How Can an Old Biddy Become an Author? I’m an old biddy who released her first book at the age of seventy-one. I want to share my story of becoming a traditionally published author of four humorous nonfiction books after retiring from a forty-year career. We older women need to tell our truths. We have much to say, wisdom and experience that younger women could not possibly know. No one else could ever tell our
Let’s Shine Our Light: Crone Authors Together The issue of “stay small, sweet, quiet, and modest” sounds like an outdated problem, but the truth is that women still run into those demands whenever we find and use our voices. —Brene Brown, Daring Greatly We live in a time of massive change, including huge changes for authors. Print on Demand and online sales have upended traditional publishing. Access has opened up, and voices of marginalized
My new boyfriend is AI Some women love their vibrators. I love a different type of digital companion…AI. I’m not a total nerd-girl. I adore flesh-and-blood men too, but my current tech toys and techniques are vital to my work and personal life, giving me autonomy, entertainment, and even stimulation. How it All Began: My Digital Awakening My father gave me an IBM Selectric typewriter during college. It corrected my errors and saved me hours,
In Praise of Color Deanna Raybourn’s terrific novel Killers of a Certain Age starts with the retirement cruise of a trio of crone assassins. As a special surprise, their erstwhile boss has hired a younger killer to bump them off mid-cruise. Once the women overcome their hitman and safely land, they get away with murdering their heavily guarded former boss. How? By wearing gray wigs and beige clothes. Nobody notices them—which proves once and for all
Setting Lights the Way I love talking to authors about where their ideas come from, and I’m fascinated by the small seeds that blossom over time into a full-fledged novel. In workshops, I hear about starting the writing process with a character in mind (a nurse, grieving the death of her nephew), and one of my writing friends won’t write a word until her main character is living in her head and carrying on conversations.
When Zebras Meet Managing Under-Researched Conditions I’ve written before about the old medical school mantra, “When you hear hoofbeats, look for horses, not zebras.” In other words, consider the common diagnoses first. Sounds reasonable; but keep in mind that the saying originated back when medical school was a white guys’ club. In practice, “Horses, not zebras,” too often translates as, “Focus on conditions that are common to male Caucasians.” Illnesses that primarily affect women (such as migraines,
