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DGL: I heard you had another interesting confirmation early on in your research as well.

Heidi: Yes, as part of my research for the story I traveled to the Rocky Mountains in Montana. After purchasing a book at a store in the area, I flipped it over and saw on the back that it was about a Kootenai Indian girl.

Although I had never before heard of the Kootenai Indians, I had used the name Kootenai for one of the tribes in the story. I took this as another sign that I was on the right track and writing about my own past life. But whether or not you believe in past lives, this book will give you a glimpse into life in a Shoshoni tribe just a year after Lewis and Clark completed the first American expedition to explore the territories between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean.

DGL: Interesting you should mention that, because I've learned there is another, surprising connection between the Shoshoni, Lewis and Clark and the recent publication of your book.

Heidi: Yes, it's a good example of the synchronicity that can take place when you are committed to something for spiritual purposes.

What happened is that Native Americans gained more recogition recently when Sacajewea was chosen to be on the new US golden dollar coin. This is significant because both Sacajewea and Red Willow were Shoshoni living in the identical time period. Sacajewea was a young Lemhi Shoshoni woman who was vital to the Lewis and Clark expedition exploring the western United States.

Sacajewea translated, tracked, gathered plants and her presence showed Native Americans in the area that Lewis and Clark's party came in peace. She carried a baby on her back the whole time, and Clark later adopted her son after she died. Many public schools, especially in the Northwest, are named for Sacagawea (alternative spelling), as are mountain peaks, streams and lakes.

DGL: Red Willow calls upon her inner strength and shows great determination to fulfill her destiny in the story, something I'm sure Sacajewea could have related to. But you have written her story in way that seemed would be accessible and inspiring to anyone. Who is your book popular among?

Heidi: The story is popular with people of all ages, and although there are moderately adult themes, Red Willow herself is quite young at the time the story takes place, and so there are also exciting issues for younger readers.

In fact, the book has been popular recently with both mothers and daughters in a mother-daughter book club! They love the story, and it provides a chance to talk about values in an indirect way and relate them to their own lives, to talk about issues that they normally wouldn't. Of course, the action-adventure part has been important in the discussions about making a movie of the book.

 Read the Author Interview, Part 3: "The love story"      

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