The Joy (and Challenges) of Writing Later in Life
The reality is that life sneaks up on everyone. Eventually you absolutely need to acknowledge what the real truth is about your own personal situation and decide what you need to do, especially in those life changing decisions!
Writing later in life is an extremely viable option. It’s like a journal, only better. Younger people tend to be all about the moment, emotionally charged, needing instant gratification, and quickly moving on to the next big thing. But we – us folks over 60 – we need more paper!!!! We just can’t help it. The times we lived through are so incredibly different from today. Our experiences, insights, understandings, and perceptions are part of our fabric, sewn from our acquired and earned wisdom and maturity. We have a lot to say. We’ve lived our lives. We’ve had our careers. Buried our secrets. We’ve been successful (or not). After the age of 60, we’re incredibly well prepared to write a new chapter for our life OR to embrace a dream from long ago. We just need to bite the bullet and do it. There is great satisfaction in taking stock about who we are and where we’ve been. Good, bad or indifferent – a country western song or a sonnet — our individual journey is worth reflection. Whatever path your chapter takes, it’s still your story. That is the ultimate reward.
So, that’s where I was! I’d always been a writer throughout my career, but never an Author. A significant difference. I wrote for marketing and business, scripts and speeches, brochures and other people’s press releases. But writing and publishing a full length book, a novel, lived only on my bucket list. I can’t tell you how often I thought about that manuscript secreted away in a special box. Or how many times I oh-so-casually teased a mention of it in conversation. I made a thousand excuses as to why I couldn’t pull it out and finish it. That was until two Octobers ago when I answered an open manuscript call from Hallmark!
The Spark of Inspiration & Motivation
I confess I’m a Hallmark Junkie. I love their movies – especially at Christmas. Recently, one in particular titled “June Bug” was particularly poignant – like watching my own story. A writer’s own self as a young girl appeared like an imaginary friend, quick with the critique and encouragement, helping the heroine to realize her destiny. The writer of the script nailed it – you know a hell of lot more about yourself than you know – especially when you’re young. Age can hinder you. It becomes a crutch, much easier to make excuses for procrastinating, for not doing stuff, for not making certain decisions, for delaying a dream.
So, about the Hallmark Inspiration. I’ve read many of the books published by Hallmark Media. I discovered their media group was looking for new stories to publish or even produce as one of their movies. This was just the inspiration I needed! I was excited! But Yellow Bird was out of touch with our modern world. It was written before cell phones, before the internet! Girls had big hair and wore shoulder pads! And worse than that, it was typed on a word processor ( those of you over 60 know exactly what that was ) and stored on floppy disks. Luckily I had kept two hard copies of the original manuscript – printed on onion skin paper no less. Another relic of those earlier decades. The original manuscript of 150 or so faded pages had to be scanned, saved as an editable word document, uploaded to my computer and reworked, updated, edited, reformatted and needed at least another 30,000 words. I worked on the final copy non-stop for three months to make the deadline. I left in all the romance, but took out all the spice, except for that final bonding kiss. I emailed it with a couple of days to spare. Never expected the email I received the very next morning!
Hallmark rejected it in less than 12 hours. I was devastated. A perfunctory email albeit with words of encouragement. It was pretty obvious they didn’t read it. I realized that. They couldn’t have. But my ego was bruised. The confidence I had in the story itself, and in me as a storyteller took a hit. I moped around for a few days, and didn’t want to share my disappointment with anyone. I could have quit then, almost did. But I didn’t. Because interestingly my adrenaline was fueled. Screw the system. I decided I would go the self-publishing route, and ultimately had so much fun working on that story for the third time – writing and rewriting scenes, expanding my characters further, Googling facts, places, details for accuracy, writing dialogue that resonated with today’s vernacular, and yes, putting the sex back in – only better! The finished version was now 10 times improved!
Also important and motivating were the people around me. I am blessed to have found a late-life love partner (my Michael whom I married in April of 2024) who has encouraged me non-stop. I have a daughter and son-in-law who have helped me build my author web site and launch my social media campaign and supporting online presence. And I engaged the help and support of an Amazon publishing team who helped guide me through the publishing process.
And so, I’m now published. I’m incredibly proud and thrilled to see MY NAME across the cover of a book! Sales and reviews of Yellow Bird are trickling in. PR and other promotional efforts are falling into place! And I received my first royalty check a few weeks ago! I’m totally psyched to continue writing, to create another book, another story. My readers so far seem to feel the same way! It’s one thing to like your own book. But when strangers also like it and want more, that’s a major high! It’s what we authors live for!
Technology and Social Media
Technology and Social Media may well be the bane of existence for a late-life writer. If you’re lucky enough (or talented enough) to have a dedicated agent to handle PR for you, that’s golden! But the bottom line is that if you aren’t savvy enough, don’t know enough, or just don’t give a damn…get someone to do it for you! It’s the way of the world. You can’t avoid it and it’s the number one way today to promote yourself and your book if you’re publishing on your own. Press Releases via bulk wire services are great if you have the connections or someone to do it for you. And as a newly published writer you’ll receive dozens of solicitations ( and often scams) to hire various services, get an “exclusive” interview, participate in pod casts, enter global contests, etc. – always with a “pay to play” price tag. Many are totally legit and worth exploring. But you should still personally post everything you can online about you, your book, your accomplishment – Facebook, Instagram, X etc, etc. Reach out locally where you live to anyone who might be willing to help you promote – local bookstores, your favorite pub, retailers you frequent, schools & libraries, obviously friends and family. Am I good at this???? Working on it!!!
Don’t Give Up the Day Job
Many authors have the dedicated luxury of only writing. Either because they are well seasoned with many publishing works under their belt, or they have the bonus of a partner, spouse, trust fund or other financial support system. But like so many first time novelists I still can’t afford to give up my day job! I’m a licensed realtor today! I was previously an interior design consultant. And before that I was a director of marketing for a children’s museum, among other consulting gigs. That’s a lot of jobs, you say. Well hello…remember? I’m 72 years old! I’ve been a lot of things, had a lot of titles, and worked in a lot of different companies and industries. An inspiration and blessing for sure. And great fodder for continued story telling.
My advice to writing is to just do it! If it’s in your blood, and a nagging thought in your waking moments, and you can figure out a way to afford it (because I know more than not affordability is critical) DO IT! But “even when I’m 72?” you may ask again. YES!
You’ve noticed my motto, my mantra on my website, and I firmly believe that unless you’re dead — “it’s never too late to write another chapter.” While the book I wrote so many years ago was a fantasy dream, the book I’ve now published and am getting recognition for as an author is MY next chapter!
To Be Continued – Watch here for Blog Post #3