The Perks of Being a Middle-Aged Writer (Part #1)
A Literal Literary Loser Talks Truth
In my very first post nearly one year ago, I wrote: I am 52 years old. I have published 17 books. My writing career has just reset to Square One.
Well, now I am almost 53 years old. About as middle aged as one can get (and that’s assuming I’m expecting to live to be 105). I have a new book coming out this November.
And as I’ve chronicled my journey to jump start my floundering writing career, I am happy to report that I’ve unearthed six major perks to being a middle-aged writer. Behold!
1) No Longer Needing To Be the New, Hot Thing
For the first quarter century of my life (remember, I plan to live to be 105), I was always the youngest person in the room. I skipped a couple of grades in school - the first because my family was immigrating from the Soviet Union to America, the rest because I was such a pain in the ass to my teachers, always asking questions and correcting them, that the favored method for dealing with me was to kick me up to the next level so I’d be some other teacher’s problem. At my very first television writing job, on the E! series, “Pure Soap,” the host, Shelley Taylor Morgan, couldn’t stop marveling that I was the first person she’d ever worked with who was young enough to be her child.
Precocious was how identified myself. The prologue of my contemporary romance, “When a Man Loves a Woman,” features the heroine wondering who she was if she was no longer precocious - you can’t be precocious at 30. That book came out the year I turned 30. Obviously, I was working through some stuff.
The best part about trying to restart a writing career in your 50s is that you’re no longer worrying about making any 30 Under 30 lists. You no longer expect people to express surprise that you sold your first book to a major publisher at 24 (that would my Regency romance, “The Fictitious Marquis”). You are now writing simply because you can’t think of anything else you love to do more. Not because you’re in a rush to impress. Though, I will confess, “Why Do You Write Like You’re Running Out of Time” from the “Hamilton” musical does prompt family members to give me the side-eye.
But that’s not because I’m young. That’s because I’m old… er, middle-aged.
2) No Longer Needing To Look Hot
Some publishers ask to see an author photo before offering a contract. They want to see if you’re marketable. But that’s when you’re young.
I’ve never cared about how I look. My daughter once said, “I don’t care what people think of me. It must be genetic. I mean, you’re wearing THAT.” She has also offered, “Maybe now that you’re being recognized in public, you should dress better.” In advance of my upcoming 53rd birthday, she recently came home with some moisturizer and suggested I might consider using it.
The point is, no one is buying my books based on my author photo. Not at this stage of the game. To also quote the musical Hamilton, it’s “One Less Thing To Worry About.”
3) Your Brain Slows Down
Back when I was young and precocious, my brain never stopped churning. I worked in live TV. On the talk show, “Pure Soap,” I was expected to come up with obscure facts like “Santa Barbara’s” first Pamela Capwell was movie star Samantha Eggar, who didn’t last a single day due to the fast pace of shooting daytime TV; she was replaced by Shirley Ann Field who, after the first 13 weeks of her contract ran out, was replaced by Marj Dusay, best known for her role as Blair’s mother on “The Facts of Life” and as the woman who literally stole Spock’s brain on “Star Trek.” Really, knowing this entire string of trivia was what got me the job.
I worked for ABC Sports in their figure skating department, where I was expected to have multiple stats at my fingertips at all times. When was the last time a Ukrainian man won the World Championship? Which woman held the record for most European Championship wins? Who was the only skater to ever hold titles at the US Novice, Junior and Senior level?
I loved the excitement of it. I loved the pressure. I loved coming through in the clutch.
Unfortunately, the thinking speed which held me in good stead (yes, I worked with Dick Button for years - yes, I cribbed that expression from him) for live TV was an impediment for writing novels.
I wrote so fast that I left out words. Sometimes I left out entire phrases. And when I read back what I’d written, I skipped the skipping. I read what I thought I’d written, not what was actually on the page. I used to drink a shot of alcohol before editing, because it slowed my brain down enough to read at regular speed.
I no longer need to do that. Because now I am old. It now takes me minutes - minutes! - to pull up a fact I know I know… one that I used to be able to recall in micro-seconds.
That not only makes me more pleasant to be around (my biggest fear in life is to turn into Cliff Clavin from “Cheers”), but it makes my writing smoother.
Because I am no longer a quick, precocious young thing, I write with more care. I edit with more care. And the final product is better for it.
So those are three of my top 6 perks of being a middle-aged writer. Next week, I’ll go a bit darker.
But, in the meantime, share your favorite parts of being a writer in the exact stage of life where you are now….