Late to the Party: On Being a Debut Novelist at Sixty
By Liza Nash Taylor | September 4, 2020 |
Please welcome Liza Nash Taylor to Writer Unboxed today! Liza was a 2018 Hawthornden International Fellow and received an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts the same year. Her work has appeared in Gargoyle Magazine; Deep South, and others. Her debut historical novel, ETIQUETTE FOR RUNAWAYS released on August 18 from Blackstone Publishing and is listed in Parade Magazine’s 30 Best Beach Reads of 2020 and Frolic’s 20 Best Books of Summer 2020 , and is the August book of the month for 50-Plus Today. A native Virginian, she lives in Keswick with her husband and dogs, in an old farmhouse which serves as a setting for her novels.
Learn more about Liza at lizanashtaylor.com | Facebook | Instagram| Twitter.
Late to the Party: On Being a Debut Novelist at Sixty
“Had you told me when I was 20 or 30 or 40 that I would write a novel someday, I would have laughed! Only in my 50s did I realize that I had something to say and that I could use the platform of fiction to say it.” – Alka Joshi, author of NYT Bestseller The Henna Artist
I never wanted to star in the school play. At fourteen, I had the shakes before my piano recital. I was interviewed on television, once, in my early thirties, and felt ill with anxiety beforehand and for days afterward.
Now, I’m sixty. Yesterday, I did two live radio spots, a taping for a podcast, and a 45-minute, solo Facebook Live takeover. Each of these events scared the hell out of me.
This is publication week for my debut novel, ETIQUETTE FOR RUNAWAYS. My publicist, Ann-Marie Nieves of Get Red P.R., has done a fabulous job booking virtual appearances for me. I’m constantly having to explain to the Facebook page host/radio interviewer/ podcast presenter that I’ve never done a page takeover/podcast/Instagram live before.
But I’m learning.
When I was 53, my youngest went to high school and I decided to take some literature classes. In the advisors’ office at my local community college I met with a harried young woman who said to me, “Now then, Mrs. Taylor.” She smiled, in a way I interpreted as condescending, then continued, “do you want to take this course for credit? You’d have to take the tests and exams. Or would you prefer to audit?” Well, that got my back all up. Audit, my ass. There and then I decided to pursue a second degree, in English. I’d show her. And so it began. I loved English 112; never mind that I was probably older than the mothers of my fellow students. Here, have a tissue. Keep the pack, I have more. Did you forget your pen, again? Who do you think is going to throw out that McMuffin wrapper?
They got used to me.
I went on to take every Literature class I could at Piedmont Community College. I branched out and took Philosophy, then French. This was just as online learning was beginning to take off, and I went on to take a class virtually at Harvard, called Crime and Horror in Victorian Literature and Culture. Me? Harvard? It sounded good. I was in Gothic heaven. When I had a choice, in my third semester, between a dull-sounding course on Literature of the Restoration and a class on writing fiction, I took the writing class, and never looked back. A few years later, at 56, with a published essay and several short stories under my belt, I began the low-residency MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. I was not the oldest in my cohort.
I soon came to realize that as an undergrad in my late teens I hadn’t appreciated what a gift learning something new can be. I had taken learning for granted. After all, I had been doing it for all of my cognizant life. The MFA program offered me a sense of accomplishment and creative fulfillment that translated into a new sort of bravery. Yes, I would stand before a room full of people and read my work aloud, even if I started out trembling. Yes, I would complete and deliver my graduate lecture, and learn to make a PowerPoint slide show.
Alka Joshi, another recent debut author, published her fabulous novel, THE HENNA ARTIST (Harper Collins/Mira) in March, at the age of 62, following a long and successful career in advertising. From an article in Harper’s Bazaar India I learned that, like me, Ms. Joshi got an MFA in her fifties and her thesis became the starting point for her novel. After being broadly acclaimed, THE HENNA ARTIST reached #14 on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction list and was Reese Witherspoon’s book club pick for May. In mid-August it was optioned by Miramax, with Freida Pinto to star as Lakshmi. In the Harper’s Bazaar article Ms. Joshi says, of the move to virtual book promotion:
“Oh, I didn’t want to do it. I thought, all of these twentysomethings, they know how to do this. But I thought, okay, just one baby step at a time. Just like anything else in life. So I started small. Now I’m doing virtual book clubs every day, and do you know how fabulous that is?”
Delia Owens published her first novel, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, at the age of 68. She had several well-received nonfiction titles published earlier, but we all know that CRAWDADS has been on the NYT Bestseller list for over 100 weeks and Reese is making the movie. It’s been a phenomenon. I met Ms. Owens at a cocktail reception at the Savannah Book Festival in 2019, just as her novel was really exploding. She was with a publicist from her publishing house. At that time, I had a book contract, and we chatted about being debut novelists. She was gracious and soft-spoken, and she seemed ill at ease with the attention she garnered. When I left to refill her publicist’s wine, I was stopped by an enthusiastic gentleman who asked me to tell him about my novel. I gushed enthusiastically, and about two sentences in I realized that he thought he was speaking to Delia Owens. We were both disappointed.
The three of us—Delia Owens, Alka Joshi, and myself, all have silvery hair and a few wrinkles. We have all had careers that were not novel writing; Ms. Joshi in advertising, Ms. Owens as a wildlife scientist working in Africa, and myself as a fashion designer with Ralph Lauren in New York and shop owner on Nantucket. Like Alka, writing a novel was something I had never considered in my twenties, or thirties, or forties, yet, as I began to learn the craft I saw that it was a creative process not unlike creating a garment—a bit of sculptural draping, a bit of mathematical pattern-making, and then a series of tucks and lots of trimming and embellishment to—hopefully—end up with a harmonious design. As older writers, I believe we have more perspective and perhaps more benevolent detachment to mine our individual file cabinets of emotional history and be kind to ourselves as we do. I can only speak for myself, of course, but I expect that many novelist do refer back to their own emotional milestones—that first heartbreak, the most frightening/humiliating/exhilarating thing that has ever happened to us. At sixty, we have a lot more files in that cabinet. And maybe we have fewer f***s to give.
Last week, minutes before my first Facebook Live event was to begin, I decided to run outside and cut a few hydrangea blossoms to put in the background. I walked out my back door and face-first into an enormous, sticky spider’s web. Or maybe it was a giant spider commune. I was covered, frantically clawing at my hair and clothes. As I began my presentation, I kept waiting to feel little hairy legs creeping up my neck. But I persevered, staying to the script I had printed out in 18-point type and mounted to a tall cardboard triptych behind my computer screen. Ten minutes in I felt like I could breathe, and was hitting my stride when I froze. I don’t mean I froze, as if in terror, but my image on the screen froze. Chat messages popped up: She’s frozen. What just happened? And this was a popular reading group with over 15,000 members.
I managed to switch to my phone, and I continued. And you know what? The audience stayed with me. I had 1,000 views. Afterward, I thought, well, now. You’ve been through the worst, so it can only go uphill from here. Or, wait…there must be something even worse that I haven’t thought of yet…
Today is Saturday, and I have two days off. It’s nice to not have to do the full makeup or “Zoom dress” as I call it—looking presentable from the waist up while wearing my lucky blown-out-at-the-knee jeans and ancient Converse. I’ve sort of memorized my talking points. I’m trying to mix it up a bit with each event. I’m learning to meditate with an app, to get a handle on my anxiety issues. Yesterday, I did a podcast from my closet while three power lawnmowers roared away outside my house. Entering week two, I’m not feeling nauseated before I go on.
This is progress.
This is learning.
This is, at sixty, doing things that scare the hell out of me.
My second novel comes out next August, also from Blackstone. I hope I’ll be able to have a traditional book tour and a launch party and attend some of the book festivals that were canceled this year. Those things will mean more performance hurdles, and more possibilities of things going wrong.
This is publication week, and it’s all new to me. But make no mistake about it, this is something I’ve wanted as much as I’ve ever wanted anything in my entire life. This, my friends, is sixty.
What scary new thing have you tried lately?
Liza Nash Taylor (she/her) is a late-blooming historical novelist and self-proclaimed empty nester with attitude. She was a 2018 Hawthornden International Fellow and received an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts the same year. Her work has appeared in Gargoyle Magazine; Deep South, and others. Her debut novel, ETIQUETTE FOR RUNAWAYS (Blackstone Publishing, 2020) was listed in Parade Magazine’s 30 Best Beach Reads of 2020 and Frolic’s 20 Best Books of Summer 2020. Her second novel, IN ALL GOOD FAITH, came out in August 2021, also from Blackstone.
A native Virginian, Liza lives in Keswick with her husband and dogs, in an old farmhouse which serves as a setting for her historical fiction.
Find out more at lizanashtaylor.com.
Congratulations, Liza! Love this post and your inspiring story! Best wishes!
Thank you, Lori!
Congratulations on your debut novel. I enjoyed reading about your publishing journey, especially since I got my debut novel published this May at the age of 58. Nice to see your second will be out next year. I’m still working on the first draft of my second. Your words are helping me with my motivation to keep it on track.
Thanks, Lisa. Congratulations on getting your first published!
Loved this. As an author who began her writing career at 60, I can so relate. You’re right. Our plate is full of memories that are a literal treasure trove of ideas for story plots and characters. I used to think I too was late to the party, but now, at 71, I realize the party is just getting started!
Party on, Sharon! Thanks for reading.
Congratulations! Different events for me, but debut next week at 71!
How exciting, Carol. If you want to, DM me some info about your book. I hope you have a smashing success.
Congrats to you, too, Carol. I debuted in March at 72. It’s never too late.
I can’t begin to tell you how much I love this post! And you are far from alone. There are LOTS of us out there :-) It’s wonderful to have the freedom and nerve and space to be able to recreate oneself at this stage of life. Like you, I’m blessed to be one of the fortunate ones with the inner and outer resources to be able to do this glorious thing. Thank you for putting it all into words so beautifully in your post.
Thanks Barbara. I love hearing from my fellow re-inventers!
Write on, Liza! Congratulations!
Thank you so much for reading, Nancy.
Heartiest congratulations, Liza! I’m inspired and encouraged by your journey. In a society where intergenerational nourishment can no longer rely on family and small-town interdependence, I think novels by folks in our age group can help fill the void.
Thank you, Lloyd.
What an inspiring post. If it had a Twitter link, I’d tweet it!
Thank you Leone!
Thank you for this inspiring article! At 58, my debut novel is out to a second round of beta readers with hopes to be querying in a couple of months. Given the timeline of publishing, I anticipate celebrating my 60th with a book tour!
Hi Janis. Best wishes to you for the whole process. Querying can be tough.
Spiders! I can only imagine how your stomach churned and blood pressure soared. Congratulations on your debut and overcoming the fears. It’s never too late to become a novelist. My debut came out in March and I am 72. I love what you wrote about our file boxes. Wishing you huge success.
Thanks, Linda. Congratualtions to you as well.
As I approach a birthday that puts me squarely in this brilliant group, I’m just coming off my first PitMad challenge. My own serious writing education spanned my fifties (and is still ongoing) in the form of writer’s groups and retreats and revision upon revision. Now I’m shopping a series and hanging out in a never-ending learning curve. Your post delights and encourages me! Sounds like you’re handling things with honesty and grace.
Thank you, Susan! Best wishes to you in your journey. I never had the nerve to to PitMad, so good for you.
Nice Friday encouraging thought: since I’m 59, I’m choosing to believe that our 60th year has a little more magic and can be my year, pub-wise, too. Great point about those extra files we’ve acquired. Now if I could only find the one I need among all these dusty old file-boxes when I need it.
Congratulations, Liza! Wishing you the best. Thanks much for sharing your experience with the WU community.
Vaughn, thank you. I hope you have a magical year.
This is such a lovely and inspiring post, Liza! So well said!
Thanks, Sarah! I am loving YOUR BOOK, THE WRONG KIND OF WOMAN, and looking forward to your debut in the fall.
Woot! Congrats. Double Woot! Some honest-to-goodness positivity.
Thanks, James.
Congratulations Liza!!!
I am enjoying this book very much!!!!
Congrats! You bring encouragement to many of us.
Thank you, Beth.
Bless and thank you for this column. I have had a novel in mind for a decade and still haven’t gotten it down. You have inspired me to persevere!
Thank you, Patty. I hope you pursue your dream.
Congratulations. I love hearing 60+ stories!
Thanks, Carol!
Congratulations! and thanks for this inspiring post. More and more of us older women are still doing it or just starting to do it. My writing group is made up of several over-65s and a couple over 75s, myself included. We’re not done yet!
Thanks, Judy!
Thanks, Liza, for including my journey in this article. What’s wonderful at 60 is you have a lot of lived experiences you can bring to your writing and you worry less about people’s reactions. You only have one life, so live it!
Thanks for your help with this, Alka. And congratulations on your continuing success.
Liza, at your callow age of 60, you are an upstart whippersnapper, but I still loved your post. Your spider attack cum tech-wreck tale was splendid. I am now shopping around a memoir of my deeply corrupt high school days, and I had to blow off the dirt and dried tears of many memories from that file cabinet you mentioned. Some of them might even be true.
Best success with the book, and I hope to read more of you here.
Tom, Thank you for your nice message. I hope your memoir finds a wonderful home.
Thank you so much for this article Liza. I’m turning 40 this year, and working on my first book. I’m incredibly inspired by your journey!
Hi Caroline. How exciting, to begin your first book. I wish you much inspiration.
Liza, I loved your post. Congratulations!!! And I loved that you mentioned other debuts who also came to it at a later age. Happy book birthday!!! I’m looking forward to reading.
What scary new thing have I done? Working on a story that scares me. I want to run away to something safer, but Anais Nin expressed it best, “And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
Hi Vijaya,
I know what you mean! I am editing a really emotional and traumatic scene and I have to keep walking away to eat candy. I wish you inspiration and success in completing your story.
Congratulations! Well done. At 61, I can relate, though my publishing thus far amounts to a book of poetry. Even so, there are multiple fantasy novels that I’m working on simultaneously and having the time of my life.
Christina, I applaud your being able to work on multiple storylines at once. I have been challenged doing pub week events for my first novel while editing my second. Keeping all of the stories straight in my head is tough! Requires much candy. Enjoy the process!
What an incredible journey you’ve taken, Liza! Reading this was so encouraging as my memoir will debut when I’m 65. Wishing you all the best!
Thank you, Laura. And best wishes for your debut.
I love your voice and moxie, Liza. How wonderful that the world chose to recognize both during such a turbulent time.
I’m currently writing a book that scares me in general, and am steeling myself for a particularly difficult scene. (Oh, the angst!) Have spent the morning taking refuge in research–my personal spider-infested closet–which gives you an idea how hard I am working to gather courage. But I shall persist, as most definitely you will. Cheers.
Jan, Candy helps. Persist! and thank you.
When I read through the comments I’m struck by how many people can relate to your journey, either because they’ve been there or because they are hoping they will have this kind of success and satisfaction when they get there. It’s never too late!
That includes me. Your post was like being enveloped in a warm hug. I was first published at 59. At 61, I started teaching two University courses when a) I had no education to prepare me for this, b) I’d never taught before and c) had no idea how to use PowerPoint. I have three books out now and in my late 60s I’m writing my next book while working full-time. And still teaching. This month my course goes to Zoom, so I’ve just learned how to share my PPT presentation and put the students into breakout rooms!
Something that is inherent to my personality is that I never think in terms of finite time to take on a project, learn something new or plan adventures in the future. I am aware that there are more years behind me than I have ahead of me, but I intend to cram everything I can into the time I have.
Deborah, I love your non-defeatist attitude. Tech is a bitch, but she can be tamed. Good for you for learning and for adapting to these strange times.
Congratulations and thank you. Hearing that others have successfully navigated the wickets between The End and published at age sixty is tremendously heartening.
Thanks, Bill. What a nice comment.
Let’s hear it for “encore career” authors! Congrats to you, Liz and welcome to the club. I look forward to your books. My first novel came out when I was 65, my second at 68, and I’m working on a third. As I said in a guest blogpost about coming late to the party.., “We are feeling empowered, freed, and enthusiastic about what we’re doing and where we are going. Our focus and ambition are often balanced by confidence that is not brash, equanimity that is not weakness, and stability of resources….I believe that our characters and the experiences we write about reflect the refiner’s fire of the lives we’ve lived…”
Hi Barbara,
I love your words—sooo much more eloquent than mine. Congratulations on completing two novels. I am working on pre-publication edits for my second and toying with a third. I guess we still have quite a bit to say, right?
Just turned 70 and am proof that it’s never too late! I had been published in the adult nonfiction world as part of my work life, but entered the children’s book world about 8 years ago and self-published a picture book that’s used in refugee resettlement centers all over the world. In 2018 Little Bee published my Middle Grade book Skylark and Wallcreeper and I was suddenly doing podcasts, author panels, and Skype classes with kids – and figuring out social media (Twitter @aobc). Yesterday, with the help of UnBoxed blogger Grace Wynter, my book One Light went live on Amazon Kindle for pre-order. Ohhhh – the technology!! It’s possible, it’s stressful, but it’s fun!
Anne, you inspire me for what’s ahead for seventy. I love your story and what you’re accomplishing.
Brava! We are never to old and it is NEVER too late! I relate to your story as a sister debut novelist in my 60’s. Becoming “an author” is an experience I yearned for all my life.
You go, Gail! Thanks for your message.
Great blog and nice to “meet” this community of fellow Boomer Lit folks. I’m adding all your books to my to-read list. I’ve published a number of non-fiction books, but hope to publish my first novel in a year or so, at 67/68. One of my characters is a woman publishing first books in her 70’s. And I live in a small coastal community surrounded by others who are taking up writing or art after 50. Our Art of Aging/art of Dying discussion series here is well attended. Creativity in all forms…the way to go at this age, when for many of us, we finally have time. And so much material after all these years.
Thanks, Kathie. I love hearing from like-minded folks.
You’re not alone, Liza, that’s for sure. Add me to the list–I published my first novel at 62. I’m now 71 and have 7 novels and one non-fiction book published. I think I still have a few books left in me. :-)
Thank you for sharing your journey!
Wow, Florence! You go, girl!
This is such an inspiration. I’m 41 and querying my first novel. I keep feeling this urgency to get published _now_, but this article is a wonderful reminder that it’s okay if it doesn’t happen now or even this year. I just have to keep doing the hard work, and my time will come.
(P.S. There are no sharing buttons on here! I copied and pasted the link to Twitter, but it would be so much easier to share straight from this page. Thanks!)
Hi Ekta,
I understand that sense of urgency. I’m guessing that it happens for writers of all ages once the finish and polish a draft. I didn’t realize how much my manuscript would continue to evolve through the agenting/publishing process, right through the copy edit stage. Right now I am pulling my hair out over pre-pub edits to my second novel. It is ongoing, but we want to see our best work published. Best wishes as you continue on.
Liza, I am so inspired and impressed I hardly know what to say. One thing that has absolutely terrified me about getting published is having to do readings, talks, etc. I realize now that I’m not alone in that discomfort and that it’s possible to get past it. Congratulations on your debut novel; may it be the first of many.
Hi Beth,
The whole performance/ promotion aspect really didn’t occur to me…but honestly, you will find your way because you’ll want to get the word out from your own lips.
If I can help, please contact me.
Liza
The title of your post intrigued me, because my book, The Tender Scar: Life After The Death of a Spouse, was published when I was 60 years of age. I thought retirement from medicine would be golf and travel, but Cynthia’s death changed those plans. My first novel was published four years later, and to my astonishment I now have twenty novels and novellas under my belt–at age 84. The bottom line for both of us–it’s never too late. Congratulations.
You’ve certainly been busy, Rickard. Good for you for reinventing yourself after such a sad loss.
Congratulations on your publication! I’m so excited to read it!
Well done! Although you are now famous published author, I still think of you as the Best Friend who sat next to me in Miss Olivero’s PE class, leaving me handwritten notes in my locker.
Weekends spent at your house, eating boxed brownies, sitting on the green shag rug in your room, reading Glamour magazine, while having long discussions about boys! Sweet memories! Xoxo
Dear lord, Miss Olvero….And tanning with tinfoil. You have a good memory! Those were the good old days. xox
Fabulous! And Congratulations!
Thank you! Sorry I’m so late to see this.
I published my first novel at 61. I always knew I wanted to be a writer. I could say life held me back but it was probably fear. A lot of things changed in my life and I knew I just couldn’t wait. So I self-published. I am still writing. And learning.
Hi Alleyne, sorry I didn’t respond sooner. Good for you!