Sigh. Am I too old for this?

underpope

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My first career goal when I was a kid was to be a writer, though I confess I let a pulmonologist talk me out of that when I was ten or so ("You want to be a writer? That's an awfully sedentary task. Look for something where you'd move more." Joke's on him, though, I'm a web developer now.).

I picked it up again in high school, where I was told that I was a brilliant writer by all of my teachers (one English teacher even wrote in my yearbook that I was the "finest writer I've ever had the pleasure of teaching"). Then I dropped it while in college to focus on getting my philosophy degree, then after college to focus on my career in tech.

In 2002 I decided that I would start writing seriously again. And now, fifteen years later, I'm still collection rejections, most of them form rejections, and have rarely published any stories (my last one was in 2015, and it was in a "We'll give you either $5.00 or a contributors's copy" market).

And now I'm pushing fifty years old. No pro publications, no novels completed. Am I too old for this at this point? I feel like I am. Or maybe it's just the beer talking?
 

mccardey

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And now I'm pushing fifty years old. No pro publications, no novels completed. Am I too old for this at this point? I feel like I am. Or maybe it's just the beer talking?

Baby!
 

Ari Meermans

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Yeah, it's the beer talkin', young'un.

My attitude toward rejections is pretty much the same as every other "no" in my life—or as my dad used to say, "Saying no to her is like saying sic 'em to a dog."
 
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MaeZe

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:D

I had/still have a great career as a nurse then a nurse practitioner. I've been an incessant explorer my whole life, traveled all over the world.

I've always thought about writing but never tried to make a career of it. A few years ago a story burst out of my brain. I spent the next few years working very hard to teach myself to write. I think I succeeded. Whether anyone besides my son takes an interest in said story is not as important as it would have been had I needed an income from writing.

If you are financially stable, underpope, you have the privilege of writing the stories you want to tell. If what you want is recognition for your writing, you may wish to reconsider. But if writing is what you want to do, my unqualified advice is to set your goal like I have, write better every day. That's it, that is a satisfying goal.

I consider it a great privilege to have that goal.

I love the story I'm writing. And... I'm older than you. :)
 
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VeryBigBeard

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The sort of people who say one is too old to start writing at 50 tend to, in my experience, be the same people who say one can't get into STEM with a philosophy degree :greenie.

A lot of writers don't even start writing until later in life. It's a craft that rewards life experience. You have that experience plus years of time spent learning your own writing process, learning what does and doesn't work.

Judging the output is a mug's game, and probably is the beer talking. You write what you write--for what it's worth, I tend to believe there are no wasted words. You get better with each word written, and each word written is an opportunity to learn, experiment, risk, etc.

That's the philosophical side of me talking.

Pragmatically, if you want to write novels, write a novel. Make yourself to complete it, as it's often the case that the real work of writing a novel occurs after The End. Don't worry about sales and time and all that until after you have that tangible thing that demands you worry about it, a bit like a small dependent pet.
 

Bacchus

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My three penneth... There is no such thing as pure "creation" all the fantasies, characters, worlds, situations that writers create are an amalgamation and reworking of their experience. The older you get, the more experience you have, and the richer your palette.

Now - onto this WebDev thing. Can you please tell me why every bloomin' web developer for about the past five years has felt the urge to use JQuery pop-ups to try and harvest my email address when I visit a site? It drives me insane. You start reading something obscure by way of research, and after fifteen seconds the screen greys and a box appears saying "why not subscribe to The Yak Farmers' Digest? Get free updates from Which Yak? straight to your inbox". All because of a free toolkit to help Devs who can't really code look cool! Grrrrrr! </tirade>
 

lizmonster

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My three penneth... There is no such thing as pure "creation" all the fantasies, characters, worlds, situations that writers create are an amalgamation and reworking of their experience. The older you get, the more experience you have, and the richer your palette.

Now - onto this WebDev thing. Can you please tell me why every bloomin' web developer for about the past five years has felt the urge to use JQuery pop-ups to try and harvest my email address when I visit a site? It drives me insane. You start reading something obscure by way of research, and after fifteen seconds the screen greys and a box appears saying "why not subscribe to The Yak Farmers' Digest? Get free updates from Which Yak? straight to your inbox". All because of a free toolkit to help Devs who can't really code look cool! Grrrrrr! </tirade>

1) No, underpope, you're not too old. :) I understand the frustration - oh, boy, do I - but there are no age limits on this thing. Only endurance limits, and the kind of endurance you need isn't the sort that would please your pulmonologist. Writing should be a satisfying creative endeavor. Subbing, on the other hand, can be a soul-destroying nightmare, no matter what your age. Only you can decide whether or not it's worth it.

2) Bacchus, web developers do that because some "brilliant" corporate drone tells us "Our customers love yaks! Interrupt them with a pop-up, and they'll subscribe in droves!" (I was in sw for 27 years, and web dev at the end, and yes, for real, me and my team fought that fight more than once. The person coding that irritating pop-up isn't the one who decided it ought to be there.)
 

autumnleaf

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Richard Adams was 52 when Watership Down was published. Mary Wesley wasn't published until she was in her 70s. There are plenty of other examples of late bloomers; writing, unlike athletics or modelling, doesn't necessarily favor youth.
 

mrsmig

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I just published my first book two weeks ago. I'm 61.

Just sayin'.
 

Filigree

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I turn 52 in a couple of months. In 30 years of writing, I've gone through a million words+, eight novel-length mms, lots of shorts and essays, two agents, and ten years of commercial technical writing. My first novel sale happened five years ago. I simply wasn't ready, before that.
 

Harlequin

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The other thing with writing is that all of that time till now hasn't been wasted. It all contributes towards whatever you eventually produce.

It's frequently a second career (or third, or fourth...) However good a writer is when they start out, I tend to feel they only improve with age. It's a skill that matures rather than deteriorates.

My father is 57 and is trying to publish for the first time, now that he's retired early. It never occurred to me that he might be too old :) I imagine he'd bite my head off for suggesting it!

One of my friends didn't start writing till his daughter went off to college (he was home edding her.) He's now... 65? began publishing just shy of 60.
 
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polishmuse

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KTC

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I'm 51. When I can't crawl anymore because my bent-back creaking 'cross the floor frame is withered to the marrow, I'll still be writing. Publication credits are nice...but the act of writing when the act of writing is something you want to do, is much more important.
 

MerriTudor

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I'm older than you are, underpope and let's not discuss by how much, but I had the same scenario you did. At a young age, I was told that I was GOING to be a writer. Professionally. Published! Everyone was so sure, all the way from elementary school to college. It hasn't happened yet, mainly because I have procrastination and perfectionism issues, which go a long way toward blocking up the works.

BUT, about 10 years ago I was going through an extremely miserable period and consulted a Vedic astrologer. It was amazing on many levels, but the most amazing bit was being told I was going through a Saturn mahadasha. Mahadashas are periods of time during which you're under the influence of a certain planet. I was in a Saturn mahadasha which lasts a whopping 15 years. He pinpointed all the miserable points I had hit during this period and I was told I had three lousy years left to go. Saturn isn't known as "the taskmaster" for nothin'!

But a Mercury mahadasha follows the Saturn mahadasha. And Mercury is the ruler of my rising sign, Gemini. (Vedic astrology works with rising and moon signs.) Mercury rules, among other things, communication, writing and publishing. Once I hit that Mercury dasha, blocks have started to break up. Creatively, things have geared up tremendously for me. I've done more work on my writing than I have in 20 years. I joined AW. My novel is finally coming together. IF I'm published now or later in my life, it may simply be because it wasn't time when I was 20 or 30. Or 40! Whether you believe in astrology or not, you know what they say. Timing is everything.

And frankly, if I was going to make it big, I'd rather have some $$$ to retire on, than to squander in my youth! :)
 

JJ Litke

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Now that everyone's cleared out the idea that only young people can write (?!), I want to ask what else you've done to further your writing career. I see you joined AW in 2006, but you only have 21 posts. Maybe you're at least reading even if you aren't contributing? Are you in a critique group, either in person or online? Have you taken classes? Joined a writers association? Gone to conferences? Do you use a site like Submission Grinder or Duotrope to help your market research and track your successes?

If you answer no to most of those, you could be doing more to treat this like a career.
 

Fruitbat

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To me, it's the best time ever for writing. There used to be so much to do, with kids, jobs and so on, that I had very limited time to pursue my own interests. :)
 

blacbird

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Mileage varies. I am too old (71), but I've accepted that. That's my one acceptance. I still write, because I get some kind of subliminal enjoyment out of it, but I don't expect to get anything published anymore.

caw
 

Myrealana

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I'm 46. I've published one short story in a pro market, and finished one book, which I have not yet sold.

Whenever I think I'm too old for this, I ask myself two questions:
1) Can I stop writing?
2) If I never make my living with writing, will I consider my time wasted?

For me, the answer to both these questions has always been "no."

I take breaks from formal writing, but even then, I'm composing stories or essays that I may never finish. I have been a writer since I was 9 years old. I can't stop now.

Since I'm going to write anyway, I might as well try to get things published, but if I never make more than a token at it, I've still done something. I've tried. I've created something that didn't exist before. I don't consider that wasted time.

So, I keep writing. I will write until I can't work a keyboard anymore, and then I'll dictate. Age is just a number.
 

underpope

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Thanks, everyone, for replying to my wee little whine. It was definitely the beer talking, and I'm feeling more normal now. As normal as a writer can feel, at least.

I first joined AW back in 2006, and promptly forgot about it. At the time, I was heavily involved in another forum which has since (I think) gone off-line. I do belong to some writers' groups on FB, but they aren't very useful. I was at WesterCon a few weeks ago, and a writer that I met there reminded me that AW exists and that I should be more active here. So here I am, with an account that's eleven years old and just a few posts. :)
 

pinkbowvintage

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Pshh, "too old." What does that even mean? There's 90-year-olds competing in the Olympics.

And if it makes you feel any better, Janet Fitch, who wrote the blockbuster WHITE OLEANDER, was 44 when her first book was published and became a bestseller. As long as you can write, write!
 

Treehouseman

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Also if you're picking up constant rejections and not getting anything published, I thoroughly recommend a writing class - a good one.

If you're in SF/F, Clarion and Odyssey (US) would be excellent, or try and find something closer to home. You'll have to commit to the task of writing as learning any other skill. Practice, and have others critique that practice.
 

underpope

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Also if you're picking up constant rejections and not getting anything published, I thoroughly recommend a writing class - a good one.

If you're in SF/F, Clarion and Odyssey (US) would be excellent, or try and find something closer to home. You'll have to commit to the task of writing as learning any other skill. Practice, and have others critique that practice.

I guess I should have mentioned that there was a LONG stretch there where I wasn't writing anything at all, between when I graduated high school in 1986 and when I took pen in hand again in 2002. :) I tried to get into Clarion because I have a few friends who've gone and who found it useful but my application was denied. I did get into Odyssey, but unfortunate circumstances made me withdraw my application before it started.

I am a member of a crit group (two, actually -- one for short stories, one for novels), and I take workshops here and there, when they're offered and I can afford them.

And now I think I've got all the whining out of my system. :) At this point, I'm feeling more confident.
 

mccardey

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I guess I should have mentioned that there was a LONG stretch there where I wasn't writing anything at all, between when I graduated high school in 1986 and when I took pen in hand again in 2002. :)
Time to get back at it then, lad. :granny: