Is Writing After Retirement Right for You?

by Elizabeth Wheeler

Writing after retirement wasn’t something I was thinking about when I left the workplace.

After all, I had been writing for decades as a public relations and marketing professional. (My portfolio included newsletters, annual reports, marketing materials, speeches, columns for newspapers, and many more items.)

I envisioned my retirement busy with travel, golf, more time with my grandchildren, and moving to a small town in western Colorado.

Shortly before retiring, though, I had an experience at Starbucks on one of the Monday holidays. It was like a premonition, a forewarning, of what my life would be like when I no longer wore suits and heels every day, but jeans and a t-shirt like I was wearing that day.

Suddenly, I Was Motivated to Write

I noticed people briefly looked at me when I entered the store. Since I wasn’t wearing a suit nor looked “sexy” in my blue jeans, I watched their eyes glass over. That was the day I knew I would become invisible in American society, and I didn’t like it at all.  It made me mad.

Then I encountered lots of information about the first wave of us retiring baby boomers. I read several books and numerous articles on the subject and took a class called “Challenges for Women over 60.”

It seems marketing research had identified an extensive rich American resource soon to be discounted in our age-worshiping society.

Frankly, our country didn’t know what to do with us or how to portray us, especially the female boomers, even though we were a vast, wealthy segment of society.

I found a cause and a purpose that gave me the motivation to write. That’s where my writing-after-retirement career started.

How about you?

5 Signs You Should Consider Writing After Retirement

Thinking back on my writing experience after I retired, I reflected on five thoughts that might indicate writing may be the right choice for you now.

1. You have a strong motivation to write.

The more clear and focused you can be about your motive, the more likely you will enjoy writing and be successful.

Because of the experience I had at Starbucks, and because of the information I gathered from my research about the invisibility of women over 60, I decided to start a blog in 2013 called “Ladies of a Certain Age.” I wanted to share my feelings and experiences with other “Boomer Babes,” as I called us.

To find out if you have a strong motivation to write, answer these questions:

• Is writing something you have always wanted to do?
• Is there a story or stories you want to tell?
• Has an idea popped into your head, and it just won’t leave you alone?
• Do you long for something creative to fill up your time between traveling, playing your favorite sport, or maybe gardening?
• Are there moral, political, societal, or ethical messages you want to get out?

If you answered “yes” to most of these questions, that’s a good sign. Keep going.

2. You already have in mind what you want to write.

Before I started my blog, I had started to get a few in my inbox. I didn’t know what a blog was at the time, so I began to investigate them.

I learned all sorts of things. I realized a blog was a new way to communicate to a particular audience. So when I realized that I wanted to talk to other women over the age of 60, I figured a blog would be a great way to do it.

Before I started writing, I set parameters that made sense to me, fit in with my now-retired lifestyle, and teamed up with another woman for technology support.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you want to write a blog?
• Perhaps you’d like to write a screenplay or historical fiction?
• What about authoring a steamy romance or a cozy murder mystery?
• Maybe you would like to author a cookbook, your family genealogy, or a book about one of your hobbies?

If you have something clear in mind that you want to write, that is another good sign. For further exploration, look at your bookshelf and see what’s on it. Review what you have checked out at the library or ordered online. Look at your inbox for blogs you routinely save.

Think back over the past couple of years. Do you have season tickets to specific productions or do you attend poet night at your favorite coffee shop? Has a new form of writing recently grabbed your attention, so you want to try your hand at it?

A couple of years after I started my blog, a whole mystery popped into my head one afternoon when I was gardening in my backyard. The plot and characters wouldn’t leave me alone. So, I wrote it.

3. You have an idea of how writing after retirement would work.

Thinking about writing and actually writing are two different things. It’s important to get an idea of how you would go about fitting writing into your life.

Visualize yourself waking up one morning eager to get started writing. Complete the following sentences by filling in the blanks:

• I see myself writing ________________________ (where).
• I am writing with _______________________________(pen, laptop computer, dictating on my phone).
• I have a handy-dandy list of resources to get me started_____________________(what are these).
• I can quickly get going on my new piece, but first I need to _____________________(walk the dog, eat breakfast with husband, do my part-time job).

Look at your answers and see what you require to begin. Perhaps you need to select in your home an area as a writing space, purchase a computer, investigate writing resources, or designate when you would have time to write.

It can also help to ask a writer to talk with you about what they do. Consider this an informational interview. Before your visit, list the specific questions you have. These may include:

• How much time do you spend writing?
• Do you write every day or just when the mood strikes you?
• How did you get started?
• Who publishes your work?
• Have you found it financially worth your while?
• What are the benefits for you? What are the drawbacks?

Taking these steps can help writing become more real, taking it out of the realm of the imagination and into your living room.

4. You’re ready to learn what you need to learn.

I could not take my experience as a business writer and crank out blogs and books. I had to study, learn new technology, establish a routine writing schedule, and become a part of a writing community.

My first novel, in particular, was a humbling experience. I hadn’t written fiction since my freshman year in college.

After sharing a draft with a writer friend of mine, it became painfully apparent that I needed to learn about this type of writing. I took classes, joined a critique group, and found mentors. Now, I have begun my third ladies-of-a-certain-age mystery, Murder and a Blue Spruce.

Review any past writing experience you have and answer these questions:

1. What have I written in the past?
2. How long ago did I write?
3. Did anyone review or edit my writing?
4. How do I feel about sharing my work with others?
5. What would I do or feel if someone did not like what I wrote?
6. Am I keen on learning new technology or new writing guidelines?
7. Am I okay with stepping out of my comfort zone now and then?

Use your answers to these questions to judge whether or not you are ready to potentially go back to being a student again, and whether learning about writing excites you…or not.

5. Writing after retirement feels right to you.

Writing has added richness to my retirement life. I never had a plan to make money with my work, even though I have made some. I did have a firm goal as a recovering workaholic not to let it consume my life.

What about you?

List your top five ambitions for the next three years. Now, estimate how much time each will take. Perhaps you need to move, work part-time, take care of grandchildren or older parents, or fulfill a volunteer commitment you have made.

Ask yourself how writing will fit amongst your other life goals, then make a plan to schedule it in. I have a feeling you’ll be happy you did. I sure am.

Have you thought about writing after retirement?

Read Elizabeth’s other piece on Writing and Wellness here.

(If you need help creating your author platform after retirement, check out Writer Get Noticed!)

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Born March 29, 1947 in Denver, Elizabeth Wheeler has been igniting the world ever since. Her parents called her Reddy Kilowatt, after the famous utility company mascot, who also had red hair. She was one of a few women who graduated from the University Of Colorado School of Business in 1973 with a graduate degree in marketing. Before retiring, she headed up marketing/public relations departments for two large healthcare nonprofit organizations, a pharmaceutical company, and a hospital.

Also, Elizabeth had her own company, Ask GENIE! Communications. The firm’s focus was on educating old house owners about the care of their homes, conducting neighborhood tours and an annual old house fair, and writing applications for historic preservation tax credits.

She has authored numerous books, including Murder and Pink Blossoms, the first in the series of ladies-of-a-certain-age mysteries, and Murder and a Victory Garden, the second in the series. Paths – A Primer for Ladies-of-a-Certain-Age, is due out the spring of 2021.  Her blog, “Ladies-of-a-Certain-Age,” is read by women throughout the United States and several foreign countries.

Elizabeth has three children and four grandchildren. She resides on the Western Slope of Colorado with her Airedale Terrier, Bonnie Buttercup, and her tuxedo cat, Katie Lane Lynch, named after Elizabeth’s great-great-grandmother, an early Colorado pioneer. She enjoys gardening, knitting, hiking, and playing pickleball.

For more information on Elizabeth and her work, see her website or connect with her on Twitter.

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Murder and Pink Blossoms: A Ladies-of-a-Certain-Age-Mystery: A-lady-of-a-certain-age, Ellen Lane finds a man’s body in her driveway. Her neighbor, who operates an illegal tree trimming company in the alley behind her garage, is the assumed the killer. After all, everyone heard him arguing the day before with the dead man.

Ellen and her cousin are worried people won’t come now to the Pink Blossoms and Neighborhood Tour they have so carefully prepared. With guides explaining the distinctive architecture and the unique pink blooming trees planted in honor of former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, who loved the color pink and grew up in the area, hundreds are expected to participate.

Kids and their moms planned on raising money for their schools by selling fudge made from Mamie’s recipe.

Thanks to cousins’ efforts, the murderer confesses and the tour takes place amongst the blossoms and Colorado sunshine. Lots of history, lots of tears, lots of laughs.

Available at Amazon.