I would like to welcome a very special guest today.  He didn’t start writing until he was 80 years young and he had his first book published at the tender age of 85.  Please welcome Chuck Gleason to So Many Precious Books, So Little Time.

A New Career at 80?
By Chuck Gleason
 
I was 80!  I’d been working as a salesman for 60 years! I didn’t want to work anymore.  My feet were so bad I had to quit golf.  My hearing was worse.  You can’t sell if you can’t hear.  Good selling is listening, not talking.
 
I decided to begin another career.  I would write romance novels.  I was pretty sure I could write a book on how to sell, but for some reason I wanted to write happy light romances.
 
Basic rule #1:  When you think about beginning a project, just start.  I wrote a book. 
I felt that self-publishing my book would simply be an ego trip.  So my wife and I made a rule.  If no one would invest the money to publish the book, it would not get printed.
 
Basic rule #2:  Learn to cope with rejection.  I wrote six books. Each book was rejected by over 200 literary agents!  That’s over 1200 rejections! I wondered… do I now hold the record for rejections?
 
Basic rule#3: Persevere!
 
After almost five years, I signed a contract with Black Rose Writing.  I told no one about it until the book was in my hands.  Then I mailed a copy to all my family.  With the book I enclosed this wonderful poem by Shel Silverstein:
 
”Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child
Listen to the DON’TS
Listen to the SHOULDN’TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then, listen close to me ——
Anything can happen, child,
ANTHING CAN BE!!”
 
Thanks so much for the words of wisdom Chuck!  
 
About Collision Course:
 
Publisher: Black Rose Writing (Oct. 24, 2013)
ISBN-13: 978-1612962085
Category: Romance, Love Story
Tour Dates: February, 2014
Available in: Print & ebook, 252 pages
Collision Course is a warm loving story about two college kids, Lincoln Comstock and Keli Holloway, who get off on a rocky road to romance.  In their creative writing course, Lincoln trashes Keli’s first offering before the entire class, just to get her attention.  Keli is very sensitive about her creative efforts.  As a consequence, Lincoln has started his romance by shooting himself in the foot.
Lincoln’s persistence pays off eventually as Keli agrees to be friends, just not romantic friends.   In their junior year, the friendship endures the student body presidential election in which Keli and Lincoln are actually pitted against each other.  After the election Keli finally agrees to go to the Christmas formal as Lincoln’s date.
Just as the friendship is turning into love, obstacles get in the way. Can their love withstand a  last collision?
Filled with excitement and love, Collision Course is a happy story that will leave readers smiling.
Read my review here.
 
About Chuck Gleason:
 
Have we discovered a literary Grandpa Moses?
Author Chuck Gleason is eighty four years young and writing love stories at a prodigious rate.  He started dating Janet in 1945 when they were just fifteen.  They married in 1950 and are still in love sixty three years later!
Chuck achieved business success selling life insurance. With Janet’s help, they developed a two market selling life style.  They lived on a Michigan lake in the summer and a Florida island in the winter. Their commute to work was only two seconds. They enjoyed this enviable life style for over twenty five years!
Chuck’s speech, Are You Running Your Business or is Your Business Running You? has been delivered in twenty seven states and seven foreign countries.
They have two children, three grandchildren and one great grandchild.
“If you marry your best friend you’ll have a wonderful life.”