I was nearly 40 when I started. I had no fear that I wasn't going to write. I knew it was just delayed. Then, my goodness, I never stopped.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the importance of perseverance and the understanding that success can come later in life.
Jane Gardam reflects on her journey as a writer, emphasizing that starting a passion or career later in life does not equate to failure. She conveys a powerful message about resilience and the belief that creativity and success can flourish at any age, illustrating that it’s never too late to pursue one’s dreams.
In practice
During a motivational speech on pursuing passions, one might say this quote to encourage older individuals.
Stories of all lengths and depths come from different parts of the cave. For a novel, you must lay in mental, physical and spiritual provision as for a siege or for a time of hectic explosions, while a short story is, or can be, a steady, timed flame like the lighting of a blow lamp on a building site full of dry tinder.
I discovered that writing was very nice indeed when I was very young, and I never changed. I don't think my style has changed very much at all - though I hope what I say is a bit more interesting. It's about getting to know a character and loving them, I think.
I started to write as a child as soon as I could read, or even before, when my mother read me Beatrix Potter at bedtime. Writing seemed to me to be the only sensible way to live and be happy.
In modern novels, there is no one I want to copy. My style 'is a poor thing, but it is my own.'
We have our hands, we have our brains, we have the challenge all around us, and we have within (from whatever source) the will to strive. That is enough; there is no need to assert 'belief' in that which we do not, as yet, know.
No one should ever be afraid of failing; it’s being afraid to give it your all in trying that I urge against. If there is one thing I have learned, particularly in my life as an athlete, it is that our limits may not be where we think they are. And, even when we think we’ve finally reached them, the next time we go there exploring we often find that they’ve moved again.
Doing is better than not doing, and if you do something badly you'll learn to do it better.
Every time I step on the field, I'm going to give my whole heart regardless of the score.
People will always be around to tell you you're no good or you're wrong or unwise to keep doing what you want to do. They're wrong. They're always wrong. Keep going.
Don't wait until you feel positive to move forward. Act your way into feeling good.
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