This advice column in The New York Times by the author Roxane Gay is a fitting way to begin a new year. She addresses letters from two fledgling writers — one 47 and the other 65 — who ask whether it’s too late for them to make their literary dreams come true. Gay dispels the notion that writing success is bound to youth, using her own experience as an example. She endured years of rejection and worry and said she nearly gave up, but she kept writing until she got her chance. Gay, now 43, says she has more to say as she gets older and is better able to express herself.
Gay’s hard-won advice is well worth heeding for anyone who wants to be a writer or artist: “I should have defined artistic success in ways that weren’t shaped by forces beyond my control. … The only thing you can control is how you write and how hard you work.”
But she sternly adds: “No, you are not promised artistic success simply because you want it.” Sometimes, success means just finishing that damn novel, even if it takes years. Sometimes it means you earn a small sum and get your words published. And sometimes, yes, it means a big advance, movie options and laurels from the critics.
Gay makes the important point that “other writers are not your measure.” I think we all fall into the trap of measuring ourselves against others, an all-too-human impulse intensified by social media “where everyone is showing you only what they want you to see.” In the new year, let’s resolve to reach for excellence instead of glory and support others who embark on their own uncertain artistic journeys.