My Publishing Journey: Judge Marylin E. Atkins

FAMILY & FRIENDS INSPIRE COURAGE & DESIRE TO EMBARK ON MY PUBLISHING JOURNEY

Before they even know the most painful parts of my story…

For the last ten years, my daughters, Elizabeth and Catherine, had been urging me to write my life story.

“Marylin, you should write a book!” people declared for decades upon hearing about how I, as a 20-year-old black organist at church, married a 44-year-old white man who had just defied the Roman Catholic Church by leaving the priesthood after 15 years.  

The Bishop condemned us to hell.

Some family members wanted nothing to do with us.

It was 1966, and the power of colorblind love was empowering us to break racial and religious barriers. Despite the controversy, we were happy.  And our wonderful family life launched me into becoming the longest-serving Chief Judge in the history of Detroit’s very large and busy 36th District Court.

When I retired in 2012, my daughters continued to echo what friends and colleagues kept saying: “Marylin, you should write a book!”

Truth be told, these folks didn’t know the half of it!  

You see, my mother was an Italian teenager and my father was a married black man; the Italians rejected me — Baby Rosemary — and put me in foster care. I was adopted by a black family: a blessing and a curse, because while I had a home, my adoptive mother was extremely abusive.

Well, I hesitated to expose this painful past. For one, I didn’t think I had a “book-worthy” story. I believed that what I did during my life was what everybody did. That is, devise a plan that is workable and realistic that would enable me to provide for myself and my family.  From there, plan the work and work the plan.

The second reason I hesitated was because some situations in my life were very painful and I was not sure that I wanted to expose them to the world. I believed that when writing an autobiography, the bad needs to be told with the good, less the reader sees the writer as disingenuous because nobody’s life is perfect.

I finally decided that I would set aside my hesitations and write my story.

I called it The Triumph of Rosemary: A Memoir by Judge Marylin E. Atkins.

I began writing on my laptop in December 2016 and I was finished by May 2017.  I wrote many days from 4:00 a.m. until way after midnight.  

The memories of my life not only came rushing back in chronological order, but in very vivid detail.

I couldn’t stop!

I was excited and thankful for my excellent recall ability, which I attributed to my having to memorize Beethoven Sonatas that were 32 pages long when I was a teenager taking piano lessons.

My daughters, who are superb writers, having created their own company, Two Sisters Writing and Publishing, were ecstatic that I wrote my story.

During the process, I conferred with them often about what pictures to use and how to format different sections.

The writing, however, was all my own. I was proud to turn my manuscript over to them for editing and publishing.  During the course of reading my story, they laughed and cried, sometimes at the same time. I was revealing things about their mother in detail that they knew about only in general. They felt my pain, happiness, sorrow and the glorious triumph that I felt overcoming so many things in my life. It was a wonderful journey we took together. I am proud of them and they are proud of me.

I have heard them conduct seminars on how to write a book. They laid out rules and regulations and a format for the want-to-be writers to follow.

I followed none of it. My format was to simply sit at the computer and tell my story as if I were having a conversation with the reader. I started from the beginning of my life and concluded with an Epilogue, to sum up what I am doing today in my retirement years.  I am overjoyed that I wrote my story.

The process was truly a family affair and I thank my wonderful daughters for their expertise in helping get through. I also thank them for the love, support and friendship that they have showered on me all of their lives.

To my great surprise and delight, many friends, family members, and strangers alike have said, “Marylin, I love your book!” and “I couldn’t put it down!”

These comments overwhelm me with gratitude that by finding the courage to overcome my hesitations about writing The Triumph of Rosemary: A Memoir, and teaming up with my daughters, we are providing a deeply moving and engaging reading experience.

I hope that by sharing my life story about beating the odds on so many levels, that readers can glean inspiration and determination to succeed no matter what their circumstances.

I also encourage anyone who’s contemplating whether to write a book, to go ahead and do it!  It will leave a legacy for your life that will live on forever. You survived, and you have some wisdom to share on how you did it, so share it!

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Judge Marylin E. Atkins was appointed six times by the Michigan Supreme Court to run Detroit’s 36th District court. After serving on the court for 21 years, she retired in 2012. Judge Atkins earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Saginaw Valley State University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Detroit School of Law. Atkins enjoys exercising, playing the piano, doing carpentry, relaxing with friends, and baking banana-nut-raisin bread that she delivers to her friends, family, and others. She lives in Detroit. She is the author of The Triumph of Rosemary: A Memoir, published by her daughters’ company, Two Sisters Writing and Publishing.

 

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, On Writing