I’m gonna live to 100. I’ve got to. I started writing fiction latish in life, and the odds being what they are, it’s bound to take a few years to get published.
If you’ve been feeling similarly panicked, not to worry. Apparently, there’s plenty of time.
Recently I came across TALES FROM RHAPSODY HOME, the ninety-two year old John Gould’s engaging glimpse at how, abruptly, he arrived at “old.” It’s his 29th book.
Look at P.D. James. Norman Mailer. Agatha Christie. I’ll bet you didn’t know that when Sophocles wrote OEDIPUS AT COLONUS, he was ninety-two years old.
In Successful At 96, Writer Has More to Say, Motoko Rich of the New York Times interviews Harry Bernstein about his recently-published THE INVISIBLE WALL, a memoir about anti-Semitism in pre-WWI
“If I had not lived until I was 90, I would not have been able to write this book,'' Mr. Bernstein said. ''It just could not have been done even when I was 10 years younger. I wasn't ready.'' And he suggested that he might not be an anomaly: ''God knows what other potentials lurk in other people, if we could only keep them alive well into their 90s.''
Hear what he’s saying? That book wasn’t in him at eighty-six! He wasn’t ready to write it!
But what’s this about keeping people alive into their 90s? What’s the use of that if our minds are shot! I don’t know about you, but it’s not my sagging skin or even my heart that worries me. It’s my wilting brain. The one that, in my current - still-youthful! – middle decade, will no longer slide fluidly between the technical phrasing required for my day job and the imaginative leaps vital for creative writing.
I hope that each one of us, at the age of ninety, will be starting a brand new series. But how will we write them if the ability to make connections – let alone recall nouns – continues to deteriorate at the rate of a free-fall?
Never before have I had any interest in either natural or synthetic brain boosters. Nor fountain-of-youth hormones. Now I’m paying attention. Bring them on! I’ve got a few books in me. And the way things are going, the next few decades are likely to inspire a few more.
Knock 'em dead!Lois
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6 comments:
I sent that article link to a friend of mine, at the dewy age of 78, who's finishing up her first mystery. I advised her not to worry too much- She's a whippersnapper!
I can't remember where I read this study (my aging perhaps? :) ), but there was a study showing that although certain capacities declined, like reflexes for example, decision-making improves with age. The ability to evaluate complex situations through the shorthand of experience and well-developed analytical approaches actually gets better. Sure, if the decision involves technical info you haven't acquired, that's harder, but almost all big decisions have a very human dimension in them, too, and older is wiser where that's concerned.
Besides, when we were 8, or even 18, we hadn't accumulated enough knowledge and cross-referenced experiences to fill up the files or to forget. With a widely-lived life, you're like the glorious library at Alexandria! I wouldn't trade a slight delay in indexing or accessing those hard-won treasures for the limitations of what's offered immediately one one piddly little shelf.
But if you do hear about a miracle pill...
You know, years ago, when I lost much of my memory due to medical issues, one of the things I feared most was that I wouldn't be able to remember (and I kid you not) the beginning of a book as I progressed through it, or the beginning of a story I was writing.
I gave up my dissertation because I couldn't remember the research I had done. Nor could I remember what I had written.
Fast forward 5 years and I finally found a doctor who knew what was going on and fixed it (at least made it considerably better). I wrote the first draft of my novel in SIX WEEKS. It was probably all there already...I just couldn't keep it straight in my mind, so it had been percolating for five years.
SO- you're saying if I have a catastrophic memory glitch, I'll be able to write a novel in 6 weeks?!
I'll try it! How much does it cost?!
Just kidding. Glad your personal shelves were restocked, so to speak.
Well, your catastrophic memory glitch has to last for FIVE YEARS while your brain comes up with a story. I kind of think 5 years and 6 weeks is a long time for a first draft ;D
I'm in that middle decade too, and I know, for me at least, I just didn't have the 'stickability' to write a novel until the last few years. Just hope I can whack out another two or ten before the synapses stop sparking!
Nice to know that I have lots of time left for writing because I have so many stories perculating around in my brain, it will probably take another forty years to get it all out! Terrie
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