Writing, old age, and late bloomers

This piece from The New Yorker is well worth reading if you’re on the wrong side of 35. Which probably sounds pretty insulting to people on the wrong side of 35, but keep in mind that I am one of you.

Which is why my bones ache.

And I can’t remember what I had for dinner last night.

And I want those damn kids off my lawn.

Anyway, this excellent piece notes, “Genius, in the popular conception, is inextricably tied up with precocity—doing something truly creative, we’re inclined to think, requires the freshness and exuberance and energy of youth.”

But does it? Not according to University of Chicago economist David Galenson:

(Galenson) looked through forty-seven major poetry anthologies published since 1980 and counted the poems that appear most frequently. … There is no evidence, Galenson concluded, for the notion that lyric poetry is a young person’s game. Some poets do their best work at the beginning of their careers. Others do their best work decades later … The same was true of film

Heartening to folks who are past the vigor of their youth and yet who still aspire to reach creative heights — heartening, and not at all surprising. What we lose in the reckless energy of youth we gain in the knowledge and experience than can only come with age. I may have been bursting with ideas in my teens and twenties, but it wasn’t until my thirties that I actually had the discipline and skill to execute those ideas, and to (hopefully) do it well.

There was a time when I beat myself up over getting such a late start at pursuing writing with the seriousness and professionalism it deserved. My twenties, wasted! I thought. The prime of my creative life, gone!

Yet the truth is, only now do I actually have the skills to do something worthwhile with all those ideas. And since the clock is still well clear of reaching midnight, there is no reason to not look ahead and work towards a fruitful and rewarding writing career.

Even if my bones do ache and those damn kids are still on my lawn.

Visit my personal website or check out my independent editorial services at Your Awesome Editor.