical

though unschooled
about the nuances
of classical music
i find its complex
rhythms stimulating
as background
as i write my books

Morning Visitor

vivid florets, dark brown
squared face with perked
triangular ears
too stocky, too muscular
for a housecat
the young bobcat
awkwardly stalks a vole
nearly to my porch

Books that inspired Nandria’s War

To best represent the times, struggles, and opinions of the 1930s and 40s, I read many books. A few played a pivotal role in creating the characters in Nandria's War, including No Ordinary Time.

No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin is an extraordinarily detailed work subtitled "Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II."

Its chronicle of public events is enriched with behind-the-scenes information of what it was like to live those events. Different people evaluated the circumstances and possible consequences from their own, strongly personal points of view. Their reactions and responses needed to be considered by leaders, such as the Silver Shirts referred to in Nandria's War.

Acknowledging such varied opinions allowed me perspective into views beyond those expressed by my immediate family as I grew up. Understanding that decent, thoughtful, ordinary persons legitimately held those wrong opinions has given me insights to round out the characters in my books.

My copy is stuffed with bookmarks to remind me of the issues and reactions that continue to enliven the tensions of those who lived in the 1930s and 1940s.

NO ORDINARY TIME

Find more at doriskearnsgoodwin.com

Below are a few additional books that helped write the stories of the characters in the Nandria Series. As the series continues to grow, I continue to seek additional history and education to bring the characters to life.

Writers in the Grove

Writers in the Grove started about a decade and a half ago from my teaching classes of Older Women’s Legacy. Several women insisted that their husbands would like to join us. Since the group that had licensed me to teach did not allow that, we decided to start our sessions to welcome men and women.

We met in the local Methodist church and eventually found a home at the Forest Grove Senior and Community Center in Forest Grove, Oregon, on Monday mornings.

All are welcome, from “I’m not a poet” to “I’ve only ever written for business” to “How do I turn on my computer?” We write from prompts and share if we wish. Individuals can also bring in work they would like feedback on. And what a joyful, supportive group it has become.

Members have ventured into genres they never thought they would ever attempt with honest response and encouragement. What a difference thoughtful feedback can make as each of us grows as a writer.

Many members have now been published, from letters to the editor to poems or stories accepted for anthologies or online issues to complete books.

Diana Kay Lubarsky has brought out a laugh-out-loud novel, Dante’s Angels.

A small group of older women meets weekly for lunch and supportive camaraderie. Each character has strong opinions and foibles that cause interactions so amusingly true and human that I found the book difficult to put down. I wanted to keep reading all the way through. I found myself wiping my eyes for poignant moments and whispering heartfelt warnings from the trouble I could see that they were getting themselves into.

Find it on lulu.com.

Spousal Support – Sort’of

My husband Earl joked that I would take pen and paper with me to the grave. He’d tolerated a lot of time when I would sit at my computer to type while he played golf. Most mornings, I would finish about eleven and walk out on the golf course to join him as he finished his last four or five holes.

We had both retired when we married. He’d been wintering in southern California, enjoying 18 to 36 holes every day under the endless blue skies of the desert.

He had earned the privilege, having started in the woods as a boy. He was a high climber while in his teens and had spent decades logging, buying and selling land.

An avid reader, he was never an author—with one exception of which he was very proud. He kept a copy of his letter to the editor that had been printed years before. But if writing wasn’t his forte, he smiled at my endless hours trying.

You can read more about the wonderful, charismatic man Earl was in my book EARLY: Logging Tales Too Human to be Fiction here.

Tiered Colors

tiered colors
of the sky
touch my soul
as the double-arced rainbow
or the gold horizon
layered with pink and mauve
glimpses of blue
between purple-gray clouds
stretched to contain fullness
of loving hope and promise

Classic Case of Owing

It’s been suggested that as I work on a script that I play tapes of music from the period I am writing about. To get into the mood of the time. And sometimes I do. But there is something about classical music. Something enveloping in the intertwining rhythms. Something in the blends and harmonies of vastly different instruments reaches for richer meanings in my writing.

The effect is subtle. I am not truly aware of what is being stirred in my mind. Or of what connections are being made with memories or experiences or the flow of words. But if I ever create a best seller, I will need to mail my local classical radio station a substantial check in gratitude for what is going on around and within me as it plays.

For me, it is one of the joys of writing to have created a personality with the gumption to yell at me. Not so much fun when characters in my non-writing life contradict or holler at me, though.