It’s Never Too Late

Five years ago, I stepped into a new environment at Paradise Valley Estates, where I could ignore the actuarial tables as encouraged by our wellness director, Jan Olsen. Then, in the writing class taught by longtime resident Liz Wildberger I learned to spread my wings and start writing.

At the end of the first year I was encouraged and started to get my feet on the ground. I wrote a series of small articles about specific events in my past. I then decided to write a novel, a big step for a guy past his mid-eighties.

Well, my first novel — “Go For It!” by RC Smith — was published in July.

It is a work of fiction, based on a true story. The names of the characters have all been changed. The only true event in my story is the financial crisis that struck the country in 1974. The rest is the product of my imagination.

In the financially chaotic 1970s, a friend for whom I was best man at his 1958 wedding, saw that interest rates and inflation were devastating the economy. The chaos became malaise. My friend believed that no one cared any more about mid-America. He put together a new company to challenge the conventional wisdom of the financial services industry. Forty years later, Liz encouraged me to write that novel.

I had a lot of fun with this journey and want to let you know that it’s never too late to start a new venture!

RC Smith