As I approach the dreaded, um, 60 years of age this early July, I naturally keep seeing the word retirement popping into my head. You know, you work forty years or so at a job you basically can’t stand, save your money in a 401K, buy a big house, some cars, maybe join a country club, send the kids to college, incur massive debt, then between the ages of 60 and 70, retire to either Florida or South Carolina where you spend your day playing bad golf and getting soft.
Fortunately, this kind of thing does not exist for a full-time fiction writer. Because we are artists (not in the ar-teest, snotty sense of the word, but the practical, we make shit up for a living sense of the concept), we will never quit our “job.” Of course, I use the word “job” lightly since writing fiction isn’t a job at all. Like music, painting, sculpting, or poetry, what we do is a calling of priestly proportions. We strive to create day in and day out and, in my case anyway, strive to publish as much intellectual property as possible that will one day be handed down to my children, and their children, and so on, so that everyone enjoys a nice passive income.
To be honest, even if I wasn’t a writer, I don’t think I would ever retire from my job. Or, if the company I worked for forced me out after a certain age, I would find something else so that I remained a productive and relevant member of society at large.
According to a recent report by Nerd Wallet retirement can result in the sudden loss of structure, purpose, identity, validation, and your social contacts. All of this stands the chance of triggering depression and other mental illnesses. You might find yourself trying to heal the losses by drinking and medicating more. This only leads to more loss and sadness. Humans were made to be productive, not sedentary creatures that do nothing but wait until it’s time to die.
For writers, creating a story out of thin air can be one of the most fun and stimulating exercises you can undertake. The story, if it’s good enough, will last far longer than your mortal flesh and blood. It is a testament to your talent, and who you were and how you were as a person when you wrote it.
If you were to retire as a writer, it only makes sense that you would find yourself resisting creative urges. Creativity would haunt you like ghosts in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” They would also taunt you like demons poking at your creative brain with pitchforks (sorry to mix my metaphors, but then I’m not one to follow the rules). In a word, you would have to forsake what and who you were as a productive human being prior to retirement.
“Hey, aren’t you a writer?” a kind young woman asks as she passes you by on a busy city street.
You immediately feel a kick in the gut.
“You must be mistaken,” you say. “Perhaps you have me mixed up with someone else.”
“No, you’re him,” she presses. “I’ve read all your books. It’s been a while. When is the new one coming out. You can’t leave your fans high and dry like that. You have a responsibility to be there for them.”
“I…I…I…,” you want to say something profound here, but for the first time in years you, the ex-writer, is at a loss for words.
But what you want to say is, “Haven’t I done enough for you? Haven’t I given it my all for decades? Don’t I deserve a little downtime now that I’m older?”
However, you would never say something like this because you know the kind young reader is right. You do have a responsibility to keep writing. If not for yourself, then for the fans who love your words. Only you have the ability to take them away to far away lands and destinations. Or you can frighten them in a good way with spell-binding suspense or scare them all night with pulse-pounding horror.
Writing is the best job in the world. If you are the type who loves to having written, but hates writing, I feel sorry for you. But if you’re the kind who loves the process of writing, I feel certain, you will write until your heart pumps its last beat. It’s the way things should be for a real writer, young and old.
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Great post, Vin, and spot on. Now and again I see some successful writer announce retirement, and I always think "Well, you would, wouldn't you?" Because they never loved writing at all. It just another drudgery-filled job for them. And you're right. I feel sorry for them too, that they never trusted themselves enough to write an authentic story or know what that feels like.