Look at the bit after the colon in the title. “50 is the perfect age to write a novel, a study of the best-selling authors of the past 50 years has shown.”

Hmmmm…could it be because they wrote a lot of books before they get on the best-sellers list? (And hence, they’re younger when they begin writing, but it takes some time to build an audience, to get up to best-sellerdom?) That more time to hone one’s craft plays a factor?

Could this be just a question of stupid mathematics? “The average age of an author on the best-sellers list is 50.” Big deal. We all know the games that can played with mathematics. Some are older, some are younger, but the average is 50. Shall we do the mean, mode, and median, just to be thorough?

Does it surprise anyone that a writer with more life experience will be better able to discuss life in a fictional format? (There are always exceptions to this rule.)

Perhaps we should do a new study about scientists. What’s the average age of a scientist when he/she formulates his/her most break-through theory? What about inventors? At what age did Thomas Edison really hit his stride?

And let’s examine this quote: “Unlike scientists or musicians, say, writers tend to mature with age.” Ugh! Who wrote that sentence??? So, does that mean that scientists and musicians DON’T mature with age? So all older scientists and musicians are just as immature as ever? Or do they start off mature and stay that way?

Well, that got my Saturday off to a rip-roaring start. Perhaps I should go and write an article while I’m all fired up. lol!

Susan G.