Title: Author

Location: San Marino, Calif.

Ms. Tolles wrote her first book ‘Too Many Boys’ in 1965. She has written several articles for children namely ‘Not a Cherry Tree,’ ‘Vacation with Grandma,’ ‘Pocket Full of Gold’ and ‘Darci Daniels Series’ that includes the books namely ‘Who’s Reading Darci’s Diary?,’ ‘Darci and the Dance Contest,’ ‘Darci in Cabin Thirteen’ and ‘Secret Sister.’ She has also written Katie Hart Series that includes ‘Too Many Boys’ in 1965, ‘Katie and Those Boys’ in 1974, ‘Katie for President’ and ‘Katie’s Baby-Sitting Job’. She is an author of 11 children’s books and 30 short stories. She has sold more than 2.3 million copies through Scholastic Publishing. She has recently submitted another middle-grade novel for publishing. She is very proud of her daughter, five sons and 11 grandchildren. Three of her sons are engineers, one is a high tech businessman and the other son passed away.

What has contributed to Martha’s Success is the love for the process of writing.  The advice she would give the younger generation of women who are entering the workforce is to keep trying to become an author.  You really have to be encouraged to study, take continuing education. One of the organizations that has made a difference for her is the Lunch Bunch.  She gets together with 6 accomplished authors and they critique each others work in positive ways. In five years, Ms. Tolles hopes to publish her new middle grade children’s novel and complete her first adult novel.

Ms. Tolles began writing in 1965 when she was laid up in bed with a back problem. She had 6 children at home at the time and decided to begin writing children’s stories. While recuperating from back surgery she received the wonderful news that her first book was going to be published. Since that time she has had 11 published books and is currently working on a novel for adults. Ms. Tolles attributes her success to her persistence, writing skills and being a part of the Lunch Bunch Writing Group in Los Angeles.