Published at 72
In all the hype, numbers, and money a lot of people are throwing around in the digital era, it's good to remember the basic act of communication that the entire dream is built around.
Case in point is Elizabeth Egerton Wilder's Spruce Gum Box, which she released on her 72nd birthday as her first novel. The work of historical fiction took her several years, and in the "old days" she might never have been able to fulfill her dream so easily. Sure, it doesn't appear to be tearing up the charts, but visualize the power of her work finding even one reader, much less several, much less more.
And that book should be online in perpetuity, finding the audience it needs and deserves. I haven't read it and can't speak to quality, and "quality" is a matter of great debate as writers chase some arbitrary "professional" standard. Is direct emulation of major publishing even valid and worthwhile anymore?
The only standard to which one should aspire is to tell your story as best you can, and then turn it over to whatever readers you are fortunate enough to find. Way to go, Mrs. Wilder.
###
Case in point is Elizabeth Egerton Wilder's Spruce Gum Box, which she released on her 72nd birthday as her first novel. The work of historical fiction took her several years, and in the "old days" she might never have been able to fulfill her dream so easily. Sure, it doesn't appear to be tearing up the charts, but visualize the power of her work finding even one reader, much less several, much less more.
And that book should be online in perpetuity, finding the audience it needs and deserves. I haven't read it and can't speak to quality, and "quality" is a matter of great debate as writers chase some arbitrary "professional" standard. Is direct emulation of major publishing even valid and worthwhile anymore?
The only standard to which one should aspire is to tell your story as best you can, and then turn it over to whatever readers you are fortunate enough to find. Way to go, Mrs. Wilder.
###
No comments have been added yet.
