Why did you disappear?
I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. It’s been a busy summer!
One of the projects I’ve been working on is a collaboration book with my writing club. The Wednesday Writing Club started writing stories last year, and we collected fifty of them into a book! There are fourteen different sections in the book and six of us contributed stories. Not all of us have a story in each section, but there is a good variety both in style and content.
Even if you have a genre you typically stick to when you read, you will likely find something you enjoy in this book. Throughout the stories we covered genres ranging from contemporary fiction to horror. There is even a taste of steampunk and a bit of time travel!
The book is now available on Amazon. We would love it if you picked up a copy!
On September 26th, you will also be able to purchase a copy in person at the North Dakota Book and Arts Festival in Jamestown, ND. You could probably even get some of us to sign the book for you! (I will talk more about the Festival in a different post.)
This was a fun and rewarding project, and I hope our readers enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it.
Happy Reading!
A Windy Day
I have been experimenting with some different ways to take videos. The main thing I’ve realized that I need, since I live in a windy area, is a microphone. I have been using a microphone when taking videos now. I can even put one of those fun, fuzzy covers on it so it cuts down on the wind noise even more. In the video I’m posting, you can see that the flowers are bouncing around in the wind quite a lot, but you can’t hear too much wind noise. I thought that was pretty impressive from a little microphone that can fit in my pocket.
I also hope you enjoy the passage from The Valley of Vision.
Come before His presence with singing
Yesterday I was a funeral for a friend. One of the readings at the service (which I didn’t know about until I was there) was from Psalm 100. I had recorded a video of me reading that Psalm earlier in the week. I had already planned to post the psalm today, but I decided to share something I wrote about her as well.
Mary Jane Westerhausen: 1958 - 2026
Mary Jane Westerhausen worked at the Alfred Dickey Library for almost thirty years.
Some of our patrons might be surprised to hear that as they may not remember seeing
her at the library. She worked away from the front desk as our cataloger, adding all the
items to our system so they can be checked out. The job requires patience and
attention to detail.
As cataloger, Mary Jane wasn’t ever the face of the library, but she was in its heart. She
loved working with and being surrounded by books. It was also always her passion to
do things well and serve the community. She set a high standard for other library
employees.
She was always the first one at work. She would get to the library early, after doing her
chores at home to care for her cattle and driving in from out of town. On dark winter
mornings, it was nice knowing that someone was already at the library—the lights were
on and likely she had coffee brewing and music playing.
Mary Jane loved music as well as books. She would listen her way through the library’s
whole CD collection, and some of us were less than enthusiastic when she was in the
extensive country section or the opera section. But the amazing part was that she could
tell you something about the majority of the artists and a lot about the ones she liked.
Mary Jane also had a fascination for writing. In fact, I first met her at a poetry class at
Jamestown College, before I started working at the library myself. She appreciated a
wide range of books and writing styles, and turned her hand to writing in her free time.
One aspect of Mary Jane that will live on in my memory is her love of family. She was so
proud of the musical talents of all her children, as well as what they’ve accomplished in
their personal and professional lives. She always enjoyed sharing stories about them.
She also loved to share Leon’s one-liners. One of my favorites was, “Words are cheap,
but whiskey costs money.” Her love of family applied in extra measure to her
grandchildren. She would delight us with stories about them, often including several
nicknames so sometimes we had to clarify who she was talking about. Every year, she
made a book for each grandchild full of pictures she’d taken of them and a story or
verse she’d added to go along with the pictures. Every year she’d bring the books to
work before Christmas for “show and tell,” as she called it. She would let us look
through the books and could tell stories about each photo in them.
Mary Jane also had a great sense of humor and enjoyed funny stories, books, and
jokes. Her laugh still echoes in the library.
Part of the library’s heart shattered with the passing of Mary Jane, and we will still be
picking up the pieces for a long while.
To honor Mary Jane, we will do what she did—buckle down, do what’s in front of us to
the best of our abilities, and think about how what we’ve doing can help improve the
community.
Mary Jane will be missed—very much so—but her work and her memory will live on.
Snowy Evening
My friend Ellie suggested that I make a video reading this book. I know the shortest day of the year (darkest evening of the year) was last month, but at least I got to it eventually!
I borrowed this book from the Alfred Dickey branch of the James River Valley Library System. It’s even more delightful in person.
If any of you have suggestions of poems or scriptures I should read, let me know and maybe I will make a video of them.
My Refuge and My Fortress
I have always liked a number of the Psalms from the Bible. Psalm 91 is definitely one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy this version from the ESV translation. Such a clear message of where our help comes from.
The End (of the year)
Why not end the year with a poem from one of my favorite writers, J.R.R. Tolkien? Seems like a good plan to me. I’ll “see” you all next year!
I did a thing!
I did a little thing. I got a YouTube channel to post the poetry videos I’ve been recording. I am working on embedding them on here, so look for that in the future!
In the meantime, here is a video of me reading “Magical Realism” by Billy Collins, who has become one of my favorite poets. His poems are accessible but also thought-provoking. He’s also funny, which is always important.
I hope you enjoy!
Poetry
I’ve been sharing videos on social media of me reading poetry (other people’s poems) and Bible passages. I’m working on posting them here as well, but in the meantime if you’re interested, you can check them out via Facebook or Instagram. You will notice there are some handy icons on the top right of the page. You should be able to click right on them to go to my socials.
I hope you enjoy!
End of an era
On October 11, an era of Jamestown, ND history ended. Bruce Berg, long-time resident, passed away at the age of 89, I didn’t know Bruce when he was a high school teacher, but he often talked about it and remembered his students with fondness. When I met him he was teaching a speech class at Jamestown College (before they changed to University of Jamestown). He took a writing class from my dad and wrote a book of stories with some of the other students.
Bruce was a regular user of the local library, and I worked at the library so I would see him often. At one point, he approached me and asked if I would be interested in collaborating with him on a book of stories. I was honored, and thus began our project to write and publish Pages Between Ages. In his usual self-deprecating humor, Bruce suggested we call the book Old Guy and Young Girl Write Book, but we didn’t go with that title, obviously, but when we had settled on Pages Between Ages, he joked that he hoped people wouldn’t find it to be “ages between the pages” when they were reading.
I will always be glad Bruce asked me to collaborate with him. It exemplifies one of his outstanding character traits—kindness. He could have asked someone else, someone he knew better, but he asked me. As I got to know Bruce, I understood why everyone spoke highly of him. He was funny, told great stories, and was unfailingly kind. I don't think I ever heard him say something mean about anyone.
I’m glad I got to work with Bruce, and I’m glad some of his humor and kindness remains behind in his stories. It also will live on in the memories of all of his students and others who knew him over the years. I’m glad that he is in Glory now, away from all the troubles of this world, but I miss him.
When did Fall arrive?
I meant to post on here right after the North Dakota Book and Arts Festival, which was last Saturday (the 20th), but apparently my social battery was more depleted than I thought and I didn’t do much of anything I didn’t have to last week.
The Festival was a great event, with close to sixty writers and artists in attendance. There were a few workshops and an author panel (which I was part of). The event was well attended by community members and people from farther away.
We hope the event will grow and improve each year it’s held, and we are already compiling ideas for what could be done differently and better.
A lot of time when into the event. so I feel a little bit like I looked up and now it’s fall. I’m not ready for summer to be over, but I guess I will have to deal with it!
Now it’s time to get outside and enjoy the weather.
Best speech ever (in recent times)?
If you aren’t familiar with the Swedish writer Fredrik Backman, I recommend that you get familiar with him. Well, at least with his books. I particularly like A Man Called Ove, Anxious People, and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry.
There are clips from a speech he gave that periodically circulate on social media. The speech was given at Simon & Schuster and is one of the best short speeches I’ve listened to recently. Take a listen and enjoy the humor!
“The mountains are calling, and I must go.”
I haven’t updated in a while, but we just got back from a vacation in Montana last week and have been playing catch-up since then.
We stayed near Gardiner, MT and got to wake up to see the mountains every day. They were beautiful and inspiring, but they weren’t necessarily even my favorite part of the scenery. What was my favorite part? The Yellowstone River. I love water. It’s powerful, necessary, beautiful, and treacherous. It’s also fun to play in! I may have spent a fair amount of time trying to skip rocks and just throwing stones in the river like a small child. And wading, of course. It was delightful.
What inspires you in different landscapes? I’d love to hear!
Do readers care?
A thought occurred to me recently, and I haven’t been able to come up with much of an answer. My thought was, do readers care if a writer writes in different genres? (I know I don’t care, but I’ve been told I’m not a normal reader.) So, for example, if your favorite author has so far only written thrillers, and then comes out with a fantasy book, would you be upset? When I thought about it, I couldn’t really think of any writers who wrote in different genres and under the same name. J.K. Rowling is of course known for the Harry Potter series, but she has also written mystery/thrillers under Robert Galbraith.
The only writer I could easily come up with who has written multiple genres under one name is Andrew Klavan. He’s written thrillers (some with a paranormal slant), young adult, nonfiction, and fantasy. I’m probably missing something, too. I guess we could also add Shakespeare to the list since he wrote poetry, romance, history, action, etc.
So can any of you come up with other writers who write multiple genres under the same name? Perhaps the more important question is, do you care if they do? It was just one of my random thoughts and I was curious how others felt about it,
Better again
Are you one for rereading books? I have known some people who say they never reread books. It’s one and done for them. I have reread many books so far, and there are some I know I will read multiple times. Of course, there are also books that once I finish I know I’m done with it. Some books are either simpler to begin with, lack the depth to stand up to rereading, or aren’t really my cup of tea. Other books seem to release more every time you look at them—the characters seem alive, the story is solid, and I want to spend time there again.
I have reread books like Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky, most of Jane Austen’s books, Little Dorrit by Dickens, and the Lord of the Rings series by Tolkien. I am currently listening to the audiobook version of The Fellowship of the Ring, narrated by Andy Serkis who played Gollum in the movies. Serkis is an excellent actor and can do many different accents and tones of voice. It’s probably the best audio version I’ve tried so far. There were some that were so bad that I couldn’t listen, even though LoTR are some of my all-time favorite books.
So go back and reread some of your favorites! I know there are many books out there, but there are reasons our favorite books are our favorites. They can bring us comfort and help us learn. That’s all I have to say for now. I want to get back to Caras Galadhon!
Stirring the pot?
Here I go again, stirring the pot with a potentially controversial topic. Dungeons and Dragons has become popular in recent years, after enduring many years of being spoken of in hushed tones by people who didn’t know anything about the game and made wild claims and accusations about it. As with anything, it can be twisted to be dark and bad, but it can also be used to help people. Also, it’s a game, so it should have at least some element of fun. What I like about it is the storytelling aspect. One can really get the creative juices flowing while trying to figure out in real time how a character would react to the circumstances in front of him or her.
Click the link below to read about a study done about D&D and mental health.
https://www.jcu.edu.au/news/releases/2024/april/dungeons-and-dragons-may-improve-mental-health
POV
There seems to be a trend with much of contemporary fiction these days, and I’m not best pleased with it. (I am using the contemporary as in published recently, not just realistic fiction set in contemporary times.) I am talking about the trend of using multiple Points of View in books. I am currently reading a book that has nine different POVs so far. I say so far because I’m only about halfway through the book and who knows if more POVs will crop up. It is making the book harder for me to read. No, it’s not because I’m getting the characters mixed up. If anything, it’s because I’m only getting bits here and there from different characters and am not invested in any of the characters because none of them seem to be developed beyond a certain point. (This is a book from a well-established writer, too, so it’s not a new writer trying something new.)
I find this multiple POV trend distracting and wish fewer authors would use it. There are some books where you need more than one POV, but so many books would benefit from the writer figuring out how to tell the story from a singular POV. One book that used a multiple POV to good effect was Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. After reading it a second time, I thought about how she could have written it in a singular POV, and I couldn’t see a way of doing it. That is not the case for most of the books I find with multiple POVs.
I know I’m not the only one who’s getting tired of this trend. Do any of you love the trend? I am hoping it is a bit of a fad, and will fade into the background one of these days.
National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and there are always interesting ways to celebrate it. Apparently April 23, which is celebrated as Shakespeare’s birthday, is Speak Like Shakespeare Day. So tomorrow you could go around saying things like “thou art a gorbellied, muddy-mettled braggart” or “mammering, three-suited geck!” One of my personal favorite Shakespearean insults (maybe just a statement, really) is “I do desire us to be better strangers.” Simple and to the point!
When it comes to poetry and April, however, I often think of Chaucer, mainly because of his Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. It includes the famous lines “When that Aprill with his shoures sote/ The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote…” And so begins the tales of a group of individuals on an April pilgrimage. The tales are varied in tone, voice, and morality. They contain some truly hilarious scenes!
So if you haven’t read any Chaucer, maybe that should be your next “pilgrimage!”
Billy Collins
I have been reading some of Billy Collins’ poetry, as well as watching a master class he gave on the process of writing poems. It makes me wish I could take a class from him! Even in a little class, he gives lots of useful advice and combines it with humor. He also seems down-to-earth, despite the fact he was the US Poet Laureate and the NY Poet Laureate. If you haven’t read any of his work, you should check it out. You could even start with one of my favorites, which I’m sharing here.
Introduction to Poetry
By Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
Harold Bloom has some fascinating things to say
So the book of poetry that I posted about. before—The Best Poems of the English Language—has an essay at the beginning by Harold Bloom (who also selected and wrote commentary on the poets and poems in the volume. The essay at the beginning is called “The Art of Reading Poetry” has a lot of interesting statements in it. This one is the first one that struck me: “There is a benign haunting in poetic tradition, one that transcends the sorrows of influence, particularly the new poet’s fear that there is little left for her or him to do. In truth, there is everything remaining to be thought and sung, provided an individual voice is attained.” That is a hopeful statement for any aspiring poet—keep writing and find your individual voice!
There are a number of other statements that I liked, but I will share the one that basically closes the essay, since it explains why we should read poetry. In the final section of his essay, Bloom writes, “I think that poetry at its greatest—in Dante, Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Blake—has one broad and essential difficulty: it is the true mode for expanding our consciousness.” That’s quite a statement! He wraps us the whole essay with a continuation of the idea. He starts the final paragraph with, “The work of great poetry is to aid us to become free artists of ourselves.” And then ends the essay with this thought: “The art of reading poetry is an authentic training in the augmentation of conciousness, perhaps the most authentic of healthy modes.”
I can’t say it any better than that! Read poetry because it will expand your consciousness. Maybe it could help you understand where someone else is coming from, or just help you accept that not everyone thinks the way you do. Maybe poetry can help heal some of the divides we find in our lives. It’s worth a try, right?
So read some Shakespeare or some Dickinson or some Ted Kooser or Billy Collins. After all, it’s not going to hurt you.