Responses to CAGED

“The narrative you’ve written is so full of wonderful details! I can see their world.” S. Field, Oregon

“I got your newest book, CAGED, on Monday and had it read by Tuesday. I couldn’t put it down.” R. Wiser, Oregon

“Your writing and poetry is excellent mj. I explored your work and am impressed. I love the way you wrote about your husband…very moving and poignant and funny which is an unusual combination of talents. I am fascinated by the Nandria series description as well…and you have written a lot of books! Writers in the Grove and the events you create are truly creating community. Thank you for reaching out and congrats on the publication of CAGED! C. Hanlon, Oregon

be still, and know

when in doubt, he advised, shout

but that seemed to me ass-backwards

not shout, but better to go quiet

to observe

to be aware of what is around you

to tune into the rhythms

of what holds your world

in this moment of balance

when in doubt, you would want

to learn, and it’s said

you can never learn

while talking

only when listening

CAGED: Sunday Morning Dinner Rolls

The NANDRIA Series include a few twentieth century recipes at the end of each novel. Kathi Helwig, DVM, shows how to make Nandria’s mother-in-law’s favorite treat as given in CAGED.

Sunday Morning Dinner Rolls

• ½ cup margarine (melted)

• ½ tsp salt

• 2 eggs (beaten) 

• ½ cup sugar

• ½ cup milk 

• ¼ cup margarine (melted)

• 3 cups flour 

• ½ cup sugar

• 3 tsp baking powder

• 1½  - 2 tsp cinnamon

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Quickly mix melted margarine, eggs and milk, then add to dry ingredients. Mix and then turn out onto a lightly floured surface.

Roll out ¼  inch thick in a rectangular shape.

Mix ¼ cup melted margarine, sugar and cinnamon, then spread onto rolled dough. Roll up the dough like a jelly roll. Cut slices ½ inch wide and lay cut surface down on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes. Remove from sheet within 3 – 4 minutes. Makes 2½ dozen.

Renewal

tears in my eyes

running down my cheeks

as i just listened and watched

Bells of the Cascades and Cathedral Bells

complete their handbell concert

at the national meeting in Arizona

such amazing skill and beauty

the final piece filled me

with the hope for peace

that reality sometimes hammers

into me that it can never be

but it can

with creative beauty

as in Compton’s final piece

it truly can

CAGED is Published!

The third novel in NANDRIA Series is up and running on Amazon.com this week. I am so grateful to Bill Helwig of Graphic Ingenuity for another delightful cover and for setting up the text in publication form.

In rural Missouri of 1940, children sneak close to the swing in the Minnick’s back yard to listen to Nandria read Barrie’s “Peter Pan” to her biracial baby daughter Rose. Most have little schooling and beg Nandria to teach them to read. But the white community wants nothing more to do with “uppity” Negros and complain to Nandria’s father-in-law at the fair on the 4th of July.

Yet it is the children’s rudimentary ability to read that warns the daredevil motorcyclist of attempts on his life and leads friends and neighbors to search for Nandria and Rose when they go missing.

cover art for CAGED

CAGED: 3rd novel in the NANDRIA Series set in rural Missouri in 1940s

Writing for My Reader

Writing to a prompt, i simply focus on a word or phrase and let my pen scribble down what i am thinking or saying to myself as quickly as i can make the pen move over the paper. No editing. No second guessing. Simply gushing and letting the spillage go where it will. I am often amazed at what i then read on paper. Who wrote that? Me?

And then, after a while, i return to those pieces of gushed intensity which resonate after a pause. Because invariably they make broad leaps in logic that only i could follow because of my own experience. I know what i meant, but no one else would have any way of understanding. I am writing for my reader now. Choosing vocabulary that will be comfortable for my expected audience. Explaining and giving examples for clarity. Rewording to bring out the humorous or unexpected, if appropriate. Checking for spelling and grammar errors that would imply i had no respect for my reader's intelligence.

Because of these two varied processes of doing my work, the resulting piece is quite different in form, but carries the insight or inspiration that first made me spill my thoughts onto the paper. It is now a piece that will show my respect for the person who has graciously taken the time to read my writing and, hopefully, to gain something from it.

ethereal mustard southwest of Yamhill

wide field

deep to the distant tree line

velvet with mustard plants

glowing in the slanted sun

ethereal golden yellow

lifting my heart in joy

alone on the Oregon coast

we feel so alone

but generations

have crouched beneath the sound

of wind
moan-seeking among
withering branches

have started as shrill
fledged murres
shriek ‘me!’
above the roar of incessant
wave upon wave

have heard sobs

in the rain

before knowing

they

were weeping

Reading to Understand

I have been reading a number of books about racism, both to try to grasp what people were feeling in the 1940s and how we are doing in the 2020s. Most of what i have learned is overwhelming. To be honest, much of it i have known but not acknowledged to myself, it is so painful. Yet it is what my characters lived. And my loved ones. It has been a part of my own definition.

A few of the books recently read that have bid me learn:

1. Lowell Greathouse - Rediscovering the Spirit

2. Bev Walker - The Sailmaker

3. Thomas Dixon, Jr. - The Leopard’s Spots

4. Richard Wright - 12 Million Black Voices

5. Cynthia Carr - Our Town

6. Ina Whitlock - Stories of a Midwest Childhood, 1930s - 40s

7. Burns Mantle, ed - Best Plays of 1939-40

8. Lawrence Leamer - The Lynching!

9. Frederick Bassett - South Wind Rising

10. Frederick Bassett - The Old Stoic Faces the Mirror

comments on mj’s poetry and newsletter

“Your writing and poetry is excellent mj. I explored your work and am impressed. I love the way you wrote about your husband…very moving and poignant and funny which is an unusual combination of talents. I am fascinated by the Nandria series description as well…and you have written a lot of books! Writers in the Grove and the events you create are truly creating community. Thank you for reaching out and congrats on the publication of CAGED! C. Hanlon, Oregon

“[MaryJane,] you’re amazing! No subject escapes your creative touch.” S.A., Oregon

“Truly exceptional. I read it and found my mind wandering many places, some joyful, some sad but all that contributed to my life.” J.M., B.C., Canada

“I love this. Please always keep sharing, you bring light into a world very much in need of it.” C.O., Oregon

“I am loving your poetry - as I read through, I recognize parts of your life and parts of the life that goes on for each and all of us. My favorite so far (and I will be rereading many more times) is ‘As He Lay’ [in Frail the Bridge]…very creative. Your poetry is deep and requires study and rereading - I really like that.” P.D., Oregon

“Good second issue.” F.B., N. Carolina

rose-gold promise

streaked blue-purples

el Greco dramatic sky

gentleness hinted

by dawn’s warm rose

Don’t forget to add a Category, a one sentence Excerpt and change the URL.

sunrise and sunset are two promises made each day

comment about FLOAT

“Some very beautiful and naturalistic writing… not only do you have strong central characters, but you have also given a real richness and context to small characters.” Kay Snow Award judge

Alternative Facts

The concept of “alterative facts” haunts me. Turth is difficult enough to approach, let alone define. How can we work from a stable foundation if that foundation can be altered by anyone to redefine the basics to suit personal wants or fears or needs? How can we share or communicate if we cannot agree on facts or reality? How can we construct on chaos?

sky change

gray nights without stars

layered gray mornings

but today’s dawn

brilliant orange and gold

rising sun heralded

by trumpets of color

twisted gladness

watching the photos

of their cruise of the Greek islands

of their safari in Africaand tour of Maine

i am glad for them

they earned it with years of intense schooling

and weary hours of work at their careers

but a pinprick of something—

a longing perhaps—

twists my joy for them

as i remember our years of school and hanging on

hoping, dreaming—

and then you left

mj Haiku

random acts of nature

yearly kindness renewing

our souls and spirit

after hearing Billie Holiday

fear and anger gnaw

what might grow compassionate

yield instead strange fruit

comment about FLOAT (Copy)

“Some very beautiful and naturalistic writing… not only do you have strong central characters, but you have also given a real richness and context to small characters.” Kay Snow Award judge

Fist or Open Hand

how to reach persons
convinced they are victims
angry with their oppressors
filled with hate
or blinded by self
righteousness
all ages
all colors
all abilities
how to reach out
when i, too, am unsure
of my own worth
needing to feel
i am better than someone
even individuals
i have only known
by criteria which may
be irrelevant
to who they are

Letting Me Know

Have you ever been yelled at? By a fictitious character?

The people in my NANDRIA Series are strong individuals in my mind. When I write a line of dialogue or set them to do an action that they believe is not right, they tell me. “That’s not me talking!” or “I wouldn’t do that. I’d do it this way.”

If I don’t listen, they yell.

Even other authors laugh when I tell them that. But a few look sheepish or nod in agreement, and I know they have had a similar experience. Their characters, too, have enough back story and individual traits to begin to assert their own ways of doing things.