This essay was first shared on Women Writers, Women[‘s] Books on September 29, 2025. Thanks to Books by Women for supporting authors and readers.

When I began this story, I thought it would be my fifth rather than sixth book. But as other authors know to happen, life interrupted. I did know that Celia, a character from my “novel in stories” Humanity’s Grace, had more in her. And maybe character Paul did too? This felt like my compulsion to continue Annie’s story after publishing Beyond the Ripple, my second book and first work of literary fiction. Yes, I carried Annie from Beyond the Ripples into the crafting of Humanity’s Grace.

As I began to carve out a new journey for Celia, I wondered if it was time for me to deviate from writing “by the seat of my pants.” Maybe I should follow a formula or strategy? At the time I had open access to LinkedIn training and enrolled in a free course to create a “Save the Cat Beat Sheet” for this next work. I completed the exercises, paying attention to my developing plot. Looking back, while the experience was good for me, I too realized it’s not the way I write. No, I’m one of those whose brain propels ideas all day long: I fear they will vanish if I don’t capture them (which I often do by dictating to my phone). Too, with more than 350 blogs and nearly six books to my name, I haven’t experienced writer’s block.

But then… life changed my plans. As I worked through this new novel, my mom‘s health worsened and my care of her increased. Still working full-time, although remotely with the pandemic, I gratefully moved her into our home fall of 2020. While I had 15,000 words into this new book start, it no longer felt relevant. I didn’t quite know where to go next with it. Instead, I focused on my job and taking care of Mom for her final months of life. And in that process, I understood the next book I needed to write was From First Breath to Last: A Story About Love, Womanhood, and Aging. This happened quickly. Only after publishing this second memoir in March 2024, could I resume Celia’s story.

As readers of my blog and books recognize, serendipity speaks to me. For whatever reason, one day after publishing From First Breath to Last, an internet search on northwest women and labor led me to a 2015 dissertation on gender, labor and the Northwest paper industry. It was within this document I first learned about a 1913 all-female strike at the paper mill bag factory in Camas, Washington. Suddenly, bingo! I knew this was the missing part of my story. And here began a new adventure for me: writing a dual timeline work.

I love the challenge of figuring out important themes, always surprised by how mother-daughter relationships show up in all my work. My longtime career in workplace safety and health helped steer parts of this. After all, I had provided safety training to paper makers. I too had reviewed reports of Oregon workplace fatalities, including within the fishing industry. Having always emphasized Place in my writing, and particularly that of the Pacific Northwest, this story and its settings of Astoria, Oregon and Camas, Washington felt natural. My second great grandfather’s board position to establish the Camas paper mill added extra personal interest. Other details made way in cameo bits about the Portland Rose Festival Parade, and my grandfather’s childhood steamboat trips from Portland along the Columbia River. My hometown here in West Linn, Oregon, also figured historically back then as the sister mill to the Camas mill. Sentiments in this book were fed by my work experiences within industries and jobs dominated by men: construction, mills, manufacturing; and my collaborations with unions from all industries. Subtly mashed in is a nod to my own thirty-something daughters in their work worlds today.

I too was challenged to figure out how to connect contemporary Celia in 2025 with long ago Emma of 1913. I didn’t want to use the more common strategy of connecting them by long ago letters or old journals. And certainly not time travel for me. What did I do, you might ask? You’ll have to read the book to find out. I hope you do, and I’d love to hear what you think!

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Dede Montgomery is a 6th generation Oregonian, published author and mostly retired Safety and Health Professional. She is a thoughtful and introspective author whose work blends personal narrative, historical reflection, and social awareness. Dede often writes with a deep connection to place, particularly the Pacific Northwest. Her storytelling is rooted in a sense of identity, family legacy, and the broader human experience. She lives with her spouse just a bit outside Portland where she explores the banks and ripples of the Willamette River.

Dede is the author of the following books: A Map of Her Own; From First Breath to Last: A Story About Love, Womanhood, and Aging; Humanity’s Grace; Beyond the Ripples; Then, Now and In-Between: Place, Memories, and Loss in Oregon; My Music Man

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