As a fifty-(inaudible due to throat clearing)-year-old closing in on my first completed manuscript, I do sometimes think (especially when reading about the latest 20- or 30-something best seller list debut author), “How long is the writing life? Is it too late to start writing? How many stories are in me? Will I be granted the time to write them all?”
Then again, who among even the fresh-faced youngsters getting multi-book deals and sweet advances is guaranteed a long life … or even a long writing life? The landscape is littered with literary one-hit wonders. Some really did die before they could publish another book. Some disliked the publicity and attention that came with their success and stepped away from the typewriter. Perhaps for others, it was the time and distance between published works that made the whole endeavor financially unsustainable. Some may have simply lost their writing mojo or descended into substance abuse, but for whatever reason were never heard from again.
What message can we take away from all this except that there are no guarantees in life anyway, so what the hell? You might as well keep writing.
So, do I have a single novel inside? A trilogy, perhaps? Or am I a late-blooming Sue Grafton champing at the bit?
The only answer, of course, is to keep writing the best that is in me. The Universe has its plan; so do I. Write. And write some more. Write as long as there are stories fighting to get out into the world. For they will be here long after I take my leave.
Besides, there are plenty of role models about whom the adage “It’s never too late!” was surely written. I’ll have what they’re having.
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