Guest Post : Mia the crazy one

*Zombie hands drag Nick away*


THIS BLOG HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER


OH NOOOO!


*Mia coughs*


Guess I'll have to step in. I'm not that bad am I?


(I DID NOT tell the Zombies to do that, they just did… *shakes head* bad bad Zombies)

So *ahem* kind of weird writing for a blog I gave an award to but I'll give it my best shot because I'd like to think this could become say maybe a fortnightly thing or something. If we do well that is.*whispers* Please help me do well.

This is an honour because Nick is like one of the first bloggers I started stalking so I'm not certain how to do him justice. I mean, I gave him awards and everything.

So, he reluctantly admitted I could write about AGE after I bamboozled him with words and begging and promises and then offered cookies. So

Why Age is just a number baby

(from h's profile at www.flickr.com)    

Age, it's a thing we put great emphasis on in our culture. Whether it be for age restricted purchases or breaking world records, for some reason those numbers beside our name are given great significance. Especially on i.d.'s. Which I find irritating because quite frankly I can't remember my exact age. I told somebody I was eighteen the other week. 

ON ACCIDENT I SWEAR.

And they believed me, which sort of hurts because I'm twenty this year.

Anywaddles, age is something we pay attention to because we sort of have to. In societies where counting the passing of time is important, you're kind of lost without an age. Or, maybe I should say, you feel lost without an age. You've got to have somewhere to start counting from.


But I guess I'm here today to tell you that those numbers they don't mean squat. At least, not as much as you think they do.


Those little number ticking away beside your name, next time they wave menacingly at you say it. Say what you should have been saying all along. You know, twirl round and say something like

"OMG stop waving, would you?!" 

and then

"DO YOU EVEN HAVE ARMS?!"

but really

"You can't hold me back."

and

"Also I sort of dislike you. Sorry about that."

(from m's profile at www.flickr.com)

Um, so I respect age. Let's get that straight. I love to talk to people with stories, with tales you wouldn't believe but that you can see they treasure as much as you do. The possessing of wisdom is something to be respected but it strikes me sometimes that some people don't understand the general concept of life. We don't accumulate it at the same rate as other people. Some people live a whole lifetime in a year and some don't do that in 50. It's different for different people.

I recently read a comment on a post referring to the fact the author was perhaps too young and inexperienced to write a novel. Now, outraged young and naive little me actually understood the argument. 

Life gives us experience and experience provides the ability to write. 

So I could see that maybe some people think that means the higher the number from the day you were born the more insight you have into the world around us. If only. If only it were truly that simple.

(from h's profile at www.flickr.com)

I'm going to go ahead and speak from the heart here. I know I'm new at this game, I'm a noob and I respect that. I look around and I see old hands toiling away and helping me through things I don't quite get yet. I can only express my undying gratitude towards those people. I'm so lucky to know them, to know you. No really.

But I gotsta be honest here and say young writers aren't all bad. 

I see some really amazing ones out there today and I don't sit and think "Gah, they haven't lived" because I realise that that number beside their name is pretty irrelevant. In truth I usually think "Gosh, think how much THEY HAVE SEEN to be able to write this. THAT'S SOME CRAZY LIFE"

Also I hope I'm not thought of as inexperienced. We all go through things, we all live. I'm nineteen but sometimes it feels like I've lived an age.

Equally, you don't have to be young to start a career in writing. Why do you have to be young? Who says you can't have had a long and fruitful life before you pick up the pen? My dear, wonderful, and would you believe it, more adventurous than me OMG we get on like a HOUSE on FIRE though, Gran writes the most haunting and sometimes shocking short stories. She's 72.

So next time you start to panic,next time those numbers get rowdy, just remember that Mary Shelley was 19 when she wrote Frankenstein and Agatha Christie 85 when she wrote her last book. Both of them are considered classics, both of them are great. Neither of them gave a toss about those silly numbers.




(I researched, yes actually researched for this post and found extra reading material. Here's an article that suggests "50" is a good novel writing age, and here's one about Oyeyemi who was 18 when she wrote a haunting tale considered very powerful.Comments, ideas and thoughts are most welcome. These are only my nonsensical ramblings...ALSO, if you comment then maybe I'll be allowed to come back. SAVE MY GUEST BLOGGING FUTURE! *coughs* Or, you know, just be honest)