Yesterday, Robert Jackson Bennett posted some pretty wise words for aspiring professional writers – advice that boiled down to “Get a full-time job, manage your career, and write part-time.”  Because writing full-time a) takes years to pay off, b) is uneven with the cash flows even when it does succeed, and c) lacks health insurance.

However, he was then asked: “That’s for kids in their early twenties.  What if I’m an old fogey?”

I am an old fogey, so let me speak.

I published my first novel last year at the age of 45 – I am now legally obligated to tell you that novel is called Flex, and Mr. Bennett was kind enough to read it and give it a nice blurb so I could sell it to people. I got serious about writing at the age of 38.

And yes, things are slightly different for you.

If you have reached late middle age without getting published in the ways you want, that’s likely due to one of two reasons:

1)  You suck at writing.

2)  You weren’t serious about writing.

The good news is, both can be fixed.