Guest Blog 7
Hayden Trenholm discusses turning the page as a writer.
The Road Goes Ever On
By Hayden Trenholm
Careers – whether in law, plumbing or art – have a beginning, middle and end. Though exceptions abound (Robertson Davies famously started a new short story the day he died at age 90), most writing careers begin to taper off around the age of seventy.
The reasons are as many as there are writers. For a few, they find they have told every story they wanted to tell. For a few others, the gradual fading of physical or mental abilities take the edge off the desire to spend hours working away at a desk. And, sadly, for many, maybe the majority, the creative spark remains but the market has moved on. They have stories to tell but not ones that editors are willing to buy or readers are willing to read. Or, quite simply, they have fallen out of fashion. Fresh voices and all that.
No matter. While a career may dead end, the path of creativity, the path of story, the path of art never ends. Some begin to explore other routes. Joni Mitchell shifted her focus from music to painting. A playwright friend has become a sculptor. A dancer I know now makes jewelry.
As for me, my career, such as it was, centered on writing, editing and publishing science fiction. Gradually, each of these have slipped away. I closed my publishing company, Bundoran Press, last year, and this year I decided to give up freelance editing; I’m currently finishing up my last contract. I still write science fiction but I doubt I will produce many more stories; on some days, I doubt I will sell the ones I’ve already written.
Instead, I’ve
embarked on an epic series of mysteries set in Paris between the wars. I’ve self-published two and started a third but have a plan for nine more. A friend kindly asked me recently if I thought I’d live that long. I retorted that it should only take five or six more years (longer if I actually write the Roman-era mysteries I plan to start next year) and besides I have a back-up plan.
I’ve begun to write poetry. Which made him laugh. Repeating what several other friends have said: You are the last person I would ever expect to do that. Apparently, I’ve kept my sensitive nature well hidden.
I may never become a published poet. Hell, I may never even show a finished poem to anyone at all. But that is not the point. Writing poetry is a creative challenge; writing a good poem is as hard as writing a short story. Writing a great one is beyond the grasp of all but a few.
It’s not that I can take up sculpture (too many sharp objects) or painting (I’d get more on myself than the canvas) or dancing (with my knees!).
So, mystery novels and poetry are my path for the foreseeable future.
This is not a strategy to fill in time until I die. This is a mission to squeeze every last iota of creative pleasure out of every day. Besides, I might get good at it. I already think my murder mysteries are as good as my (award-winning) science fiction.
As for poetry, I take comfort from several things. A good friend, approaching her 80th birthday, just sold her second collection to a leading literary publisher. And, it is a well documented fact, that scientists, generally though to do their best work in their 20s and 30s, experience a renaissance of creative insight when they change disciplines. Like my artist friends mentioned above, new challenges lead to fresh discoveries. Best of all, it makes them happy.
Personally, if I had to choose between having a successful and lucrative writing career and writing one truly great poem, I’d pick the latter. Whatever you choose, follow that path as far as your spirit will take you.
Hayden Trenholm is a produced playwright and published author. His plays have been produced in the Northwest Territories, Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan and on CBC radio.
In 1993, his play, Man of No Name, was a finalist in the Theatre BC play competition and, in 1994, he won the 28th Alberta Playwriting Completion with The Book of Rose. In addition to six stage plays, he wrote and acted in over forty-five interactive murder mysteries for Pegasus Performances, appearing across western Canada and, even, in Las Vegas.
