Sometimes, usually after several rejections, I wonder if I'm just too old for this writing biz. Not for the creative part, but for the self-promoting, tweeting, website, do I need to know how to make a video part. I query agents a third my age, and wonder why they would take on a client that used to type her stories on a typewriter, who remembers the smell of the mimeograph machine, and taking rolls of film to the drugstore...but I keep on keepin' on because I so want my and grandkids to hold a book in their hands that their Nana wrote!
What are some of the challenges and the joys you face as an older person writing for children?
I saw your post. I'm a little younger than the ages you mentioned, but totally relate to all the things that some of the "younger folk" will never know about.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Stacy! One thing I miss is big album covers--I loved the life-size photo of Cat Stevens in one of his! What is something you miss?
DeleteGee Deb, as a new member of 12x12 this year, I look up to how accomplished you are. I'm over 50, and brand new to the game of writing for kids. I self-pubbed an heirloom PB on amazon in 2012 and spent last year establishing my 'platform' at the EXPENSE of writing. Do yourself a favor and twitter search some of your favorite authors because when you do, you'll find that some have little to no presence at all. I aspire to be as proficient a writer as you, and feel that I'm playing catch up because I'm starting out way behind the curve. I say keep writing, and when a story is bought, you'll have plenty of time, along with a lot of friends, that will find you poised to market it through the roof! [As you read this, picture me with a stack of freshly run off dittos pressed against my face! Ahhh.]- Donna Sadd :0)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Donna! I will keep writing, and submitting, and looking for agents--maybe I can hire a teenager to do the promotion!
DeleteMmm...I loved (and miss terribly) those smells of the mimeographed papers (the dampness of the pages too). I don't miss taking rolls of film to the drugstore though...and especially don't miss getting the pictures back and finding out how many were ruined or bad pictures. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've been online for many, many years (had my first email account in 1987), but this whole platform thing still befuddles me. It's hard to keep up with everything when there's a lot going on in your life. And that's the major challenge for me as I'm about to hit 50: my memory is as worthless as Bitcoins in the real world and so I can't remember things that might help me, such as names of agents, people I've met at conferences, where I've sent my stories to, etc.
The other major challenge is that as my kids are now teens (and, I hope, a LONG ways from having kids of their own), I've started forgetting about what the 3-8 year old stage was like, so it's harder to write picture books. :}
Ah,yes--memory issues! Forgetting where I put something. How many times have I had to call my cell phone with my landline and hoped I could hear it ring and find it? Grandkids really help with getting back into that mindset. I recently sold a poem that will appear in Hello (Highlights mag for babies) about sitting on the floor and playing with Olivia, my graddaughter in Seattle.
ReplyDeleteOne good thing about being older, though, is having time. I admire writers with young kids who write and submit and go to conferences and blog--I never could have done that when my kids were small! I couldn't even keep up with housework back in those days!
Yes, yes, yes! I'm so happy I saw your post on FB...it brought me here...to enjoy the memories of mimeograph machines in the school office, using carbon paper to make a copy of something I was typing on a typewriter (what a mess when you made a mistake!)...I played Superman and Lois Lane with my best friend...and watched Howdy Doody and the original I Love Lucy on a tiny TV screen that was set into a big wooden piece of furniture.:)
ReplyDeleteI, too, want to see my children and grandchildren holding a book that I've written (I did self-publish my parenting book...so I guess they already have done that...but my goal is to have picture books out there that will have every child saying, "Read it again, please!"
I'm originally from the east coast (NYC and CT...saw that you are from MA), have lived in Colorado Springs for 16 years (saw that you are in Glenwood Springs)...and am currently planning a move with my husband, back to the east coast (to New Hampshire to be closer to daughter and grandson).
My hat is off to younger women with families who have to juggle so many responsibilities and still find time for writing. It's definitely a challenge, as I get older, to marshal the energy needed...but having this amazing kid lit community helps keep me motivated and encouraged. And now I've 'met' you...and that's what this whole journey is about, after all.:)
Well, darn, Vivian, we connect and then you leave Colorado! Oh, well, we can still visit in cyberspace. Ugh, carbon paper! How did we deal with that? Good luck with your move! Enjoy that grandbaby. I live with my daughter and her 12-yr. old, such a sweetheart, my Anthony.
ReplyDeleteMy two oldest live in Seattle and they each have a little one, Charlie is 2 1/2 and Olivia will be 2 next month. The elderly lady I care for on weekends still has one of those piece-of-furniture TVs and it works just great! As do all of us older writers! Thanks for stopping in, come again!
Typewriter! I still have one kicking around here - in case the power goes off (though I guess that's what the generator's for)... and white-out. Oh - carbon copies! Can't forget those.
ReplyDeleteBTW - I grew up in UT and went to CU Boulder to do a master's degree (Biology) - spent time in Crested Butte (& love it). Now living on a hill in upstate NY (nowhere near that big city everyone talks about). Thanks for sharing the discussion!
Hi, Sue! I lived in the Buffalo area for years--bleah! My sister and I both headed west as soon as we could. But your part of NY is lovely.
ReplyDeleteChallenges of cross generational writing: remembering what it was like. Then doing what I can to forget it, because it is different now. Sort of.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mirka! The details are different, but the emotions and the things that make kids laugh are sort of classic, I think.
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