Guest Column by Elizabeth Bass Parman

Elizabeth Bass Parman grew up entranced by family stories, such as the time her grandmother woke to find Eleanor Roosevelt making breakfast in her kitchen. She worked for many years as a reading specialist for a non-profit and spends her summers in a cottage by a Canadian lake. She has two grown daughters and lives outside her native Nashville with her husband and maybe-Maltipoo, Pippin. Connect with Elizabeth online at elizabethbassparman.com; X:@e_parman; Instagram: @elizabethbassparman

Time is of the essence with so many things: answering a Jeopardy question, catching a flight, and admiring a souffle before it sinks, getting to the hospital before your baby is born on the interstate, turning in a term paper before it’s counted late, and mailing a birthday card in time. Life is full of deadlines and we all scramble to meet them.

I’ve got great news. It’s never too late to publish a book.

I will admit to wishing, decades ago, that I was one of those twenty-something breakout novelists soaring to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, but I’m not. I am a 63-year-old grandmother publishing my first novel.

To be a debut anything at 63 amuses me. After that initial shock of being given the senior discount at the grocery store for the first time, I have learned to love the benefits that come with being older. These benefits translate nicely to being a debut author.

1. Hundreds of rejections made that one yes so much better

I completed two other manuscripts before I wrote The Empress of Cooke County. I’d get encouraging feedback and R&R’s (revise and resubmits), but never “the call.” The rejections flowed in, but I was (mostly) fine with that. After all, no one gets an agent on their first try. And if you are the unicorn that landed an agent with your first query letter, yay you, and please go buy a lottery ticket. I toughened up my skin and kept going. This was my dream and I was going to do all that was possible to make it come true.

I only cried at one rejection, when, in her rejection, the agent asked me to send her an autographed copy of the published book once I found an agent to sell it. Spoiler: I’m not sending it. If she wants one, she can jolly well buy it herself.

2. My decades of experience in the business world give me a pretty good perspective when it comes to the business side of publishing

I began working in New York City right after college, learning the cutthroat world of buying for a big department store before I went back to school and became a diagnostic reading specialist. Whether I was in a Seventh Avenue showroom or a tense IEP meeting, I figured out that a lot of negotiating is just people wanting to be heard. Now when I am discussing a plot point or marketing strategy with my agent or editor, I can use those skills to make our discussions more productive.

I had dinner once with a young, bestselling author. She told me her work/life balance improved when she realized writing books was a job, and needed to be treated that way. It’s not book tours and interviews, although those do come into play. It’s a job that a lot of people are relying on you to do, and do effectively. No pushing a just-completed manuscript under your closed door into your editor’s eager hands or begging for more time to allow your muse to cure your writer’s block. They’re on a deadline, you’re on a deadline, and so is everyone else.

3. You can be the sweetest peach on the tree, but some people just don’t like peaches

When I was in my 20’s, I needed others’ approval. Did my haircut suit my face shape? Was this dress appropriate for this event? Did I choose the right job, boyfriend, apartment, car? I was so unsure of myself. At 63, I no longer care. I still try to be a productive, generally cooperative member of polite society, but if you don’t like my choices or viewpoints, great. You’ve got your opinion and I’ve got mine. Let’s all try to get along.

Some people will love my book. Some people will not love my book. Both scenarios are fine with me. Of course, I want readers to enjoy my stories and I try my best to write an engaging page-turner, but a negative review does not mean I’ve written a bad book. My 20-year-old self might have teared up at an unkind Goodreads comment, but my current self is unbothered. I wish the reviewer well and hope that with their next read, they find their new favorite author.

And now the best part—the bonus reason #4 why debuting as an older author is so great.

I am very proud of myself. I did not stop at the first rejections or even the first decade of rejections. And when I finally shelved that first book, I wrote another. And then a third. When I watched in joyful disbelief as my agent managed the four-way bidding war that broke out for my manuscript, I savored each phone call and email, knowing that every query letter, every Query Manager formatting nightmare, every pitch contest, and every rejection led me to that moment. The satisfaction of knowing I was right to keep chasing my dream was worth what it took to get here.

I can look back and see a long trail of disappointments, but I choose to look forward to even more successes. And if you are an older debut author, you are enjoying a similarly spectacular view. Let’s have lunch and cheer each other on.

The Empress of Cooke County by Elizabeth Bass Parman

Set in the 1960’s south, Posey Jarvis is known for liking the finer things in life. It may come naturally, but her uncanny resemblance to Jackie Kennedy really sells the poshness as she has proclaimed herself the empress of their small town. Growing tired of her 18-year-old daughter’s antics and unsatisfied with her marriage, Posey agrees to host her high school reunion at her aunt’s old mansion that will be perfect, once she cleans it up of course. All the while, her daughter Callie Jane finds herself in a pickle; her wedding is coming fast and she does not want to get married. Her dream is to leave her small town forever, but that could never be thanks to the path her parents forced her down since she was born. While mother and daughter struggle to find out what they really want from life, they will realize they are not so different after all.

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