YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD

This has been a busy day--I teach a class on Wednesdays, hubby and I run errands and then have an early dinner out. But my class is the most interesting part of the day--I have "characters" in the room with me from 9 to 11:30.

Charlotte wasn't there today. She is our eldest writer--if I calculate right she will be 92 in June. She writes the greatest books for middle-grade readers; last year she had an article published by "Highlights for Children." We look forward to hearing the next chapter of her book-in-progress each Wednesday. But Charlotte wasn't there today. She was kayaking on Mission Bay with a group from our local YMCA. She loves to do that. Says it clears the sluge out of her old brain. (I wish my brain was her kind of "old.")

Arlene also writes mainly for children. She hasn't been writing long but since being in my class has had a personal essay published in a regional magazine. She celebrated for weeks. But it is her Teddy Bear stories and poetry we all love. She often uses a young girl as the protagonist, with the bears all around her coming to life. A recent poem is so well done, we are encouraging her to type it up as a picture book. The only problem has been the hours I have spent in attempting to find agents and/or publishers who will accept unpublished picture book writers. Arlene is pursuing her goal to have children enjoy her books. Anyone got any contacts for her? Did I tell you she is over eighty?

Sylvia led this class for seventeen years. She has illness in her family and the class was going to close after existing for twenty-five years. I couldn't let that happen so told Sylvia I would take it over. She writes the most beautiful poetry and is often published in "Capper's Magazine." The short stories she shares are often nice, sweet, light romance but then she knocks us off balance with a quirky mystery. Sylvia is in her mid-seventies.

Elaine, a retired nurse, is published almost every month in a nostalgia magazine, "Good Old Days Specials." Her essays put the reader in Brooklyn with her growing up, reminding us all that the "good old days" were really that whether our family had money or not. Rose travels all over the world and holidays in Hawaii; she writes of these travels with amusement, or seriousness. Shirley shares small snippets of her hometown, its people and the seasons, articles that were published for many years in our local newspaper. John, a former pilot of his own plane, writes historical novels of old California. Fran knows how to tell us all about horses and stables since she owned her own before retiring. Joanie has us giggling over her military family escapades. All of these people are in their 70's and 80's.

I am not as old as my students but am a senior. I have been writing since the age of ten and have had over 300 articles, stories and poems published. I, as my students, am not ready to stop now. I want others to read what I have to say, the stories I want to share, and the poetry from my heart.

The moral of this story is: we are never too old to write if it provides us joy. And, by the way, you are never too young either--remember that dreamer/writer at ten? She's still doing the same thing all these years later.

Write from your heart. The heart is never too old, nor too young.

SUBMISSIONS: 2 X 2

I'm attemtping to find agents/publishers for one of my students who is a writer of outstanding stories for children. We are presently working on the publication of a picture book usig one of her delightful Teddy bear poems. Not unlike writers of any other genre, this is not an easy task.

It is difficult to keep up with the markets and agents. We are working with an up-to-date children's marketing book. However, to make sure that the guidelines still pertain, I have been going to the online sites. Out of the first five chosen to be a fit for her work, not a one was right on. They were all picked because they didn't require agents; now they all do. They were chosen because they accepted picture books; now they no longer want them.

The publishing world has changed in another respect also. It was once a given that if you sent out queries, example chapters, synopsis or outline to more than one source, you stated this in the cover letter I didn't follow this rule then. Most of the guidelines now tell you, publishers/agents will not accept simultaneous submissions.

Let me get this right. I have written a book, revised, rewritten, spent hours and days, maybe months or years, on my manuscript. I want it to be published so that my work can be seen by interested readers. Your guidelines tell me you want me to send you my hard-earned work exclusively and wait for: "Responds in 6 months. Responds in 6-12 months. Response time varies." As a writer and teacher of creative writing, I find that not only unfair but unreasonable.

I recommend writers ignore those demands. You have your agents or publishers list. You've got a killer query letter, a dynamite outline or synopsis and a manuscript that is as ready as you can make it. You are ready to test the waters of the acceptance world. You should definitely send query letters to all the agents/publishers on your list--at once. Ignore the advice to not send multiple submissions. Agents often take even longer than publishers, as much as up to one year to reply. Do you want to wait that long for rejection or acceptance? I certainly don't--and won't. At my age, I could be dead before I receive an answer.

If you have an agent you really want to represent you, say so in your query letter. Put a time limit on her exclusive look at your manuscript, say two weeks, a month at most. If interested, she might ask for more time. Give it to her. But watch that deadline and contact her if you haven't heard within a week of the deadline you have agreed on. If you hear nothing, get that list out and send queries to everyone on it.

The great thing about sending multiple submissions out is that if you get more than one agent/publisher interested, you can use this as leverage to prod all the others to read your material. It's not necessary to tell the agents/publishers in the query that this is a multiple submission; in fact, I don't ever mention this. But if an agent shows interest and asks if it has been submitted to another, be sure to tell the truth.

I have the search for new agents/markets for my student on my to-do list for this week. While I'm doing this for her, I'll keep my eye out for agents/publishers for "Aunt Lutie's Blue Moon Cafe" and "Pink Poodle Pie (and Other Tales of How Women Get Even"); maybe I won't have to wait another year for a rejection.

I hope you will do the same for your manuscripts waiting to be read by millions.

FIRST DRAFTS IN LIFE

Here I am again, months since I last posted although I am always so determined to keep somewhat up-to-date. Life, other than my writing life, seems to get in the way. Recently, I have come to the conclusion that having life do its thing isn't all bad. The quote I read several days ago says it all: "Each day you have to start all over again. No repeats allowed." In other words, we only go through this day, this life one time and we had better make the most of it.

Though I have been writing, rewriting, doing some first drafts of other projects, I have also been gardening, walking along the beach, taking my morning coffee and muffin to a nearby park, driving several elderly neighbors to doctor appointments and enjoying the awakening spring,and the new me.

In my teaching responsibilities I have learned how to get those first drafts out. Though I have never been the kind of writer to edit my chapters as I write, I know that is not the best route for all writers. I feel for myself that if I stop to edit I will find a glitch in each edit and would never complete the book. I guess, at my age, I have also decided that planning each day has been taking some of the exuberance out of life. I am working on an edit of that completed piece of work.

So, I want to share this with you: Don't write every day. Don't tell your loved ones you can't go on that picnic because you have to complete a chapter. Don't give up your entire life to be a successful writer. First, you have to be a success in your personal life. Publication and all the joy accompanying it, can be yours without cutting out the special heart of your life.

When friends and fellow writers ask me when the next book will be published, I smile and reply with something like, "it will be ready when I work it all out"--first drafts will be easy if my life in general is a happy one. It doesn't mean that I don't want to be published, don't look forward to those book signings and sales. But for the moment, the happy ending in each day of my life is more important.

Look at your life. Are there some first drafts of fun, adventure, travel, or love waiting for you to create?