'Skookum' writer at work on another long book.

Byline: Oregon authors by The Register-Guard

Name: Shannon Applegate, Yoncalla.

She wrote: `Skookum' (William Morrow, 1988), a 1989 Oregon Book award finalist.

Question: How long did it take for you to write "Skookum?" Is it still in print?

Answer: ``Skookum,' my first book, took about 17 years. It went through several printings, came out in soft cover in the '90s and stayed in print until a few years ago. The rights have reverted to me, and I'd like to see it get back in print. I still get letters from people about `Skookum.'

I bring this up because it reassures me in terms of my own sense of the time it takes to do things such as writing a big book.

Question: Whatever happened to your book ``Among Headstones,'' which was due out in 2000?

Answer: It's currently making the rounds in New York and elsewhere via my agent. The book, which began as a diary some five years ago, has to do with my role as the sexton of a rural community cemetery I inherited where 1,500 people are buried, including 40 or more Applegate relatives.

Last year, about this time, it appeared as if a Boston publisher was going to take the book. I was thrilled, ready to sign, then dismayed to learn that the marketing guy put the kibosh on the recommendations of the managing editor and other supporters.

Marketers carry a lot of clout, these days. ... We hope the book will be placed sooner or later.

Frankly - and this, incidentally, is a message I try to convey to my writing students - publishing is just a part of the writing process and, in a certain sense, is not the heart of the process. I don't write in order to publish. I write because it is an important part of my particular ``being aliveness.'' Or something. That's not put very well, but you understand.

Question: What are you working on now?

Answer: `Minus Tides'' is still ongoing. I'm someone who takes a long while to write stuff. ``Minus Tides'' is, like ``Skookum,'' a long work.

I just finished a short story set on Oregon's south coast where I lived and directed a museum during the 1970s. The story is called ``Bloody Point,'' and I've been thinking about this story for almost 30 years. It's about a small museum and an Indian skull.

Question: Tell us about your family:

Answer: I have six grown children and two grandchildren. My husband of almost 20 years, Daniel Robertson, recently graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law and is now practicing in Roseburg. Before that, he was the director of the Douglas County Museum of History and Natural History for many years.

Question: In these days of looming terrorism, you must be thinking about your dad, Col. Rex Applegate.

Answer: `Despite the fact that I very much miss my father - an expert on terrorism and riot control - I'm glad I don't have to talk with him about war and curtailment of civil rights. My nickname for him, and one he liked, was ``Col. Superhawk.'' Although we agreed about many things, especially the importance of history, we disagreed about many political and social issues."

Oregon authors appears regularly on the Books page. Direct comments or suggestions to Assistant Features Editor Paul Denison, who can be reached by phone at 338-2323, or by e-mail at [e-mail].