It Takes A Village

“It Takes a Village to Write a Book” Barbara Pearson-Rac told Y’s Men recently. Most know her as as the spirit behind Make a Difference Day and First Night. Some also know she has published two novels and has a third on the way.

Yet of particular interest to this retired men’s group is that she started writing only after she turned 60.
The back drop for her stories is MetroNorth. Like most commuters, she found “her spot” on the platform, and soon found herself with regular seat mates, another woman and two men. “We had nothing in common, but the train drew us together… we started to bond,” and even had occasional dinners at Mario’s with our spouses.

After some time together one of the group suggested that someone write a book about them.

“Writing was not in my DNA or on my bucket list.” But then, “You’re never too old to try something different!” So she stepped up.

As a teenager she read all of Nancy Drew. In college her interest was genetics, not English. But as a full time student until she was 33, mysteries helped her escape academia. So the choice of genre was obvious. And, as a former professor of criminology, “I’m very comfortable in the world of crime.”

Her barely disguised seat mates became the main characters in her first book, On Track. “They weren’t terribly interesting.” Nor was any one more important than any other until writer friends advised her to create a “shining star.”

That became Diana Jeffries, a criminology professor, “a super person who could do just about anything.” On Track turned the four into a “group of aging snoops,” “through whose curiosity, amateurish stumblings and outlandish schemes they find themselves entangled in a real threat, including murder.”

In her second book, All Ears, emerald earrings, a missing person and a notorious cult get Diana into action. Because the books are written for seniors, Pearson-Rac added situations that have her characters puzzled by technology younger people take for granted.

Pearson-Rac sits down at her keyboard with only a “bare outline,” not knowing where she’s going, and often gets up surprised at what she produced.

She uses Google to fill in her stories, “But my world revolved around the train… everyone on my car knew about it, everyone was contributing. Even the conductors wanted to be in the book.”

And often out of nowhere people responded. When she needed to know how to blow up a bridge she lucked into a man sitting nearby who turned out to be a senior security officer. “He turned beet red and said ‘I really can’t tell you, but… ‘“

In response to a question about publication, Pearson-Rac said she uses Amazon’s createspace.com, a no cost service that handles every step of the process — a choice of formats an author can cut and paste text into, a choice of covers, and even printing on demand. She noted that she chose to create her own cover, and credited Miggs Burroughs for his designs.

“I’m having so much fun,” she said, and encouraged her audience, “We all have a story.

Photo by Larry Untermeyer