The Worst Thing For An Older Writer
Last week, I read the most disheartening statement in on of the writing groups I belong to. A woman with a desire to write a book said, “I’m 42, so I guess I’m too old to start something new.”
Where is there a statute of limitations on creativity, expression, or the love of writing? On being an older writer?
Let me tell you: NOWHERE.
Throwing up a barrier because of your age before you write a single word is the worst thing an older writer can do.
We all have barriers in our life. Some are expected, like having to go to a day job to pay the bills. Others are unpredictable, like chronic health conditions. If you love writing, if you love creating, you have to put on your boots and walk all over those barriers as best you can.
But to give up before you’ve even started… and over your age?! No. No. Aaaaaannnnnd no.
Don’t Believe Me?
It is possible to get a book published over 40 years of age. Tolkien, was 45 years old when Lord of the Rings was published. After that, he continued to write, create, and inspire. Where would New Zealand be if Tolkien threw up an age barrier before setting out his manuscript? $33 million dollars a year goes into the country because of Lord of the Rings tourism dollars, since that’s where Peter Jackson filmed the movies.
Need more proof? Randy Susan Meyers did the footwork and presents a cornucopia of notable authors who were published after 40 years of age. Pulitzer prize winner, Paul Harding, was 42 when his debut novel, Tinkers, released.
Nor is it universal that an author’s capacity to create declines over 40 years of age. Another “late-bloomer” author is Elizabeth Strout. Her first book published when she was 42, and her Pulitzer prize winner, Olive Kitteridge, was published when she was 53. Later it was made into a TV mini-series. In an interview, she’d said that she didn’t tell people that she was writing because she didn’t want people to judge her for it.
Well the judgey-judgeys can get stuffed now, Ms. Strout.
If you want to write, write. Period. It doesn’t matter your age.
The Simple Truth
Life gets more complicated as we get older, busier, more demanding. Do those barriers wear us down? Sure they do. But that doesn’t mean they make us less creative. Anyone with a toddler will tell you that that little human forces our brains to be creative in the ways we entertain them.
The nature of publishing had undergone major changes, and continues to do so. Why deny your creativity for half of your life just because of your age?
Don’t. Full stop. That is the worst thing an older writer can do.
You are a force of nature. You have the spark of imagination, the insight of maturity, and the ability to craft your life to suit whatever kind of writer you want to be. Sure, it is not an instantaneous process. For me, that’s part of the magic of re-invention and re-purposing one’s goals.
Yes, you can write – at any age.
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