Write, regardless of age
Advice from the international bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat
Never let the flame go out
George Clooney’s latest movie, The Boys in the Boat, is the thrilling true story of the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin in front of Hitler.
It’s set for release this Christmas and there is a real buzz around it.
But while Clooney takes the spotlight, this will also be a moment of satisfaction for nonfiction author Daniel James Brown. It was Brown who pounced on this incredible story when he discovered his neighbour was one of the original rowing team, Joe Rantz.
Brown turned the story into the mega-bestselling narrative nonfiction book of the same name.
Late bloomer
Daniel James Brown is a fabulous example of a late-bloom author. If you have reached a certain age and feel that you’ve missed your opportunity to become a writer, then you need to look to Brown for inspiration.
He had enjoyed a long career teaching writing at San Jose University and Stamford University before becoming a technical writer. But there was a dream burning inside him.
But he had long harboured ambitions of becoming an author of narrative nonfiction. He was well into his 50s when his first book, Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894 was published in 2006. This was followed by The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride three years later.
Of course his major breakthrough came in 2013 with the publication of The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympics. Brown’s 17-page book proposal landed him a book deal worth $750,000 and a major movie deal in 2011.
All very exciting, but it had been a long time coming.
Brown’s secret: persistence
To inspire others and to send out the message to never give up on your dreams, Daniel James Brown posted the following on his Facebook page in 2021 as he was about to publish his latest book, Facing the Mountain.
As I get ready to launch a new book, I have some unsolicited advice for anyone who may be setting out on a writing career, particularly if your goal is to make a living at it and be read widely.
a) Work at it whenever your life circumstances allow, regardless of your age. I didn't start until I was in my mid-fifties.
b) Never think any piece of writing is perfect. It can always be made better. Do that. Make it better, again and again. Then welcome your editor's feedback when she tells you it can be better still.
c) Understand that authorship is both an art and a business. Expect your publishers to expect you to thoroughly understand the profit and loss side of things. Be a good business partner.
d) Be like the boys in the boat: Pull together with your publishing team, be resilient, lend your whole heart to the effort, set your ambitions high.
e) Expect commercial success to come, if it comes at all, slowly and incrementally. Build on each success, no matter how modest it might be.
f) Persevere. At one of my readings, nobody showed up except one homeless guy looking for a place to get in out of the rain. At my first public event for The Boys in the Boat, perhaps seven people showed up, one of whom was my brother-in-law. But roughly a year later, I walked out onto a stage in Wilmington, Delaware, and came face to face with the audience in the photo below (NB it was a packed auditorium). Be prepared for that. Have something to say. And enjoy the ride, no matter how rocky it might be.
I hope you’ve found this useful — remember, it’s never too late to follow your dreams.
Until the next time…