By Kirk Boxleitner

Familiar now to readers of The Leader as the author of its “Aging in Good Spirits” column, Carole Marshall has traversed a long road toward becoming a writer. One of her writings, authored prior to working for the paper, will be reprinted next month.

In 2015, Marshall’s short story, “Eggnog with Pickles,” was printed in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Merry Christmas! 101 Joyous Holiday Stories,” and on April 16, “Eggnog with Pickles” will be reprinted in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Me and My Cat.”

Marshall's writing wasn't published until she was 50 years old, after she'd attended three different colleges, first as a physical education major, then switching to earning creative writing certifications, one of them from the University of Washington.

“I answered a newspaper ad that was looking for a columnist,” Marshall said. “I was very nervous, and wondered if I was educated enough. The editor I spoke to said, ‘Just send me something.’ Apparently, he loved it.”

This led to Marshall writing the “Port Townsend Neighbor” column in the Peninsula Daily News, which she followed with a gig as a features writer for American Profile magazine.

“I pitched a story about Egg and I Road,” Marshall said. “I wound up highlighting a lot of fascinating people and places.”

Marshall’s writing aspirations, which eventually led her to produce two novels and one fitness book, were inspired by a high school job at New Jersey Bell — which quickly taught her that she didn’t want to work for the telephone company — and by a pair of writing professors, each at a different university, who encouraged her early work.

“One of them told me that what I’d written was as if I’d reached right into her heart,” Marshall said. “Another was my teacher in a course I was taking purely as an elective, and he asked me, ‘Why on earth are you majoring in physical education, when you should be writing?’”

While Marshall had planned to enroll in college to prepare for a career, after which she expected to get married, she found herself getting married first, which delayed her college career until after her children were grown.

Marshall has since come to see writing as a way to introduce readers to “wonderful” people and places they might not encounter otherwise, as well as to help add something of value to the quality of life in her community.

“I was raised by parents who lived through the Great Depression, so I wasn’t brought up to consider exploring whether I had any writing talent,” Marshall said. “I was raised to get a good job and pay my way.”

As for the affinity for animals that’s earned her a place in more than one “Chicken Soup for the Soul” collection, Marshall admitted that her soft spot for pets and other “critters” is owed to a feeling that at times it can be easier to develop connections with animals than to one’s fellow humans.

Indeed, in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Life Lessons from the Cat: 101 Tales of Family, Friendship and Fun,” Marshall’s submission, “Healing in the Company of a Cat,” recounts how much animals have to offer in helping humans recover from tragic losses.

“Chicken Soup for the Soul: Me and My Cat” will be available at Walmart, Barnes & Noble, Fred Meyer, Meijer, and Amazon.

For more information, visit chickensoup.com/book/me-and-my-cat online.