Have you ever dreamed of becoming a successful writer, but wondered if the moment had already passed? This week, in our “Author! Author!” series, we’re sharing stories from people who answered that question by simply starting – often much later, and after building careers elsewhere. These conversations show how the path to authorship isn’t something you find so much as something you clear, step by step, by leaning into the life you’ve already lived. Together, these episodes capture the heart of Second Act Stories: the idea that reinvention doesn’t have an expiration date, and that sometimes the most meaningful work begins after you’ve already lived a few chapters.
Peggy Rowe has accomplished a lot in her 87 years.
She started her career as a schoolteacher in Baltimore, where she and her husband John – also a teacher – raised three sons. It was a pretty normal life by all accounts. But life got extraordinary somewhere along the way.
One common thread in the Rowe household was humor, and Peggy had a finely tuned ability to recognize funny and write about it. See, writing has always been her creative outlet. She wrote all the time. She wrote fun poems for her students, which she would later hear them recite on the playground; she wrote short stories that were published in newspapers and magazines; she wrote stories about things that happened in everyday life; and she wrote about her family.
Her son Mike (yes, THAT Mike Rowe) loved her stories, but every time she called to share one, he’d tell her, “Mom, don’t TELL me about it; sit down and WRITE about it.” This happened a lot.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Peggy had a wonderful career as an educator, but it wasn’t until long after that came to an end that her real career took off. When she was 80, Peggy’s first book of humor was published. “About My Mother: True Stories of a Horse-Crazy Daughter and Her Baseball-Obsessed Mother: A Memoir” became a New York Times bestseller.
Then came more bestsellers.
“About Your Father and Other Celebrities I Have Known: Ruminations and Revelations from a Desperate Mother to Her Dirty Son” was Peggy’s next bestselling book, when she was 82.
“Vacuuming in the Nude: And Other Ways to Get Attention,” book number three and bestseller number three, was published when Peggy was 84. Judging by the title, it seems Dirty Jobs run in the family.
Her fourth book, “Oh No, Not “The Home”: Observations and Confessions of a Grandmother in Transition,” came two years later.
At age 87, Peggy is working on her fifth book and she shows no signs of slowing down. Thankfully.
In this inspiring episode, Peggy shares her incredible journey from the classroom to the bestseller list, complete with a few fun stories woven in.
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Second Act Stories theme music: “Between 1 and 3 am” by Echoes.