Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}   Janet Oakley is an award winning writer who has published personal essays in Cup of Comfort ranging from the dreams of four generations of women in her family to doing drywall after the sudden loss of her husband. “Dry Wall in the Time of Grief” was the top winner in non-fiction at Surrey International Writers in 2006. Her articles on Washington State history are at Historylink.org. Her novels THE JOSSING AFFAIR and TREE SOLDIER were finalists at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association lit contest. Recently, TREE SOLDIER was published and is available for purchae at Amazon and Createspace as well as select book stores. A summary of the novel goes:   One mistake can ruin a life. One mistake can transform it. A government forestry camp set deep in the mountainous forests of the Pacific Northwest might not seem the likely place to find redemption, but in 1935, Park Hardesty hopes for just that. Blaming himself for the fiery accident that caused his brother's disfigurement and the death of the bootlegging woman he loved, planting trees, building bridges and mentoring tough, homesick New Jersey boys brings him both penitence and the renewal of his own self-worth. When he wins the love of Kate Alford, a local naturalist who envisions joining the Forest Service, which allows only men, he also captures the ire of a camp officer who refuses to let her go. Just when he is ready to seek his brother's forgiveness, he is falsely accused of rape. Every aspect of his life he has tried to rebuild is put in jeopardy. In the end, the only way he can defend himself is to tell the truth about his brother, but he risks being kicked out of the camp. Worse, he could lose Kate's love forever An historian and educator, Oakley has taught everything from splitting shakes to making butter to 3rd graders at a cabin in the woods, researched the life a 19th century West Coast bark and hiked across Haleakula Crater on Maui twice, ignoring the pain the next day going down 10,000 feet to the ocean below. She loves gardening and eating the fruits of her labor. Lately, she planted flax to figure out how to ripple, ret, scutch, and hackle it. The linen yarn may be too rough for weaving, but it’s the journey that counts. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and writes every day. No matter what.      

*Top Prize Non-fiction Surrey International Writers
*Save Our History grant 2006: one of 27 that year. Won honors for work with high school students.
*Finalist PNWA

Five essays published in Cup of Comfort. Latest to be published in December 2010.