Becoming a Writer Later in Life

wherein a reader asks: is it too late for me to become a writer?

Some time ago, when I was much younger than I am now, a reader named Christine emailed me the following question:

Do you think a person can begin being a writer at age 60? You’re so young and have a solid educational background in literature. I know I want to write, and have a folder of snippets, unrelated, but think I’m crazy to start at this age!

Well, I’m no youngster—not then, and especially not now. I grew up in the South, where a lady is never supposed to reveal her age, but since the publisher of my first novel put my birthdate on the title page way back in 2001, it’s pretty much out there.

Matters of youthfulness or lack thereof aside, I found Christine’s question particularly refreshing, because it wasn’t about the business of writing or even the process of writing, but about the beginning of writing and the permission to write–that thing we all have to grant ourselves before we can begin.

I’ll share my answer in a moment, but first, the truth as I see it now, a decade after first receiving that email: Midlife and later is a great time to begin writing. Many of my writing students are retired, or have just become empty-nesters. They tell me that, after years of working and caring for family, they now have more hours in the day—hours they can finally devote to doing something they’ve always dreamed of: writing.

So, for anyone who wonders if it’s too late to begin writing, I thought I’d share my response here:

Yes, Christine, I do believe you can begin being a writer at age 60! Certainly, you’ve seen more and done more than someone who sets out to be a writer at the age of 20 or 30. More important, you’ve already met the first two requirements of being a writer: one, you have the desire, and two, you’re a reader.

Desire comes first because, unlike reporting to a job you don’t like in an office you find stifling, it’s almost impossible to write if you don’t want to to do it. Way back when, I was a telemarketer. I never had the slightest desire to be a telemarketer, and in fact I found the conversations on the flimsy headset quite embarrassing and unpleasant, but I managed to do it anyway, and collect the meager checks that paid for my meager duplex in a meager neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, across the road from a dismal shopping-center, where I spent my first paycheck on a dingy sectional sofa from the Salvation Army, which I dragged home, piece by piece, and turned into a bed.

Meanwhile, I wanted very much to be a writer, and though writing fiction did not bring a paycheck in those days, I wrote anyway, early in the morning and late at night, and on snow days when I couldn’t extract my Toyota from the driveway to get to work. I wrote in the cold, because the duplex had no proper heating, and I wrote on a Mac duo-doc (which was not meant to stand alone, but I had only the duo doc, not the docking station), and I wrote despite the fact that almost every story I sent out got rejected. Back then, it was desire, and little else, that kept me going.

As for formal study, anyone who has spent a life reading has a background in literature. Although I did study literature (lackadaisically) in college, I honestly think I was too young, and too scattered, and too overwhelmed with waiting tables and cobbling together other minimum wage jobs to take in a lot of it at the time. A far better education has been the last twenty years spent finding and reading books and authors that were not assigned to me in any class, many of which have influenced my writing.

So Christine, no, you are not crazy to want to begin writing at the age of 60. Far from it. It could be argued that writing at any age is by its nature a sane act, as it requires us to make sense of what we see in the world, to put into words our own unique perspective, our own experiences, and to make concrete and tangible art out of the messy abstractions of our lives.

Rereading this now, eleven years after I responded, I stand behind my letter to Christine. Yes, you can begin writing at 60, or 70, or 80. You can also begin writing at 40, or 45, or 35, or 22, or 83…or anytime really. When you hear the call to write, no matter where you are in life, it is worth answering.

Did you enjoy this post? You can start writing today in my flash fiction intensive. In this class, you will write twelve stories in four weeks and exercise your creative muscles with fun, inspiring exercises.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy this post about finding joy in creative messiness:

A Little Scattered Chaos May Be Great for Your Writing Life