Retirees proud to pen books
The books couldn’t be more different - two are children’s stories about fairies and bugs, while the other is historical fact.
But both writers couldn’t be more chuffed at having their works published in their retirement years.
Friends Maggie [Meg] Randall, 74, and Paul Rose, 78, both live at the Oakridge Villas retirement village in Kerikeri.
Randall, a former book keeper, says she was ‘‘thrilled to bits’’ to get her first books published. Randall’s book
started out as a one page story for her grand daughter Lauryn and ended up as a 35,000 word book. The story of ‘‘the little girl who lives in Leaftown who is a problem solver for humans and fairies’’, proved to be a hit.
was written for her grandson Freddy.
‘‘He [Freddy] asked if I would write stories for him about bugs and he gave me a list of 23. I said I can’t do stories about all of these, and he said ‘do your best granny’. So I chose 12.’’
Rose was a lecturer in marketing for around 30 years at various tertiary institutes including Auckland Technical Institute and Whitireia Polytechnic.
The first book he had published was on basic marketing in 1980, which was followed by 12 other publications about marketing, sales, advertising and public relations.
He ‘‘ran away to Kerikeri to retire’’, and began working on his latest book
about a year
ago.
‘‘I came to Kerikeri and there was nothing that showed me the link between all the places in the Bay. So I started doing some research.’’
The 17 chapter, self-published book is ‘‘an important easy read’’, he says.
Randall is no stranger to the writing process either; she’s been penning stories since she was four, wrote plays in school and church, and stories for friends and other children.
She writes now ‘‘to keep busy’’.
‘‘I think when you get to our age you have to keep your brain moving and I don’t intend to let my brain slide.’’ and are available at Amazon and on Kindle.
is available at Kerikeri and Paihia bookshops, the Kerikeri Stone Store, Auckland Museum and Amazon.