Use it or lose it

When is the right time to stop writing? It’s a thought that often invades my thinking. Am I too old? Are my instincts and word-knowledge waning? Maurice Gee announced he was stopping at eighty years old, after a full life-time of writing. Then he went on to write at least two more books, one of them an award-winning children’s novel.

 I suppose the answer is – stop when you don’t enjoy writing any more. You readers will let you know if your writing has gone downhill. I thought Harbouring would be my last novel. But now I have a new one in the wings: one which I thoroughly enjoyed writing. So now I am sitting at my computer wondering what next. Hence writing this blog. Even a short blog is writing. And shaping words on a page is just like walking round the block to keep the knees functioning.

Use it or lose it.