Giving birth in the middle age plus years

This column originally ran in the October 14, 1999 edition of the Nevada Daily Mail.

I have occasionally used this column to share the sad news about the loss of a friend or a loved one. Today, I would like to share the good news about a birth. You see, even in the middle age plus, I have given birth. The labor was quite long for a birth, but it was a pleasurable labor and the only pain, as in many births, was at the very end when the exact arrival was uncertain.

I have given birth to a book. This book is a selection of what the publisher (Skyward Press from Dallas), my sister, Ellen Gray Massey -- who is the editor of the book -- and I decided were the best of the six years of weekly columns I have written under the title Middle Age Plus.

I will have to admit that some of my very favorite columns were not included because they would have had meaning only for those of you in Vernon County. We tried to make the book interesting to people of any age in any type of community. But I imagine that those who are also middle age plus and who have experienced living in a country like ours will get more enjoyment from the book.

The process of publishing a book is quite different than my expectations when I was nine years old and crawled up on the smokehouse roof with my Big Chief tablet to write a novel. That novel never got written, nor did any other novels get finished. I began to see that my gift, combined with my laziness, was more of short essay-type thoughts on life.

In different communities where we lived I wrote for various newspapers and once even had a column over the radio in Butler, Mo. However, this series of Middle Age Plus columns has lasted the longest and seems to have stirred up the most interest. Maybe because more of us are becoming middle age plus?

Back to the publishing process -- I was very lucky that Ellen was attending a writer's workshop where she met a Jim Harris, who was beginning a small, special interest publishing company in Dallas, Texas. We had been working on a manuscript of my book which she had with her, and Jim liked what he read. It isn't usually this easy, but was a case of my sister's being in the right place at the right time. Skyward Publishing Inc. is specializing in books that fit a certain niche. My book fit that niche, so the process of getting into print began.

The most agonizing part was trying to decide which columns should be used. Some which I felt had a little value were favorites of the others. And, as I said before, some of my very special favorites were discarded. But all-in-all, we agreed that our final selection was good.

I had assumed all along that the book would retain the title I had given it, that is "Middle Age Plus." However the power-that-be felt that a more catchy title was needed. I had titled each of the columns when we worked on the manuscript, and one title was "A Funny Thing Happened on the Road to Senility." The president of the publishing company saw the title and e-mailed Jim Harris that she had found the perfect title. He agreed, so that settled that question, which I hadn't realized in advance was even a question.

It would seem that everything would be smooth sailing now that the book was named, the contents approved, and the contract signed. What I was not aware of was the long process of designing the cover and arranging the captions and illustrations. When that was finished, my book had to wait its turn at the printers and even then was delayed further by a glitch in a computer disc so that a whole chapter had to be returned.

Lord willing and the creek don't rise (as May Kennedy McCord used to say weekly on her radio program) my portion of the books will be shipped to me this week in time for my first-ever book signing at the office of the Nevada Daily Mail from 9 to noon this Saturday. The publisher will be putting copies in Barnes and Noble and independent book stores across the country.

Like all proud parents, I will be happy to show off the results of this birth any time, after this first signing at the newspaper office. I might 'just happen' to have a few in the trunk of my car. Giving birth can be lots of fun if you can survive the long wait. At least I won't have to get up at night with this birth product.