You will never feel 100% ready. So, do it anyway.
A letter to late-bloomers.
I started writing twenty years ago, but I only published my first novel in 2019, when I was in my forties.
Two years ago, I received a call from the Greek Ministry of Culture, the Books department.
“I’m going to ask you an embarrassing question,” a woman said. “We are considering you for the Debut Novel Award, and the cut-off age is thirty-five.”
35? Seriously? Are writers fashion models?
People are obsessed with age
You should do this by the time you are 20 and do that by the time you are 40. You should get married and have kids and make money, and publish your first novel by 35.
I get it. Our brains like things to be organized.
People want to put you in an age box to compare you to other people in the box.
It’s easier that way. But you don’t have to accept the arrangement.
You have your own clock, and it’s keeping tabs.
Maybe you are super advanced in one area of your life and slow in others. Maybe you need more time to figure things out.
But it’s never too late to start as long as you keep growing.
The outliers
Miguel de Cervantes penned Don Quixote at 58, while Raymond Chandler published his detective novel The Big Sleep at 51.
Ernestine Shepherd started working out at 56 and at 74, she entered the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s oldest female bodybuilder. Iris Apfel, 101, enjoys a lucrative career in fashion. As she writes in her book:
“My first big job in beauty and fashion came when I was at the tender age of ninety.”
These are all exceptions, you’ll say. So what? You can be too.
Even if you have one day left, you can do something about your life. You can overcome a fear or try something new, as long as you are doing it for yourself and not for others.
It’s O.k. to write a book in your fifties.
Confession time
Time for some honesty. The reason I didn’t publish my novel five years earlier is fear.
I was a perfectionist that shivered at the idea of rejection.
I was too scared of publicity and of exposing myself. I thought others were better than me, and I lacked confidence.
The idea of talking to a crowd crippled me. So I kept on writing and building myself up.
You will never be ready, so do it anyway
In 2018 and 2019, I realized I would never feel 100% ready.
I was only getting older.
So I took a deep breath and did the scary things.
I submitted my novel, got rejected and accepted, gave interviews, and made a book blurb video that was viewed by 13.000 people. I talked to a crowd and even made people laugh.
It was unbelievable — like being in a trance.
Who was the person doing those things?
It was the person who had worked hard and didn’t think about failure. I had convinced myself that even if I got ridiculed, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
I would do my thing. Some people would connect. Others wouldn’t.
So, please don’t squeeze yourself into a box. Don’t beat yourself up because you didn’t do something at the recommended age. I didn’t.
I often listen to my son’s Spotify lists (it turns out I have a knack for French rap), and I never say things like “my generation,” “when I was your age,” or “I’m too old for that.”
You can finish your novel, find a publisher, create a painting — anything goes.
You can share your ideas and inspiration.
Don’t wait.
