Why I Write... Or Rather, Why Any of Us Do
And in praise of older women writers - please don't stop writing!
This weekend, in The Guardian’s New Review, writers and celebrities were invited to ask Jilly Cooper a question – any question at all. The adaptation of her ‘bonkbuster’ Rivals is about to air on Disney+ next month and so this feature was an ode to its author.
Jilly is now 87, she is the author of dozens of other books, many of which kept me company during my teenage years growing up in Peterborough, a most dull place compared to say... Sevenoaks, where one of her characters spotted Rod Stewart walking down the High Street.
I made a mental note to myself: I must get to Sevenoaks one day. Now I live a few miles from there and feel rather cheated that I have never seen Rod Stewart walk down the High Street, or indeed a modern day equivalent – Harry Styles? (As a side note, I did see Harry Styles walk down High St Ken when I worked on a newspaper there, and he stopped and asked me where I was going that night, but you know, me and my friends had a party to get to and he was just a kid).
Anyway, back to Jilly Cooper, or rather Dame Jilly Cooper, because yes, she is a bit of a legend.
She is also a reader of this newsletter, or at least was once when I published a post which featured a poem about her written by my friend (and obviously poet)
. Her assistant asked for Sarah’s address so Jilly could send her a note saying how much she had loved the poem, and she did.So anyway, she might be reading this newsletter now – JUST IMAGINE!
But again, back to Jilly, or rather, back to that piece in The New Review. Of all the questions you might want to ask a woman who is still writing, still fascinating, still bright, intelligent, witty, cheeky in her ninth decade, Times columnist Caitlin Moran chose to ask this question which I will paraphrase: When you’re already so rich, why are you still writing?
The longer version is here:
I was surprised by this question and a little insulted on behalf of Dame Jilly Cooper.
is still writing in her ninth decade and I can’t imagine anyone asking her the same question. Ditto . Why did Moran choose to ask Jilly? It feels very unwriterly which is odd for a woman who spends her own life knee-deep in words and is the author of many books. It feels ageist too. Possibly sexist (would Cormac McCarthy have been asked the same question?). Or a little snooty? Is it because she has written commercial rather than literary fiction that she was posed this particular question?I wonder what Caitlin Moran’s answer might have been to the same question? And then I wondered how might any of us – no matter our age – answer that question? Because it’s not an easy question to answer with words, what with it being something deeply intuitive, a force within us, a fire that is lit and almost impossible to extinguish, a calling, a destiny – please add your own descriptions in the comments – but what I’m trying to get at is that this compulsion to write is something felt and not explained.
Although Jilly Cooper did somewhat attempt to respond without using the words: ‘would you ask a forty-year-old woman why she is still writing?’
Instead she said: ‘I write because that is what I do.’
I actually can’t think of a more perfect answer. And yet I wanted to delve into this a little more, and the question of why an older woman in particular would be asked this question.
I remain bitterly disappointed that Deborah Levy has said her last living autobiography Real Estate is her final one. Levy is only 65, we need to know how to live in our sixties, seventies and beyond too. She must keep writing to tell us. I remain hopeful she will change her mind.
I am still a little baffled and disappointed by Moran’s question…
I attempted to give my own explanation of why I write here, in this piece from 2021 (it also contains my favourite Dorothy Parker quote, hence why she is pictured):
But I thought I might turn to another woman who was writing into her ninth decade for her own answer and so, prepare yourselves because here comes the paywall (because I also write to pay the bills).