Success at 60
Success at 60: A Guest Post by Leslie Hooton
HBL Note: This guest post was inspired by interview with 25 authors on their so-called “failures” prior to getting published (and sometimes after!) This is Leslie’s story.
How long should you try to become the YOU, you were meant to become ?? For me, it took me until the ripe age of 60 to achieve “success “ even though I had been steadily working at it all my life.
My first published novel , Before Anyone Else , was published when I was 60. My second novel, The Secret of Rainy Days , is scheduled for publication in September, right after my 62nd birthday.
Truthfully I was 16 when I wrote my first novel. I really thought you had to be “anointed“ by the literary gods to actually be a writer and I couldn’t even spell. This was before spellchecker was invented.
During my 44 year long “gap year” I went to law school and tried my hand at a “real“ job but I continued to write. I knew I had some talent because my mother, who was an English teacher and librarian, “typed“ my manuscripts and she would often laugh or nod her head before she brought out her red pen . It was in these years that she coined the phrase “red ink is love “. I became an addict for her laughter and Red pen
In my 30s, when I couldn’t get a job or was unable to have a baby, I returned to the safety and sanity of my pages. Writing became my job. I just didn’t have the courage to call it that… Yet.
In my 50s I started, in earnest, sending out manuscripts. i would get a round of rejections, put them in a drawer and promptly start on another novel only to have that one rejected. I have enough rejection letters to wallpaper a small house! I think that’s why I say failure resides in the shadow of success or is it the other way around? Does success dwell in the shadow of failure. Maybe it’s how you look at it.
Even when I was receiving rejection letters, it felt right. Like I was in the arena of what I was supposed to be doing.
Everyone’s acceptance of failure is different. I just have a very high threshold. I think some people in my shoes would have given up sooner. It was not that I had a fear of failure it was just I knew in my bones this was what I was supposed to be doing. Sometimes yours is the only voice you hear SO make it strong and steady and don’t worry about the shadow of failure. Failures come and t go. So do successes . They are on opposite sides of the same coin. Very few writers only experience one or the other. They both dwell in the chambers of the writer’s heart and pen. I think being a little crazy and introverted helps.
Be forewarned “Success“ may not look the way you thought it might look. I am not having wine with Reese Witherspoon or Oprah but I am doing the thing I love and not too many people can say that. In my book that is a success.
Success at 60: A Guest Post by Leslie Hooton
