Authors in Residence series Helen Vandervort —
accomplished author

at Touchmark at Mt. Bachelor Village, Bend, OR

Authenticity and details at the core of Helen’s books

Helen Vandervort never set out to be a published author. “I wrote my first novel just to see if I could do it,” she says. After two published novels, an article, and an essay, she is indeed a published author.

Helen worked at Central Oregon Community College for 20 years, ultimately as the Director of Public Relations and Development. During that time, she took an 11-month sabbatical to earn her Master’s in Communications with a minor in Business from the University of Portland. “1983 was a banner year for me,” she notes. “I became a grandmother, got my Master’s, and turned 50!”

While Helen wrote newsletters, brochures, press releases, and catalogs in her work at the college, it wasn’t until after retirement that she tried her hand at writing for enjoyment. Her first published work was part of a collection of essays, Our Turn, Our Time: Women Truly Coming of Age, edited by Cynthia Black and published by Beyond Words Publishing in 2000. “The book is a collection of essays by and for women over 50,” says Helen. “Mine is an essay about the mature woman being a master healer, teacher, a ‘crone’ in the finest sense—because that’s what mature women are: We’re teachers and healers.”

A novelist is born

Helen says her first published novel, A Vintage Year, “is a mature woman’s ultimate fantasy—instant wealth and a young lover.” Published in 2002 by PublishAmerica, it is set in the vineyards of the Willamette Valley. “The setting has to be real,” she notes. “If you make a mistake, people will dismiss your book.”

Helen set off to tour the wineries with friends over multiple weekends to learn about the winemaking industry and lifestyle. Even though she only included a small portion of what she learned, she found the research invaluable in writing an authentic novel. “If I had included more, it would have sounded like a how-to-make-wine book,” she laughs. story continues below

Her second novel, The Scheherazades, was published in 2007, again by PublishAmerica. This book’s setting is an upscale retirement neighborhood outside of Portland in which four women from very different backgrounds relate their life stories; each one holds a dark secret.

Her research for The Scheherazades became a story in itself. “I needed to kill off a character’s husband; I had to get rid of him,” she says. The husband was a truck driver, so she went to a truck stop and asked some truckers if she could see the inside of their sleeper cab.

“They told me all about trucking, and I asked them if it’s possible to die in a sleeper cab. They told me the oxygen tanks on the trucks have chemicals in them that can kill you, and there! I got my murder done correctly!”

Helen’s written account of her research for her novel, an article titled “Research on the Wild Side”, was published in The Writer magazine.

At an early writers’ workshop she attended, Helen learned a valuable lesson that she keeps in mind when writing her novels. “If you can’t say what the book is about in 25 words or less, you don’t know what you’re writing!”

When not writing, Helen enjoys snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing, duplicate bridge, tai chi, and genealogy. (She has traced her husband’s ancestry back to the 1620s.) She was a founding member of the Silver Sage Society, now a part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and leads a twice-monthly discussion group for people who enjoy learning. “We have two topics that are off-limits,” she says firmly: “ailments and grandchildren! Nobody has grandchildren as cute as mine.”

Currently, Helen is writing her memoirs. Her books are available on Amazon.com, Powell’s Books in Portland, and online at PowellsBooks.com. “I always keep a few copies on hand,” she adds.