Snark & Sensibility

PLEASE WELCOME

HARRY WEGLEY

TO

HAVING THE PRIME OF MY LIFE

Let me rephrase that question in a way that gets down to the real nitty-gritty. Are you too old to learn to be an author? This is a better question because before one can write stories, some basic knowledge is required. That’s a lesson I learned the hard way.

After my wife and I retired, I decided that I wanted to write fiction. For me, 63 wasn’t too old, and I received my first book contract at the ripe old age of 65. But a lot of learning happened in those two intervening years. It was necessary learning, but some of it was painful.

At 63, I sat down and wrote my masterpiece, Hide and Seek, mostly in one week. Then I took a novel-writing workshop where I tweaked my masterpiece and then gave it to the instructor. After her critique, I wanted to hide, but I decided to seek. So I attended writing conferences, took more classes, read writing craft books, rewrote my first story, had it critiqued, rewrote that story again, had it critiqued again, and rewrote it again. Then I went seeking and pitched it at a writing conference. Finally, an acquisitions editor actually wanted it.

What about the age factor? What limitations come with age? To be truthful, as a “senior citizen,” there are advantages and disadvantages in life. I learned some of them from the self-proclaimed grandpa to all the neighborhood kids where I grew up. He said, “Gettin’ old ain’t for sissies. And being old ain’t a sin, but it’s pretty doggone inconvenient.” He was right.

To be sure there are inconveniences. After 65, things with our bodies get confused. For me, it seemed that hair wanted to grow everywhere except on my head. At 70, my feet spread until I had to buy quadruple-E shoes that were two sizes larger than I wore when I was younger. And that sharp mind I had always relied on wasn’t so reliable anymore. Words seemed to hide, and I had to seek them.

But on the flip side, with age comes a fuller, richer body of life experiences that can be woven into stories, stories that communicate to readers what it’s like to live on this planet in all of its fallenness and all of its God-given beauty. Seniors have much to say to those coming behind us. That’s probably the greatest advantage of writing in the prime of our lives.

My advice to anyone who feels led to write, or has a strong desire to do so, start the learning process as soon as possible. If I had it to do over, I would have started learning the craft of novel writing when I was in my fifties in preparation for writing after I retired.

But back to the original question. Are you too old? The way I see it, regardless of age, all you need are the 3 Ws. As long as the Lord leaves you with the Will, the Words, and the Wits, you’re never too old to become an author, and you’re never too old to write. And if Randy Alcorn has heaven pegged correctly in his classic book titled, Heaven, then we will continue to create with God in eternity. So, even if you miss your chance in this life, maybe it’s never really too late.

Can you imagine the stories we could write after gazing on the face of the Author of everything?

ABOUT H.L. WEGLEY

H. L. Wegley served as an Air Force Intelligence Analyst and a Weather Officer. In civilian life, he worked as a research scientist at a national lab, publishing in the scientific literature, then developed Boeing computing systems for twenty years before he and his wife retired near Seattle where they enjoy grandchildren, the rugged coast of the Olympic National Park and where he crafts his stories. He is an award-winning author of inspirational thrillers and high-action, romantic-suspense novels.

Web site: https://www.hlwegley.com/

Slanted on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T8Y5H5W/

H. L. Wegley on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HLWegley/

ABOUT SLANTED

Slanted is a character-driven, high-action, romantic suspense story about a conspiracy by a big tech company to control American politics, elections, and the presidency in order to change the course of our nation away from its roots as a constitutional republic. A snark-filled, but eventually sweet romance that develops while the three main characters run for their lives. I should explain here that there is no love triangle. One of the three is an eight-year-old drama queen, Sam. She provides the comic relief.

Slanted released in June, and it has spent a little over two weeks on the Amazon best-seller list for Christian Mystery and Suspense. If you want to know precisely how you are influenced and manipulated each time you use an Internet search engine, reading Slanted is a fun way to learn all about this geeky subject.