The November 25th issue of the Des Moines Register ran a story about how many aging authors are continuing to write and publish well into their eighties and nineties. Several authors who follow this trend were listed, pictured, and/or quoted in the story:
- Elmore Leonard won the National Book Award this year at age 87, and it inspired him to keep writing.
- Tom Wolfe, 81, released Back to Blood this year and says being an octogenarian is a hobby of his.
- Herman Wouk, most famous for his WWII book, Winds of War, released a new work this year. He’s 97.
- In March 88-year-old William Gass will release his first book since 1995.
The article listed several more authors still writing and publishing in their 80s and 90s. Only Philip Roth, the youngster in the group at age 79, bucked the trend. He says he’s done enough writing and his novel released in 2010 will be his last.
One of the aging authors, A.E. Hotchner, 92, attributed the trend to clean living. William Gass adds, “During the 1950s, the academic world was full of people who drank too much. The parties were cocktail parties and pretty potent. Now, there are dinners with nice wines.” Hermon Wouk’s editor says the author has taken care of himself since his first book came out 60 years ago. “His lifestyle has remained steady–work, family, religious faith, studying the Torah daily.”
Though that explains why these authors are living and writing longer. But it doesn’t explain why every author mentioned is a ma, with the exception of Toni Morrison, 81, who’s a Nobel laureate and thus hard to ignore. Women’s life expectancy has been greater than men’s for years, so there must be a few more women writers still wielding pens and tapping keyboards far into their golden years.
Since the press doesn’t seem to notice aging women writers (unless they won a Nobel prize) it’s time for clean-living female authors to toot their own horns and remind people they’re not dead yet. They need to let the world know they’re still pounding away, cranking out new books so libraries stay in business.
In that vein, I’m jumping on the aging writers bandwagon. Not that I put myself in the same category as the well-known writers listed above. And it’ll be several decades before being an octogenarian becomes my new hobby. But what compels them to keep writing is what compels me. The need to capture thoughts into words and put them on paper in a way that’s engaging, informative, and thought-provoking.
That said, if my mind goes before my body, I still want to keep writing. So whoever’s still around can put a keyboard in front of me. No doubt, I’ll type a whole lot of gibberish, and I’ll be happy as a clam while doing it.
That’s how much I want to be an aging writer when I grow up.
photo credit: www.freedigitalphotos.net
