The Accidental Novelist
Margie Zable Fisher and her mother, Rona S. Zable
I didn’t plan on becoming a novelist, but I am one, thanks to a deathbed promise I made to fulfill someone else’s dream.
Here’s how that happened.
In the 1980s and 1990s, my mother, Rona S. Zable, had four young adult and middle grade books published by major New York publishers. Those novels—Love at the Laundromat, An Almost Perfect Summer, Landing on Marvin Gardens, and Don’t Get Mad, Get Even—won awards and even landed Mom a speaking gig at the Miami Book Fair.
The amazing part? Mom wrote those novels at night, on an electric typewriter, after spending a full day writing and editing in her job as editor of SeniorScope, a publication for senior citizens in the New Bedford, MA area.
She started writing an adult novel before retiring from her job and moving to Florida. The novel went through many iterations, including one that took place in New England. After moving to Florida and joining a writer’s group at the local library, Mom switched to a South Florida location, and the plot and characters took on many of the qualities of the South Florida lifestyle.
Over the last 20 years, I talked to Mom about the novel, read chapters, provided input, and often edited them before she read them to her group.
A few years ago, I decided to help Mom find an agent. Her former agent only represented children’s books and wasn’t interested in representing her adult books. I did all the research and emailing, and had no luck.
Then on Christmas Eve Day of 2022, at age 87, Mom fell in her condo and couldn’t get up. It was so strange because she was always active. Soon after her fall, she was in excruciating pain, and we eventually found out she had pancreatic cancer. Mom died on February 21, 2023.
A Deathbed Promise
A few days before she passed, I told Mom I would get her book published. She told me not to bother self-publishing it, and to only publish it if I found a publisher. I promised her that I would.
After she passed away, I went through Mom’s novel. I was pretty sure it needed work because we hadn’t had success getting an agent. While I am a freelance writer and voracious reader, I had never written fiction before, and had no idea what to fix.
I decided to take time off from my regular writing work and learn how to write fiction, and apply those lessons to the novel. I listened to podcasts, researched information online, and hired a developmental editor. Three months later, I had added 20,000 words, new characters, a romance, a tighter timeline, a new opening, and more.
During that time, I also grieved the loss of my mom, and often wrote through my tears. But it was comforting to know that I was doing something to honor Mom. We were very close. My parents divorced when I was one, my father is not part of my life, and I am an only child.
The Final Version
This is the summary of the final version of the novel:
When her only child and family move away, long-divorced legal secretary Debbie Gordon can finally leave her sleepy New England hometown and retire to Florida. Her helicopter daughter has other ideas, but they finally agree Debbie can use the six months on her lease to make a life in Florida. If not, she must move in with her daughter’s family in Delaware, most likely as their unpaid nanny.
In Florida, Debbie’s high hopes of a budget Golden Girls lifestyle disappear when she encounters the wacky, eccentric residents of her shabby rental community. Then a lucky chance encounter leads to a strong new friendship with two women, Maria and Fran.
Helped by her new friends, Debbie navigates the lows and highs of life in South Florida—unresolved past issues, a medical mystery, a difficult new boss, money woes, and late-life dating, plus new adventures, a promising romance, and professional recognition for her writing talent. Will Debbie finally be able to get a life?
Finding a Publisher
When the novel was finished, I spent a year pitching agents and publishers.
I wasn’t having much luck and then stumbled across a new, small press. Sibylline Press only publishes books by women over 50. What a great fit! To this day, I’m still not sure how I found out about it. I think Mom may have guided me to it.
Sibylline accepted my novel with a different title, but at the eleventh hour, I suggested The Cabernet Club, and they agreed. Mom and I had debated three different titles for years, but this is the one that I felt had the best chance of success.
Sibylline Press published The Cabernet Club, co-authored by Rona S. Zable and Margie Zable Fisher, on January 31, 2025. It’s available in print, ebook, and audiobook at a variety of online retailers. You can learn more about the book at https://margiezfisher.com/
I expected the project to be “one and done,” having fulfilled my promise to Mom. Instead, I fell in love with the characters and am planning on writing two more books in The Cabernet Club series.
My outline is complete for Book 2, and I’m writing it now. The publication date is October 2026.
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Debbie Gordon has six months to get a life.
When her only child and family move away, long-divorced legal secretary Debbie can finally leave her sleepy New England hometown and retire to Florida. Her helicopter daughter has other ideas, but they finally agree Debbie can use the six months on her lease to make a life in Florida. If not, she must move in with her daughter’s family in Delaware, most likely as their unpaid nanny.
In Florida, Debbie’s high hopes of a budget Golden Girls lifestyle disappear when she encounters the wacky, eccentric residents of her shabby rental community. Then a lucky chance encounter leads to a strong new friendship with two women, Maria and Fran.
Helped by her new friends, Debbie navigates the lows and highs of life in South Florida—unresolved past issues, a medical mystery, a difficult new boss, money woes, and late-life dating, plus new adventures, a promising romance, and professional recognition for her writing talent. Will Debbie finally be able to get a life?
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In the late 1980s and early 1990s, co-author Rona S. Zable (aged 88 at the time of her death in 2023), had published three YA novels with Bantam Doubleday Dell. She later worked for 20 years as editor of SeniorScope, the largest senior publication in New England. Her daughter and co-author Margie Zable Fisher (age 56) is a former publicist and currently a writer and editor, published in the New York Times, AARP, Fortune Well, Next Avenue, and more. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA).
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Category: Contemporary Women Writers
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