The Wood Beyond The World Forum You ain't too old...

I get quite a few different news-feeds. One of the is from the Christian Science Monitor. When I saw this article, I had to share it. This isn't about a writer but gives an old geezer like me hope.

Link:

Wow, me too! I must be the only other geezer here, Loekie. And doesn't she look young for 90! I hope I look that good. Actually, I hope I make it to that point. That's one thing which has affected me lately (not in a good way). I never thought of myself as being 50 years old, but landing there forced me to think that maybe all the work I've done over the last 30 years will die with me, unpublished. I've been rejected so much. And I let life slide on by while I stared into a computer screen, editing, always editing. Sometimes it gets the better of me.

Reb,

I'll be 52 in October, and didn't start the novel writing process until about ten years ago.  Yeah, I have some of the same feelings about wasted time and all that, but you can't let it bog you down.

I have received enough rejection letters in the past two years to choke a horse, but I keep on plugging.

Believe in your work and in yourself, and think about all you've learned and experienced in your life.  Your hard earned knowledge will add richness to your voice and work, and give you a better understanding of human nature.  Age also gives you perspective, and, hopefully, the patience and endurance to persevere!

It ain't over until it's over.  As long as we're on this side of the dirt, there's hope.

Jeanie 

Jeanie, I'll be 52 in, let's see, 5 days. The years seem to be speeding up!

I know I'll get my spark back, I always do eventually, but I never know when it'll come. Hopefully, very very soon. Thanks for the pep talk! I need that.

I'll be fifty in about two weeks, and I have regrets too, mostly for the years I wasn't writing.  It's true I had to give a lot of time to my family, and that wasn't wasted, but it's also true I was just scared to write.  I wrote letters, kept journals, sometimes fired off letters to the editor (when something really got my goat), but I felt like a failure at fiction.  Turned out that was only because I was too much of a snob to try writing fantasy (my first love.)  I have to admit that J.K. Rowling liberated me.  The success of Harry Potter just got under my skin.  That and getting to know someone at work who turned me on to Terry Pratchett -- I realized there were directions fantasy could go that weren't conventional, that would even have literary merit. 

I'm just not interested in writing about everyday stuff.  I'm interested in big ideas, and feel I need a big canvas to express them.  I wish I could write weird, haunting things that take off from real life, like Kafka or Borges, but that kind of thing escapes me. When I was younger I could work on a smaller scale like that -- maybe I'll get it back when I enter my second childhood.

I'm a perfectionist, and I don't handle rejection well, so I haven't really sent many queries.  I've just been writing writing writing for the last four years.  I think the cold query is probably not very effective, no matter how good your work is, so I've been working a bit lately on the concept of networking.  One of my current ambitions is to attend at least one solid writers' conference a year, and any fantasy/sci-fi conventions I can get to easily.  Bill's going to a conference later this month -- I looked at its schedule, and I'm so envious.

Quite a few of us Woodfolk are pretty mature, you know.  I think that's a big plus in lots of ways.  We have the life-experience to create well-rounded characters of all ages, for one thing.  We probably have more patience than we did when we were younger.  And we probably have a greater appreciation for our own abilities, as well as the common sense to realize our limitations and the grasp of reality it takes to work to overcome them.

For the younger folks I think the most important thing is keep on writing no matter what -- don't get discouraged, don't hesitate to follow your dreams -- that way you won't have any regrets when you hit mid-century.  Also don't pass up any opportunities to learn -- and I mean learn everything you can -- history, science, art, music, philosophy, as well as the mechanics of writing.

Whoa! I thought I was one of the only ones who had hit the 50 milestone.

I know for me, I write because I love it. It is a passion and I write for myself. Getting it published will happen, in good time. I enjoy the process (save the editing at times!).

And Leah, remember as you hit the milestone, you are only as old as you think. I had a while ago a big pink button that said I refuse to grow up. And I still do. Hee-hee.

Another interesting article, this time for the Writer's Digest news feed. It is about publishing your first book after 50: