My creativity lends itself well to words. Less so with artwork. I have been pleased with the prior three covers created for my books by my publisher, Bedazzled Ink Publishing. With each book I’ve written, I know what I want but feel unable to fully put my vision into graphics or images. Yet, I absolutely know it when I see it. And I’m thrilled to confirm that my now released cover for From First Breath to Last is perfect! Thank you to the team at Bedazzled.

From First Breath to Last: A Story About Love, Womanhood and Aging will be released in March 2024. Stay tuned for news about my launch party and other scheduled book discussions and talks. This time around I am connecting with friends in places in addition to my launch (hint hint Hello Oregon City) and the Portland Metro area to find appropriate venues or bookstores and crowds. If you have an idea, please reach out! I’m imagining Denver (adjacent to Safety 2024, perhaps), Corvallis (OSU Alumni), Missoula (hello family and friends), Whidbey Island (hello Karen!), San Francisco (hello CIIS and more family), maybe LA (hello even more family). I am especially interested in finding folks who relate to these themes: womanhood, midlife decisions, aging, dementia, health, nature, legacy and stories, and mother-daughter.

I don’t think I was prepared for the anticipation authors experience prior to release. These books we write, sweat through and edit over and over, are about to hit the streets. The final approval of a cover is one thing. The approval of the words comprising the book – something I am doing this week – is yet another. The last chance to find those tricky typos is nerve-racking. Bigger yet is what sometimes feels like a sudden realization that our words and stories will be public. And in this case, Mom’s too. It takes me back to the release of my first book and memoir: My Music Man. My brain vacillated between – oh my goodness do I want to share this – and – wait, what about that story or fact that I forgot to add? It was helpful for me then, as it is now, to remind myself how memoir does not mean everything about a person’s life. And even if it did, unless one is an incredibly famous person, the world doesn’t care about all the stories. Nope. Memoir focuses on a topic, a premise, a theme. And thus, as I approve these final edits, I remind myself to take a deep breath and relax.

Curious to learn more? Check out my publisher’s page for this book. In the next few weeks you’ll see me build my own along with my other books under “My Books.” As always I can’t imagine doing this without you. Thanks for joining me on this journey.

For now, I’ll leave you with these beautiful blurbs. Thank you Latrissa and Anne. Your support fills me.

“From First Breath to Last: A Story about Love, Womanhood, and Aging is an honest and engaging portrayal of a topic challenging to us all. Montgomery shares intimate details in her stories that bring the reader into the room. Readers of all ages can relate to the realistic depictions included in this book, with stories that empower and inspire. This tells the tale of leadership and learning from the history of those closest to the author through the wisdom of their lived experiences. An illuminating read.” ­— Dr. Latrissa Lee Neiworth, Ed.D., Organizational Leadership, MA Ed., IDI QA Professor of Leadership
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“Dede Montgomery honors the forested paths women wander along on their life journey starting in girlhood until they leave their bodies through the tender writings of a mother and daughter through a unique lens. Gifted with her mother’s, Patty Marilyn Daum Montgomery, own unpublished memoir, plus her doctoral thesis and other writings, Dede Montgomery entwines their separate journeys into a story filled with insight, reconciliation, whimsy, wisdom, and grief. I was left for a longing to have sat down and had a long chat with “Patty,” a keenly wise and intelligent woman, who was laying the groundwork for the current movement for understanding the value of post-menopausal women in our society in her writing and as a professor-mentor to women. Dede Montgomery’s own growth from childhood through young adulthood through to her caring for her mother at the end of her life reflects how, like the landscape of a forest, slowly changes over time, parental-child relationships too mature with age. Nature is a woven theme throughout From First Breath to Last and as you approach the end you sense Patty, like the nurse logs in a forest, is still nurturing her family, deeply loved.” — Chaplain Anne Richardson, Spiritual Companion, Founder, Nurture Your Journey