You're never too old to write

You can become too old to do lots of things: get pregnant, dance the limbo, be an astronaut, or swim the English Channel, but, as long as you can carry on an intelligent conversation, you will never be too old to write. You may need a secretary to do the actual pencil pushing or typing, but the thoughts, the ideas, the conclusions drawn should be your very own.

In fact, it can be argued that the older the writer, the better and more insightful the literary material will be. The mature person has had many opportunities to experience, to observe, to compare the similarities and differences among people. Through a lifetime of participating in dialogue, they have become skilled at drawing accurate oral descriptions of personalities, surroundings and situations.

The older the author, the more conflicts or difficulties he has experienced himself, and the more often he has watched others struggle to overcome the rough spots in life. He has seen how challenging situations have been resolved. He has reflected on the outcomes. Were they satisfactory? Were the solutions arrived at effective or only partially so? What questions remain to be answered?

The older writer probably has at least a dozen plots for engrossing novels tucked away in his mind. All he need do is choose one, arrange the events in sequential order, change the names and locations to protect the innocent (and himself from lawsuits), and flesh out the story with interesting details and graphic descriptive passages. There you have the ingredients for a best-seller, maybe even a series of novels, as you follow one of more characters through a series of dramatic life events.

For those who choose to write non-fiction, an older writer again has many advantages. He has years of experience in a profession or trade, the details of which may be interesting to others. He has participated in hobbies, volunteer activities, a particular religious group, fraternal orders, all of which will arouse curiosity in some circles. Merely by living years in a particular country, participating in a culture, in a particular time period, provides the older writer a plethora of choices for his literary efforts.

I am in my seventies. I started writing after retirement, about six years ago. I'm enjoying it immensely. I don't think I could have tackled writing in my younger years. I was too busy, I didn't have time to plan, to reflect, to make connections or corrections as I do now.

I hope the time never comes when I'm too old to write. If it does, I hope those around me will keep it a secret. Personally, I have no plans to stop at all; I'm just getting warmed up!