The Independent: social worker is literary hit – after 20 years of trying
She has been writing short stories for 20 years for pleasure, but last night, the 64-year-old, who has two children, was celebrating being long-listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction, the UK’s annual book award for fiction written by women.
It is the second time judges have picked the the West Midlands writer to go head-to-head with the world’s best authors. Last year, her debut novel, Girl in a Blue Dress, was long-listed for the Man Booker prize.
When I was a kid I thought I would have at least one book published by the time I was 25. Now, for an eight-year-old, 25 is ancient, so my perspective may have been a bit skewed. Now, I know that a lot of authors don’t really hit their stride until later in life, so this is an encouraging article. I’m impatient. I want to get things out of my brain too early when I know some story ideas would be better served by a bit of steeping, so to speak.
(Source)
Category: Fiction Writing/Books, General
[...] and haven’t published my first book yet, so it’s no surprise that I love stories about other writers who publish late. There’s another such story from The Independent: The story, a partially autobiographical [...]