THE JANUARY JOURNEY

Post by Doris McCraw writing as Angela Raines

The author as Helen (Hunt) Jackson

Each January I visit the final gravesite of Helen (Hunt) Jackson. In many ways, it helps me set my course for the coming year. Now, lest you think this is a huge journey, it's not. In fact, I visit her site throughout the year. It is about six miles from my home. However, in January I think about how her life and work have had an influence on my writing career.

View from Helen's Gravesite
Photo property of the Author

To illustrate I thought I'd share some of the events from her life that have an impact on me.

1.  She didn't start writing until later in life. (After the death of her first husband, and two children over a period of  twelve years from the death of her first son in 1854 to her second son in 1865)

2.  She began writing poetry, then moved to essays, and then novels. She added non-fiction books with the publication of "Century of Dishonor"

3.  It is said she wrote from around 5am to Noon every day unless ill.

4.  When she took up a 'hobby' as she called it, she devoted herself to see it through. 

5.  Although known for her work on behalf of the Indians in her later life, many of her early essays dealt with the way children were treated.

6.  She loved nature and wrote about her various journeys and observations.

7.  Although intensely private herself, she was a keen observer of human nature

Alternate view from the gravesite
Photo property of the author

There is much more about this amazing and complex woman that continues to draw me into reading her works and studying her life. When I stand by her gravesite I feel the pull to try to follow in her footsteps.

In honor of Helen and her poetry I humbly share one of my own.

Recapture the Past

Recapture the past
You lose what you have become
Days come to an end

Time and Circumstance

A tree is a tree
Beauty, strength and survival
Time and circumstance

Yes, I'm still writing. Hope to have a couple of novels out in 2021, (Yes, I do write slow.) But I did have a short story included in a Western Anthology this past year. Check out ' Gilbert Hopkins is going to Die' in the "Under Western Stars" anthology by the Western Fictioneers.

Amazon ebook

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books