Prescott Author Published At Age 80

PRESCOTT - After 40 years of writing, Martin McCaw, now 80, is a pub- lished author.

McCaw's short story about a salesman with the American Correspondence Institute opens Volume One of the "Short Story America Anthology."

The story, which he worked on for the past 15 years, has been nomi- nated for a Pushcart Prize. And that's not all for Mc- Caw. Volume Two of the anthology was launched last weekend at the Short Story America Festival in Beaufort, S.C. Another of his stories will be in it. He has even earned some prize money for his stories.

"It gives me the chance to do some bragging," he said.

McCaw's wife, Libby, said she was extremely proud of her husband get- ting published. She said she knew he was thrilled too, even if he didn't show it.

"As you might guess hellip; he is the master of under reaction," Libby McCaw said. "He was very happy, but didn't exactly swing from the chandelier. I think he said 'oh that's nice' or words to that effect. He has worked very hard on his writing and I think it is evident when you read his work. It's wonderful to have others appreciate it as I do. When I first read the one just being released I cried and cried because it was so beautiful."

Like many writers, Mc- Caw likes to write about who and what he knows. Most of his stories are set in Prescott and Walla Walla.

McCaw lived in Prescott until he went off to college.

He credits his active imagination to a comic strip that ran in the Sunday newspaper in the 1920s. McCaw said the comic strip had an artist that used bright, vibrant colors that influenced him.

"It seemed more real than the life I was living," he said. "It helped my imagination."

After some college, Mc- Caw dropped out to play poker professionally in Washington and Idaho for five years. Then, he spent many years as a salesman selling correspondence courses, just like the char- acter in his short story.

McCaw lived in Seattle and Walla Walla. When he was 36, he went back to school to obtain his bachelor's degree and then his master's degree so he could become a teacher. And of course he loved to teach writing. He said after his careers in poker and sales, teaching was heaven.

"I could make a living just by teaching people," Martins remembers thinking.

However, his dream job was located at the state prison in Walla Walla. He got one month off each year and it was stressful teaching the inmates who had behavioral problems, McCaw said. At that time, there were also lots of problems in the prison and eventually riots and mur- ders of two prison guards.

"It was a pretty wild thing," he said.

But, the inmates saw McCaw, the teacher, as a "good guy," and they would visit his office to talk about prison life and their fears.

While working at the prison, McCaw met his wife Libby through friends. Libby McCaw just finished up her career as mayor for the city of Prescott. McCaw said Libby did not want to go out with him, but he talked her into a game of tennis and the two just "hit it off."

The two moved to Prescott after he retired from the prison and they lived there for 15 years.

While in Prescott, he was often found roaming through the hills of wheat for hours on end.

"I love to wander the hills and daydream," he said.

And in retirement, Mc- Caw is working on a novel and collecting his honors for the writing he has submitted throughout the past year.

He just learned that a third story was chosen as one of the 10 finalists for the new Short Story Amer- ica Prize for Short Fiction. He had written this third story about two friends, a mother and daughter, who once lived near Prescott, and the cowboy dad in their family.

"It's totally off the wall," he said with a laugh.

For McCaw, he said he doesn't necessarily have goals for his writing. He just wants to write stories he likes in a way that feels real and un-manipulated to the reader.

"I want to tell a story that I want to tell," he said. "It could be anything."

Volume One of the Short Story America Anthology is available in Walla Walla at Book & Game and at Earthlight Books. Volume 2 of the anthology, which contains McCaw's story "A Song for One-Eyed Lou," will be launched and stocked soon at those two stores.