BELWOOD – Children’s author Marilyn Helmer is “singing a different tune” and publishing a volume of short adult fiction called Bird Song on a Summer Evening.
The book is an accumulation of previously-unreleased stories the Belwood resident has written during her career.
With over 30 children’s books published, Helmer has long contemplated releasing adult fiction.
“It’s been a longtime dream of mine to publish … a collection of my stories,” she said.
Bird Song on a Summer Evening is available for purchase at Magic Pebbles Books in Elora.
“They’re just the most amazing couple,” said Helmer of the owners, noting they support local authors.
Though her career is rooted in children’s stories, Helmer got her start writing for adults.
Originally, she wrote a few articles on antiques as she was a collector at the time, and eventually decided to delve into some fiction, writing short stories and submitting them to contests.
Helmer attributes some of her success to winning a contest early on where the grand prize was a computer.
“I quite lucked out in a way,” she said, explaining she had been using a typewriter up to that point.
Once Helmer had children, and started reading to them, she was shocked at how her kids responded to the stories.
“It was like magic,” she said, adding reading engaged her kids and helped them settle when restless.
“That was when I became interested in writing for children.”
In recent years Helmer has been involved with the Centre Wellington Writers Group, also known as the Wellies, in charge of organizing each weekly assignment.
Together the group has published a 50-word stories collection called Stories to Chew On.
Helmer is also involved in a writing project with Wellies members Paul Hock and Don Smith, called Critter a Week, featuring weekly online children’s stories about a different animal.
Facing the isolation of the pandemic is what finally sparked the idea for Helmer to publish her work.
“I thought, this is the time to finally make my dream come true and publish the collection of short adult stories,” she said.
She detailed the excitement of finally receiving the hard copy of her book after the long process of self-publishing.
Helmer added the cover of the book was designed by Wellies group member and Critter a Week collaborator Paul Hock.
She titled her book after the first short story in the volume, Bird Song on a Summer Evening. She explained her research on how to put together a collection of short stories suggested “begin with your favourite and end with your favourite … Bird Song on a Summer Evening is one of my favourite stories.”
Helmer offered some advice to aspiring writers starting out, emphasizing perseverance as the most important thing.
“Take rejection slips, as they happen to every writer, experienced and inexperienced, don’t let them discourage you … keep going, keep submitting, keep writing,” she said.
For more information on Helmer and her writing visit www.marilynhelmer.com.
