Guest Post

Guest Chick: Rhonda Blackhurst

I’m so happy to be able to welcome Rhonda Blackhurst to Chicks on the Case today. We’ve been friends for a long time. She’s a delight and a constant source of inspiration! [picture Becky waving madly]

This year is a milestone for me— I turn the big 6-OH! In any other career, that would be nearing retirement age. And, in fact, I took an early retirement from the district attorney’s office nearly four years ago. But to a writer, age isn’t a qualifier.

I began writing when I was four—unfortunately, it was with crayons on the knotty pine walls of our family home. But, honestly, what a creative, age-appropriate way to express something I had to say? **Pats self on back**

Since then I’ve gone from writing two novels via pen and paper, both manuscripts of which are still in a box in my office, likely to never see the light of day. I’ve written in MS-DOS, saved work onto floppy discs, CD-RW discs, USB flash drives, the Cloud, and Dropbox. Anything available to save my work. That lesson came the hard way: I was furiously typing out a brilliant short story that came to me out of the blue, when my toddler son toddled in and pushed the power button on the computer tower. Poof! In the blink of an eye, gone was the story as well as any motivation to recreate it. I may have gone into mourning for a spell.

But I digress… For Project 60, I’ve detailed additional writing projects, and I’ve designed a syllabus of sorts to build my repertoire with services to help other authors. Services, like writing, in which age holds no power. For those times age threatens to deter me, I keep these “late bloomers” in mind for inspiration.

Frank McCourt wrote Angela’s Ashes at the age of 66.

Raymond Chandler published his first detective novel at 51.

Anna Sewell wrote her debut novel, Black Beauty, at 57 and died the next year. (Lesson: don’t wait to pursue your dreams!)

Bram Stoker wrote Dracula at the age of 50.

Laura Ingalls Wilder was 65 when she published her first book, Little House in the Big Woods, 76 when she finished the last book in the series.

Cormac McCarthy wrote All the Pretty Horses at 60.

Harriet Doerr wrote Stones for Ibarra at 74.

Millard Kaufman wrote his first novel, Bowl of Cherries, at 90!

Also for Project 60, I’ll welcome each gray hair as a badge of honor. I think I have at least 10 so far, each of those brutally earned. And while I’ve never defined success as writing the next bestseller, who knows—the only way one won’t write that next bestseller is if one quits. And quitting is a four-letter word that’s not on my Project 60 syllabus.

“Never, never, never give up.”~ Winston Churchill

What late-blooming authors can you add to this list? Have you had a “second chapter” in your life?

Inn the Dead of Winter, book two in the Spirit Lake Mysteries, published by The Wild Rose Press on February 12th.

Not all who check inn, check out!

Welcome to Spirit Lake in the dead of a Minnesota winter, where the brutally cold temp isn’t the only thing to fear.

Andie Rose Kaczmarek, a six-year sober life coach and owner of the haunted Spirit Lake Inn, has learned the hard way that the living are far more dangerous than anything in the spirit world.

Rhonda Blackhurst pens mysteries and romantic suspense stories. She enjoys hiding behind her computer screen, where she can unashamedly enjoy her addictions of dark chocolate and coffee.

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21 thoughts on “Guest Chick: Rhonda Blackhurst”

  1. I published my first novel Stripper!-A Natalie McMasters novel, when I was 65. Now at 72, I’ve expanded the series to eight volumes (working on #9 right now). I’ve also published two volumes of Sherlock Holmes stories and a novel-length H.P. Lovecraft pastiche.

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  2. Congrats Rhonda on Project 60. I think I read somewhere that the average age for publishing a first novel is 45.

    You covered a lot of the authors, but the list of “successful” people who didn’t achieve that success is lengthy and includes Steve Jobs, Oprah, and Walt Disney.

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    2. That’s interesting, Liz. I just did the math and it seems I’m an overachiever because I was a young whippersnapper of 40 when I first published.

      Rhonda, this whole topic is fascinating. I wonder if it’s something obvious like writers need so much time and we tend to get it when we’re a bit older. And in the case of Louise Penney, perhaps it takes us a while to work up the courage and the life experience to make it work. Regardless, good luck with Project 60!

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  5. You go, Rhonda! Thanks for visiting us at Chicks today–right after this I’m back to my current ms. before I get any older. (It is aging me for sure.) Louise Penney was 46 when she published her first book–which isn’t “old,” of course. But I was struck by how long she has said it took her to get up the courage. And I hope you rewrite that short story, because it sounds as if you were super excited about it at the time (in the meantime you can hold it over your son’s head).

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    1. Absolutely! I think Louise Penny’s, lack of courage, unfortunately, plagues most authors. It certainly does me.🤦‍♀️

      (My laptop died on Monday, so I’m at the mercy of my cell phone until Sunday. It’s proving to be much more difficult than I had expected.😑)

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    2. Absolutely! I think Louise Penny’s, lack of courage, unfortunately, plagues most authors. It certainly does me.🤦‍♀️

      (My laptop died on Monday, so I’m at the mercy of my cell phone until Sunday. It’s proving to be much more difficult than I had expected.😑)

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  6. One of the things I love most about our marvelous crime-writing community is how old so many of us are. Yes, you see young-uns at writers’ conventions, but I just adore that sea of gray and white hair that fills up so many of the rooms. (Perhaps because of my own head of hair, which boasts far more than 10 white ones, lol.)

    I didn’t seriously start writing until my 50s, so I guess I’m right smack there in the average. But I have to thing that a lot of it has to do with the fact that few people make a living at writing fiction, so they have to wait till retirement to take it up.

    Thanks so much for visiting the Chicks today, Rhonda–great topic!

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    1. Oh gosh, Leslie—spot on! One of my best friends has long white hair and it’s gorgeous! I’m eagerly anticipating each one! 😆

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  7. Great post!

    When I was in my early 20s, my boss’ wife, said to me: “You’re a late bloomer like me.” Oh, the umbrage! I was no late bloomer — I just didn’t get a job straight out of college because…. oh, you know what? She was right. And I’m proud of it! I just like to think of it as not just rushing into things. 🙂

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  8. Rhonda, thank you so much for joining us! I love your take on aging. BTW, I knew Frank McCourt. He was an English teacher at one of NYC’s finest public high schools, Stuyvesant. I used to teach playwriting workshops to his classes. He was the sweetest, loveliest man. His brother Malachy was an actor who starred on the soap opera, Ryan’s Hope.

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    1. My pleasure, Ellen! I vaguely remember Ryan’s Hope. I was a soap opera junkie at much too young an age. 😑

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  9. Congrats and good luck on Project 60, Rhonda! And thanks for hanging out today with the Chicks! I was in my 50s when my first book was published. I wasn’t grown up enough until then.:)

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