This month marks the 10th anniversary of my “retirement” (I went on pension and social security in August 2014). When I’ve finished, I’ll send you something I’m writing about ten years into “reFIREment.”
My innate contempt for authority got the best of me in my early sixties. Despite my success in biotech leading teams of writers putting together lengthy FDA submissions, I struck out on my own and started writing whatever I wanted. It's not exactly retirement - my fifth book publishes at the end of this month - but I am thrilled with how it's going. My niche turns out to be fiction about vivid older characters. I also lead fiction workshops for olders. My new book is a how-to manual for new writers over fifty who are sick of reading Romance novels about characters their children's ages. It's called "Write & Sell a Well-Seasoned Romance."
Love your take on this Leanne. While I have my own personal struggles with this conversation and Greg and I have robust imaginings and plans about what retirement might look like for our family, my concerns are the broader infrastructure and policy failure which leaves MANY (if not most) Americans without the freedom or flexibility to even dream about retirement. Our failure re: retirement security, access to healthcare, broken child and elder care systems and no real human-centered leave policy for parents, caregivers or the most exhausted among us is catching up with us.
This month marks the 10th anniversary of my “retirement” (I went on pension and social security in August 2014). When I’ve finished, I’ll send you something I’m writing about ten years into “reFIREment.”
My innate contempt for authority got the best of me in my early sixties. Despite my success in biotech leading teams of writers putting together lengthy FDA submissions, I struck out on my own and started writing whatever I wanted. It's not exactly retirement - my fifth book publishes at the end of this month - but I am thrilled with how it's going. My niche turns out to be fiction about vivid older characters. I also lead fiction workshops for olders. My new book is a how-to manual for new writers over fifty who are sick of reading Romance novels about characters their children's ages. It's called "Write & Sell a Well-Seasoned Romance."
Nice—so inspiring! FIVE books > FDA submissions. :)
Love your take on this Leanne. While I have my own personal struggles with this conversation and Greg and I have robust imaginings and plans about what retirement might look like for our family, my concerns are the broader infrastructure and policy failure which leaves MANY (if not most) Americans without the freedom or flexibility to even dream about retirement. Our failure re: retirement security, access to healthcare, broken child and elder care systems and no real human-centered leave policy for parents, caregivers or the most exhausted among us is catching up with us.
So true—like so many other things, this system is broken. Hope you guys get to fulfill your imaginings!