I would like to be a writer but I'm wondering how that will go in midlife. So I'm wondering what @neilhimself.neilgaiman.com's advice would be? Is 48 too late to even think about starting?
On a related note, I was hoping I could get your insight on something.
I haven't finished/published any books. I have, however, self-published several D&D adventure modules. One even won silver in the ENNIE Awards (I also wrote comic reviews until recently).
Is that enough to call myself a writer?
Thank you, Neil, and I mean that sincerely.
The fact that I have unfinished stories and half-written drafts just gathering dust has made me feel like I've failed at being a writer, but if you say that my adventures qualify, then, well, that's pretty dang validating.
On the contrary! Having unfinished stories and half-written drafts lying around means you're definitely *succeeding* at being a writer. (And that's not an attempt to be funny!) It means you're *working* at writing. There's absolutely no more rleiable diagnostic.
... (argh: "reliable...") It sets you apart from—and miles ahead of—the people who never get any further than "I've got a book in me, someday when I have time I'll write it..." ...You're a writer. Now just get busy answering the basic question: "What do I write next?" :)
Would it be gauche to ask for a word of encouragement for a discouraged writer, my spouse, who struggles with ending and finishing her works? That last mile (~1-5k words?) wears on her heavily and she sometimes wonders if she's even a writer. (Four manuscripts in, she can't not be!)
Gauche? Not at all. Meanwhile, nybody who keeps repeatedly coming around and heading back into that Last Mile is *unquestionably* a writer. No one but a writer will repeatedly show such grit, and such disregard for their own suffering. (pained smile) (1/2)
("nybody"? Headclutch.) ...Equally annoying is when you find you're dealing with one of those Zeno's Paradox projects where the work just keeps getting longer and *longer* and LONGER in front of you, when you could *swear* you were almost finished. And you're the writer... so you just keep going. :)
