Dear Reader,

Today, I wish YOU were the writer.

Today, I finished the revisions on my seventh and thus far most beloved novel, Cage of Stars. It is not a farmily drama, though I remain committed to those important stories, and I hope to live to write more. It's a very individual story, about a young woman who witnesses a terrifying act of violence just as she crosses the threshold into womanhood, and becomes -- literally -- a prisoner of heaven.

Writing a novel is like making love or nuzzling a newborn.
Revising a novel is like weightlifting or raising a talented but recalcitrant teen.

Each of them is rewarding.

Which do you think is more fun?

Often, I deny that characters are real to me.

Often, I deny that writing has a spiritual dimension.

I won't be able to deny that with Cage of Stars.

This book was wrung out of me, and it also was an act of spiritual exploration.

Readers sometimes ask me about my religious beliefs, because religion (never more than in this upcoming book) plays such a role in my stories.

The truth is, religion confuses me.

Acts of faith confuse and terrify me. I would rather believe in something, and be wrong, than not believe in something, and be wrong. But the contradictions of a random and blunt world try me. I feel something between anger and exasperation when those whose child was spared death in a disaster say, with helpless gratitude, which of course, I understand, "God was watching over her." Another child, who survived the tsunami, and was safe at a Red Cross center, later was abducted. Where was God?

In this book, upcoming in March, I will explore those questions through my young protagonist, Ronnie Swan.

What I want to ask of you is, do you struggle?

In your work? In your life, as I do?

Or are you supremely confident, as so many people are who write to me, that they don't make errors, that they rarely put a foot wrong.

I try very hard. But I believe I hit the mark no more than three of five times, in my art and my life.

Do you wonder about your competence, your faith, your purposeful intentions? As my cousin, Janis (a character in an upcoming novel) once said of me, "You worry for England."
On this website, in coming weeks, we're going to try a new feature. I'm going to record some of the observations and events you've written to me, preserving your privacy of course. I'll reflect on what some of my advisors and I think about some of these moments of high anxiety, and quiet reflection, challenges and their outcomes.

If you want to join in, write and give it a try. And read along.

Best,
Jackie

When my new novel Cage of Stars comes out next spring, I want to be able to announce it on my own to readers who've come to this site to view or post comments and questions. It's an exciting thing to be able to communicate with readers this way; and I look forward to expanding on it -- for example, with a little "web radio" show in which I'll read some of your posts and talk about them (protecting your privacy, of course).

Sometimes, it's difficult to see how to sign up to be notified when a book is coming out, so if you would like, use the little entry on the home page that says, "Sign up for Jackie's Mailing List." You can use an e-mail address or a snail mail address.

I promise not to spam you, send you more than one announcement or try to get you to buy life insurance! This is a place for readers only!

So please sign up, and join me in helping to make this little community a big community.

After all, I write them to be read.

Until the reader takes my hand, the dance is all inside my head.

Best,
Jackie

Lately, I've been hearing that the deeply divided consciousness among American households -- over the war, over abortion, same-gender unions, the president's advisors, the price of gas, the lack of jobs -- has come between even close friends and family members.

I've heard about holiday picnics interrupted by chance comments that turn into heated debates; and I wonder if our country isn't experiencing a civil version of the Civil War, in that we don't seem to agree on basic inalienable truths, that those truths seem open to interpretation based on a person's religious or politcal stance. There seems to be a great lack of compassion for "one side" toward the other.

Has any of you experienced such conflict?

I've heard about sisters whose husband got into political arguments, at a three-year-old's birthday party, that ended with one fellow storming off, leaving everyone else red-faced and anxious. The old spirit of tolerance for another viewpoint seems to have been erased; and I've heard of families who have to declare certain social issues "off limits" between parents and children, brother and sister, best friend. I think that it is sad that it's necessary to have rules in order to enjoy polite discourse and simple joy in the company of those we love, so that peole leave feeling respected and loved.

Write to me about this. I wonder if you have found yourselves in situations in which you simply cannot agree with someone about whom you care deeply. It's worthy discussion.

Best,
Jackie