Turned 40 and realized I'd spent 15 years saying 'someday' to writing a novel

I hit 40 last month and it really hit me hard. For 15 years I kept a notebook with character sketches and plot outlines for a mystery novel set in a small coastal town. I even picked out a pen name and told my coworkers I was working on it. But I never wrote more than 30 pages total across all those years. The number 40 just made me realize how much time slipped by while I was waiting for the 'perfect moment' to start. Now I'm wondering if I should actually try to write it bit by bit or just let the dream go. Has anyone else had a milestone age make them face a long ignored goal?

3 comments

3 Comments

anderson.piper1mo ago

Those 30 pages might be better than starting from scratch.

emma_flores1mo ago

Tbh that 30 pages thing reminds me of my buddy Carlos. He spent like 8 years trying to build a custom motorcycle in his garage, kept buying parts and never finishing. Then his wife got fed up and made him sell the frame. He ended up taking all those parts and just posting step by step repair guides on a forum, and now he's got a small youtube channel with 12k subs. Point is, those 30 pages are actual evidence you did something. I say keep the notebook and maybe just try to add one page a week or something small like that. No pressure, just chip away.

avery_jackson1mo ago

The 30 pages thing was the part that stood out to me too. Used to be the type who thought if you didn't finish something big it was a waste. But a buddy of mine spent 10 years writing a cookbook on and off, never got past 50 recipes. Then he just turned it into a blog and it actually took off. Those 30 pages are proof you have the bones of a story. Bit by bit is the only way anything gets done anyway. Nobody sits down and writes a whole novel in one shot except in movies.