My story is perhaps an unusual one.  I’m a psychologist who has important messages to teach others.  Age range is really secondary to the messages I feel compelled to teach.   Even if a person of 90 were to take my messages to heart, it wouldn’t be too late!  It would still make a big difference in the person’s quality of life and her sense of purpose.

So when I first knew I needed to teach about the Truth in terms of human development, I actually thought the age range I was writing for would be adult.  In fact, the first version of my book, The Truth (I’m ten, I’m smart and I know everything) was published for women of all ages.  With women in mind I set out to teach the importance of holding on to the best of ourselves at every age and circumstance.

I knew what critical issues I must teach.  The questions was, how to teach them in a form that would be appealing and not boring. Through a long process of listening to my clients for over 25 years, being a school psychologist also, and doing some introspective analysis of myself, I decided that the best way to teach these lessons was to develop a fictional girl who had all the qualities that I was trying to get adult women to recapture in their own lives.

In order to make the girl really come alive, I had to observe the true qualities of kids.  Of course, having been a teacher, mother, and psychologist, I had a lot of observations already.  But still, I needed more.  Many insights I got from my clients, both children and adults, and  friends.  Others I got from myself. 

For example, it was a friend who told me she and her girlfriends decided to have a club one summer to exchange books.  What was a dull summer, turned into a great summer of reading and fun.  Her story was a great example of resiliency.  She and her friends really knew how to make lemonade out of lemons!  So I took her story and put it into the life of the girl in the book.

This is how the girl came to life.  She became the vessel that held the stories, thoughts, feelings, dreams, and upsets of lots of people- people that were now grown-ups and people that were still kids.  She also held the essence of the girls inside of each of us women.  For example, her love of Nancy Drew and her love to solve mysteries came in part from my early passions.  And you see where it took me?  Now I am a psychologist, helping others solve the mysteries of their lives, their feelings, and passions!

Once the adult version of the book was written, I realized that it wasn’t enough to just share the Truth with adult women!  If girls, tweens and teens were going to hold on to the best of themselves, they had better see as clearly as possible how important it is to be proud of who they are and courageous about growing and changing.  That’s how the girl’s version, The Truth (I’m a girl, I’m smart and I know everything) came to be.

So in reality, I never thought about an age group I was writing for until I knew why I had to write for that particular group.   I hope you have found this interesting and feel encouraged to sort out what your message is to give to the world.  I am sure you too, will then figure out the best age group for your message.  Good luck!

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Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein is the originator of The Enchanted Self(R). She has been a positive psychologist in private practice and licensed in the states of New Jersey and Massachusetts since 1981. She is currently in private practice in Long Branch, New Jersey with her husband, Dr. Russell M. Holstein.

She is the author of The Enchanted Self, A Positive Therapy, Recipes for Enchantment, The Secret Ingredient is YOU! and There Comes A Time In Every Woman’s Life for DELIGHT.

Her newest book, The Truth, I’m Ten, I’m Smart and I Know Everything! is another first in positive psychology. Written by a ten year old girl as a diary, Dr. Barbara has been able to imbed lots of positive truths that we all need to remember and live by, regardless of our age.

The girl’s edition, titled: The Truth, (I’m a girl, I’m smart and I know everything) debuted February 2008 in bookstores nationwide. You can get your copy now at www.enchantedself.com.

There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t write. Or think about writing. Or wish that I had more time to write. But like many romance writers, that last one – more time to write – is a difficult wish since I still have a full time job. It’s not uncommon to have a job and be a writer. In fact, it’s more common than many people would assume.

“Why?” you may wonder.

Well, the reality is that despite all those multi-million and six figure deals that you may read about the in the news, the average writer’s advance just isn’t all that large, particularly in the romance publishing industry. Just google “Brenda Hiatt” and “Show me the money” to see a rundown of what authors for the major romance publishing houses usually earn out with their novels. It will be an eye opener for sure. Especially if the reason you want to write is to get published and make scads of money.

My firm belief is that you should want to write because you can’t imagine doing anything else. Because you love to write. Because it’s your passion and it doesn’t matter how much you are paid because what you want more than anything else is to share your stories with other people.

It’s tough to keep that passion alive at times. You’ve got family obligations and work obligations. You’re trying to squeeze in your writing between the kids’ softball games, making dinner and finishing a job your boss assigned to you. And once the book is finished, there is the grind of getting it sold and after, the work involved in trying to promote the novel so that it sells well enough that the publisher will want to buy more books from you.

A tough job. So how do you keep the passion for writing alive?

I always advise people to try and find a writing group to which to belong. I’m an active (and founding) member of the Liberty States Fiction Writers. Besides the information you can get from groups like this about the craft and business of writing, there is the friendship and understanding of other writers. It helps during the tough times and also, during the good so that you can celebrate together.

I also ask people to remember why they write. To think about the joy it brings them to think of a story and get it down on paper. To imagine not doing that and how they would feel because there is one thing that makes a true writer – they write. All the time. They have to write to nurture something in their souls, whether or not what they write will ultimately bring monetary reward.

Writing brings reward of its own kind. Satisfaction at completing something. Joy at sharing it with others, whether through publication or other writers.

It’s how I keep my eye on the dream – I think about the happiness that I get from writing and somehow, that makes all the hard stuff about writing just disappear.