Linda M. Lockwood
Sky Ranch: Reared in the High Country
May 8, 2025
4 PM PDT | 5 PM MDT | 6 PM CDT | 7 PM EDT
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Sky Ranch: Reared in the High Country is a moving homage to ranch life and the impact of mental illness on family.

In 1954, I had just turned eight when my family moved to an isolated ranch in eastern Washington State. By age ten I began sheepherding to spare my mother who had unexplained hospitalizations no one would talk about.  After school and all summer, I worked in the hills on horseback with my border collie—herding sheep, killing rattlesnakes, and defending the ranch’s livestock from coyotes, bears, and trespassing hunters. But my most daunting challenge was one hard work couldn’t overcome: my mother was withdrawing emotionally into an unnamed mental illness.

At age twenty-five, I was married and had just learned I was pregnant when my mother died by suicide. My own motherhood was haunted by questions: What caused Mom to become schizophrenic? What treatments did she receive in the mental hospitals? Could I, or could my daughters, inherit her disorder?

Sky Ranch is the story of my transformation, covering a long arc from my childhood and youth with my mother to finding answers late in life. I grew up with feelings of shame and resentment toward my mother for her failures to protect and support me. In my fifties I began my healing journey by writing my stories, and in my seventies I found answers in her mental hospital chart that helped me understand my mother and the ways her illness impacted me. After learning all that she endured, I could forgive and love her.

I will share:

• What motivated me to write my stories.
• What was my process in writing this book.
• What is the arc of my memoir.
• How craft classes and editors helped me shape my words into memoir.
• My publishing process and what’s next.

Bio

Linda M. Lockwood grew up on an isolated wheat, sheep, and cattle ranch in rural North Central Washington. She holds a BA with honors in mathematics from Central Washington University, an MA in economics from the University of Michigan, and a certificate in literary nonfiction from the University of Washington. She enjoyed a fulltime career and, in her spare time, took writing classes and wrote stories of her ranch life. Linda enjoys reading books and writing her own, walking in nature, and time with her daughters and grandsons. She lives happily in Seattle, Washington, with her husband. Her debut memoir, Sky Ranch: Reared in the High Country was published in 2024. Learn more at https://www.lindamlockwood.com