Age: a Writer’s Ally
The only thing we know for sure is that we will age. What matters is what we do with our years. There is no statute of limitations on a dream and no rush.
I was in my late forties when I completed my Masters in Writing. My first novel had already been roundly rejected and I saw that was like training wheels on a bike – great for beginners but better stored in the shed. I was in my fifties when the next novel attracted a serious literary agent, and a slew of raves for writing, but no acquisition. The agent gave up quickly. So did I. I was in my fifties; perhaps, I thought, time had run out.
Still hopeful, I gave up my businesswoman persona and spent the rest of that decade as a journalist, and was nearly sixty when I started blogging. Writing is writing, whatever the form, I learned a lot, and never gave up on fiction.
In truth, age is a writer’s ally. The greater the experience, the more we have to say. More time to learn important truths, to establish a more expansive point of view, to refine skills and find your voice, and infinitely more stories to be told. The novel I will publish in January could never have been written twenty years ago.
I would have loved to devote my life to fiction and I always admired those writers who woke before dawn to knock off five thousand words before getting a nutritious breakfast on the table for their children and heading to work. I don’t have that sort of stamina. I had a husband and children and turns out there is a shelf life on that time.
Parents also needed tending. Friends needed a friend. I wanted to take vacations at the beach and save for retirement. I had a room of my own and carved out time to write, but never enough time. Or was it determination? Courage?
Time is on your side whatever the obstacles in your path, as long as you don’t let the calendar undermine your resolve.
I still make a living as a journalist and marketing writer, so I split my days. Mornings, I craft articles, book reviews, newsletters, brochures or grants. I work at home, the kids grown, husband gone. No distractions. However writing is a lonely job, so in the afternoons I write fiction at a café. I like the sense of camaraderie there, even if I rarely lift my eyes from the screen.
With a change of scene I also change my voice from the expository to the novelist. Sometimes I use people at the next table for character sketches; sometimes I borrow snippets of conversation. Sometimes I read, which is never wasted time because I truly believe you cannot be a great writer unless you read great writers.
I wrote a story while in graduate school in 1999. An African-American nurse, a single mother with three children, tried to run three times a week or so to stay sane. The only time she had to call her own. A tragedy stops her in her tracks. I love to read short stories, but rarely write them, although some years later, I wrote another story about a depressed girl who takes up running, and I realized she might be the grown daughter of the nurse.
What might have happened to the nurse? To the other children? Their kindly neighbor? Their father was Caucasian, so what challenges do brown people face these days in the land of black and white? Who might they encounter on their journeys? A novel was born. Many characters came and went, and direction shifted many times. Years passed. But now, as Toni Morrison advised, I wrote the book I wanted to read.
Age however crept up on me when I realized I had no desire to waste time querying agents or praying for an editor or wading through the labyrinth known as the publishing industry. No, I would rather be writing, so I will self-publish “Colors of the Wheel” in January and the many friends and colleagues I have known throughout this long life are rooting for me. Hopefully, they will also spread the word.
If you don’t count the original story, six years is what it took to get this book right. Six years! I might have had a PhD. Better yet, I will write and publish a few more in the years to come. Never too late.
—
Randy Kraft is a freelance journalist, blogger and book reviewer, a playwright and novelist. Born and raised in New York City, she currently resides in Southern California. Her first novel “Colors of the Wheel” was published in January 2014 by Infinity Press. Through the lives of three families – black, white and brown – the novel explores the challenges of blended families in contemporary America.
Her second novel “Signs of Life” will publish Spring 2016 and explores the right to die and the nature of grief in a culture that focuses on gains over losses. A play which will be the basis for her next novel, entitled “Off Season” was produced at the first San Miguel de Allende Short Play Festival in 2014. Randy blogs at www.ocinsite.com a culture and entertainment website serving Orange County, CA and also at randykraftwriter.blogspot.com and Tweets about reading and writing @ocbookblogger.
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, On Writing
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One of the first things I do is look at an author’s photo. If he/she looks older, I’m more inclined to buy the book. It just makes sense to me that their content is going to be richer, more layered, more complex.
I guess I should put my photo on my books after all… thanks for good thoughts.
It also took me six years to produce my novel Forty One, an attempt (no, success!) at accessible literary fiction. I too couldn’t find what I wanted to read and after a decade of journalism, I fit in writing with what was happenign in my life then: raising children. Again, as you say, experience and age enabled the story, and Forty One came out (September 2015, Troubadour) when I too decided not to waste any more effort on querying agents and the flavour-of-the-month approach of the publishing industry. Glad to hear I’m not the only one. . . time is a terrible thing to waste — writing is the main thing!
Congrats on the novel. And yes, the older we are, the less time to waste. Keep writing.
I love this article. I have been writing nonfiction professionally for years, but didn’t publish a novel until I was 50. I know well that when I was 35, I had very little of value to say, because I wasn’t old enough to possess the proper perspective on life. Too many books, written by people in their thirties, aren’t very interesting because what is earth-shattering insight to a 30-year-old, is just old hat when you’re a 50-year-old reader. And older people buy a lot of books.
Nowadays, as I write, I draw frequently upon moments in my own experience to write scenes rich in feeling. I also edit professionally, and it never fails to strike me how older writers bring so much more to their work than a young writer possibly can. It’s just the nature of the beast. I am always astounded to hear someone who is 40 or 50 or 75 lament that it may be too late. Too late for what? If you have your brain intact at that age, start putting pen to paper! You have more of value to say as you get older!
Thanks for the comment – we are definitely on the same page. Age in general not nearly appreciated as deserved, in this country especially. Keep on! Cheers.
Randy, I would rather give birth to another book than to a Ph.D. I have children, and that process of pregnancy and birth is part of my core. When I write, I reach into the core and try to catch some of the joys, sorrows, hopes, disappointments of birthing … then letting go the fruits of our mothering.
I am really inspired by your article. As I get older and time seems more precious, I know that I must write and keep writing. I also know that I need to keep nurturing myself and others. Else, where would the stuff of my work come from? Mary Latela
Perhaps why I never got the PhD! Cheers.
Randy, you cannot know the impact your words had on me this morning. As if we were sitting in that cafe of yours and your words were directed solely to me. I am 78 – began journaling 25 or 30 years ago. That’s when the writing bug bit me. I have self published a children’s book and have mountains of ‘stuff’ for my memoir if I can just get motivated to do it! I’m getting closer, with the help of writers like you, tweets and all the sites of inspiration out there. When finished here will def go to Twitter and look you up. Have no degree of any kind but would love to do some freelance writing and editing online. Any suggestions?
Thank you again for this inspiring post. Age can become a factor only if we let it.
God bless – will look forward to your book in January. Wish you much success.
Thanks for the lovely response. Colors of the Wheel was published January 2014 with good critical response and lots of good word of mouth, especially book groups. What joy! Now my new novel, Signs of Life, will publish this spring. it’s all about the writing – stay with it!
Thank you, Randy, for an encouraging post. I started this writing “thing” in 2009, after my mother died. My kids were teens and I had more time so I went out and bought a Mac and said, “I’m going to write a book”. Five books later, I’m still trying to find an agent but I’m a better writer now and I will get an agent one of these days. I have to constantly remind myself that there is “no hurry” but, now that I’m 61 I feel a push to get on with it, so to speak. But, that’s okay. I could never have done this 30 years ago. I didn’t have the life experiences to write back then.
Thanks again.
Patti
This resonates, as 52 year old polishing her first novel and writing her second. I take from this piece that each thing has its season and when it is right, it is right. Thank you, Randy, for reminding us of what age brings.
You are right, it is never too late. I am 52 and my first novel is being published by Quercus in June. The dream has happened, though thirty years almost to the month I first embarked upon it seriously. If someone had told me at the time, you have to keep plugging away for three decades, would I have persisted? Knowing myself, I’d have done something else for three decades, then written a novel in the final six months. And would have been a beginner with another thirty years to put in … I’m happy to be an older novelist, because like you, I couldn’t have written the layered piece that I have. I had to grow not just in experience, but in love. In compassion, empathy and understanding. I was a little cold-hearted in my 20s and it showed in my writing. Warmth came with suffering a bit, and having things in my life I feared to lose.
Congratulations on your six-year journey, and best of fortune with your book.
Natalie Meg Evans
This is so encouraging for me to read. I started this journey at 46. At 49, I’m still trying to find my writing direction but love that I’m not “too late”. I remind myself that my writing has a lot more depth now than it would have 20 years ago. Living, experiencing, failing, succeeding, mourning– all these life journeys contribute to what I’m able to put on the page. I also really appreciate how you were able to cut through to what you most want to accomplish with your writing and where you do not want to spend your time. This nourishes my soul.
I found it encouraging and inspirational to read about your experience, Randy. Like you, after a few attempts at finding an agent or a publisher, I decided that I didn’t want to waste any more time. Last year I self-published my first novel and I’m about to self-publish my second. Your book sounds like my kind of novel so I’ll keep an eye out for it in January. All the best with your book.
So true, Randy about age allowing you to understand and tell the truth. I’ve been working on a biography for over a decade. I sent the proposal to agents 1 year in and then 5 years in and then 9 years in and thank god I was rejected, because I was not experienced enough to truthfully tell my subject’s story. I thought I would be an author in my 30s, but I’m happy with it in my 40s. Thanks!
What an inspiring tale.
I know what you mean about the demands on time. There only seems to be so much I can fit into a day. Others seem to fit in so much more. Am I time poor? Or don’t I budget my time well? I can’t do everything, be everything. At last now, there is a little time for me to be me, for me. I don’t know how much time that will be, I need to make the most of it I can.
Thanks for sharing.
It’s a pity, isn’t it, that we still have an ageist culture whereby there’s an element of shock and awe when someone past pensionable age achieves something creative. On the contrary, given the emotional maturity that is required to write the kind of novels I like, I’m amazed when so many young people manage it so well. But the good thing about our current era is that the milestones are more flexible and we’ve much more freedom to follow our dreams in whatever order suits.