WRITER'S BLOCK: PASSION AND PERSISTENCE

I recently read an article about writers who became published later in life.  Later used to be considered after 40.  Now that people are living well into their 80s… and beyond… there's plenty of opportunity for older wannabe writers.

What's important is to identify your passion to write.  Regardless of when you begin to write, the most likely scenario is that if you're a fiction writer, likely it will take several novels before either one sells or if one sells for several to sell with modest purchases before a big one hits… if it ever does.  After all, most writers of fiction do not make a living from their writing.  We only know about the popular, big selling ones.

Now, this blog post is not only addressed to novelists and short story writers.  It is addressed to everyone who wants to write.  There is no "right time" to start writing.  And writing takes persistence.  The book, Outliers: The Story of Success, talks about how it takes 10,000 hours to become good at what you do.  This is regardless of whether you get paid for it.  This is almost two years of working at it 24/7.  Let's face it.  We all need a life, so we need to stretch that time.  We likely don't want to give up nights or weekends on a regular basis, so in looking at a five day week, eight hours a day, that's over 2000 hours a years.  Likely then, it will take five years to be competent.  Hopefully, the feeling of competency will be there as well.

So, if you've got the passion and persistence, you will keep at it, and you will achieve what you want as a writer.