Retiring from Writing Would Mean Retiring From Life - Andrew Crofts
People around me seem to mention the word “retirement” a
lot, asking one another when they are thinking
of taking the plunge. I’m keeping a low profile because I am not sure that, as
a lifelong freelance writer, I completely grasp the concept.
Retire from what exactly?
If I wake up in the middle of the night with a brilliant
idea for a book, am I going to turn over and go back to sleep rather than
follow the train of thought to wherever it might lead me?
If someone emails me from some distant and mysterious land,
inviting me to travel to them to hear their story with a view to ghosting for
them, am I going to decline because now I am “retired”?
There are aspects of writing which become increasingly
tedious with age – typing mainly - but then sitting on a ride-on lawnmower can
become tedious after an hour or two, as can sitting in a coffee shop with a
newspaper or staring out to sea from a tropical island paradise. None of these
things do I particularly want to give up.
What exactly is “work” anyway?
Is raising children or caring for an elderly parent work? I
think so.
Is commuting on a crowded train for hours every day work? Most
definitely.
I guess if you hate your job then retirement is an
attractive option, but are there any freelance writers out there who really
hate their work that much? They may have grown tired of dealing with
publishers, but now they can bypass all that irritation and publish themselves.
They may have grown tired of sitting at screens, but most of us are willing to
pay that price for as long as our backs and wrists hold up to the repetitive
stresses and strains. Maybe they want more time to indulge in hobbies and
interests, but ever since I left school I have been following wherever my
interests lead me, while trying to make enough money to keep the family fed and
warm, so no change there.
To contemplate retiring from writing seems to me to be the
same as contemplating retiring from life, and I haven’t yet fixed a date for
that one.
Comments
I am, officially, 'retired.' I worked in Child Protection, and now I don't - and I get a pension to prove I'm officially aging,
But I don't fill my time with pottering - and I certainly don't see writing as 'filling time' - it gives me a purpose, it makes me laugh and despair (and travel). But it is 'work', when I'm not entirely dependent on it to put food on the table? I still can't answer that.
What really matters, though, is the work/play balance in whatever form that takes for you.