Bay writer on a roll
Baars pens six books in nine months
WHILE most people are still setting up their computers post-retirement, Port Elizabeth writer Marion Baars has published six books in nine months on Kindle and in print.
Although she has been jotting down ideas and story lines over the years, the speed with which she has taken her work to market via Kindle and Amazon must be the envy of every author.
A hearing problem led her to retire from the family business, Myburg Sports in Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage, at the end of last year.
“That is why I have put my all into this change of career,” she said.
“Most of my stories are not only my tales, but of all the wonderful people I have met along my journey . . .”
“I have retained snippets of their experiences to help create the stories I have written.”
Modern printing brings a whole new outlook to publishing as books can be auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle, printed to order or delivered to your desktop or post box.
These options have helped Baars to publish six books already this year.
Her work is varied, with her favourite her novel Around the World on a Shoestring which tells the story of a young man who takes a wager to travel around the world on what is left of his last month’s salary.
Baars writes in her Blue Horizon Bay home overlooking St Francis Bay and is planning to complete a follow-up on her very first book, Scapegoat.
Her most recent book is Unexpected Pleasures, the story of how monotony turns to illicit excitement when an unexpected win lands her heroine in a distant country.
Baars’s love of nature has seen her pen titles such as African Tales for high school pupils, a book of short stories, Chuckles and Tears, Scapegoat and Spooky African Tales, all ideal for school readers.
She would like to have the African Tales series printed with isiXhosa translations, which she already has, attached to the English version.
“When still in my shop I spoke to many Xhosa people who complained there was little literature on the bookshelves in their own language,” Baars said.
“This prompted me to compile books of about 10 short, simple stories each so that English people wanting to learn Xhosa or Xhosa people wanting to learn English read these stories in both languages.”
Book copies are available on Kindle for digital devices and Amazon.com for print copies and are also available locally.
Further information from the author, (041) 776-1011.