I spent last week at The Kenyon Review Writer's Workshop. What a wonderful opportunity to share my work with others and learn from successful writers in the literary genre.
Just a few decades ago a woman my age––mid-fifties––would have felt awkward and out of place at such a program. Older people, and women especially, believed and were believed by others, to have outlived their productive years by that point. Women raised their families. Men had careers or simply jobs from which they would soon retire to play with the grandkids, maybe "Keep busy" with some undemanding hobby, like gardening or flower arranging, or golf.
Men and women my age and older comprised at least a third, possibly close to half, the attendees at the Kenyon Workshop. A few had achieved some success as writers, others attended the workshops for new writers of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. We mixed easily with college students, and young men and women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. We gave and received feedback and no one moderated their comments in deference to age.
I am grateful to live at a time when aging does not mean giving up.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
Amen, Nannette. Gives us late bloomers a fighting chance. LOL
Yes! another "amen!"
So much of aging well has to do with attitude. If you're always looking forward, aging has little effect. Get stuck living in the past and life becomes much more difficult. Here's to today!
It appears that people who have friends and contacts of all ages are having the most fun of anyone.
It works for me. My kids(bio and coachees) keep my motor running.
Oren (FOA)
Post a Comment