Age is No Excuse

In an L.A. Times article titled "It's Never Too Late to Create," an economist and the editor of The Chicago Review list some of the artists who have done "game-changing work" at quite grown-up ages.

Paul Cezanne created his influential work in his 60s, for example. Clint Eastwood is making his most highly-acclaimed movies in his mid-70s. Louise Bourgeois bloomed in her 80s. Etc. (L.A. is a town that needs to hear that, since there's such a youth bias in all aspects of the movie business.)

At the same time, being too young is no excuse for holding back either. There's little more pleasingly marketable to a publisher than a writer so young that it's newsworthy.


In fact, whatever we might view as an obstacle can become a news angle to draw interest when the creation is ready to go out into the world.