Not the Retiring Kind
On discovering the upper recruitment age for the British Armed Forces is 39, I feel a flash of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). I’ve missed that boat–or tank, or fighter jet–by a couple of decades. The same goes for the police force. Although there’s no age limit for joining up, they expect you to retire by 60.
I don’t know why this irks me. Despite my father having served in the Royal Navy, I never wanted to join any of the Forces. Even as a child, I knew I wanted to be when I grew up: a writer.
Tick! My sixteenth novel, Death at the Village Christmas Fair, will be published on 16th August.
Next up: novel #16, the third in my Cotswold Curiosity Shop series
Although I came to writing by a roundabout route, via journalism, PR and charity work, I got there in the end. I know in my heart I’ll never want to do anything else. Nor will I ever retire. I’ll be writing until I drop.
And yet, I feel a pang of envy when I see adverts full of the promise of different career paths, and not only those for the Forces. How wonderful to change young lives by retraining as a teacher, I muse, at least for the duration of the commercial.* Oh, to be starting out, with all to play for.
To snap out of such daydreams, I have only to remember what I hated about my past ‘proper’ jobs:
9-to-5 working days that don’t suit my night-owl natureA wrap-around lengthy commute – two hours each way was once normal for meInterminable serious meetings when I wanted to make people laughSunday evenings spoiled by the countdown to MondayThe constraints of office dress, especially stifling suitsDreary packed lunches and shop-bought sandwiches (my one job in a school whose staff perks included hearty school dinners was a joyful reprieve)However, if I ever change my mind about this writing lark, one employment avenue will remain open to me, now and into my dotage, provided I first learn a little about DIY. Perhaps I could pick it up by osmosis from my handyman husband. Then I could apply to B&Q. Justly proud of its anti-ageist employment policy, the DIY chain practises what it preaches. Its oldest employee on record stood down when he was 96. I wonder what they gave him as a retirement present.
(This post first appeared in the Hawkesbury Parish News July 2025 edition.)
*Although I don’t think of myself as a teacher, for the last few years I’ve been a course tutor for Jericho Writers, leading my Simply Self Publish course online, which next runs from October to December. Click here if you’re interested in self-publishing and would like to know more.
IN OTHER NEWSLife has been so busy that I’ve been struggling to keep up with my supposedly weekly blog and monthly newsletter. I’m hoping to get back on track this month, so please bear with me! The interval between finishing the edits of Death at the Village Christmas Fair and agreeing with my publisher which book to write next has allowed me to catch up slightly. In anticipation of a fresh start, I’ve just bought a new academic year diary, which starts on 1st August, along with my resolutions to do better!
If you’ve not yet joined my Readers’ Club, click here to join now (it’s free, and you can unsubscribe any time). Then I’ll send you the link to download a free ebook novelette, The Pride of Peacocks, as well as sending you future issues of my newsletter.
An ebook of this Sophie Sayers novelette is my gift to you when you join my free Freaders’ ClubWhat’s Next?So what will my next book be, I hear you cry? I’m excited to tell you that it will be the novelisation of my first stage play, The Importance of Being Murdered, which I wrote for the Hawkesbury Drama Group to perform last April. The company brought it brilliantly to life, and as I adapt it to novel form, it is their actors that I will be picturing in my head! They’ve also asked me to write another murder mystery for them for next April, so you never know, this could turn out to be the start of a new series of novels …
After-show photo of the brilliant cast of the first production of “The Importance of Being Murdered” – with me in the blue and white top, centre (Photo by Bill Fairney, who played Bertram Manchester – in white silk scarf, to my right)The Importance of Being Murdered (my working title, which I hope my publisher will keep) is about a village amateur dramatic company whose production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is disrupted when a retired star of stage and screen moves into the local manor house, demanding a leading role, despite being twice the age of the character he plans to portray.
To complete the transformation from playscript to novel, I’ll need to add a few scenes and other fun bits and pieces such the director’s diary entries, but I’m pleased to say I’m already up to 12k words against a target of 60k.
To keep me in the theatrical zone, I’m reading books by the late great Sir John Gielgud (1904-2000), including his memoir Early Stages which focuses on his live theatre work, and his collected letters. His extraordinary career extended from London’s West End through silent movies (yes, he flourished even before the talkies – his first film credit is 1924!) to BBC drama classics such as Brideshead Revisited, and from British film modern classics such as Chariots of Fire and The Shooting Party to blockbuster films such as Arthur and Gandhi. (Now there’s two films I never expected to put in the same phrase!)
A sultry young John Gielgud in 1936, a year in which he was playing Hamlet to great acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic (Public domain via Wikimedia Commons) I should say, though, that my character, Bertram Manchester, is not in the same league as the wonderful John Gielgud – even though he thinks he is!
The inimitable John Gielgud as I picture him, relatively late in his career (1973), via Wikimedia CommonsYou can enjoy The Importance of Being Murdered even if you’ve never seen or read The Importance of Being Earnest – but there are some excellent productions available if you’d like to visit or revist Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece, including, I’ve just discovered, an 1951 radio recording starring Gielgud as John Worthing and Dame Edith Evans as Lady Bracknell. Listen to it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/e4nmuJbuBpc?si=93zIeV5h7RjIb3qi
Other favourite versions are:
1952 film with Dame Edith Evans reprising her role, the delectable Joan Greenwood as Gwendolen Fairfax, and the ever-lovable Margaret Rutherford as Miss Prism (but no John Gielgud!)2002 film with Colin Firth and Rupert Everett having tremendous fun as John and Algernonthe National Theatre’s energetic, camped-up 2025 production now transferring to the Nöel Coward TheatreA QUESTION FOR YOUFinally, I have a question for you. For the last 15 years, I’ve been writing monthly columns for two local magazines, the Hawkesbury Parish News and the Tetbury Advertiser, who kindly allow me to riff on whatever I like each month, usually related to village life and/or to my writing. Originally, I turned each column into blog posts, but more recently I’ve been adding an ever-growing postscript, “In Other News“, about my writing life, in more detail and with greater frequency than it would be possible to fit into my (theoretically) monthly newsletter.
Should I continue this practice OR would you rather hear only about my writing life, journal style as I’ve been doing in In Other News OR should I flip the order of my posts, and lead on the latest news about my writing life, and treat the magazine columns as postscripts?
Ok, that’s actually three questions!
I’d love to know your preference, so please message me your thoughts, or leave a comment below. I’m always glad to hear from my readers via the comments section or via the contact page on my website.
With huge thanks to all of you for your continuing support,
And my very best wishes
Signing copies of “Death at the Old Curiosity Shop” recently – more about that next time!
