Transitioning in Age and Writing

Transitioning in Age and Writing by Debra H. Goldstein

For the past few months, many members of the Stiletto Gang have given you the opportunity to learn about our similarities and differences through our 4^th Thursday Clicking Our Heels column or by interpreting the same topic in one of our monthly posts.  Unfortunately, although I usually pull Clicking Our Heels together, I’ve missed the monthly topics because my travel schedule necessitated pre-scheduling my blog post before it was picked.  Not this month!  This time, you get my take on whether my maturity as a writer (translate that to transition in chronological years) affects my manuscripts.

The problem addressing this topic is that even as the years pass, I don’t think I’ve matured yet.  Sure, I know more of my strengths (plotting) and weaknesses (I’m reserved in life and have to go back and let you know more of my characters’ inner thoughts), but I’m a writing neophyte.  I only began seriously writing in the past five years. 

What comes to mind when you think of a five-year-old? Curiosity? Incessant why, what, when, where

questions? Exploration? Or, perhaps that adorable moment when the whirlwind falls asleep?

For the first few years, I punted. I often was too naïve to ask the right questions, but I observed. Today, my writing life is exactly like a five-year-old.  I can’t soak up enough knowledge.  Whether

I’m reading, taking a class, or talking to someone, I want to learn everything.  Sometimes, I pick up a habit or a concept that impresses me, but isn’t right for my writing. Other times, I have a eureka lightbulb moment during which my writing jumps to a new level.  Hopefully, the result of my five-year-old wonder is that both my short and long pieces have improved. 

Whether I’m writing flash fiction, a six-thousand-word story, or a novel, the length is dictated by what is required to share the tale with you rather than my maturity as a writer. I remove boring parts more easily because I am a better editor than I was five years ago, but those edited parts may be replaced by longer passages of enhanced characterization.

So, my answer as to whether maturity affects the length of my manuscript is “It depends.” The only thing I am certain of is my prayer that as I transition in years, my writing never loses the wonder of being a five-year-old