Late starter, blooming writer
‘My father worked as a journalist on a provincial evening newspaper and as a schoolboy I often visited him in the office,’ writes subscriber Michael J Lowis.
‘Despite the enjoyment of interacting with people whose profession involved the written word, my career ambition lay elsewhere. At sixteen I left school to become a medical lab technician.
‘Fast forward 25 years, when I decided to study social sciences. Having to complete many written assignments reawakened my interest in writing per se, but what if I could actually have papers published?
‘Persistence paid off. I had my rejections, but over the years managed to achieve over fifty published articles.
‘Fast forward another 25 years. A published author, but not a leading light even within my specialist field. As an extreme late developer I’d commenced yet another course of study, and wondered if I should I try my hand at writing a whole book. A tutor advised me to submit my manuscript – an extended version of my dissertation – to a particular American publisher. Before long I was able to hold in my hand my very first book. It was only 100 pages long, but it was out there. What joy! Fired on by this success, over the next few years I had another four books accepted by the same publisher, one being a memoir of the time my family and I spent living in South Africa. I was working on this manuscript when I enrolled on one of Writing Magazine’s creative writing courses, and was able to submit most of the chapters as assignments. The feedback and suggestions by the excellent course tutor were invaluable.
‘In addition to these single-topic, mostly non-fiction works, I had been gradually accumulating a collection of short stories and anecdotes. After failing to interest a publisher, I turned to selfpublishing. To date, four books have entered the marketplace by this route, one being a collection of co-authored stories.
‘With ten books out there, was I able to regard myself as a writer? Technically I suppose I could. But that last step was missing – acceptance on merit by a traditional publisher. Writing Magazine came to the rescue once again. I saw in one of the articles that Stairwell Books were looking for submissions from specific genres. One of my self-published books, an historical novel, seemed appropriate. I submitted a synopsis, and Rose Drew asked for the full manuscript. A discussion on Zoom followed, and then a contract. Wow!
Website: author.to/MichaelJLowis