I’ve certainly been drawn to certain periods in history. When I was a young girl I loved the stories of the West –perhaps because great-grandparents had homestead out there while I was growing up in a Eastern big city– Little House on the Prairie and stories of Native Americans thrilled me. But I loved the colonial America period too. Perhaps it was all fine-tuned when my family stopped and explored every historical marker and building in the Northeast. Deep roots in New England fanned my curiosity.

As an adult, I’m drawn to the mid-19th century in the NW as well as stories from the Great Depression and early 20th century. I enjoy researching and writing about these periods, especially how women played in these times. I certainly FEEL something when I walk in places where my stories take root. I’m currently working on a novel about mountaineering and motherhood in 1907. Reading the journals of these women and seeing photos of their climbs is so inspiring.

Thank you all for such wonderful comments. The shared experience of this psychic transport into history just confirms what I’ve always felt – that we truly are experiencing several worlds at once. The key is to quiet ourselves and listen closely enough to be able to bring that “other” into conscious existence.