Patricia Stoltey

Author

Author Janet’s Story

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I think my newspaper saga is over. Life returned to normal this morning. Venting was fun for a couple of days, but I can’t build a blog audience on whining and complaining, because I don’t have that much to complain about. Unless, of course, I want to start in on politics, the economy, or my aches and pains. I’m not sure I want to go there.

So I’m returning to the subject of Colorado authors, because I want to tell you about an incredible lady I met at a Northern Colorado Writers event earlier this week. At this point, I’m not going to reveal the author’s name. I will feature her on my blog a little later in the season, when her new book is available for pre-order. Today we’ll call her Author Janet.

Author Janet was a teacher at Columbine High School in 1999. In the months and years that followed, she dealt with ongoing post-traumatic stress disorder, first through less-than-effective therapy, and then through her writing. She chose historical romance as her genre, and her books were printed as mass market paperbacks in English and several other languages. Her name has not yet become a household word.

But Author Janet had a bigger dream. She already knew how to turn her students on to classical literature. Now she wanted to write a historical novel in the tradition of the original author, and carry a classic story through to a previously untold conclusion. Publishers have competed for the right to publish Author Janet’s new book, in hardcover, and the book is scheduled for a 2010 release. The idea is excellent. I predict her novel will hit the New York Times Best Seller List.

There are a lot of lessons in Author Janet’s story. Whether as a human being, or as a writer, I recognize our need to be strong, to commit to what we want and need, and to keep hope alive. This is one Colorado author who can teach us the way.

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Comments

  2. I think it’s very important to bring history into popular consciousness. It can be very difficult, but when you bring it to life, people remember and maybe have a chance for learning from those examples.

  7. Ditto the details remark! I can’t wait to figure out who this person is. And if she’s set to be published in hardcover, well, someone has seen something of value there! What a trauma to go through. (And you could blog about politics — I love political blogs. I’d get lots more done if I’d ignore them…) I’m dealing with some therapy issues myself (not me — but someone close to me) these days, though not quite the level of Author Janet’s. I’m looking into various things, of course, and have run across a book on dealing with traumatic stress as well as other anxieties. It’s “No Open Wounds,” in case anyone is interested. You might just save yourself years of therapy by trying the techniques in this book. I know I’m certainly looking into it.

  9. I so understand Author Janet’s dream to build that historical world for modern readers–I write stories set anywhere from Victorian England to WWII and strive for accuracy as well as drawing readers into those times.

    As the philosopher Santayana said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

    Jina

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