Quick Success in Writing is Overrated. Play the Long Game Instead
Some careers — like pro sports — are made for the young. Writing is not one of those careers.
When Michael Phelps retired from professional swimming at 31, he was the oldest individual champion in Olympic swimming history. Young success is common in professional sports. The average retirement age of NFL players is 27, for example. But early success isn’t exclusive to athletes. The covers of glossy magazines at your grocery store checkout often feature young YouTube stars, touring musicians, and actors achieving fame and fortune… at 19.
Some careers simply favor the young. This includes most professional sports, some artistic endeavors like music and modeling, and even some blue-collar jobs in which brute strength and endurance matter more than experience.
Now, let’s consider another way. The New Yorker recently profiled 87-year-old agrarian author and conservation activist, Wendell Berry. For decades, Berry has been one of the most prolific and well-read conservationist writers. While it’s true that Berry had some early success in the writing field (such as becoming a Creative Writing professor at New York University in his mid-twenties), his career was not one of fast or flashy literary fame. As the New Yorker article…
