Cozy mystery and nonfiction author Sue Viders has a B.F.A. degree and is a teacher and an artist. She began writing for national art magazines to help artists market their works but switched to teaching writers how to better organize and write more effectively. Her most well-known nonfiction book, often called the Bible of building characters, is The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines, Sixteen Master Archetypes.
Now approaching the big Nine-0, and having survived numerous bouts with cancer and other interesting medical problems, along with raising five children and assisting her attorney husband in his law practice, Sue Viders says she is proud to present her latest endeavor, which, according to Sue, all began at a lunch. Learn more about Sue and her books at her Amazon author page.
There were four of us, all over the age of 65, enjoying a writing-lunch get-together. We all had several books under our belts and were gathered to bemoan the fact that we all wanted to write something but didn’t quite know what.
As we tossed around various ideas of what we might write together we came up with the idea of writing short articles for senior-oriented magazines, and maybe a newspaper or two. We came up with the name, “Roads Well Traveled,” where we would take turns reflecting on our life’s journey.
After a lot of query letters and networking, a large newspaper loved our idea and my short essay on ‘Mother, you really need a new phone’ was the first one published. And lo and behold, I got fan letters. I was thrilled. My thoughts were hitting home with the over 65 crowd. So, I reasoned, maybe I should jot down more of my personal thoughts and observations on living.
After much soul searching, I realized I was not alone in my thoughts and how I approached life. And that other people played as much solitaire as I did … so that observation became my essay “The World without Solitaire.”
I decided writing essays was very soul satisfying and that I would write about all the little things that both bothered or irritated me. A sample of her essay titles include:
Scamming the Scammer
Adverbs — Game Changers, because I was tired of listening to the so-called expert talking heads who never seemed to tell the truth.
Ketchup and Pickles, which is not about food.
Why do we Swear? Which came about when my kids accused meof swearing too much.
The Trouble with Tissues, which wrote itself after watching an old Star Trek episode.
Chutzpah Needs a Partner … My favorite.
And so these newspaper articles gradually morphed into Out-of-the-Box Essays, containing forty-four short thought-provoking and humorous comments on my life and living.
Out of the Box Essays
A Young at Heart Writer Explores the Complexities of Everyday Life
Why do writers write these short essays?
Are my thoughts, ideas or random bits of observation any better than yours?
Will my words change the world somehow? Will they change or somehow inspire you in some way?
Probably not, but I do believe writers write these “pearls of wisdom” and “gems of observation” because we’ve been around the block a few times and want to share what we have learned—so you, the reader will have a few laughs, a few “that’s exactly right” or “that’s exactly what I thought” comments.
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