Writing Cycles of an Author

By way of background, I began writing in 2001 when I was 56 years old. I made the decision that writing would be something I would retire into. At the time I was still working, but I learned that if you’re 55 or older you could attend any course with the instructor’s permission at the University of Colorado near where I lived. I availed myself of this opportunity and took two semesters of fiction writing courses where we wrote short stories and critiqued each others’ work. In addition to mingling with young writers, this gave me a start on my writing.

My next step was to get something published. I began sending short stories off to magazines and anthologies, and I’m happy to report that on my 112^th submission, I sold my first short story, Never Trust a Poison Dart Frog, in an anthology titled, Who Died in Here?

Then I bridged into novel length writing and began seeking an agent and publisher. As a result of pitches to two agents and two editors at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in 2005, I sold my first book, Retirement Homes Are Murder. This was published in January, 2007, and in August of that year I retired into writing.

Up to this point, I had completed a number of novel length manuscripts and kept writing. In retirement, I wrote every morning and then dedicated afternoons to editing and promotional activities. This was a very productive period for me, and as a result I now have fourteen published books with a fifteenth scheduled for release in October, 2018.

I have a portfolio of completed manuscripts that I intend to have published over the next few years. My main attention currently is on our two-year-old grandson. My wife and I spend time with him almost every weekday. My writing focus right now is on editing my manuscripts.

I feel fortunate that I had a career and time with my kids while they were growing up and then the opportunity to write after my kids left home and into my retirement.