Aspiring to Authorship ~ Sharing Space in Orchard House

Along her road to literary success, Louisa May Alcott tried her hand at poetry, plays, fairy tales, a poignant chronicle of her experiences as a Civil War nurse, and even stories written under a pseudonym filled with intrigue, infamous characters, exotic locales, and improbable plots. By the time her publisher asked her to write a book for young girls, she had more than “paid her dues” and was eager for the chance to not only become a well-known author, but help provide financially for her family as well.

In the last two decades of her life, Miss Alcott was barraged with letters from authors seeking advice as to how they might also achieve notoriety.  Although a writer since the age of eight, Miss Alcott’s short answer was that infinite patience was key, as she needed to wait nearly 30 years before her first popular success, Little Women, was published -- a work that has continuously been in print since 1868, and is now translated into over 50 languages.