Retirement Hobby Writing

Cash in on your writing hobby

Retirement Hobby Writing- offers endless possibilities for writers...Blog, Travel Writing, Memoir, Freelance for local newspaper, and the market continues to grow.

Writing coach and writing groups

As a retiree you have wide knowledge based on your life experience, and if you love to write then you could turn your hobby into some extra cash to fund your other retirement hobbies.

You may need some help from a writing coach to help you get started and develop your writing skills, or you can join a writing group where you will get friendly advice and support, and writing communities are a valuable social outlet for retirees.  Age is no barrier, so start writing now!

How I began creative writing

Among my favourite retirement hobbies is creative writing, especially nonfiction short stories, mainly of the memoir genre.

My membership of Toastmasters International sparked my interest in writing. I've been a member for over twenty years and as an Accomplished Toastmaster I would have been required to write and deliver 25 speeches. In total I reckon I've done over 40 speeches. But Creative writing is different to speech writing.  

About ten years ago I saw and advertisement for a Creative Writing course. This aroused my curiosity, and posed a challenge. Could I write creatively? My high school English teacher didn't seem to think so, judging from my essay grades! 

I can still recall the frustration of staring at a blank page on a Sunday night, during high school, hoping for inspiration that seldom came. My creativity was not helped by the fact that at the same time I was tuned to pop music on Radio Luxembourg, and dreaming of making a fortune on the football pools using Horace Batchelor's "Famous Infra-Draw Method" for predicting the results.

School essays were a challenge. I was trying to second guess what the teacher wanted me to write. The essays were not my story at all, and would be returned with lots of red ink highlighting spelling and grammar errors. It would take another 20 years for me to find the confidence to find my voice and write from the heart. 

Retirement hobby writing is fulfilling and fun

Well I hope you agree that I can write, and that you are enjoying some of the stories I am sharing with you on this web site. I have enjoyed writing them and that's one of the benefits I have got from working with my writing coach.... writing is fun! 

Writing also gives me a sense of achievement. After I've written the magic words THE END, I often smile and think- I've done that, I've created something! Some of the stories on this web site have been published in newspapers, magazines (popular and professional), and broadcast on national radio. 

I discovered that writing was relaxing, and an ideal diversion from the fast lane of my working life. It was easy to combine writing as a hobby with the day job. And it was an inexpensive hobby. At the same time I was developing a new skill, and uncovering a latent talent, according to my writing Coach. 

When you write you can enter a fantasy world of your own creation where every story has a happy ending, if you wish! We all have a unique way of looking at the world because of our personalities and life experience. No one has ever seen the world through your eyes. And because of this unique perspective everyone's interpretation of a story is interesting. That realisation gave me the courage and motivation to write my retirement stories with my voice. 

Benefits of retirement hobby writing

The writing course was also a valuable social outlet, bringing me into contact with active retirement communities. It was great way to meet new friends, a diverse group of people sharing a common interest. Their energy and creativity gave me a new way to feel young, and their feedback encouraged me. 

I often use stories in my retirement coaching. Stories have the power to motivate us to action and change, by arousing our emotions, in a way that logic and statistics do not. 

So, attending that writing course was the beginning of a new retirement hobby, and a way to earn some extra cash retirement job. 

Other retirement hobby writing resources

Please read my Short Stories and Retirement Stories and hopefully you will give me a better grade than my high school English teacher did!

Self Publishing Books - by Martin Gordon. 
Martin Gordon demonstrates that age and ill health are no barriers to self publishing your story.
Read Self Publishing Books

Perhaps you are already a writer?  Have you a retirement story, or other anecdote you would like to share?