by Patricia Bradley, @PTBradley1

Is 50 Too Old to Start Writing? 3 Myths About Writing After 50.

In late March I flew to see my family in the West Palm Beach area and on the way back I started talking to my seatmate, a woman probably a decade younger than I am. She’d worked for one company for thirty years until recently when they sold out and she’d lost her job.

When I told her I became a published author when I was well past fifty, she wanted to know more. Turns out she’d been thinking about writing a book, but she thought she was too old. We talked on, and I hope by the time the plane landed, she realized she wasn’t too old to begin her writing career.

But that conversation started me thinking. We are such a youth-oriented culture that we’ve created myths about what we can or cannot do after a certain age. And myths they are. So let’s examine three of them.

Myth 1: I’m too old to learn something from the ground up, so I’ve missed the boat.

The thing is, you’re not starting at ground level. Those starting at ground level are twenty-something’s who have no life experiences. If you’re past middle age, then you’ve lived through some tough times, emotionally and physically.

You have a well to draw from, a lifetime of books and movies in your head, of dealing with people and observing their actions and reactions. Perfect for creating characters. That co-worker who comes in each day with a different tale of woe? Put her in a book (disguised of course) and kill her off. I’m sure you can look around the workplace and find plenty of suspects. That crazy aunt? Make her the heroine’s best friend who gets the heroine in all sorts of trouble. That swoon-worthy but brooding pool guy? Make him your Mr. Darcy.

The thing is, you know people and what makes them tick. Write about those people.

Myth 2: I don’t know HOW to write, and besides, what would I say?

Okay, maybe that’s two…but there are a myriad of books on craft out there. There’s one that will fit the way you learn. There are advantages to starting after you turn fifty—you’re wiser now than you were in your twenties. You’re more apt to learn from your mistakes.

As for what you would say, you have a lifetime of stories to tell. That spark of an idea that came to you out of nowhere—take it and build your story. Create characters and put them in a setting. Then give them a goal and throw obstacles in their path, making them earn their victories.

Myth 3: I’m too old to get a story published.

Nowadays, there are so many ways to publish your work—traditional, indie, small press. While I know most authors want to be traditionally published, there’s a lot to be said for Indie publishing. You have total control of when it releases, the cover, price. So that’s no excuse. Just be sure to invest in a good editor!

Will it be easy? If you’re over fifty, then you already know anything worth having is not going to be easy. If you think you want to write, don’t let age hold you back. The publishing industry doesn’t look at how old you are—it looks at the story you’ve created.

Now go forth and write! You won’t know if you can do it if you don’t try.

Justice Buried

In an effort to get her security consulting business off the ground, Kelsey Allen has been spending a lot of time up in the air, rappelling down buildings and climbing through windows to show business owners their vulnerabilities to thieves. When she is hired to pose as a conservator at the Pink Palace Museum in order to test their security weaknesses after some artifacts go missing, she’s ecstatic. But when her investigative focus turns from theft to murder, Kelsey knows she’s out of her league–and possibly in the cross hairs. When blast-from-the-past Detective Brad Hollister is called in to investigate, Kelsey may find that he’s the biggest security threat yet . . . to her heart.

Patricia Bradley lives in North Mississippi with her rescue kitty Suzy and loves to write suspense with a twist of romance. Her books include the Logan Point series and two Harlequin Heartwarming romances. Justice Delayed, a Memphis Cold Case Novel, is the first book in her next series and it releases January 31, 2017. When she has time, she likes to throw mud on a wheel and see what happens.