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In a first-person essay published by Sixty and Me, a playwright and novelist describes a career centered on mature women characters and the personal narrative she wrote for her daughter. She says the account is a family gift, not a work intended for publication, and offers practical suggestions for people documenting their own lives.
A writer featured by Sixty and Me has described how her work evolved from plays centered on mature women to romantic suspense and cozy mysteries, and why she recently wrote a personal account of her life for her daughter. The essay, titled “Easy Writer: One Woman’s Journey,” presents the family narrative as a private gift rather than a manuscript intended for publication.
The writer says she began working professionally in her 30s as a playwright, with mature female characters present in her stories from the outset. Among her early works was “Mama’s Man,” a one-act comedy about the effect of an older woman’s relationship with a younger man on her adult children. She later wrote the half-hour teleplay “Please Don’t Bury Me Before I Die,” about a grandmother who teams up with her grandchildren to avoid moving into an assisted living facility.
For her play “The Trip,” she produced two casts, one in their 30s and 40s and another in their 50s and 60s, without changing the dialogue. She says audiences of different ages attended and that the production showed her that writing with mature women in mind could be commercially viable. The essay does not provide ticket sales, revenue figures or other measures of the production’s financial performance.
After becoming an author in her 50s, she began writing romantic suspense with mature women as central characters. She also co-writes the “Grandmothers, Incorporated” cozy mystery series with fellow author and playwright Lillie Evans. The writer says their collaboration has included four published novels, three award-winning plays and a short film over 20 years. Her most recent personal project, by contrast, is a nonfiction account assembled with photographs in a three-ring binder and presented to her daughter.
Older Women at the Center of Her Work
The essay offers a first-person account of how one writer has placed older women at the center of stories across stage, screen and books. Her characters include a grandmother resisting a move to assisted living, a family matriarch whose wealth is earned rather than inherited through a husband, and widows who investigate crimes. The examples show the range of roles she has chosen to write, while remaining the writer’s account of her own creative work rather than an industry-wide assessment.
Her family narrative points to a different reason to write: preserving personal memories for relatives. She says a conversation with her daughter made her realize there were parts of her past her daughter did not know. Recording those experiences, she writes, could give the next generation a documented account instead of leaving them to speculate. The article makes a case for personal storytelling as a family practice, not as a claim that every account will be complete or shared beyond the household.
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From Plays to a Family Narrative
The writer’s career, as described in the essay, moved from playwriting to fiction as she grew older. Her stage work examined relationships between generations and the choices facing older women. In the production of “The Trip,” using casts from different age groups without revising the dialogue gave her a chance to see the same play performed by actors with different life experience. She reports that audiences across age groups came to see it, but supplies no further audience breakdown or production data.
In her novels, she continued writing women she describes as mature, strong and financially secure. “Stillwaters,” a romantic suspense novel, features a family inheritance tied to the intelligence and resourcefulness of a 100-year-old matriarch, according to the essay. The “Grandmothers, Incorporated” series shifts to three widowed women in their 60s who fight crime. The article then turns from fictional characters to the writer’s own life, which she says she set down after speaking with her daughter.
She did not keep a journal or diary while living through the events she recounts. Instead, she organized her narrative and added available photographs corresponding to people, places and events. She says she invited her daughter to ask questions after reading it, leaving room to explain passages that could be misunderstood.
“The most important story I’ve ever written – the story of my life.”
— The writer, in her Sixty and Me essay
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Publication and Family Details
The source is a personal essay, and it does not name the writer in the supplied material or provide an independent biography, publication date or sales information. Her description of the plays, books and awards is presented as her own account; the article does not offer outside verification or details about the awards.
It is also unclear whether her daughter has read the narrative, what questions she may have asked, or whether the account will be shared with other relatives. The writer says she hopes her daughter will pass it to the next generation, but does not say that this has happened. The essay does not reproduce the narrative or describe its full contents.
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A Conversation After Reading
The writer says she has offered to answer her daughter’s questions after she reads the account. That conversation is the next step described in the essay; no public release, adaptation or further publication of the family narrative is announced. She also encourages readers to start with the person they know best and to use a structure that helps them recall their lives.
Her suggestions include dividing a life into decades, focusing on experiences that helped shape it rather than trying to remember every detail, and being open to discussing the finished account with family members. She acknowledges that writers may choose not to include material they believe could hurt relatives, while urging honesty about both positive and difficult experiences. The essay leaves the choice of what to share with each writer and family.
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Key Questions
What is “Easy Writer: One Woman’s Journey” about?
It is a personal essay published by Sixty and Me about a writer’s career creating mature women characters and her decision to record her life story for her daughter.
Was the writer’s life story written for publication?
No. She says the nonfiction narrative was a gift for her daughter, not a work intended for publication. She assembled it in a binder with photographs.
What advice does the writer offer for recording a life story?
She suggests dividing life into decades, writing about experiences that shaped you rather than trying to capture every detail, and being willing to discuss the account with family. She also advises writers to be honest about both the good and the bad.
What are some of the writer’s works?
The essay names the plays “Mama’s Man” and “The Trip,” the teleplay “Please Don’t Bury Me Before I Die,” the novel “Stillwaters,” and the “Grandmothers, Incorporated” cozy mystery series co-written with Lillie Evans.
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