Your Dream Doesn’t Have to Have An Expiration Date – How I Became A Published Author After 50

By Debra Sennefelder

I’ve recently celebrated my 56th birthday, and for most of the day, I worked on my tenth contracted novel. Being able to do what I’ve always dreamed of doing on my birthday was the best way to spend the day. If I had not decided, at the age of 50, to give writing a mystery novel one more try, I wouldn’t be where I am today – a published author.

There was a conversation I was a part of many years ago with a few writers and one was lamenting that she didn’t want to wait until she was 50 to have her first book published. At the time I was about ten years younger than her and I thought – why not? What was so wrong with being 50 and having a lifetime dream fulfilled? Looking back, I guess she believed that 50 was too old to have dreams come true or it wasn’t worth embarking on a new career. It saddened me that her dream had an expiration date.

My journey to publication has been a lifetime in the making.

My journey to publication has been a lifetime in the making. I’ve been making up stories since I was a child, and by the time I was a teenager, I knew I wanted to be an author. At the time, Danielle Steel was one of the biggest names in fiction, and I loved her books. Yes, I wanted to be Danielle Steel. However, I hadn’t written a full manuscript, and I knew I needed a job. I went to fashion school and then worked at Macy’s before marrying and moving to Connecticut. There I wrote my first novel, and it was promptly rejected by a long list of agents and editors (by the way, one of those editors is my editor now). The rejections were hard, but I wasn’t deterred because I had a dream. While not discouraged, I was distracted for a few years.

We’d bought our home, and I started a new job in a new town. I threw myself into volunteer work and picked up new hobbies. Yet, there was always that spark of imagination in me that had me jotting down notes and ideas. One afternoon, a visit to the local bookshop led to discovering a genre of books called cozy mysteries featuring female protagonists who were not too different from me – suburban, a cook/baker, and involved in the community. Where we parted ways was that I wasn’t tripping over dead bodies like they were. I read one after another, caught up in those stories of amateur sleuths. I came to realize that manuscript I’d tucked away in a drawer was like those books. It wasn’t too long before I found a writing group and joined.

For the next few years, I spent one Saturday a month at a writer’s meeting followed by lunch, learning, and networking with other writers. I attended conferences and workshops. I wrote in the morning before work, evenings after work, on weekends, and during holidays. I submitted and was rejected. I found some success in short stories for a brief time, but it wasn’t long before realizing I was getting nowhere. I wanted my weekends back, and I wanted to enjoy days off from work. It was about this time that blogs started to pop up, and I quickly fell in love with the medium. I could write what I wanted when I wanted how I wanted, and no one would take a red pen to my words. After some experimenting, I settled on a food blog. It combined the two things I loved – food and writing. While I stepped back from writing fiction for a couple of years, I hadn’t entirely left that world. Which turned out to be a good thing.

There’s an old saying – write what you know.

Even though I loved food blogging, I missed writing fiction. I missed making up stories and hanging out with my characters. So, I rejoined a writing group, got a critique partner, and started writing a book. This time I wrote romantic suspense. Three manuscripts, in fact. While I was enjoying the process, I was feeling unsure about the books. They seemed to be missing something, and I also started to feel burned out again. It was at that time I realized something had to go. I couldn’t continue working full-time, blogging, writing in addition to having a life. I finally let go of the blog. It was a hard decision, but now, looking back, it was the right one. So, there I was, 50 years old and going after my dream that had been shelved for too long. Not only had I ditched the food blog, but I also ditched the romantic suspense novels in favor of a cozy mystery featuring a food blogger. There’s a saying in the writing world – write what you know.
I did, and it paid off.

A year later, I submitted my manuscript to an agent and signed on as a client. By Thanksgiving that year, I had a three-book contract offer from a New York publisher. This all happened very quickly, and it was very much welcomed because the job that I had worked at for 21 years was going away. I was being laid off as a part of the company’s restructuring. Since I wouldn’t have that income, I created a second mystery series, featuring an unemployed fashionista who inherited her granny’s tired, old consignment shop. The following summer, I got a three-book contract for that series. Not too shabby for a 53-year-old.

I have four tips to help you write your first book. Regardless of what you want to write – fiction or non-fiction – these tips should help you turn a blank page into the first page of your creative outlet and possibly a new career.

Get into an author mindset –

Start thinking of yourself as an author – today. Don’t worry about what you don’t yet; you’ll learn as you write. Having this mindset of being an author will help you start and finish writing your book. Plus, thinking of yourself as an author will help you with the next tips.

Read extensively in the genre you want to write in –

Knowing your genre inside and out will help you while writing your book and when you go to sell/market the book. You’ll be able to identify reader expectations and meet them. You’ll also have comparable data collected that you might need when pitching your book to agents/editors or for planning marketing if you’re going to self-publish.

Learn the craft of writing –

Learning how to write a publishable book takes time. I haven’t met a writer who sold her very first draft of a manuscript. While it can seem daunting learning about story structure, characterization, setting, plotting, pacing, etc., it is doable. There are so many resources available online these days to hone your craft, which will be ongoing.

Develop a routine –

You’ll want to finish your first draft as quickly as possible because it’s your biggest challenge right now. Having a routine will help you accomplish that task. There’s no perfect time to write. I suggest blocking off time in your calendar to write and stick to it. Be sure to allow time for brainstorming, researching, and the actual writing. Remember, this is your dream, and nobody else cares as much about it as you do.

There’s no one right way to write –

There are many “experts” who will tell you their way to write a book is the only way, but that’s not true. Once you learn the mechanics of writing, have a grasp on the craft, and have your story idea, how you get to the end of your manuscript is up to you. I outline my novels, but do you have to? No. I do I recommend outlining? Yes. I’m a morning writer, but does that mean the best time for you to write is in the morning? No. Experiment with different routines, daily goals, and story ideas until you find what works best for you.

Bonus tip –

I couldn’t resist adding this one, and it’s a simple tip. Have fun writing! Enjoy the process and lose yourself in your story because if you do, then most likely readers will too.

I firmly believe we’re never too old to follow our dreams and I hope sharing my journey to publishing success inspires you to take that leap of faith in yourself. You’ll be so happy you took the chance on you.

My website – www. DebraSennefelder.com