Writing sisters debut books in the same year
- Katie Keyser
- Jul 24
- 3 min read
by KATIE KEYSER
Contributing Writer
Ruth O'Lill said when she's working on something special, such as publishing a book of poetry, everyone knows about it. But her sister, Lynn Olcott, is the complete opposite. Lynn didn't say a peep about her novel, one that she'd been working on for 20 years.
(See the excerpt from Lynn's story below.)
"The shabby little house feels good to her. She gazes out the windows, wondering what color the lilacs will be when they bloom again in the spring.
"Purple," her voice says. "The ones by the kitchen are purple." It's a young voice, female. Anna blinks. She cannot see anyone but often she only hears them."
House on Gospel Hill Road
"Lynn's a self-contained unit. She's the quiet one. Me, I'm blabbing all over the place," said Ruth. Olcott's book publishing was a surprise, said O'Lill. "She fooled all of us." The Cortland High graduates, O'Lill of Old Forge and Olcott of Homer, both published work in 2024.
O'Lill's Simon Says WHAT? is a chapbook of poetry and essays, and Olcott's House on Gospel Hill is a work of fiction. Both have been writing for decades and co-published a book of poetry, Songs to Sisters, in 1999.
Their latest books are available at Amazon.com. Olcott has copies in the Homer Phillips Library and Cortland Free Library.
Olcott is a retired teacher. O'Lill is a retired marketer and grant writer. She is an energy healer. Olcott volunteers at Cortland ReUse where she co-teaches a writing workshop monthly with Kristen Yarnell.
O'Lill volunteers at Moose River Farm grooming horses. She also paints landscapes and creates pictures from found objects. She moved from Cortland to the Adirondacks.
O'Lill says her poetry book reflects on the last 20 years. She wrote about her mom who died young from breast cancer, a tree saved by a female arborist, and the story of providing energy healing to nurses and doctors in a hospital, and much more.
"I love everything about it," O'Lill said. "I love the feel. It's a light little thing you can bend in your hand. It is bits and pieces that I could pick up again in one place. I love the pictures, too."
She has a photo she took of a row of geese on a log for the cover. The book title is also featured as the title of a poem. "To me it goes with the photo," she said. Simon Says WHAT? speaks to our troubles today. We are confused about what our leaders are doing. We have to look at what they say and what they do and figure out a better response. I had the feeling the geese were saying
"Simon said what? What happened?"
I'd love to receive credit but if you can't remember my name just say it was from Anonymous. We all know that Anonymous was a woman anyway." Ruth O'Lill, Simon Says WHAT?
Olcott's novel is about a woman who moves to a new area, finds a new job, and moves into a haunted house where she hears the voice of a young girl.
"One scene just happened when I was at the fair in Chenango County, years ago, before I moved here. The scene was fun, and it grew like a weed, organically," Olcott said.
Although the project has been ongoing, Olcott was stymied by a car accident
"When I had a head injury in 2012, it was a real setback. But I got back to writing. I was able to conclude, but I won't say finish."
She says of other writers struggling to complete their books: "Write a final scene.
You can edit it later. It's like a stake in the sand. Something to shoot for. You can always change it. I would encourage people to get their writing to a final product.
Whether they sell it or not. Give it away. Then you can move on to something else.
It's so satisfying."
Betsy Allen of Cortland Press published Olcott's work. "Oh, I love it. Betsy's daughter, Abbey, is an artist. She did the cover. She listened to me and created exactly what I asked," Olcott said.
Keeping track of the story's details was her biggest challenge. The time periods alternate between past and present, and Olcott needed charts to break out a sequel list and other organizational aides to keep it all straight.
"When a character woke me up in the night, I would write it down. I thought about it all the time. I just fit it in between jobs, in between cooking. I was never disciplined enough to have an assigned time."
Katie Keyser is a CAC board member.
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