Dear Reader,
Today's guest, Laura Pritchett, is the author of seven novels. Known for championing the complex and contemporary West and giving voice to the working class, her books have garnered the PEN USA Award, the Milkweed National Fiction Prize, the WILLA, the High Plains Book Award, and others. She's also the author of two nonfiction books, one play, and edited three environmental-based anthologies. She directs the MFA in Nature Writing at Western Colorado University. When not writing or teaching, she's generally found exploring the mountains of her home state of Colorado.
Laura's new book is Three Keys...Newly widowed and unemployed, a woman in her mid-fifties sets off on a journey of trespassing and adventure through the American West and beyond in this witty, thought-provoking novel.
See the details below about how you could win one of five signed copies of Three Keys.
Welcome to the book club Laura...
I somewhat shyly admit it: During the pandemic, I became a bit of a "prepper." At night, I occupied my brain by considering what to do if the water supply fritzed--fill bathtubs and pans at first opportunity! In the day, I added fruit trees to my little orchard in the foothills of Colorado's Rocky Mountains--peaches would feed my family! It doesn't take an expert to see what my brain and heart were doing--I was scared, I wanted some control and sense of safety in uncertain times.
As someone who grew up on a ranch, and with brothers who took me camping, I have some of that how-to knowledge. I know where wild asparagus grows, I can catch and cook a fish. But the pandemic had me contemplating all that I do not know, which is plenty, and take for granted, which is even more. Didn't we all ponder our access to electricity and water and fuel (and even toilet paper!)?
My nervous system has since calmed. But I don't regret this time of what some might call neurotic and loopy behavior. For me, it was clarifying. For one thing, I have a bigger orchard, and apricots and peaches are on their way! For another thing, I've sat with my mortality, the transience of things, and my fears. While I recognize I likely need cortisol-free calm more than I need fishing line and water purifiers, I now have both.
I know I'm not alone in this. Enrollment in survival courses has increased dramatically since covid--everything from urban survival, naturalist schools, and outdoor survival camps--and learning, or re-learning, some of this is not a totally bad idea. Self-sufficiency can lead to empowerment, even as we recognize that we are dependent upon our community. My new book, The "Three Keys" came out of this push-pull between independence and dependence.
And at the end of the day, who doesn't like a good survival story? Whether in real life or in fiction, it's one of the greatest human endeavors: To get scrappy, think our way out of unique scenarios, overcome the odds, and to feel like we are sturdy souls, capable of strengths we didn't know we had. And sometimes, we get some extra fruit to boot.
What makes you feel empowered? I love to hear from readers and you can find me at [email protected]. I'm giving away 5 signed copies of my book, Three Keys so drop me a line.
-- Laura Pritchett
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
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