Last spring, I met debut writer, story-gatherer, and Life-Cycle Celebrant Patricia Eagle at the wonderful Independent Book Publishers Association Conference. I immediately recognized — in the directness of her gaze, the wisdom and humor that shines from her eyes, and the groundedness, warmth, and self-assurance with which she walks through the world — that Patricia was a kindred spirit, a woman I not only wanted to get to know better, but recognized I was already deeply connected to in some...