Gratitude for every page read…

Spring 2022 ~ Without readers, we writers don’t exist

     We are having an early spring in the mountains of far far northern California. Time to tidy up and plan for the garden. As I sit upstairs in my writing room looking out across the greening fields, I ponder what strange creatures we writers are. We literally lock ourselves away to make up stories from our overactive imaginations. We give up life to do this! We dive to the depths of our own personal being, dredging up our emotional insecurities, unhealed issues, bravely, but often with great fear. We create these characters that “are us” and “are not us”. They become so real that these creations wake us up at night, have meetings without us and rebel if they don’t like the way we present them. We labor away in spite of the fact that we will meet, maybe only ten percent of our readers. Words, smoke and mirrors, rampant imaginations, invisible readers, made up stories, and entertaining lies are the tools of this trade. We do so care what readers think and feel about our work and we are so curious about the many different ways one story can be perceived.

Reviews are a way to tap into the minds of the people who read our work. If we can stay open and chain down our egos, momentarily, these impressions become a valuable tool to help us be better storytellers. And yes we also learn from the bad reviews. Those crazy-making ones where we are sure the person reviewing our work could not have possibly really read it! And we wonder why other people take the time to write five paragraphs after declaring the book is bad. So… here are my two latest five star Amazon reviews. I wish I could sit and have tea with these two ladies but I am grateful to read their words, thoughts, and feelings. Without readers, we writers don’t exist.

~Melinda Field author of True and The Nest of Our Being

Melinda Field weaves a wonderful connection between a group of women…
“After becoming familiar with each character in the novel, Melinda Field weaves a wonderful connection between a group of women that embody the spirit of friendship and all the complexities we experience in human relationships. You begin to identify the commonalities of human frailties, the joy of communion with friends, the fears, courage, prejudices, and love that we find in the people we as readers know and love. I came to feel I knew each of these characters and began to long to be a part of such close relationships. There are twists and turns that surprise and move the reader, that draw the reader into the story. Make no mistake. There are dramatic moments that take the reader by surprise and make this book a worthy read; an emotional read. I loved it.” ~Linda Bishop


These women form Bedrock together: that which cannot be moved, destroyed, lost, or stolen.
“You’re at least 40% through this book before she uses the word ‘true’, and its sudden appearance rings like a bell, leaving your nerve ends tingling, leaving you savoring how that one word rose like a bubble from the deep, to become the title of this story.

A group of women has formed long before the story begins, and one suspects, long before they were born, one by one, into the highly engaging world of this book. What is fragile and rigorous in their personalities runs side by side. Somehow they keep up with each other in ways we all long for, wishing we had as strong a bond, as deep a knowing of themselves and each other, as they do.

No matter what sudden storms rage in their lives, in their families and communities, and across the land, these women form Bedrock together: that which cannot be moved, destroyed, lost, or stolen.

My favorite part of the book is the deep connection with animals, nature, the landscape, the seasons. As the horses surge across valleys and up mountain trails, these women surge through their lives, creating havoc and splendor, love and tears, facing the trials and seasons of life and land.

Before you start to read, be sure to look at the author’s photograph. It’s the best I’ve ever seen. Before you read one word, you can tell this woman has really lived, and really has something to say. Thanks, Melinda Field, I love this book.” ~Denise Schultz

When beauty finds her way back to me…

March 17th 2022 Thursday

I’ve been working away trying to become more organized at getting Wise Women Ink back up and flying again after such a rough pandemic sh*t storm. I was working on promotions for our latest middle grade novel, The Guardian of The Crystal Skull and I came across something the marvelous Melinda Field had written about her novel, True. And honestly I could have never come close to writing something more perfectly.

For those of you who have never read True, I highly recommend this beautiful novel, it is every thing Melinda so eloquently summarized it to be.

#truestrength #sisterhood

I am often asked the dreaded question, “What is your book about?” I have discovered while in the publishing/ printing phase, that writing a brief synopsis for the back cover is a complicated process of distilling down around ninety thousand words into a few paragraphs. This is definitely an art form! Recently I have come to find myself needing to reveal not only plot lines, characters and the who, where, what and why…

The following is what I believe to be the soul of the story.

True is about life and love in all of its beautiful, strange, chaotic, romantic, maternal, collective, desperate, misguided and unconditional aspects. It is about passages, the journeys over a lifetime through childhood, coming of age, womanhood, marriage, mothering, midlife and the great beyond. It is about sisterhood and friendship, our connections to our families, the men in our lives, our animals and most importantly ourselves. True is about the beautiful and the terrible in the same breath. How hardships and illness and abuse and violence and the longing for peace bring us through the fire, scarred but transformed and more whole than we could ever imagine by the realization that we create our own reality. It’s a choice, we are either alone or all one…True is about
bigotry, narrow mindedness and seeing through the filters of our own convoluted,
tunnel vision. It is about young people feeling worthy enough to receive love and old people having to let go of all they have known, and all the between from birth to death. True is about nature, the wild, pristine, raw preciousness inherent in our earth’s
systematic, artistic perfection. It is about the kindness of humanity and how our deep bonds matter. It is about being connected and fully present in our quest for honest wisdom. True is about love and being true, being free, staying wild and holding fast.

Melinda Field

 

March 8th 2022 International Women’s Day~

In honor of every woman who walks this planet, hold your head up high, reach out to those in need and those willing to be guided with grace, love, freedom and understanding.

Every day is International Women’s Day, we are the leaders, the protectors, the nurturers, the guides, the healers, whose hearts beat in unison, around the world.
On this March 8th 2022, We hope that every woman reading this can find eight minutes in their day to sit silently and send prayers of strength, courage and freedom to the women of Ukraine  and women all around the world who are being oppressed by greed, hatred and narcissism.

The importance of guiding our daughters, granddaughters and nieces to finding their true potential and strength is paramount! Let us show them what true power and beauty looks like…help them to understand not to be influenced by ridiculous filters on social media. But stand before that mirror with love in their hearts for themselves and others. Teach them to be the healers, the warriors, the shepherdesses who will change and heal this planet.

 

“You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.