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The Telegraph/RUSS SMITHAdrienne Reeves'You can write until the day you drop. ’New author loves royalty treatmentBy MARY ANN MAZENKOTelegraph staff writer_Writing is like the fountain of youth for former Aitonian Adrienne Reeves, whose first book was published last year when she was 72.“I got my first royalty check last fall and was so excited,” she said. “I said I guess I’m a bona fide author.”Age is no barrier to authorship, according to Reeves. “You can write until the day you drop,” she said. She now lives near Charleston, S.C., with her husband, William, who encouraged her in her late-blooming career.The author, in Alton to visit relatives, will autograph copies of her soft-cover book for children, Willie and the Number Three Door and Other Adventures, from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday at B. Dalton in Alton Square.It is the story of Willie’s growing up, which becomes an adventure in acquiring courage,honesty, self-discipline and responsibility.She wrote the stories after observing how children develop character and learn values.And some of Willie’s stories take place on a farm patterned after the one at Woods Station near Brighton, where she grew up.Reeves doesn’t plan to stop with one book under her belt. She’s already at work on an adult novel dealing with the theme of loss. “It’s about how one gets past loss, and of the tremendous effort needed to go on with life to achievesomething,” she said.The book will be titled Shoutin’Distance, after a saying of one of its characters. “In the book, the father always said you’ve got to at least get within shoutin’ distance of where you’regoing,” Reeves said.She is still learning through her writing, she said, because learning is a lifelong process.‘You never stop the learning process unless you decide to stop it”Stopping isn’t in her vocabulary. After attending Lovejoy Grade School and Alton High School, she began college, but interrupted her academic career to marry and raise three children. Then she resumed her education.“I decided to go back to college, finished my bachelor of arts and got my master’s degree in speech and drama,” she said.At age 50, she decided to get another degree, and earned a doctorate of education degreefrom the University of Massachusetts atAmherst After 10 years of teaching adult education classes for Travelers Insurance Co., she retired and found the time to begin herbudding career as a writer.To her delight, her stories were published in Charleston Magazine. “I not only wrote them, but got paid for them too,” she said. When she got her first check, she took a photo of it and framed it. When her children’s book was published, it was the icing on the cake. “I never thought I’d see it,” she said.After a six-week vacation, she’s eager to get back to her writing. Her characters are calling to her. “They really do take on a life of their own and stay in the back of your head,” she said. “It’s like they’re saying, ‘When are you going to get back to us?’”
Newspaper Details
Alton Telegraph
Alton, Illinois, US
Thu, Jul 09, 1992
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Don C.
MT, USA 20 Sep 2018
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