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Shortly after I moved to New Hampshire, my son Jon, who is a free-lance writer with six published books to his credit and more on the way, began talking about my writing a book. He felt that lifelong learning for older adults was an important topic, especially given the coming wave of Baby Boomers who were beginning to look at the quality of their life after work.
I knew that the only books about this subject that had been published were more scholarly in nature, written for the most part, by and for educators. A few books about “retirement” for the general public had brief mentions about the value of going back to school, but there was no definitive book out there that I knew about, that focused entirely on this subject. The time seemed right and we began planning.
It took us several months to write up the proposal, which is the way non-fiction books get their start. We submitted the proposal to his agent, who agreed after reading it, that the idea had merit. For almost a year he “shopped” it around to publishers. Then in March, 2005, while we were at the hospital celebrating the birth of my son’s new baby boy, (my second grandson), we heard that a publisher was interested.
Talk about timing! The publishers, Sentient Publications in Boulder, Colorado, wanted to see another chapter or two, and my son had a new baby at home. Wow! But we managed despite his sleepless nights, and sent the additional material off to them.
It was accepted, the contracts were signed and our new book, “Learning Later, Living Greater: The Secret for Making the Most of Your After-50 Years,” was now actually going to happen. The first draft was due by October 1, 2005.
Sentient Publications, and I quote here from their web site, “publishes books on cultural creativity, experimental education, transformative spirituality, holistic health, new science, ecology, and a variety of other topics, approached from an integral viewpoint.”
They go on to say, “Our authors are intensely interested in exploring the nature of life from fresh perspectives, addressing life's great questions, and fostering the full expression of the human potential. Sentient Publication's books arise from the spirit of inquiry and the richness of the inherent dialogue between writer and reader.”
It seemed to me they were a perfect match for the book, which is a kind of “transformative, holistic approach to fostering human potential” in one’s later years, as their web site says. It was, after all, conceived and written to inform the Baby Boomers and others about the value lifelong learning can bring to their later years. A user-friendly, easy, breezy read, a kind of guidebook for the After-50 years, the title really says it all.
That title, by the way, underwent several revisions before it became definite. For instance we first called it, “Learning Later, Living Greater: Three Weapons for Making the Most of Your After-50 Years.” Since it was focused on three really strong ways to include lifelong learning in your later years – in the classroom, through educational travel and/or through meaningful community service, this title seemed a good one. But the publisher nixed the term “weapon” and we eventually distilled it down to the one we now have.
Next – Writing the Book
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