Lyle Nicholson's Blog, page 6

Deciding to write late in life

I don’t know what made me want to take up writing so late in life.  After a career in sales, and a busy life with a business, at the age of 57, I decided to write.  Why? Good question.  Perhaps all writers ask why they want to tell stories.  Some perhaps, because it’s there, just like a mountain is there to a climber, or an ocean to a sailor.

I did try to think of other things to do.  There was Real Estate Selling – too tied to a phone.  There was Investment selling – didn’t like the idea of telling other people what to do with their money.  And yes, there was starting another business.  Perhaps, I could have, like the late-blooming Colonel Saunders, wandering the world with a chicken recipe in an old Cadillac, I could find something to sell, and wander the earth with it.

But then, there are stories, and characters, and late nights tapping on the keyboard as plots reveal themselves, and one chapter leads to another.  What a wonderful thing to find this late in life.  To those still searching for their passion, or trying to find if they have a passion for writing, just give it a try.

I gave it try.  Now, at almost 60 (can’t believe I said that) I have my first Novella coming out.  Strange, if you actually get started on something, you might just finish it.

Getting Therapy for success?

I read today, that J.K. Rawlings required therapy to deal with the astounding success of her writing career.  Perhaps some may think that odd, but if you read about her past, the lady was a single mom, living in a bed sit, somewhere in the British Isles.

To go from, what she claimed as living on social assistance, to getting massive cheques for Harry Potter movies, I can imagine to be a massive change in one’s life.  Some might claim, they would love to have the chance to be that famous, and need therapy.  But would you?  She remarks that she goes to shop in disguise, has complained that at one time her phone was tapped, and she is constantly followed by media stalkers. Now, how do you feel?  Still want all that fame?

I believe, all of us want some kind of fame or accolades in our life.  Sure, we’ll deny it, we give the “aw shucks, not me,” comment, and move on.  We want to be noticed, even a little bit.  Seems to be in our nature, to stand out a bit from the crowd.  Maybe it was ingrained in us from our prehistoric times – people who stood out, got fed better, treated better – who knows.

The media now, make it a big deal to be famous, there are back to back television programs about famous people either behaving well, or behaving badly.  We seem to like it more when they behave badly.  Lindsay Lohan – can’t get enough of her, or can’t stand watching her.  No matter what, she occupies the news.  Should she be in therapy for success gone badly?  I really can’t judge that, only she knows what corrections she needs to make – hopefully to keep herself out of jail.

As for therapy to deal with success, sure why not, there is therapy for failure.  There is therapy for just about every bit of angst we feel in this life.  perhaps the best thing that his world needs, is one big hug, and someone to say, “You know, you’ll get through this – you always do.”

As for myself, well still waiting to publish, to then get recognized as either success or failure.  Then I may need some therapy.  Will be calling out to my wife and friends, for that warm hug, as god knows, right now, I can not afford therapy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finding your voice as a writer

I started writing many years ago.  It was 1988 when I started my first stories, published some articles and wrote the first 15 chapters of a book.  Never went much further on the book.  Life somehow got in the way.

25 years later, retirement loomed or happened.  Somehow in there I wanted to write again.  My wife asked me, “What do you think you will write?”  I honestly did not know.  I began writing a business book – but when I got to a chapter where I compared good business practices to eating brocoli on a regular basis – I dropped the book.

I then I began writing fantasy.  I wrote fiction, with characters who wanted to kill each other, and were greedy, and discontent with their lives, and well, who knew, I wrote a novel, and then a novella, and now working on my third novel.

I found my voice.  It is not a literary voice.  I have already had an editor judge me as a story-teller and not a literary writer.  At the prestigious Banff Center for Fine Arts a young lady at a cocktail party looked at me down her wine glass and proclaimed me, “a mainstream writer.”

So be it.  I am mainstream, non literary, and a story-teller.  So to any readers who should read this – who are you?  That is after all the biggest question as you write.  Sure you write for a reader, but I think the first reader is you.  You must like, or perhaps love what you write.

I just wrote a scene today, about a detective and her grandmother.  I absolutely loved it.  Sitting on my deck in the late evening sun, with a glass of wine, I had to read the words again to make sure I had written them.  I wish all of you the joy or writing, and the joy of reading, and may you find your voice, and may you enjoy it for many years.

 

Lyle Nicholson