Too Young or Too Old
A few months ago, there was a discussion on a mailing list I'm on about the age at which people published their first novels. Almost all of them were younger than I am.
Not two weeks later, there was a discussion on another mailing list I'm on about the age of people who track*. Almost all of them were older than I am.
We spend a lot of time thinking age matters, that we're too old or too young. And in particular that we are SO awesome because we accomplished something at seventeen or eighteen or twenty-five (which we are, actually, but not necessarily MORE awesome). People who accomplish things when they're older feel like they ought to apologize--well, I was busy...somehow, doing...something.
But, you know, getting old isn't a disease. It's a fact. Every seventeen and eighteen and twenty-five year-old, if they're lucky, is inevitably going to be fifty and sixty and seventy. You're not too old to write. You're not too old to publish. You're not too old to track. Or run marathons. Or hike the Grand Canyon. Other factors might prevent you: health or inclination or resources. But it won't be because you're too old.
*If you don't know (and, really, you haven't been reading here if you don't) tracking is an outdoor sport with dogs, conducted in all kinds of weather across all kinds of terrain.
Not two weeks later, there was a discussion on another mailing list I'm on about the age of people who track*. Almost all of them were older than I am.
We spend a lot of time thinking age matters, that we're too old or too young. And in particular that we are SO awesome because we accomplished something at seventeen or eighteen or twenty-five (which we are, actually, but not necessarily MORE awesome). People who accomplish things when they're older feel like they ought to apologize--well, I was busy...somehow, doing...something.
But, you know, getting old isn't a disease. It's a fact. Every seventeen and eighteen and twenty-five year-old, if they're lucky, is inevitably going to be fifty and sixty and seventy. You're not too old to write. You're not too old to publish. You're not too old to track. Or run marathons. Or hike the Grand Canyon. Other factors might prevent you: health or inclination or resources. But it won't be because you're too old.
*If you don't know (and, really, you haven't been reading here if you don't) tracking is an outdoor sport with dogs, conducted in all kinds of weather across all kinds of terrain.