BIG NEWS: I recently converted to carrot sticks as my snack of choice!
I’ve never liked raw carrots before. They’re too bland! Too crunchy! A while ago, I heard that the jaw strength it takes to bite into a carrot is the same it takes to bite into a human finger. And wow, that is GROSSSSSSSSSS.
But recently, my work life changed. I started teaching short fiction writing at Flagler College. (It is already my favorite job I have ever had.) My classes meet in person twice a week. And after three years as a work-from-wherever freelancer, it is certifiably weird to actually have to show up somewhere. In clothes that aren’t sweatpants. And in shoes that aren’t L.L. Bean slippers.
Showing up in person also means packing a lunch instead of drifting toward the fridge whenever I want. And who has time to pack a lunch in the morning?! (If you make time for it, you’re my hero.) At the grocery store a few months ago, I noticed the baby carrots between the salsa and salad greens and thought, Why not? The next morning, I tossed them in my tote bag with a banana and a granola bar and drove to campus.
And that was all it took. The convenience of them! I eventually worked through my hang-ups around the crunchiness. I have, however, been fantasizing about all the extra vitamin A I’m consuming, hoping that it might magically make my vision sharper. But I’ve been wearing glasses since the 3rd grade, so I’ll keep my expectations low.
Before I started teaching at Flagler, I did the majority of my writing first thing in the morning before clocking in for freelance work. Now, on days when I’m on campus, I try to squeeze in a bit of writing after class. Key word: try. It doesn’t happen every day. It’s my first time teaching college, so I have a lot of new anxiety. After class, my brain is like, Did I explain that assignment well enough?
Are my students actually learning anything?
Did they think I was old when I had to ask them what the word “drip” meant?
(The answer to that last question is obviously a resounding “yes.”)
I’m also severely extroverted, so leaving the classroom, I have so much happy extrovert energy coursing through my veins that makes the idea of sitting down with carrot sticks and a laptop seem boring as hell.
It’s hard to make time for writing when routines change. Hell, it’s hard to make time for writing when routines stay the same! Amid this new season, I’ve remained gentle toward myself, but I haven’t let myself off the hook. And I think these kinds of life transitions are all about that balance—keeping things moving with gentle expectations. In the same way I don’t expect myself to pack a complicated lunch, I don’t expect myself to crank out polished chapters.
But I eat a little something. And I write a little something too.
Second-Act Writers
My latest life transition has made my reading time more sparse, so I’ve been gradually catching up on all the articles I’ve been meaning to read. I still haven’t read the kidney person thing, but I did read about Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, whose debut book, My Monticello, is out now.
Johnson, a former public art school teacher, is 50 years old. It’s incredible to see her stepping into her second act as a debut author. And speaking of second-act authors, I recently spoke with David Roth, who is debuting his novel The Femme Fatale Hypothesis on November 19. David spent 30+ years in corporate America and is publishing his first book at age 67!
Here’s what David had to tell me about his experience debuting a book in his sixties.
In your experience, what are the advantages of being a “second act” author?
There are no professional or creative advantages to coming to writing later in life; there is only the satisfaction of finally doing it. Certainly, one has more life experience to draw from, but that amounts to little without the discipline necessary to learn the craft and commit the time. That said, I do have the advantage of more time to commit on any given day.
What are the challenges?
I’ve experienced two types of challenges as an older emerging writer: 1) Prioritizing and committing to one project knowing that there are three others waiting and a rapidly diminishing number of productive writing years ahead of me; 2) Accepting that no agent or publisher is on the lookout for the latest undiscovered sexagenarian, social media-averse, literary fiction author. There is no 60-over-60 up-and-comers list, and for good reason.
What advice do you have for readers who are eager to commit to their writing but are afraid of taking the leap?
To those frozen in the headlights of their own judgment, I offer this sentiment expressed by the protagonist of Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve. “The pattern of dreaming, deferral and compromise is an altogether familiar one; it is the epitome of a failed life.” What one should be most afraid of is living a failed life.
David’s debut novel, The Femme Fatale Hypothesis, is available for preorder!
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