What beats sitting at home playing cards and being bored to death? How about living your dream? If you are a retired (or laid off) baby boomer, and you are sitting at home twiddling your thumbs, I have news for you.
If your great life dream has been to write, then it’s not too late to live your dream. I would say that it’s never too late to live any life dream, but there are some limitations to that. For instance, if your dream has always been to join the Air Force as a military pilot and you’ve never flown a plane, then you might run into a few complications with military regulations.
But writing doesn’t require anything more than deft fingers and a nimble mind. According to records kept by Publisher’s Weekly (and reported in the latest AARP Bulletin), a great number of American authors have done their best work in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. Some of those people never wrote before that time.
Examples of Late-in-Life Writing Careers
Think I’m kidding? I’m not. Check out some of these authors and see if their names don’t ring a bell for you. They did for me. Remember, all of these authors published these works past the age of 50.
Robert J. Waller, “The Bridges of Madison County”
Robert Ludlum, “The Matarese Circle”
James Clavell, “Noble House”
Irving Stone: “The Agony and the Ectasy”
Katherine Ann Porter, “Ship of Fools”
Are you starting to get the picture? Age has nothing to do with the ability to write. Having life experience, patience, and something important to say does. Does it intrigue you?
Putting Your Writing to Work
If you do want to write, then you should. It’s never too late to write the great American novel, pen a screenplay, or write a children’s book.
On a more mundane level, there’s plenty of work out there for people who can and want to write. Here are just a few ways you can put your writing talents to work:
- ghost-writing
- blogging (the good people get paid for this)
- online research/writing for electronic newsletters (ezines)
- business promotion (online MLM marketing, for instance)
- virtual assistance for business owners
- freelance writer (check out PR Leads to see what the media is looking for)
Doesn’t that sound more exciting than playing Solitaire yet one more time? If so, think about a writing career. If you want to put your writing talent toward building an income stream, drop me a line.
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Photo credit: Editorial Fallout
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