There is an inspiring story about an American woman, Delana Jensen Close, who has recently indie-published her first novel, aged 95. Her book is called The Rock House and she started writing it in 1955. Yes, sixty-three years ago.
Wow! There is hope.
Delana’s book has its own Facebook page which features an excerpt. The protagonist, Abby, is in a fair amount of pain, giving birth to her baby . . . in the presence of a priest.
In the same way as birthing a baby, Delana said about her book, “It had to come out.”
Yes, and she spent sixty-three years getting it out.
I have no idea if Delana worked studiously, year after year writing her book, or whether it was in a dusty drawer for decades and she unearthed and reworked it.
Whichever it was, I say, Well Done Delana! You have given thousands of first-time book writers hope. You have made me realise, it really is never too late and age is just a number.
I have not read Delana’s book, but the back cover blurb suggests the story line is potentially a good one. According to its Facebook page, The Rock House has even won a prize.
Delana’s story is inspiring. I wonder how many more first-time authors are in their seventies, eighties and nineties? (Maybe someone should do a survey?)
One other first-time author springs to mind: Mary Wesley, who in her seventies, wrote The Camomile Lawn. Her book was so popular it was made into a t.v. series. Yet, in an article about Mary Wesley in The Guardian, way back in 2006, Gloria Glendinning said of Mary:
She had been writing all her life for her own pleasure, but apart from two novels in the late 1960s, which did not make a mark, had always thrown away what she wrote.
Well Mary, we differ there. I cannot throw away anything I’ve written upon, even the back of an envelope!
By the way, Delana is currently working on her second and third books. Yes, aged ninety-six.
So, let’s just end with a message to all aspiring first -time authors out there, including me:
Keep going! You can do it. It really is Never Too Late.
Are you working on your first book? How long have you been writing it?
If you’re already a published author, how long did it take you to write and publish your first book?
Note: Just so you know, I first found Delana’s first-book-story at www.dispatch.com. Although I was able to read Google’s snippet of the story, I couldn’t access www.dispatch.com’s full webpage, presumably because I live in the UK and not the USA. Thankfully, author Lee Martin, had also shared Delana’s story online and I got more detail about it from his blog post.