tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post4235506410224840083..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: Getting on a bit. By Keren David Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-7327740483135142482013-05-10T09:10:31.173+01:002013-05-10T09:10:31.173+01:00Fabulous post - thank you. I am about to turn fif...Fabulous post - thank you. I am about to turn fifty and have been feeling disheartened. My model was Meg Rosoff (I read she was 47/48 when How I Live Now came out) so I gave myself until fifty and am about to miss that milestone too! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-30572977783911801742013-05-09T19:26:52.924+01:002013-05-09T19:26:52.924+01:00I've always been writing - it is the writing t...I've always been writing - it is the writing the matters, not being published! That's why I do it...<br />HazelAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-60470240876380476372013-05-09T17:04:49.047+01:002013-05-09T17:04:49.047+01:00Wonderful post--glad a tweet alerted me to it! The...Wonderful post--glad a tweet alerted me to it! The link to the Karen Cushman Award was broken; here's the official notice: http://www.scbwi.org/Pages.aspx/Karen-and-Philip-Cushman-Late-Bloomer-Award<br />SCBWI is an international organization; members from all over the world are eligible.Tracy Barretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-56972187564445088032013-05-09T14:44:23.139+01:002013-05-09T14:44:23.139+01:0044 isn't old! La comtesse de Ségur, one of Fra...44 isn't old! La comtesse de Ségur, one of France's most famous and popular classic writers for children, started writing at 56, already an 'old' grandmother in the 19th century :) And Kant wrote his whole work well past middle age... But then of course there's Keats & Mary Shelley and everyone else who started young and did it very well (and preferably died early so we could bemoan the lack of later works.) <br /><br />These vaguely offensive questions get asked to younger writers too, anyway! I sometimes get asked 'Will you ever stop writing?' or even 'Will you stop writing soon?' by kids, even though they know I'm in my mid-twenties... maybe I should take the hint (?)<br /><br />I think they often assume that you'll stop writing the day you make enough money, and that you're a bit of a failure if that doesn't happen...<br /><br />As a 'younger' writer, what I find particularly hard (not in Britain, in France) is the not-being-taken-seriously by publishers, especially when negotiating contracts and discussing edits. I know it's also a question of personality, but age does play a huge part in how people treat you a priori. <br /><br />The pros are: having the freedom of having no kids or no elderly/ill parents; being relatively close in age to readers (teenagers are especially sensitive to that and tell me so when I meet them); knowing that you have time to make lots of mistakes.<br />Clémentine Beauvaishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03115567199751033932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-10733617864695502952013-05-09T11:52:39.380+01:002013-05-09T11:52:39.380+01:00I totally rely on George Eliot's quote, "...I totally rely on George Eliot's quote, "Its never too late to be what you might have been." And trust me, from where I sit - you're just a kid in your 50s.Miriam Halahmyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17841164190139769948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-25055722109884660932013-05-09T10:58:59.630+01:002013-05-09T10:58:59.630+01:00My student wasn't rude at all - very charming ...My student wasn't rude at all - very charming and lovely!Keren Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13121027210783177857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-42135697949447129182013-05-09T09:48:21.415+01:002013-05-09T09:48:21.415+01:00I did everything late - learning to talk, having c...I did everything late - learning to talk, having children, taking this writing thing seriously - but any other time to do them would have been too early! (Meantime, my zimmer has rocket boosters and my ovaltine is laced with absinthe ...)Joan Lennonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15763862159032836768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-6965548733110903572013-05-09T09:25:08.560+01:002013-05-09T09:25:08.560+01:00Let's face it, writing is essentially sharing ...Let's face it, writing is essentially sharing a piece of your mind, or for want of a better word, soul. And what's better - sharing a can of Coke Zero, or a matured bottle of Bordeaux?Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08191176209084540085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-48220220442123210112013-05-09T08:14:03.690+01:002013-05-09T08:14:03.690+01:00Hmm. I complained to my students that they were re...Hmm. I complained to my students that they were regularly missing out apostrophes.<br />"Oh well, we only did them once at school and that was a long time ago." <br />Without hesitation I said "So did I and that was an even longer time ago and I get 'em right."<br />On the whole Salford Uni English and Creative Writing students are extremely polite and don't seem worried that they are being taught about the ya novel by a 61-year-old. Gill Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13907328485580011762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-7226334239560054162013-05-09T07:29:45.695+01:002013-05-09T07:29:45.695+01:00So many good points, Karen.
The comments that am...So many good points, Karen. <br /><br />The comments that amuse me are those where the young child's voice carries a note of resignation and/or perplexity, implying "You're this old and you STILL have to do writing? Doesn't it ever stop?"Penny Dolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16386668303428008498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-39039092416470646372013-05-09T06:46:16.683+01:002013-05-09T06:46:16.683+01:00(Of course, if you had started at 20, Goodreads wo...(Of course, if you had started at 20, Goodreads wouldn't have existed.)<br /><br />I know we have to deal with students gently, even when they are unintentionally rude, but I'd have been inclined to say that it was the useful life experience gained in the earlier years that made it possible for you to do the job well. There are relatively few people who can write well when very young. They might write with commercial success, but that's not always the same thing.Stroppy Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16560035800075465845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-90247408122973848002013-05-09T02:40:05.160+01:002013-05-09T02:40:05.160+01:00It should never be "too old", "too ...It should never be "too old", "too late" or "too anything" to at least try something should it? I might just have left it too late to get published but I can keep trying. Years of my earlier life were spent doing something else I thought (and still think) was important. It left me no spare time. Now I grab little bits of time here and there. (And people who say "you could always have found time to write if you had really wanted to" make me very angry because sometimes it cannot be done.) <br />I would say if you started at 44 you were lucky to have been able to start that young. Your self restraint in responding to the questioner is to be admired!catdownunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06959328192182156574noreply@blogger.com