A Time to Write

by Loula Grace Erdman

A Time to Write [hardcover] Erdman, Loula Grace. [Jan 01, 1969]

247 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

ERDMAN, LOULA GRACE (1898–1976). Loula Grace Erdman, writer, daughter of August F. and Mollie (Maddox) Erdman, was born on June 8, 1898, near Alma, Lafayette County, Missouri. She attended Central Missouri State College (B.S., 1931) and Columbia University (M.A., 1941). She also studied at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Southern California, and West Texas State College. She subsequently moved to Texas and taught in the Amarillo public schools and at West Texas State College, where she eventually became novelist-in-residence and director of the Advanced Workshop in Creative Writing.

Erdman began writing in the 1930s, and by 1946 about fifty of her short stories and magazine articles had been published, as well as her first juvenile novel, Separate Star (1944), a book about career teaching. In 1946 she won the $10,000 Dodd, Mead-Redbook Award for The Years of the Locust (1947), a novel set in her native Missouri. In 1952 she received the American Girl-Dodd, Mead Award for The Wind Blows Free (1952), the first volume of a juvenile trilogy about a pioneer Panhandle family. She continued the story of the Pierce family in The Wide Horizon (1956) and The Good Land (1959). Room to Grow (1962), a novel about French immigrants who moved to the Panhandle via New Orleans, won her the Texas Institute of Letters Juvenile Award. She received both the Texas Institute of Letters Award and the Steck-Vaughn Award for A Bluebird Will Do (1973). Her other works include A Wonderful Thing and Other Stories (1940), Fair Is the Morning (1945), Lonely Passage (1948), The Edge of Time (1950), Three at the Wedding (1953), My Sky Is Blue (1953), The Far Journey (1955), Short Summer (1958), Many a Voyage (1960), The Man Who Told the Truth (1962), Life Was Simpler Then (1963), Another Spring (1966), Bright Sky (1969), A Time to Write (1969), and Save Weeping for the Night (1975).

Miss Erdman was a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, the Panhandle Penwomen, Delta Kappa Gamma, Kappa Delta Pi, and Phi Kappa Phi. As a career teacher who never considered abandoning teaching even after she gained recognition as a writer, she also belonged to the National Education Association and the Texas State Teachers Association.

Reviews

[Abby Burrus · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful gem I discovered at the library book sale! Out of the 17 or so books I bought, this is the only one that I would consider an undiscovered treasure.
It's definitely an old book. The author talks about writing with a typewriter! And having send off manuscripts printed on actual paper. And communicating with publishers by mail. It's a interesting perspective on the writing world back then.
But yet, the enjoyment of writing, and what it entails, that still remains unchanged. I enjoyed hearing about how she would research things, the advice that she gives about writing, and just her overall tone throughout the book. She basically tells how she started writing, and then what led her to write the various books that she did, and the effort / research that went into them. An autobiography of writing.

Now, I want to get my hands on the author's fiction books and see what they're like, if I can. They're old books, but I hope some libraries might still have them.

[Georgia Herod · Rating 5 out of 5]

One day as I was perusing the shelves of old books in the church library, I found this book with an author's name I recognized because of Erdman Publisher. However, there is no connection between the two. This is an old memoir by a writer I was unfamiliar with, but who had a rich literary career, writing many novels (some historical fiction, some memoir) and teaching creative writing in college in West Texas. (She grew up northwestern Missouri.) Wonderful commentary on the writing process, as well as observations of life. Loula Grace Erdman's life was simple, but significant. Since I'm also a writer, I was fascinated by her story.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful memoir with advice for budding writers sprinkled throughout. It's a bit dated, but lovely to read. The author worked tirelessly to pursue her passion for writing, all the while being a school teacher. She writes about her typewritten and handwritten novels in a time when authors got paid very little for their hard work. I found this in my grandmother's basement amid a box of my great-grandmother's things. It makes me wonder if she wanted to one day write a novel.

[Tammy Komoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a book about how to write. This is an autobiography about her life as a writer. Lola Grace Erdman career spanned the 1930’s to about 1970. She published this book in ‘69, 3 years before her death.
Her life was full, her successes were many, yet I’d never heard of her before finding the book half-buried in a Goodwill. She has a lovely voice, and it is easy to be transplanted into her life. I highly recommend.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had forgotten about this Loula Grace Erdman gem. It's not a manual for writers; it's biographical, telling the stories of how she wrote her books. A wonderful read about the writing process, at least how it went for her. Her novels are beautifully crafted, so I enjoyed reading the stories behind them. I wish so much that her work was better known. (less) [edit]