No Expiration on Dreams: How I Published My Debut Novel at Seventy-Seven

By Trish McDonald

“Don’t you realize everything has an expiration date?”

A literary agent asked me this question as I stood in front of a panel of publishing executives. It was 2020 and I had entered a contest offering a book contract to the winner. Six writers would compete for the grand prize. The judges were publishers, publicists, and Los Angeles agents.

I’d been scrolling on Facebook when a notice about the contest, “Pitch Week,” caught my eye. The post was from a publisher I kn...