Thank you for this. I recently self-published my poetry collection, Illicit Croissants At Dawn, and I'm amazed by the wonderful response it's receiving. And yes, writing definitely is a wonderful for sharpening your brain as you age. I'm 63, and although I wrote years ago, I took a twenty year hiatus to concentrate on my other love, dressage and horses, and returned to writing when illness knocked the front door down and forced me to stop riding. Thank god for writing, I can tell you that! It has been a life saver.
I'm laying here in bed just reading your title, Illicit Croissants At Dawn. All sorts of delightful images are dancing through my brain. I suppose I must now find an on- line snippet of your book to satisfy my curiosity.
Thanks to all three of you for sharing your journeys! It's so interesting how women came to achieve so much. I only took up writing (again) when I retired, because I had a very time-consuming job that took me all around the globe, and I was a single mom. Now I wrote three novels, my agent wasn't able to find a publishing company and I'm going into self-publishing now. So, thanks again for the inspiration and encouragement!
Thank you for this interview with two very accomplished authors. I like that they used hybrid publishing as well as traditional. With my memoir in my head, I retired from teaching,, took many classes, sent queries, synopsis, and sample chapters to a hundred agents over ten years, and finally went with a local hybrid publishing company. I have not been on social media, except for Substack which I love, and wrote with a pen name so my start is slow. I'm doing book fairs and applying for awards and have a couple great reviews. Oh and I published my first book at age seventy-four. "Imprint, a woman's journey from trauma to freedom".
That's great Mary Beth, keep going! By the way, just a suggestion; in my previous post, where I interviewed Nikki and Anne, we were also fortunate to have Fleur Hull offer help with marketing their novels. I'm going to book Fleur myself, and maybe she could assist you if you want help on that front. Publicity and marketing are such a huge challenge!
Thank you for sharing these two women's remarkable publishing stories. Like Laura I had an agent for my current novel but after a year of submissions, lots of great feedback but no contract offers, I decided to go indie too. I found a small hybrid to help me get started with this first novel to learn the ropes, then go solo on my next novel, which I wrote while waiting for the first novel to get a contract. Now my first novel When Things Go Missing will be published in September, and it's already getting lots of great reviews from readers of my ARC. It's exciting to be doing this in my 70's. When I say that number, it sounds incredulous. In so many ways I've never felt younger than I feel now. Who knew these "golden years" could be so fulfilling?
Thanks for your wonderful comment, Deborah! Yours is such a familiar story. The publishing business needs to get its act together. 60s-plus women cannot afford to wait around for a year or more to get their book published, especially when the market for our books only keeps growing! And congrats on the positive feedback for your book! I'm with you on the feeling younger than ever front. I think it's because we are so stimulated and excited about what we are doing now :-)
I wasn't able to read all of the comments. I love the motivating journeys of women. Hearing their challenges and successes gives hope to budding writers.
Thank you for this. I recently self-published my poetry collection, Illicit Croissants At Dawn, and I'm amazed by the wonderful response it's receiving. And yes, writing definitely is a wonderful for sharpening your brain as you age. I'm 63, and although I wrote years ago, I took a twenty year hiatus to concentrate on my other love, dressage and horses, and returned to writing when illness knocked the front door down and forced me to stop riding. Thank god for writing, I can tell you that! It has been a life saver.
You are a perfect example, Francesca, of what I'm talking about! Congratulations on the success of your poetry collection :-)
Thank you, Kisane! I’m still waking up surprised and happy about this book everyday, and motivated to keep writing .
☺️
I'm laying here in bed just reading your title, Illicit Croissants At Dawn. All sorts of delightful images are dancing through my brain. I suppose I must now find an on- line snippet of your book to satisfy my curiosity.
You will love it 🤗❤️ promise !!
Thanks to all three of you for sharing your journeys! It's so interesting how women came to achieve so much. I only took up writing (again) when I retired, because I had a very time-consuming job that took me all around the globe, and I was a single mom. Now I wrote three novels, my agent wasn't able to find a publishing company and I'm going into self-publishing now. So, thanks again for the inspiration and encouragement!
Go you, Anette! I'm so glad you haven't been discouraged, and thank goodness we have the option of hybrid or self-publishing now! Ha!
Pleased to see a shout-out for self-publishing. You can't hear about it enough, in my opinion.
Agree, Ann. Shades of the same in the latest Taylor Swift story, buying back the rights to all her songs!
Ah yes, people are always putting me and Taylor Swift in the same sentence!
😂
Thank you for this interview with two very accomplished authors. I like that they used hybrid publishing as well as traditional. With my memoir in my head, I retired from teaching,, took many classes, sent queries, synopsis, and sample chapters to a hundred agents over ten years, and finally went with a local hybrid publishing company. I have not been on social media, except for Substack which I love, and wrote with a pen name so my start is slow. I'm doing book fairs and applying for awards and have a couple great reviews. Oh and I published my first book at age seventy-four. "Imprint, a woman's journey from trauma to freedom".
That's great Mary Beth, keep going! By the way, just a suggestion; in my previous post, where I interviewed Nikki and Anne, we were also fortunate to have Fleur Hull offer help with marketing their novels. I'm going to book Fleur myself, and maybe she could assist you if you want help on that front. Publicity and marketing are such a huge challenge!
I enjoyed reading both Laura’s and Connie’s publishing stories. Thank you for a great post, Kisane!
Thanks, Julie. What remarkable careers they’ve had, and still going strong!
Very inspiring to this 66 year old woman!
Thank you for sharing these two women's remarkable publishing stories. Like Laura I had an agent for my current novel but after a year of submissions, lots of great feedback but no contract offers, I decided to go indie too. I found a small hybrid to help me get started with this first novel to learn the ropes, then go solo on my next novel, which I wrote while waiting for the first novel to get a contract. Now my first novel When Things Go Missing will be published in September, and it's already getting lots of great reviews from readers of my ARC. It's exciting to be doing this in my 70's. When I say that number, it sounds incredulous. In so many ways I've never felt younger than I feel now. Who knew these "golden years" could be so fulfilling?
Thanks for your wonderful comment, Deborah! Yours is such a familiar story. The publishing business needs to get its act together. 60s-plus women cannot afford to wait around for a year or more to get their book published, especially when the market for our books only keeps growing! And congrats on the positive feedback for your book! I'm with you on the feeling younger than ever front. I think it's because we are so stimulated and excited about what we are doing now :-)
I wasn't able to read all of the comments. I love the motivating journeys of women. Hearing their challenges and successes gives hope to budding writers.
Thanks again, Kisane, for including me. It's interesting to see that Laura and I have been with the same publishing house at times.
You are both remarkable women with incredible careers as authors. I so enjoyed learning your stories. You are an inspiration to us all.