SHENANGO VALLEY

Literature lover turns novelist with love stories

Every Friday evening when Ludima Gus Burton, 80, was growing up in Farrell, she would walk to the old Sharon Public Library.

She would select a book of fewer than 100 pages, find a comfortable chair and read the book from cover to cover. Then Ms. Burton would find two larger novels -- the maximum someone could check-out of the library -- and take them home.

Friday and Saturday nights she would stay up until 2 or 3 a.m. and finish the novels.

"We were poor back then in the ‘30s," Ms. Burton said. "You know, (during) the Depression, we didn’t even own books."

She would read anything the library had to offer, from fairy tale collections to murder mysteries to classic novels.

More than 65 years later, if Ms. Burton, now of Fultonville, N.Y., were to return to a Shenango Valley library, she’d find something she always dreamed about on the shelves.

Her own novel.

The 1938 Farrell High School graduate and retired social studies teacher has become a published novelist with her romance "Only for a Year," which made its debut June 24.

Another novel, "The Tycoon and the School Teacher," will be on shelves in October.

Although Ms. Burton always has been an avid reader and often wrote short stories, she didn’t start writing novels until age 71, writing her first book in pencil on notebook paper before typing it on a word processor.

"It was just one of those days when I didn’t feel like going to the New Amsterdam library. So I thought, ‘I’ll just write my own,’ " she said. "It really is as simple as that."

Getting it published wasn’t quite so easy. Her first novel took her only six weeks to write but nearly a decade to publish.

"I didn’t really know anything at all about the publishing field," Ms. Burton said. "There are so many submissions, it’s a wonder anyone gets published."

By the time she finally got a contract with Avalon Romances for two of her novels, Ms. Burton said her rejection folder was four inches thick.

"When it (the rejection) first comes, you’re down in the dumps for about half a day," Ms. Burton said. "Then you pick yourself up and start writing again."

Ms. Burton said she joined the local chapter of Romance Writers of America and attended many conferences and workshops to improve her writing skills.

Finally Avalon Romances contacted Ms. Burton a month after she sent them an extensively revised version of her first novel and offered offer her a one year contract.

"When they took my second (novel) a month later, I nearly fell over," Ms. Burton said.

Avalon is a small romance publisher that primarily sells to libraries.

"I am so happy for her," gushed Ms. Burton’s 77-year-old sister, Leona Dubay of Hermitage. "I always told her (that) her books should be published."

Remembering how important libraries were to her as a young girl, Ms. Burton is donating copies of her books to the Shenango Valley Community Library of Sharon, Stey Nevant Library of Farrell and Farrell High School’s library.

The Stey Nevant Library will have the book available by Monday, but the Shenango Valley Community Library hasn’t received a copy yet.

Ms. Burton said she received a small advance from Avalon and doesn’t receive any royalties.

"The little advance I got, I used to buy books," she said. "For that first book, you don’t care if you sell it for a dime. You just want to get published."

Like all of Avalon Book’s novels, Ms. Burton’s work is a "wholesome" romance, with characters’ sex lives left up to the imagination.

Only hugs, chaste kisses and a lot of blushing are included in the first novel, which has a Cinderella-type plot.

"At my age, I forgot a lot about the other bedroom stuff and I’m not going to write about it," Ms. Burton said with a giggle.

Ms. Dubay said the book reflects the relationship Ms. Burton had with her late husband Peter.

Like Ms. Burton, the book’s heroine Sarah is a widow whose husband died suddenly, ending a happy marriage.

"When I read the book, I said, ‘why, this is she and Pete.’ ... This is the way Pete and Ludima acted," Ms. Dubay said.

Ms. Burton said she gets inspiration for her romance novels from her family life with her late husband, two grown daughters and grandson.

As a result, she is working on her memoir -- a collection of her and her husband’s love letters penned in the ‘40s, in addition to another romance.

Ms. Burton said she doesn’t plan to put down her pencil anytime soon.

"You never stop writing. It’s an obsession," Ms. Burton said. "The trouble is, I have too many stories in my head."

She has written a total of six novels. She has three sent out to publishers and is working on a third romance novel now.

Burton’s hardcover book can be purchased directly from Avalon Romances: www. avalonbooks.com/romance; Amazon.com; Barnes & Noble book sellers: www.bn.com. Waldenbooks, Shenango Valley Mall, also ordered copies.