Janet fisher

As I head into my book launch, new pages are up and running on my blog.

First, I’ve added a “Book Clubs” page with questions and topics for discussion for the convenience of book clubs who would like to choose A Place of Her Own for reading in their groups.

Second, there’s an “Events” page listing upcoming events in more detail than the list on the sidebar. I’ll keep the sidebar for quick checks, but if you need more detail you’ll find it on the new page.

Third, there a “News Briefs” page where I’ll highlight news–sometimes for a quick summary of what has already been featured on a blog post, sometimes news that doesn’t necessarily warrant a blog post.

Fourth, there’s a “Review” page where I’ll post reviews in part or in full as they come in. For now, I’m offering a pre-publication comment that feels like a review to me.

All the new pages have new links from my website pages. Or you can click the links at the top of my blog or at the top of any of the new pages.

As I head into the book launch, I hope this new information will help fans to follow the process.

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Large boxes of books have arrived and are sitting in my living room. Waiting. The release date for my book is in early June, so I can’t sell them yet. But I have a launch party on Sunday afternoon, the first of June in Elkton. I had to be sure the books were here in time. My editor, Erin Turner, said she would see to it, and she did. No worries. No wondering. They’re here, ready to go.

I may be a lady of words, but I don’t know if I can find words to describe how thrilling it is to hold one of these in my hand. I’ve enjoyed many a daydream imagining it. But the reality is sweeter than I’d dreamed. I skim through the pages, and there are the words I wrote. Some came easily. Others I struggled over. What joy to see them in print—in an actual bound volume, wrapped in its beautiful cover.

And so many books! A story to share. Others can read a copy and follow Martha’s journey that touched me so deeply. I hope it will touch them too.

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“I gobbled the book in one sitting, shed some real tears with and for you and Martha along the way, and enjoyed it all tremendously. You are a fine storyteller, and Martha’s story is full of such rich detail . . .”

So said Kathy Westra, a writer for the American Forestry Foundation magazine, Woodland, after reading my book, A Place of Her Own.

An email recently came to me out of the blue from Kathy. She had been assigned to write a feature story for Woodland  (Photo of Autumn 2013 issue at left) about my family’s Oregon tree farm, and about A Place of Her Own, which tells the story of my great-great-grandmother Martha, who bought this farm almost 150 years ago. The foundation, headquartered in Washington, D.C., serves tree farmers across the US, and their magazine, an attractive full-color quarterly, has a nationwide circulation.

I was excited to hear from her, and we had a wonderful phone interview that lasted close to an hour and a half.

Due to her deadlines, my publisher, Globe Pequot, sent her an e-galley of the book. And the above quote is what she wrote to me after she read it. That feels a bit like my first review, and I’m smiling. 🙂

The feature story will appear in the summer issue of Woodland along with pictures. I’m a Certified Tree Farmer, like my father before me, through the American Tree Farm System of the foundation. In fact, to be recertified when I acquired the farm, I had to break away from writing the book about Martha to write a new Tree Farm Management Plan and have a qualified forester visit the property. My thanks to Rick Barnes, local timber specialist, for facilitating all that.

And now, my thanks to Kathy for her story and her positive words.

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Martha has a new ribbon for the cover of her book—a rich brown, like the rich dark earth. M-m-m… Or rich chocolate.

Marketing went for a bolder look for A Place of Her Own and replaced the white ribbon with the brown.

I’m liking it.

Martha probably knew a lot more about rich earth than rich chocolate. I remember when we planted our hazelnut trees in a field on the bottomland of the farm, nursery stock we got from Martha’s Lane County farm to plant on her Douglas County farm (see “The Tree Link” below). I had been gardening in a lot of marginal soils in other places I’d lived. When we dug into the ground to plant those trees, I just knelt and sifted that rich dark earth through my fingers. I had never planted anything in soil so beautiful.

And now I think I’ll go out to the kitchen and get a small piece of chocolate. Just a little nibble.

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With the pub date approaching on Martha’s book, I’m starting to schedule signings and readings.

The Country Launch

The first book launch party will be held close to home on a Sunday afternoon, June 1, from 1 to 3 p.m. in Elkton, Oregon, where I went to school as a kid. It’ll be at the Elkton Community Education Center (ECEC) library. That’s just west of Elkton—by the butterfly pavilion. A lovely venue. We’ll have refreshments, a short reading at 2 p.m., Q&A, plenty of chit-chat, and copies of my book of course, hot off the press, which I’ll happily sign.

The ECEC is always worth a stop. Besides the butterfly pavilion, there’s the reconstructed Fort Umpqua down by the river, a step into the past of Martha’s day, a café for a bite to eat, a lovely gift shop, a nature trail, flower and vegetable gardens, crops typical of the fort’s era, a plant and produce shop with offerings from the onsite gardens, and more. Elktonites are rightly proud of this unique establishment.

So if you’d like to take a Sunday afternoon jaunt for a party, books, and all that the ECEC has to offer, come on out June 1.

The City Launch

A second book launch party will be held Saturday afternoon, June 7, 1 to 3 p.m. in the city of Roseburg at the delightful While Away Books, a friendly bookstore at 932 West Harvard Avenue. They have their own small café and lots of used books at great prices, with a few new books too. It’s in the small shopping center just off Harvard (cross street is Umpqua Street) on your right a couple of blocks or so past the freeway as you head east from town—behind Subway.

We’ll have refreshments there also, reading at 2 p.m., Q&A, more chit-chat, and of course copies of my own book which I can sign for you.

This bookstore really supports local authors, so with that and the great atmosphere it’s a Roseburg gem. If you’re in the Roseburg area, come join us on the 7^th of June.

Future Events

More signings are in the works—one at Tsunami Books in Eugene and one at the Douglas County Museum. I’ll post on those soon.

Events, Book News, & Reviews

In the near future I’ll be adding a new “Events” page to my blog to offer information on scheduled events, and a page for “Book News” so you can keep up with what’s going on. When reviews begin coming in I’ll add a “Reviews” page. A calendar of events is now located on the sidebar.

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You can take a peek at some of the opening pages of A Place of Her Own by clicking HERE for a short excerpt of my great-great-grandmother’s story. The click takes you directly to the new Excerpt page on my website which my webmaster daughter just added.

Or at the website you can access the Excerpt from the Home page by clicking “EXCERPT” under the book cover, or from the Books page by clicking the cover photo or the large orange “EXCERPT” link under the description for A Place of Her Own.

I remember the excitement when the cover first appeared. But you know what folks say about judging a book by the cover and all that. I love the cover, but the story is the thing. Right? So as we approach the day of publication I hope you’ll enjoy this brief glimpse of the actual words.

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The daffodils are up. Though struggling a little from wind and rain, they are persistent flowers. These are in the field outside my kitchen window. I need my daffodils. They promise me spring is coming. I just need to hang on a little while longer.

And that brings me to the subject of persistence as a writer. Even with publication coming up this June, the work goes on. And it has been a productive winter in my writing world.

I completed a major revision last fall of one of my favorite books, which adds a new title to the list I hope to market (as shown on my website). Called The Shifting Winds, this novel is set in the same time period as A Place of Her Own, my great-great-grandmother Martha’s story. Shifting Winds portrays the challenges of Oregon pioneer Jennie Haviland whose story of conflicted love parallels the conflict between the United States and Britain over the contested territory of Oregon.

And just last week I completed the rough draft of an all-new novel. It’s another of my ancient historicals set in the days of Minoan Crete, roughly 3,500 years ago. This one, called Grains of Light, portrays the crisis of Minoan artist Sarena when she bears the king’s son as surrogate for her high priestess who is too old to give birth. This couldn’t possibly work out as well as she’d hoped. Lots of work left on this book, but once the first draft is done it feels like a real entity. Having been immersed in the story, I was reminded of how much I love to write. I especially enjoy historicals because I love to step into a world unlike my own and live and breathe life as it might have been.

In other news, I recently got word that I will be a presenter at this summer’s Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference in Seattle. I met my agent Rita Rosenkranz at the 2012 PNWA conference which started me on my way to publication of Martha’s story. I’ll be giving a workshop on the Power of Perseverance (taking a lesson from those daffodils), and will serve on a panel of authors presenting our PNWA success stories. I’m excited about this conference. Rita will be there, and we can enjoy a little celebrating.

Meanwhile, I touched base with my publicist at Globe Pequot Press who will help in marketing A Place of Her Own. We’re on our way. Spring is coming. The book release is coming. June! I just have to hold on a little longer. One more bow to the daffodils, which thanks to the rain seem to bow back.

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When I walk the farm of my great-great-grandmother Martha, I do sense her echoes, but I’m often aware of nearer echoes, those of my father, Eugene “Gene” Fisher, who tended this place longer than anyone else in the family. It’s his birthday tomorrow, February 24, and I offer this tribute to him.

Even while he focused on his farm, he found time to help others. He wanted his children to have a better education than he had, so he joined the school board and eventually served on school boards at every level from the local to the national. President Dwight Eisenhower appointed him to a special White House Conference on Education. Governor Mark Hatfield appointed him to the Oregon State Board of Education, where he served for fifteen years, including four years as chairman.

The photo above shows him enjoying a light moment at one of those meetings.

He also served on farm boards and in the Grange and more. In recognition of all this he received the Oregon State University Distinguished Service Award, one of the university’s highest honors, which he accepted at their 1985 spring commencement exercises in full robed regalia, shown below.

He was listed in the Oregon 4-H Hall of Fame and, exciting to him in his late years, was named Tree Farmer of the Year in Douglas County–twice. The last photo shows him enjoying his cathedral of trees in those late years.

He fully believed he should leave the world a better place than he found it. A special man. Handsome, he had a certain grace about him, the way he walked and moved. Like other Maupins, he sat a horse as if one with the animal. That special aura seems to permeate the farm he loved.

When I tramp over his mountain and work in his orchards, I sense him, watching and nodding, sometimes shaking his head.

Martha would be proud of him. I miss him.