Age & Writing & Not Getting Wigged Out.

Lately, I've heard a bunch of chatter among other YA authors about the age you are when you get your book deal. As one of the elder statesmen of my debut class, being nearer the 50 side of my 40's, I understand the tendency to moan (and bemoan) the wriggly wunderkind of young authordom.

The YA world seems to be flooded with bright, young twenty-somethings, and even teen-somethings, landing lucrative contracts. It would seem that those of of us pushing greater decades, are in the minority.

It's...