Easy Writer: One Woman’s Journey

There are few things that I enjoy more than writing. Over the years, as I’ve matured, so have the characters that I’ve created. Mature characters bring a different perspective to writing – they bring experience, wisdom, and an appreciation of the privilege of growing older.

Older and Bolder

Mature women characters have been a part of the storylines in my work since I was in my 30s and started writing professionally.

Starting Out as a Playwright

I began my writing journey as a playwright. It was important to me that the females in my plays, especially the mature ones, had a depth in character that enhanced the works.

One of my earliest plays, a One Act comedy titled Mama’s Man, is about the effect an older woman’s relationship with a younger man has on her grown children. Later in my career, I wrote a half-hour teleplay, titled Please Don’t Bury Me Before I Die, in which a defiant grandmother conspires with her adult grandchildren to stay out of an assisted living facility.

When I produced one of my most popular plays, The Trip, I did so with two casts. One cast was in their 30s and 40s. The other cast was in their 50s and 60s. Not one word of the play’s dialogue was changed. Audiences of all ages flocked to the theatre. It was with this production that I learned that writing with mature women in mind could be profitable.

Moving on to Author Books

As I grew older, I grew bolder and took a step outside my writing comfort zone. I became an author when I was in my 50s and started writing romantic suspense novels. My main characters are mature, strong, intelligent, financially secure women.

In Stillwaters, one of my more recent romantic suspense novels, I made certain that, in this older-woman-younger-man storyline, the generational wealth passed down to the family wasn’t inherited by a wife from her husband, but was earned through the intelligence and guile of the family’s one-hundred-year-old matriarch.

The most fun I’ve had as an author has been co-creating the characters in the Grandmothers, Incorporated cozy mystery series. The storyline follows the antics of three crime fighting widows in their 60s. The book series is written with fellow author and playwright, Lillie Evans. For the past 20 years, we have taken the hilarious antics of our grandmother characters from the page to the stage, with four published novels, three award-winning plays and a short film. As stated earlier, creating and writing about mature characters can be profitable.

Writing as a Gift

Recently, in the process of weaving through the writing world, I wrote the most important story I’ve ever written – the story of my life. Writing this nonfiction narrative is not for publication. It’s a gift for my child, and it’s the best writing I’ve ever done.

It came about as the result of a conversation with my daughter. As we talked, I realized that there was a lot about me and about my life that she didn’t know. That’s when I decided that I would present her with the ultimate story, a gift more important than anything material I ever gave her.

I can’t recall the number of times that I wished I had asked more questions about the lives of the loved ones in my life who are no longer here on earth. All I knew about them was what they told me, and some of that is forgotten. I want my daughter to know me and to know what helped shaped me into the woman I am. I hope she will share what I wrote with the next generation, so that my life won’t be the subject of speculation, but a documented reality.

I haven’t kept a journal or a diary. I wrote my narrative and put it in a simple three-ring binder notebook with as many photos available corresponding to the people, places and events I mentioned. I presented the writing gift to my daughter and told her that I would answer any questions that she might have after she reads it.

Writing about my life wasn’t difficult. It is something that I do encourage. It doesn’t take any particular training or skill. Simply put your words on paper in some form. If you can’t type, use a pen or pencil, but I do offer the following advice:

• Break your life down into decades. This could make it easier to recall people, places and events.
• Don’t try to remember every detail (most people don’t). Write about what helped shape your life. If there are things you don’t want to share because they might hurt other family members, that’s up to you, but—
• Be honest. Have the courage to share the good and the bad about yourself. Nobody is perfect.
• Be open to discussing with your children what you have written. Words have power and can be misinterpreted. If you have the opportunity to clarify something in your narrative, do so.

Writing can be fun, but some people find it intimidating. If you’re one of them, perhaps writing about the person you know best is the easiest place to start. Tell your story. Let yourself live on paper.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Have you entertained the possibility of writing your life story to share with the next generation? Would there be events/choices you’d skip over? How honest would you be in your narrative?