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 The only problem has been the hours I have spent in attempting to find agents and/or publishers who will accept unpublished picture book writers.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.
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.
posted by Barb | 9:14 PM
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