Barb Johnson, author of the fabulous More of This World or Maybe Another, wrote an essay for Glimmer Train, and she had this to say about starting her MFA in her late 40s:
“One day, over beers at our neighborhood bar, a couple of classmates and I talked about how we felt like late bloomers. They were in their early thirties at the time, and I was almost fifty…. I came to realize that the feeling isn't about age so much as it is about finally paying attention to what it is you really want in life. And that realization requires us to set aside our assumptions about how life works and what we should be doing, and to consider what our strongest preoccupations are.”
(Read the full essay here.)
I’ve never been ahead of the curve on anything. Never been an early adopter, never been cutting edge, never been a trendsetter. It takes me a while to realize what I want to do, but once I know, I make it happen.
I didn’t pick up a guitar until I was 26, but a few years later recorded a CD that continues to generate royalties. (Adorable, tiny royalties, but still.) Same with two businesses, freelance writing, and now grad school and teaching creative writing. I’m always late to the party, but I leave last.
When I was younger I’d panic that “my life” (whatever the hell that meant) wasn’t happening fast enough. I’d fret and plan, create beautiful, useless spreadsheets, and write pages and pages in my journal about scenarios that never happened.
Now, after multiple trips around the life block, I’m more comfortable with the idea that, to paraphrase Johnson, I’ll get there when I get there. No spreadsheet required.
Any other late bloomers want to offer words of advice or encouragement?
Monday, November 2, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
7 comments:
LOL@"adorable, tiny royalties."
Greg Kihn (remember "Our Love's in Jeopardy" back in the '80s?) is now a morning drive-time DJ on KFOX in San Jose ("KFOX 98.5, the classic rock experience"). He refers to those royalties as "mailbox money."
I'm definitely a late bloomer. Christopher Moore's author bio says something like, "I'm the world's oldest child prodigy." I wrote my first story when I was five, and I worked in publishing for years, but it's been just in the past three years that I have really focused on writing. Half the challenge is making the time for it, not allowing the daily drivel (or even occasional major drivel) to get in the way.
Great post! I so relate.
It's been a long and tortuous road for me to get to this very good place in my life. Two years ago, on my 45 birthday, my little sister gave me a painting with an e.e. cummings quote on it: "It takes courage to grow up to become who you really are." That about sums it up - I don't really mind so much that it took me this long. I'm just grateful that I'm here.
It makes me wonder what might come next, what I'll bloom into later on. Now I'm perfectly happy as a writer and teacher, but might that change? Or maybe it will always be those two things, but in different forms?
When I was a singer/songwriter I knew I wouldn't do that forever, and the same with my businesses. But writing and teaching feel like vocations I could happily spend the rest of my life doing. The challenge and satisfaction of both seem never ending.
a friend recently said to me "don't you want any roots?" i replied, "it's not that i don't want roots. i'm just open to the opportunities that arise in my life." and if an opportunity to move to kauai to start my own business presents itself to me, who am i to turn that down?! especially if it's my life's purpose and passion.
Kathy - Great comment. I'm with you, I'd rather leave my options open than stay put, but perhaps at the expense of community or relationships. I struggle with it, but I obviously value roots less because I've never let geography constrain me. Sounds like it's the same for you.
(I'm crossing my fingers for you and Kauai!)
Post a Comment