Notes on Copper Stone
Since the last New Moon in September, I’ve been hearing quite a bit from friends and strangers about The Copper Stone. Often I’m surprised at what people say about something I’ve written. They sometimes see things I didn’t try to do, but apparently did. This can be instructive and is usually a nice boost.
Among the strangers I’m hearing from are book bloggers. My friend Michele Montgomery, who knows all about the business of books, recommended Suzy’s Book Tours to me, and it’s a blast. Most every day for a bunch of weeks now, some nice lady posts a darling photo on Instagram of the book cover staged with festive and appropriate props (stones, for instance) with a short review. It’s really fun, even though I’m still wobbling around on Instagram because the interwebs and I are not super cozy.
There’s always more to learn in this life!
But Where am I?
Since the end of June, I’ve been going from pillar to post, by train and plane but mostly by car — Los Angeles to Chicago to Michigan to Montana to New Mexico and elsewhere! When at last I settled back home in LA, it was just a few days before I left again to take advantage of a rare opening at the glorious artist retreat [dorlandmountainarts.org] that I’ve been going to whenever possible for a quarter of a century now. It’s a place that offers solitude to artists on land originally peopled by ancestors of the Pechanga [pechanga-nsn.gov/index.php] and other tribes. It is always nourishing for me here. I always come away with varying degrees, amounts, and combinations of insight, restoration, expansion, and pages.
My first time here, a few days after 9/11/2001, I met three artists who became deep friends. One is a painter of faces and mountains with a deep soul. One was an painter of abstracts who left the planet too soon. One is a writer who writes of wounding and redemption and spirit and art. They each inspire me in very different ways from one another.
The view from my cabin’s porch at the end of Day One:
Books for Fuel
The book on the bottom (The Place of the Pike (Gnoozhekaaning) and the three Angeline Boulley novels are research for another historical novel set in the northern part of the state known as Michigan — not exactly the same place as The Copper Stone, but related. It’ll be exciting to see The Firekeeper’s Daughter on Netflix, though as far as I know it’s not cast yet.
The Peterson field guide is reference for the manuscript I’m cleaning up, set in Milwaukee, 1970 in the midst of antiwar fervor. I wanted to know what my teenage character would know about certain birds. This is the edition that would be on her parent’s shelf.
I brought Walter Mosley’s A Little Yellow Dog to this place of solitude because I wanted something to read purely for joy, something that didn’t require a notebook nearby for jotting down info, bits to remember. Mosley is always deft, heartful, complicated, hilarious, versatile. The best.
I’m here for a few more days and look forward to watching the moon’s sliver grow fatter before I go back to the big city.
You’re Invited to Join the Book Club!
My friend and collaborator Sandi Boucher is putting together a book club for her followers and anyone else who’s interested in talking about The Copper Stone! The people who connect with her work are amazing and we will definitely have a meaty discussion. We can talk about Violet’s story, the story of the place, the story of the collaboration, historic and contemporary racism — whatever people want to dig into.
Register (by emailing me) to be part of the Book Club. juliamarygibson@gmail.com.
Purchase the book. Read the book.
Then simply join us on November 5th to discuss the book with Julia and Sandi!
(Zoom link will be sent out to you privately prior to the event.)
Keep shining your light, everybody. The world needs your voice, your art, your glow.