, and the best . That’s great, but that’s not me. Most of my success was achieved later in life, and I am certain it is the better one.Being a late bloomer, most rites of passage were belated. I learned how to ride a bicycle at 24.
I ran my first race at 38 and got published (outside of school papers) at 45. It’s never too late to . In fact, it’s sweeter when you wait for it.I wrote for school periodicals in college and loved it.
I called myself “Scoop” and went around campus interviewing sources and writing about rare book rooms, educators and anything else I was assigned. I enjoyed and figuring out ways to present their points of view. However, once I graduated, I gave it up.
I felt I could never compete in the “real” world of writing. That was a place reserved for Ivy League graduates and people who quoted Shakespeare, not for a loquacious girl from Brooklyn. So I left it behind and pursued other interests.At first, I tried to find other creative career paths like public relations and dot-coms.
I eventually landed on teaching and wrote lesson plans instead of stories. But something was missing. I yearned to tell stories like I did in school.
After all, Malcolm Forbes said it best in his 1988 Syracuse University commencement speech, which was featured in : “You have to do, in your life and with your life, what turns you on. Anything else is a waste of time. If you know where your own button is, press it.” But I was in my 40s and wasn’t sure .
Was it too late in my life to start and achieve success as a writer?I’d taken classes throughout the years for fun. We’d get an assignment, share our stories and then leave. Sometimes I’d make a friend or two.
people
liking
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Citi
Malcolm Forbes
