Fiona Davis: “You Don’t Have to Write Your First Book By the Time You’re Thirty”

Go out and live life first

Wake Up and Write is an advice column from Moms Don’t Have Time to Write. Today, we have Fiona Davis — New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction novels, including The Magnolia Palace— who shared writing advice on the podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, hosted by Zibby Owens.

“You don’t have to write your first book by the time you’re thirty.”

“Take time. Go out and live life. Go have relationships. Try things. Do other things. Then when you really feel like you have something to say, that’s when it’s time to write a book. I didn’t start writing until I was in my late forties. It was only because a story hit me that I just really wanted to see if I could tell. That became The Dollhouse, my debut book.

I couldn’t have written that book in my twenties. I was a dingbell. I just had nothing to say. It took some tough things to happen to make me realize I want to write this down because it’ll be interesting to dig into it, to really get into the weeds. I think that’s what good books do.”

Listen to the episode:

https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/fiona-davis-the-magnolia-palace

Buy the book:

https://bookshop.org/books/the-magnolia-palace-9780593460153/9780593184011