If you are or someone close to you—perhaps a parent or grandparent, a sibling or good friend, or maybe your spouse or S.O.—is retired or nearing retirement age, this week’s blogpost should be of interest.
Retirees run the gamut. Some folks veg out in front of the TV and don’t do a gosh darn meaningful thing with their suddenly free time. Others plunge into a hobby they always wanted to explore or volunteer work they always felt impelled to do but never had time for before, and now find themselves busier than they ever were before they “retired.” And some start whole new careers.
The husband of a novelist I know had long wanted to write, like his wife. But his job involved physical labor, and I guess he was just too tired in the evenings. Then he retired. He started writing and has written over 100,000 words in the short few months since his job came to a close. I haven’t read any of his output. I have no idea how good those words are. But I do know he’s happy.
The other take-away from this tale is that this is a man who never studied writing and whose former job was not in an allied field. He never wrote so much as a report for his previous work. If he can do it, the chances are you (or your spouse, parent, friend, sibling, whoever) can do it too.
If you’ve never written anything before but always wanted to, retirement is your chance.
~ You probably get a pension and/or Social Security, so making money from your writing endeavors is helpful but not crucial.
~ You have more free time now, discretionary time you can spend more or less as you please. So if it pleases you to write, do it.
~ You’ve had almost a lifetime of experience—in fact, of a wealth of experiences—that you can draw on whether you’re writing fiction, how-to books or articles, essays, humor, children’s books, cookbooks, poetry…or something else.
~ You’re more free to travel if you want to attend distant events geared to writers.
~ If arriving at retirement age also means you’ve acquired aches and pains or disabilities, and you can no longer run or even walk comfortably, can no longer golf or go bowling, work in your garden, or cook the complicated dishes you used to enjoy preparing, you can still sit in your chair and write. Even if your fingers are beset by arthritis, Parkinson’s, or some other disabling condition, and you can’t type easily or comfortably, or your vision is going and you can’t see the keyboard well and don’t know how to touch-type, you can use Dragon software and dictate your output.
Did you always want to be a writer or always envy people who had the time to write? Now that’s YOU. Give it a whirl.
And welcome to my world.