Homesteading in New Mexico after WW I is tougher on the women, who must find a way to deal with loneliness.
When I first began to visit New Mexico and contact family members I hadn't seen since childhood, it never occurred to me that one day I would tell their story, or that the University of New Mexico Press would be interested in such a tale.
Creative non-fiction is growing very popular, so I chose that way to tell the story. My mother's cousin, who is 91 years old, is the only daughter of the couple who homesteaded near Tres Piedras, New Mexico in 1920. Today, she continues to oversee the ranches that remain in the family.
Telling a historical story in this way is tough, much tougher than writing fiction, which is my first love. Up to now, most of my fiction has been entwined with history, but lately I've been trying some other venues, since history doesn't seem to be as popular with readers as it once was.
I hope to have a title settled for this book soon, and begin to work with the university press on edits.
Excerpt from the prologue that sees 90-year-old Edna returning for a visit to the old homeplace. Working Title Mourning Dove:
The mournful song of the doves, the chatter of swallows
swooping in to deposit small dabs of mud beneath the eaves of the stucco house, speak of another time. A time when my world was young and filled with hope.
There’s Mom in that funny straw hat, green ribbon tied beneath her chin. And Dad, big and broad and hearty, before the sickness took hold, and Calvin, waving and smiling, his body no
longer ravaged by war. And Annie, ah, my Annie, beautiful as the morning itself. Their spirits unable to leave this place they loved so much.
And now, in the final years of my life, I don’t want to leave it either. Stubborn as Dad, determined as Mom, my
spirit will ride here with theirs. On into eternity.
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