Pam Houston: Author of Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country and Cowboys Are My Weakness – 107
I am excited to introduce today’s Extraordinary Women Radio guest, Pam Houston: Author of Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country and Cowboys Are My Weakness.
Pam is one of my favorite authors of all time! I read Pam’s book, Cowboys Are My Weakness, many, many years ago. Her books a series of short stories about her life – so many which mirrored my own life at that time – and her fun writing style made me feel like I was in the room with her.
Fast forward all these years later, and one of my clients casually asks, "Have you ever read any Pam Houston books? She has a new book out that made me think of you."
"OMG – yes I know who she is! I love her writing!" And I instantly proceeded to order her most recent book, Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country.
Deep Creek tells Pam’s story of finding her ranch in Creede, CO. At 31 years old, she was fresh off a tour promoting her book, Cowboys Are My Weakness. ,She had “no job, no place to lie except her North Face tent.” On an impulse and a good instinct, she spent her royalties on a 120-acre ranch near Creede, Colorado. It was more than she could afford, and required more maintenance than she could manage. And yet, 25 years later, it’s the piece of land that’s defined the largest part of her life. Deep Creek tells the remarkable story of “that girl who dared herself to buy a ranch, dared herself to dig in and care for it, to work hard enough to pay for it, to figure out what other people mean when they use the world ‘home.”’
So you can imagine how excited I was when I reached out to Pam as I was reading Deep Creek, and said – hey can I feature you on Extraordinary Women Radio – and within minutes she emailed back and said “Sure!”
What’s really fun for me, is I’ve trail ridden in the mountains above Pam’s ranch. This is deep high country, and it is where my father’s ashes are spread, high atop a mountain range, 16 miles from any roads. This country is wild, rugged and magically spirit-filled. I feel Pam’s love for this land.
It truly was a delight to feature Pam in this interview. She is also the author of Contents May Have Shifted, Waltzing the Cat, the novel, Sight Hound, and a collection of essays, A Little More About Me. Her stories have been selected for volumes of Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Awards, The 2013 Pushcart Prize, and Best American Short Stories of the Century. She is the winner of the Western States Book Award, the WILLA award for contemporary fiction, The Evil Companions Literary Award and multiple teaching awards. She co-founded the literary nonprofit Writing By Writers, is a professor of English at UC Davis, teaches in The Institute of American Indian Art, and at writer’s conferences around the country and the world.
To learn more about Pam, follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
It is my pleasure to introduce you to one of my sheroes, Pam Houston.
Pam Houston Show Notes