Dolores Durando – A Bestselling novel – at age 90!
Some true stories are stranger than fiction. This is one of them.
While most people are winding down by the age of ninety (hell, a lot have wound right down), Dolores Durando has kept herself busy by writing and publishing her first novel.
That’s right. Dolores Durando just had her first novel published – and she’s ninety years old. Even more incredible is the fact her book, Beyond the Bougainvillea, spent quite some time as a freebie on Amazon’s top 100 Free downloads. (These days we all have to pay for it – damn!)
Darrell - You've written and published your first book at age ninety. What have you been doing all these years?
Dolores - I was one of the women considered to be “Rosie the Riveters” who worked at Douglas Aircraft, Santa Monica, CA during the “war to end all wars.” I raised four children; three who joined me to established and maintained five homes for mentally ill adults. I worked part to fulltime in State Hospitals for 35 years prior to retiring to Oregon at 70 years old. I have served on Mental Health and Addiction Advisory Boards both in California and Oregon.
After moving to Oregon I began to raise Mediterranean Miniature Donkeys. Since I was a North Dakota farm girl this came naturally. I was involved in breeding, training and showing donkeys until 2009. I have served on the National Miniature Donkey Association Board of Directors for the past 14 years.
I also enjoy sculpting in alabaster, painting with watercolors and now, my new challenge, novels. I have always enjoyed writing short stories, some of which have been published in National publications.
Darrell - What are the similarities and the differences between your own life and Beyond The Bougainvillea?
Dolores - I learned to survive as Marge did and we share the same values. My children were the driving force behind my ambition to provide a better life. I never thought myself beautiful as Marge was, I never owned a “Marge’s Place” I only worked in one and there was never a “Cotton” for me.
Darrell - Most people are well and truly winding down at age ninety. What is your secret to longevity?
Dolores - I never learned to smoke and after two hangovers, alcohol was never a temptation! Good genes, inherited from my Norwegian father and Pennsylvania Dutch mother. Staying active and interested in life, to sum it all up I’ve lived a full life and am ready to go, but please God! not before I finish my next book.
Darrell - Your book has been one of the top 100 downloaded free books on the Amazon Kindle. How did it become so successful?
Dolores - Beginner’s luck. Perhaps because the characters and most situations were based on reality or very nearly so. I surely took liberties with both.
It is my hope that women throughout the world are able to identify with Marge’s struggle to survive. When I think of Marge I think of Maya Angelou when she wrote "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."
Darrell - What authors have most inspired you in your writing?
Dolores - I have read voraciously since I was a small child. I devoured Zane Grey, while sitting on a horse, herding cattle on a North Dakota prairie.
Books that have influenced my life; everything by Maya Angelou, Pat Conroy’s Prince of Tides, Anne Siddon’s Peach Tree Street and their heartbreakingly beautiful descriptions of the marshlands. Ivan Doig’s beautiful book Dancing at the Rascal Fair, Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove-there are so many wonderful writers how could I choose?
Darrell - What advice would you have for anyone trying to succeed as a writer?
Dolores - Write about what you know.
Writing, I love. It isn’t work, it isn’t a duty. It is essential to make me feel complete, fulfilled. It is an all-consuming passion.
My advice: don’t settle for anything less.
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