In this, my 75th year of life, I decided to finish some projects that have been “on the back burner” for a while. It’s been a wonderful year of working with friends in Oak Park to write and perform a one-act play, and to complete writing two books for children, one of which has just been released.
Thanks to the Garden Club of Oak Park-River Forest which is the official publisher of Amy and the Amaryllis and to my longtime neighbor, graphic designer and art director Jim Groll, we now have a real, hard cover book that tells the story of Amy who attends an amaryllis sale (at Cheney Mansion) and learns how to grow this amazing bulb.
The story comes from my experience attending such an amaryllis sale, buying the bulbs, and engaging in the same experiment as Amy, i.e. planting them and then documenting their growth with sketches.
So write what you know about and don’t be afraid.
In the 1960s, I worked as a writer of advertising copy and also wrote press releases for a public relations firm. In both positions I learned to write quickly on an old manual typewriter. Now I can forget the white-out tape and write on my laptop (even though I sometimes am unable to attach correctly). Old dogs can learn new tricks, and at 75 I forgo social networking for a day of writing and illustrating books. As for illustrating Amy, my years of painting watercolors and illustrating a cookbook, airline menus, and other commercial work provided the experience.
Amy and the Amaryllis is for sale at Magic Tree, the Book Table and the gift shop at the Oak Park Conservatory. Or go to the Garden Club of Oak Park-River Forest website and there is a link to Amy. Because Oak Park has been so good to me for the last 75 years, all profits from the book will be donated to the Garden Club for support of local garden projects.
The next book is in the works — using my 35 years of snorkeling experiences and my underwater photos to focus on three unusual sea creatures and their adventures. The working title is Three Sea Tales, and I have a lot of watercolor painting ahead of me. But hopefully it will be completed before I reach 76.
Creativity does not end at 75, 85, or 95. In fact, we may now find the time to pursue those creative projects that seemed daunting when we were younger. Oak Park is a community rich in the talent you need to help you on these projects. And if you write a book, it can even be printed by a local print shop — in my case, the great folks at Minuteman Press on North Avenue. Whatever talent you need to complete your creative project, you’ll find it here, and make some new friends as you do it.