I have been asked to speak to a group of aspiring authors about lessons I have learned since I began my writing journey over a decade ago. The mistakes made and a few successes while researching, writing, publishing, and marketing five books, four nonfiction and one novel, have taught me a lot. And I have three more books in the pipeline, so I’m still on a steep learning curve.
Among the lessons learned that I’ll share with the aspiring authors:
You might ask what does all this have to do with retirement? One thing is that I didn’t start pursuing this passion until I was retired. Could I have found the time and energy to have written while still working? I’m not sure, but in retrospect, likely so. And with hindsight, I wish I had. I would have had the opportunity to develop my craft and would not have waited four years into retirement to pursue my passion.
The other thing this has to do with retirement is that one of the lessons I plan to share with the authors, who cover a wide range of ages, is “Don’t quit your day job, unless you already have.”
What should that mean to an aspiring author, especially, but not limited to, one who is nearing or already in retirement? The logic goes like this:
What are your passions? What are those things:
If you’ve not done this personal exercise before, I suggest that you find some quiet time to sit down with paper and pen. That’s right—unplug for a bit and go old school. Simply, or not so simply, create a list of the things you are passionate about doing. Next to each of the passions on your list, write down what you do now to pursue that passion. Then brainstorm and write down some ideas about how you could pursue it even more.
Stumped? Some people have a difficult time identifying their passions, perhaps because they have been putting so much of themselves into their career that they have lost track of those things they love to do. Here are a couple of ways to discover or rediscover your passions.
Ask a couple of close friends or family members what they think you love to do. You might find that they can identify in you what you have not been able to.
Ask yourself, “What did I love to do when I was 10 years old?” In that timeframe in our lives, we are old enough to decide what excites us, but it is before life gets in the way of actually doing them. In my case, when I was 10 years old, if I had a baseball or a book in my hand, I was happy. Now in retirement, I’m still playing baseball, writing books, and my first book was about baseball.
You get the idea—identify your passions and relentlessly pursue them. Doing so will help make for a great retirement. Don’t wait—bring those passions into your life now, regardless of your age. Think about it as practicing retirement.
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