Putting pen to paper

Stories about love and loss, family and even a homunculus — Susan Marie Shuman’s collection of short stories covers them all. A resident of North Shelby, Shuman self-published “Gutter Ball” after years of writing, both as a freelancer and for personal enjoyment.

Her passion for writing first started in the sixth grade, Shuman said, when she got lost in an assignment.

“We only had to write, like, two paragraphs, and I wrote four pages,” Shuman said. “I just kept getting more ideas.”

As a self-described “late bloomer,” Shuman went back to college in her 40s, where she ended up studying as an English major. While she had a job, she didn’t enjoy what she was doing and later lost the job when the company downsized. That was when a professor suggested she open a freelance writing business.

“I worked hard and kept at it, and took all the little jobs, and then I got my big break — well, what I call my big break — on LinkedIn,” Shuman said. “Just out of the blue, this guy who was writing a book was looking for an editor, and I said, ‘Sure. I’ll try.’ One thing led to another, and here I am.”

She later moved from Alabama to Connecticut, where she met Rabbi Stephen Fuchs and helped publish three of his books. While she was freelancing and editing others’ books, Shuman was building her own. 

“When I started blogging, I found a lot of places with writing prompts, and that’s where my writing came from, a lot of my ideas,” Shuman said. “Or I’ll pick something from my childhood — and embellish it, of course.”

Her stories are also inspired by her life’s journeys, including the time she lived in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War and her time in New Orleans.

“I’ve gotten a lot of grist for the mill,” she said. “Traveling is how you learn about life and people.”

Her stories in “Gutter Ball” cover a range of themes and topics — from mental health to marriage, with most stories tinged with dark humor or satire. To select stories for her collection, Shuman said she drew on 20 years of work, picking out her favorites and some her readers have enjoyed. 

While publishing a book has been a long-sought dream, Shuman said it took time to become open to the idea.

“I’m really excited about it, but it took a really long time for me to get to the place where I was ready,” Shuman said. “I think being ready [meant] being mature enough to handle it if people hated it or if it just doesn’t do well.”

Self-publishing was also a learning process, Shuman said. And despite concerns about potential mishaps, it was a smooth road for Shuman.

“I kept thinking something was going to go wrong and it wouldn’t happen,” she said. “It’s kind of complicated, self-publishing. You’ve got to get the formatting just right, and I thought ‘There’s got to be hidden costs somewhere’ … but no, it all just happened. It was a lot easier than I thought.”

As people read her stories, Shuman hopes it’ll hit on a variety of notes. As long as readers connect with her stories, she said she will be happy with their reaction.

“I hope that it makes people think, it makes them laugh, it’s a gut punch. I’m all about a gut punch,” Shuman said. “I hope it makes them feel something and remember it — that it’s not something you can read and forget about. That would be the last thing I want.”