Rona...some times the words of others that impacted me the most replay in my mind and I wonder if they really changed me at all. The sixth grade teacher who read my essay on Benjamin Franklin to the class and proclaimed me a "real writer," for instance. I do write and I am old (73). I used to chase the dream of traditional publication, but the energy needed to build an audience first and be chosen escaped me when I began having brain surgeries. The desire left with the last ounce of strength. Now I write here...for free...and I love it.
Like Joni Mitchell’s one-man band by the quick-lunch stand, we do our very best for free. It’s a privilege. As for that teacher long ago, her words may not have changed you but did inspire you to be what you already were at heart.
I heard that song while I read your words. Joni Mitchell is one of my all time favorites. I still remember my first vinyl album of hers...Ladies of the Canyon. Think I'll go cue it up on Apple Music!
I've been writing something or other for most of my 77 years, but didn't hit my stride until retiring. I published my first novel at 75, a collection of stories at 76, and am editing a collection of poems, which I hope to publish this year. You're never too old to embark on a new path.
Thanks Rona, as a writing professor once told me, “if you want to write…write.” In retirement Im writing about my life and times here in Substack. It is a good discipline and organizing space. I try to “show up, pay attention, tell the truth and be open to the outcome.”
Give me the mornings! I've always loved them, but I love them even more as an "older" person. Gone is the morning rush - wake up, shower, dry my hair, dress, have coffee, make lunch (some days), and drive to work on time.
I don't wake up later than I did when I was working, but I linger - in bed, over coffee, in my flannel pjs - until I decide my day officially starts. It's lovely!
You remind me how it felt to go back to work in an office after years of freelancing from home. I couldn’t believe how hard it seemed to get dressed, find pantyhose without runs (it was that era), put on makeup and catch the bus on time. I couldn’t do it again. No worries, though. I won’t be asked.
I love so much of this. It really gives me hope when I often come close every other day to losing it. I am glad you are going for it. You are a great writer!
Thank you, Zina. One of the most important gifts a writer gives is encouragement, by example, that writing matters even when the busy, broken world declines to pay attention.
I too am an old writer! When I was grounded by the pandemic, I turned to my first love and have been writing ever since. Writing for Substack has been a blast. It brightens every morning, allowing me to start each old day with laughter and gratitude.
A group of women were walking in tte woods, one of them was me, the others were the same age more or less (me being 66 years of age), except one who announced she was 90! Seemingly fit as a fiddle, certainly totally with it, mentally speaking. It was a 1.5 hour circuit, hilly with certain obstacles such as fallen tree trunks to watch out for. Why did she announce her age you may ask?
Well we had stopped to take a photo in a pretty glade, I will mention the scent of wild garlic here, although that has nothing to do with my story. And somone said ‘you always take a good photo, Margaret’. And someone else agreed. And she said people often commented that. And it’s true, I thought, with her shock of shiny white hair and her ready smile, she was very lovely. And I said ‘Maybe after a certain age, you don’t change any more and you will always take a good photo’.
Lovely story, Nicola. It seems to me that some people (I’ve known a few) are preternaturally photogenic. The camera loved them even when their own knees no longer do (although I guess this beauty has no trouble with her knees).
My eighth grade teacher scrawled: “Consider writing as a career” on an essay I wrote for his class. Reading that essay now I see it is full of purple prose but I’m grateful my teacher saw something beyond my over- the- top words.
It never occurred to me back then that writing could be a career —I earned a BA in International Relations and a masters in Special Ed. But when I taught, I’d write along with my students. I wrote on a sabbatical in Eugene Oregon. I even decided to send out a page and a half of what I thought was a picture book. And when I received this comment from one editor: “This is funny as far as it goes” I was inspired to keep writing and encouraged that she saw something beyond my unfinished story.
My first picture book OONGA BOONGA was published in 1990.
35 years later with over 80 books in print, I’m still writing. Those early words of encouragement stay with me as I continue to write, fail, revise, get rejected, revise some more and sometimes get a new book into print like this spring —a non fiction for ages 8 to adult called KEEP OUR WORLD GREEN.
A writer is a writer is a writer. It’s what we have to do. Bravo Rona Maynard. Your words inspire your readers.
I am 63 and finalizing my first book proposal for a publisher who has miraculously expressed a modicum of interest. Not yet retired, unfortunately; that’s still a few years out. But I’m looking forward to being a full-time senior writer.
SO MUCH RICH TEXTURE HERE: "Writing while old, I draw stories from a jewel box of memories. I am 75, except when I write. Then I’m any and every age that brought me here. I’ll never run out of stories, only time in which to weave a design from all this wild abundance." And I loved the line about only 'writing when I have something to say' - a mistake WAY too many writers make.
And then there's: "Ugly writing annoys me. If it’s someone else’s, I stop reading. If it’s mine, I start over. I have to love my own words before readers can love them back." An incredible thought - love something you write so those who read it can love them too. "Faith, Hope, and Love - but the greatest of these is LOVE!" (emphasis added) One day faith and hope will finally be fulfilled, but love outlasts everything - it's what we leave behind!
Oh Rona, there is so much in this post. Thank you so much everything you are saying about writing that I can apply to painting. I was away and after a purge, my studio is now immaculate and ready for me and I just need to start. Always the hard part although I know I am always more contented person when I am painting.
I have sold a lot of my work, but at this age, I am not interested in the hustle and I know I just need to do it even if it fills cupboards. I’m happy to give them away to family and friends.
here is my mind on this beautiful warm sunny day in late April…. Should I go and start painting for an hour now or should I go and finish raking in the garden because they’re things coming up and the weather‘s been so foul I haven’t been able to get there out there. And I really need to go out there because my old knees and hips feel better when I’ve done some of that kind of work even though it hurts when I start.
Also, I have a new pilates reformer in my studio, which I need to get back on because I’ve had quite a break from it and my problem hip from sitting with my legs crossed at a drafting board drawing for 40 years really benefits from being on that device.
I’m assuming you were fine with deadlines as an editor and had to make the transition into creating for yourself with hoping that it will be published somewhere. it’s a very different thing as a creator to work with deadlines and to then create without them. The last time I really painted was two years ago when I had a show coming. A deadline of sorts.
Love this Rona. I am 47 which I don't think of as old but the arc of my life is likely on the downward side. I didn't start writing until a couple years ago. Before that I am not sure if I had anything to say. Now, with a little bit of life experience under my belt I feel more confident sharing my thoughts.
Matthew, at 47 you are in the prime of midlife, with decades left to share your insights and stories. It’s exhilarating to see you grow into your new identity as a writer.
I’m old, feeling old and sad these days not all the time but often. I am closer to 80 than I am to 60 and I feel it. I am a writer who has never been published but still I write. I love what you said about how you can be any age when you write. I get that.
It’s not about publication, Lara. Easy for me to say, with a lifetime of publishing credits. And yet what most pleases me is knowing I’ve said what I meant to say with such power and vitality that someone else was glad to read it. Publication is a bonus for speaking the truth as you alone can speak it.
Rona...some times the words of others that impacted me the most replay in my mind and I wonder if they really changed me at all. The sixth grade teacher who read my essay on Benjamin Franklin to the class and proclaimed me a "real writer," for instance. I do write and I am old (73). I used to chase the dream of traditional publication, but the energy needed to build an audience first and be chosen escaped me when I began having brain surgeries. The desire left with the last ounce of strength. Now I write here...for free...and I love it.
Like Joni Mitchell’s one-man band by the quick-lunch stand, we do our very best for free. It’s a privilege. As for that teacher long ago, her words may not have changed you but did inspire you to be what you already were at heart.
I heard that song while I read your words. Joni Mitchell is one of my all time favorites. I still remember my first vinyl album of hers...Ladies of the Canyon. Think I'll go cue it up on Apple Music!
One of my first albums I bought is Joni's Blue. Then I bought a cheap guitar and I still remember her lyrics. Thankfully I never had an audience.
How fun, Jane. I used to "try" to sing her songs too.
I've been writing something or other for most of my 77 years, but didn't hit my stride until retiring. I published my first novel at 75, a collection of stories at 76, and am editing a collection of poems, which I hope to publish this year. You're never too old to embark on a new path.
What stops people is not age but conviction. Older people tend to be more practiced at conviction.
Thanks Rona, as a writing professor once told me, “if you want to write…write.” In retirement Im writing about my life and times here in Substack. It is a good discipline and organizing space. I try to “show up, pay attention, tell the truth and be open to the outcome.”
Give me the mornings! I've always loved them, but I love them even more as an "older" person. Gone is the morning rush - wake up, shower, dry my hair, dress, have coffee, make lunch (some days), and drive to work on time.
I don't wake up later than I did when I was working, but I linger - in bed, over coffee, in my flannel pjs - until I decide my day officially starts. It's lovely!
You remind me how it felt to go back to work in an office after years of freelancing from home. I couldn’t believe how hard it seemed to get dressed, find pantyhose without runs (it was that era), put on makeup and catch the bus on time. I couldn’t do it again. No worries, though. I won’t be asked.
I love so much of this. It really gives me hope when I often come close every other day to losing it. I am glad you are going for it. You are a great writer!
Thank you, Zina. One of the most important gifts a writer gives is encouragement, by example, that writing matters even when the busy, broken world declines to pay attention.
I too am an old writer! When I was grounded by the pandemic, I turned to my first love and have been writing ever since. Writing for Substack has been a blast. It brightens every morning, allowing me to start each old day with laughter and gratitude.
Brava, Rona.
Well, hello there, sister! The pandemic brought a few blessings that don’t get much airtime. Happy writing to you (as if I had to say it).
A group of women were walking in tte woods, one of them was me, the others were the same age more or less (me being 66 years of age), except one who announced she was 90! Seemingly fit as a fiddle, certainly totally with it, mentally speaking. It was a 1.5 hour circuit, hilly with certain obstacles such as fallen tree trunks to watch out for. Why did she announce her age you may ask?
Well we had stopped to take a photo in a pretty glade, I will mention the scent of wild garlic here, although that has nothing to do with my story. And somone said ‘you always take a good photo, Margaret’. And someone else agreed. And she said people often commented that. And it’s true, I thought, with her shock of shiny white hair and her ready smile, she was very lovely. And I said ‘Maybe after a certain age, you don’t change any more and you will always take a good photo’.
Lovely story, Nicola. It seems to me that some people (I’ve known a few) are preternaturally photogenic. The camera loved them even when their own knees no longer do (although I guess this beauty has no trouble with her knees).
My eighth grade teacher scrawled: “Consider writing as a career” on an essay I wrote for his class. Reading that essay now I see it is full of purple prose but I’m grateful my teacher saw something beyond my over- the- top words.
It never occurred to me back then that writing could be a career —I earned a BA in International Relations and a masters in Special Ed. But when I taught, I’d write along with my students. I wrote on a sabbatical in Eugene Oregon. I even decided to send out a page and a half of what I thought was a picture book. And when I received this comment from one editor: “This is funny as far as it goes” I was inspired to keep writing and encouraged that she saw something beyond my unfinished story.
My first picture book OONGA BOONGA was published in 1990.
35 years later with over 80 books in print, I’m still writing. Those early words of encouragement stay with me as I continue to write, fail, revise, get rejected, revise some more and sometimes get a new book into print like this spring —a non fiction for ages 8 to adult called KEEP OUR WORLD GREEN.
A writer is a writer is a writer. It’s what we have to do. Bravo Rona Maynard. Your words inspire your readers.
Does your eighth-grade teacher know? Eighty-plus books and still going strong. Talk about inspiration. Thank you, my friend.
Wowza
Thank you, Prajna.
I did choose to read your post instead of chopping an onion, and what a good decision.
The onion will keep. And the garlic, if it’s on your must-chop list.
I am 63 and finalizing my first book proposal for a publisher who has miraculously expressed a modicum of interest. Not yet retired, unfortunately; that’s still a few years out. But I’m looking forward to being a full-time senior writer.
Interest from a publisher, even a modicum, is a good sign and will help to keep you on the path. I’m glad for you, Kimberly.
“A jewel box of memories.” I love that image.
Thank you for noticing! That image was not my first choice.
You go, girl. ❤️
Writing is liberty, thank you for your work and open writing.
Most of us writers know, if we’re realists, that we may never find a publisher for our work. Then again, no one will stop us from writing it.
SO MUCH RICH TEXTURE HERE: "Writing while old, I draw stories from a jewel box of memories. I am 75, except when I write. Then I’m any and every age that brought me here. I’ll never run out of stories, only time in which to weave a design from all this wild abundance." And I loved the line about only 'writing when I have something to say' - a mistake WAY too many writers make.
And then there's: "Ugly writing annoys me. If it’s someone else’s, I stop reading. If it’s mine, I start over. I have to love my own words before readers can love them back." An incredible thought - love something you write so those who read it can love them too. "Faith, Hope, and Love - but the greatest of these is LOVE!" (emphasis added) One day faith and hope will finally be fulfilled, but love outlasts everything - it's what we leave behind!
Yes, indeed. This is why the Carruth poem stays with me. You have to be a certain age to get it. Thank you, Bob. Once again, you get it.
Oh Rona, there is so much in this post. Thank you so much everything you are saying about writing that I can apply to painting. I was away and after a purge, my studio is now immaculate and ready for me and I just need to start. Always the hard part although I know I am always more contented person when I am painting.
I have sold a lot of my work, but at this age, I am not interested in the hustle and I know I just need to do it even if it fills cupboards. I’m happy to give them away to family and friends.
here is my mind on this beautiful warm sunny day in late April…. Should I go and start painting for an hour now or should I go and finish raking in the garden because they’re things coming up and the weather‘s been so foul I haven’t been able to get there out there. And I really need to go out there because my old knees and hips feel better when I’ve done some of that kind of work even though it hurts when I start.
Also, I have a new pilates reformer in my studio, which I need to get back on because I’ve had quite a break from it and my problem hip from sitting with my legs crossed at a drafting board drawing for 40 years really benefits from being on that device.
I’m assuming you were fine with deadlines as an editor and had to make the transition into creating for yourself with hoping that it will be published somewhere. it’s a very different thing as a creator to work with deadlines and to then create without them. The last time I really painted was two years ago when I had a show coming. A deadline of sorts.
Love this Rona. I am 47 which I don't think of as old but the arc of my life is likely on the downward side. I didn't start writing until a couple years ago. Before that I am not sure if I had anything to say. Now, with a little bit of life experience under my belt I feel more confident sharing my thoughts.
Matthew, at 47 you are in the prime of midlife, with decades left to share your insights and stories. It’s exhilarating to see you grow into your new identity as a writer.
I’m old, feeling old and sad these days not all the time but often. I am closer to 80 than I am to 60 and I feel it. I am a writer who has never been published but still I write. I love what you said about how you can be any age when you write. I get that.
It’s not about publication, Lara. Easy for me to say, with a lifetime of publishing credits. And yet what most pleases me is knowing I’ve said what I meant to say with such power and vitality that someone else was glad to read it. Publication is a bonus for speaking the truth as you alone can speak it.