Become a Writer at Any Age

 

By Debra DuPree Williams

 

So, you want to write but you think you could be too young or perhaps too old? I’m here to tell you that it isn’t your age that will keep you from writing. At conferences I’ve attended, I’ve seen a young lady published at age sixteen and a conferee still writing and publishing devotions at age ninety-six.

I can relate to those who think they are too old. I attended my first conference at age sixty-five. Not one familiar face greeted me, but many friendly faces did. And now, those people are some of my dearest and best friends.

The young lady of sixteen has since written several books. Still in her twenties, she has been a teacher at conferences and is now an agent at a prestigious literary agency.

My own journey should encourage you. When I first attended the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in May of 2014, I took along simple poems I’d written over the years in my efforts to help our four sons get through the dreaded poetry unit of their middle and high school years. For good measure, I threw in a couple of picture books, thinking I’d be a children’s writer.

Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. Since I knew no one and I’d never attended a writing conference like this, to say I felt like a mama out of the carpool line was an understatement. But I went in with an open mind and a learning spirit.

It was in those picture book classes that I heard the words you are a writer for the first time. I was stunned but determined. I went home and worked on those poems and stories, two of which have since won awards.

Then I pulled out all the stops and tried my hand at novel writing. Conferences, helpful books, and relationships formed at those conferences led to that novel being published in 2020.

By then, I was seventy.

I still attend conferences, and I still write. I’ve won a few awards along the way, and I’m having the time of my life.

So, no matter your age, if you want this bad enough, it can be done. I have proven this to be true, along with the two people I previously mentioned.

What about you? Do you feel your age is hindering you from being a writer?

Blessings, y’all!

 

Photo by 𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔞𝔯𝔶 𝔭𝔢𝔯𝔞𝔩𝔱𝔞 on Unsplash

Debra DuPree Williams brings her love of family into the stories she shares. A true Southerner, she can’t help but weave her ancestors’ tales into all that she writes. She’s an award-winning author whose first novel, Grave Consequences, A Charlotte Graves Mystery, won third place in the Director’s Choice category at the 2021 Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. Her work has appeared in the Selah Award Finalist, Moments With Billy Graham, and in Michelle Medlock Adams’ deluxe edition of Love and Care for the One and Only You. Debra is a guest blogger on the Blue Ridge conference website and The Write Editing, among others.

 

A wife, mama, and grandmother. Debra and her amazing husband make their home in the majestic mountains of western North Carolina.