“It’s Never Too Late … “

Sandra Neily here

Hello Maine Crime Writers community,

I posted this in 2018! (Wow, years ago, but I think post-pandemic and then all of us getting older, I’d like to bring it back…. a bit revised.  I found it still speaks to me, so I hope it speaks to you.

If we get out of Maine given all the snow that’s FINALLY coming, we are heading to NC for a while: tiny camper, bit of a table to write on, but now with two dogs. One is a recently gathered-up, untrained rescue project of Bob’s that’s been confined in a puppy mill for 9 years. What could go wrong camping in the Smokies where herds of elk visit the campground? Hahaha.

And the current Maine Crime Wave is coming in June!

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Mary Anne Evans once wrote “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”

And she did become what she should have been. She became the novelist George Eliot, choosing a man’s pen name to ensure her works were taken seriously. Arguably the greatest novelist of the Victorian era, George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) penned a novel that’s always on lists of the world’s best novels: “Middlemarch,” my favorite.

In the novel, her humor sneaks up on us: “And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.”

And “Middlemarch” also gives us new ways of seeing an old world. “If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heartbeat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.”

But most of all I love the persistence that shines out of Eliot’s own personal quote: “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”

Last week, the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance event, Crime Wave, treated its participants to tools we can use so we are not “too late” to write something wonderful.

Even though I was on a panel to discuss various ways authors get published (in a world where traditional publishing is almost out of reach), I took notes on how I might persist and carry on despite sometimes feeling it may be “too late.”

I said that Hope Clark’s “Funds for Writers “is an award-winning site with tips, lists of contests to enter, and grants to apply for. (Using her advice, I became a finalist in a Women Fiction Writers Association contest.)

Jane Friedman has a chart that defines the pros and cons of various publishing paths. https://www.janefriedman.com/key-book-publishing-path/  

Jane also has excellent book and book business advice; I never miss her newsletter. Sign up. https://www.janefriedman.com/

Joanna Penn’s writing and publishing assistance at https://www.thecreativepenn.com/

I asked author Kate Flora for nuggets she shared with her “Point of View” craft seminar and she generously sent this message:

“So, with my POV class, I suggested an exercise to test their point of view comfort level, which is one I use with my students. Write a paragraph introducing yourself in first person and third person and see the results of the different points of view. The book I suggested is What If by Pamela Painter and Anne Bernays, which is full of writing exercises.

Doing an exercise is often helpful if you’re stuck in your writing.” Kate Clark Flora | Mystery & Crime Author

There was just too much great stuff at Crime Wave to get it all down, but I’m glad someone reminded us of Elmore Leonard’s best writing rule, “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.” https://www.liferichpublishing.com/AuthorResources/General/Elmore-Leonards-Ten-Rules-Of-Writing.aspx

Pretty much the entire event is dedicated to persistence and to the premise that “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”

The second Mystery in Maine, Deadly Turn, was published in 2021. Her debut novel, “Deadly Trespass, A Mystery in Maine,” won a national Mystery Writers of America award, was a finalist in the Women’s Fiction Writers Association “Rising Star” contest, and was a finalist for a Maine Literary Award. Find her novels at all Shermans Books (Maine) and on Amazon. Find more info on Sandy’s website.