by Jason Lusk

Created on: July 29, 2008

A man in his early seventies walks along the beach morning and he thinks, "I should've written a book. I always wanted to. I should've done it."

After seventy-some years in this world, he probably has one of two things, and possibly both: a head full of ideas and a ton of life experience. There's plenty for him to write about, if he can just sort it out. Perhaps he can have in words the dream he failed to catch in life.

Does his age matter? Assuming he's physically and mentally able to write, I believe it would enhance his words.

Of course, few of us are novelists. And I dare say that only a small percentage of novelists are true writers. Yet writing is writing. Whatever the form, we do it one word at a time, and each word is powered by our memories, feelings, ideas, and life experiences.

Writing can bring a kind of release that you can't attain with any other activity. We all get stressed, and we all have fears or joys that we can't keep locked up. Even if a piece is never published even if it's nothing more than a brief diary entry that no one else would understand it still frees us.

I imagine this is true for, say, scientific writers as well. That type of writing is often dry and, to many people, it makes laborious reading. But I can see a scientist feeling this release once he's written his piece. "This is my subject, these are the problems, this is the formula I can't solve, and now I can rest." He or she can rest now because these things aren't eating away at their brains like hungry insects.

Even for a case like that, writing always exists in a confession-like environment. And, on the fiction side, many authors will tell you that their books are like letters written to someone special.

We are born human. And we're still human when we die. Many things change as we mature, but basic needs and feelings remain in some way or other.

Who would accuse an adult of being too old to write fairy tales? I've heard someone do that. Is anyone too old to be afraid? Or to hope? Do we lose the right to have free minds and to have feelings when we age? No. And those elements are what writing is all about.

The implication that someone's too old to write (in any style of writing, from a diary to hardcore science fiction novels) is like accusing someone of being too old to find love.

And there are a number of great writers who never wrote in their younger years; they discovered their talent and passion for the written word late in life.

Thus, for those of us who are writers, "too old" shouldn't even be in our vocabulary. Nor are we ever too young to write, either. Art doesn't require an ID for you to get in the door.

Learn more about this author, Jason Lusk.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.