Lessons Learned as an Author

I’ve learned many thingsas an author. One of the first lessons learned is that you can write at anyage. Here’s the range from my own experience. Several years ago at the LosAngles Times Festival Of Books, Morrie Markoff was there signing the first bookhe had ever written and published. It was titled, “Keep Breathing,” his memoir.At the time Morrie was 103 years old. On the other extreme, when I lived in Colorado,I mentored an eight-grade student whose school required that he work on a year-longproject. The project he chose was to write a novel. I met with him every weekto review what he had written and gave him feedback. By the end of the year, hehad completed a rough draft. It was nowhere near being ready for publication,but he had accomplished something very important by writing a completemanuscript at his age. I started to write at the age of 56, and my first novelwas published at the age of 62.