Advancing issues through narrative; telling stories to create change.

Deborah Lee Luskin

Writer, Speaker, Educator

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    • Living in Place
    • The Middle Ages
    • Lessons From The Long Trail
    • Vermonters by Choice
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    • Into the Wilderness
    • Elegy for a Girl
    • Works in Progress
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Works in Progress

In addition to posting an essay every Wednesday on Living in Place, I have two works in progress.

Ellen (a novel)

Ellen Wasserman was twenty-nine years old and midway through the first draft of her dissertation when she realized that she had the same initials as Emma Woodhouse, and perhaps other similar and unflattering characteristics as well.

So begins Ellen, the story of Ellen Wasserman, who is writing a dissertation about how Jane Austen uses letters within her novels to teach her audience how to read them. Ellen, in fact, reads nineteenth century British fiction for instructions on how to say no to the wrong men while searching for the right one to come along.

Learning to Hunt (a memoir)

            As a woman past sixty, I’m no longer tugged by the moon; now, I’m in tune with the sun. From January to June, I gather strength and ideas that reach their fullness in the fall. Between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, my energy wanes; I turn inward until daylight returns. This annual rhythm is slower than the lunar tide that once ruled me. This solar rhythm allows me a deeper experience of seasons and a longer view, both backwards into the lived past, and forward, toward death.

            Being unmoored from the tides of fertility is profound. After years of cycles that buffeted my body with tears and desire, I’m now above tree line, my mind clear. It’s from this vantage point that I see how vast nature, how insignificant I. Where I once depended on human history to navigate the forested landscape, seeing only abandoned foundations, stonewalls, and logging roads along the blazed trail, now I want to see beyond how humans inhabit the landscape, into the trees. It’s as if the centrifugal force of the earth’s rotation is forcing me out of the set track, off the blazed trail, away from the civilized use of the outdoors; I’m spinning into a new orbit: I’m learning to hunt.

Deborah Lee Luskin, Writer

Deborah Lee Luskin is a writer by vocation and a Vermonter by choice. Into the Wilderness is her first published novel. Deborah is a skilled writer, talented teacher, eagle-eyed editor and entertaining public speaker. Contact Deborah with information about your project to find out how she can help you.


 

Learn how I can help your writing with Writing Circles, Private Tutorial and Manuscript Development; hire me to write for you or invite me to speak; facilitate or celebrate a meeting or life-cycle occasion.

 

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More about Deb:

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
    • Living in Place
    • The Middle Ages
    • Lessons From The Long Trail
    • Vermonters by Choice
  • Books
    • Into the Wilderness
    • Elegy for a Girl
    • Works in Progress
  • Writing
    • Writing Circles
    • Private Tutorial
    • Manuscript Development
    • Rosefire Revision Circle
  • Speaking
    • Teaching Literature
    • Author Talks
    • Public Speaking
  • Services
    • Pen-for-Hire
    • Motivating, Facilitating & Celebrating
  • Events
  • Contact

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Author Photo - Kelly Fletcher Photography


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