Margaret Dulaney is the author of the new book Whippoorwill Willingly. Her other books include To Hear the Forest Sing. She lives in Pennsylvania.
Q: What inspired you to write Whippoorwill Willingly?
A: I have been writing nonfiction essays around mystical themes for 20 years now, many of which I offer as spoken word pieces on my website, Listenwell.org, where I have been offering one recorded essay a month for the past 15 years. Having this platform has allowed me to publish three books of my writings.
I was busily working on my fourth nonfiction book when the pandemic rolled across the globe, and I looked up and thought, I want to write something all uplifting! I want to take my audience to a beautiful lake filled with healing waters, introduce them to kindred spirits, give them animals to love, and ancient forests to walk through. I want to wash their cares away!
It was then that Whippoorwill Willingly started to tell me her story. I listened.
Q: Did you know how the story would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I followed along, almost as if taking dictation. I did not know where the story was going, but every time I quieted and sat with a pencil in hand (my first draft was written by hand) Whippoorwill’s voice would take up where it left off the day before. This book was a pure joy to write.
Q: Did you need to do any research to write the book, and if so, did you learn anything that especially surprised you?
A: I learned that in India the attendees of funerals, or ash scatterings, wear white. I thought that was lovely.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?
A: I hope readers will feel the same pervasive peace that I felt while writing the book. I would love for them to feel as if they had plunged themselves in the healing waters of the mystical lake along with Whippoorwill. It would be quite an achievement if the audience loved their time in Whippoorwill’s world even half as well as I did.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am always working on my nonfiction, reading and musing. Since I write a piece every month for ListenWell, I keep my pen moving most mornings. It never feels a chore, but something that I look forward to every day. I will say that this ease of picking up the pen every morning took many years to be a reliable friend.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Perhaps I should explain what I mean by mysticism. I was raised on mysticism with a grandmother who followed the teachings of the mystic Rudolf Steiner.
His child-friendly views of the world behind the natural world are still with me. His belief that every living being on earth has a spirit has brightened my days. I believe in the power of the natural world to heal, and connect us to all conscious beings.
Steiner would tell us that even blades of grass, even stones (however dense) have a degree of consciousness. He also spoke of a hierarchy of beings that were responsible for the care of nature, which care includes the care of the individual human. In Whippoorwill Willingly I call these beings the Bright Ones.
I went on from childhood to read the writings of many of the great mystics across time, from east to west, and have bundled up what I have gathered in a book for young people. I consider Whippoorwill Willingly to be written for child philosophers and child-like elders.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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