That Year – This Year

Two thousand eleven was an eventful year for Silver Boomer Books. That, my reader, is the classic understatement. On the one hand – the positive one – we opened our physical office, published five great books, have agreements we’re working on with two guest anthology editors well-known in their fields and recognized on the subject of the anthologies. And then, again, another guest editor agreed to come aboard yesterday to help with at least one of the anthologies, so that makes three, not two. I’ve been on the radio three times in the last three weeks with a fourth tomorrow. We’re getting real readership on some of our books. The five books I’m pretty sure we’ll publish next year are strong contributions to the catalogue, and two more I’ve got exuberant hopes for – though they’re not even written.

On the other hand, we’ve had our issues, jointly and severally. Karen left at the beginning of 2011; sadly, Ginny has chosen to leave a year later. She’ll be devoting her time to writing in her own writing space – in Idaho. I’ve never been to Idaho. But maybe I’ll get there sometime. And she will spend the cold months down here in Texas, so that makes it less distant. Becky moved from Shreveport to St. Louis, and she’s had some distractions that made concentration on writing, editing, and publishing more difficult. And me? Besides leaving the courthouse after more than 30 years as a lawyer then a judge, I’ve found the full-time publishing office fits well, and I’m happy. I also left my house and husband, living in an apartment again, the first time in 35 years. And I became a grandmother – twice, the same day! How about that. I hear, though, it’s pretty common for Grandmoms of twins. And I’ve worked on wearing out my car, not just driving across Texas, but I’ve been to Michigan a couple of times, too, with more trips planned. It was a good year, balancing all on both hands.

We’re about to finish the fifth day of 2012. I’ve done a ton of work already, intend to plow through a whole regimen this month, and more in the months to come, to do everything in my power to do our great authors justice by getting their books out there and read. I’m excited about 2012. And scared. But I lived through 2011, happier than I could have believed I could be when I started it. If my world gets that much better in 2012, I just might explode. And you’ll hear the repercussions here – and hopefully around the world as we become real, as we find we really do have “potential.” Come with us!

An author, editor, and publisher with Silver Boomer Books, “Barbara B. Rollins” appears on thirteen books. Her most recent, A Cloud of Witnesses – Two Big Books and Us, written with OAStepper, matches each verse in the book of Hebrews with a quotation from the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, and responds in poetry and prayer. It is the sequel to A Time for Verse – Poetic Ponderings on Ecclesiastes which lacks the Big Book quotes. The six Silver Boomer Books anthologies are edited in part by Barbara, and she has a forensic crime solvers series for children from Capstone Press and the young adult novel,  Syncopated Summer. A retired judge, Barbara still sits occasionally but more often sits in her car, going or coming from wherever she chooses.