Cheri Merz shows me why it’s never too late to be a writer
People as young as 30 years old regularly ask if they’ve left it too late to start a career in writing. Both Cheri Merz and I can, categorically, say no you haven’t!
I took up writing when I was, what the health professionals call, a ‘geriatric’ stay-at-home mum, Cheri Merz took up writing when an empty-nester. She demonstrates perfectly why a creative life is open to anyone, no matter what background you come from or what age you are. It’s never too late to be a writer.
Read Cheri Merz’s story and be inspired.
How did your writing career get started?
It was a bit of an accident. My former career in real estate had blown up with the Great Recession in 2009. My husband and I followed his temporary jobs with the United States Park Service in 2010, spanning four states and seven moves. I was licensed to practice real estate in only one of them.
When he landed a permanent position in Denver, I was well over 60 and was not inclined to work for someone else again. I put my qualifications on oDesk (now Upwork) and got the first of several assignments writing non-fiction books for the man who was later to persuade me to write fiction.
When you first started, what was your biggest hurdle to overcome?
Speaking of my fiction career now, my biggest hurdle was accepting that I didn’t know everything.
I had been an English major in college, and from a lifelong reading habit, I’d read thousands of books in many genres. I’m afraid those first books were badly paced and should have had the benefit of rigorous revision and editing. Unfortunately, they didn’t. More unfortunately still, for me, they were well received.
It wasn’t until I joined a local writer’s group that I began to know what I didn’t know. By then, I had written ten or so novels, all of which were selling well and getting great ratings and reviews.
What did your writing day look like?
I was an empty nester, of course, and my income was by the word until I began to write books under my own pen name. I would send my husband off to work and sit down to write at about 6:30 a.m., getting up only for lunch and calls of nature until he returned home eleven or so hours later. I don’t recommend this!
During that time, I gained forty pounds, made my eyesight worse, and developed osteoporosis. I now make sure to get up and walk around for at least ten minutes out of each hour that I’m at my desk. That first year, I wrote over 850,000 words, but it took a terrible toll on my health.
When you sit down to write, do you have any set objectives? For example, a set number of words or a period of time?
Both. Over the years, I’ve observed that I write 1200-1500 words per hour. I want to stress that this is a rough draft! I don’t revise as I go. I write best and fastest in the mornings, so my target is 4000 words, and I prefer to be done within a 3 to 4-hour window.
Do you plan your novels?
Yes. I’m a plotter. I’ve tried various methods and levels of detail. I’ve used long synopses, beat-sheets, W-plot, detailed scene-by-scene and even tried the snowflake method, which was too detailed even for me. It’s now a combination of everything but the snowflake method.
As a ghostwriter you wrote 30+ plus books in 6 years. That’s a phenomenal rate, how did you maintain it?
As I mentioned, I wrote a lot in the first year, writing for long hours to do it. For the first six months I was motivated by income. As I began to learn more and more about craft and write books under my own pen name (for which I’ve since sold the rights to one of my ghost-writing clients) I wrote faster but fewer hours.
I must emphasize that all these books were full-length novels of 80,000 words or more. I’ve long since stopped counting total words. I maintained the pace because I was driven. When I began to turn away ghost-writing work to write my own books, I was still motivated to make money, and the only way to do that as an indie is to keep the books coming.
That’s even more important now than it was then. The space was getting crowded when I started. Now it’s even more difficult to get traction until you have built a reader base. Once you have hundreds of loyal readers, you can maybe slow down, but you don’t want to risk disappointing them by slowing down too much.
Of course, the other thing is I don’t have children or a job to take my time. I can’t take credit for that. Though I wanted to be a writer from the time I was a pre-teen, I didn’t start until I was retired from everything else. I’m in awe of writers who can do it with kids and day jobs.
Now, it’s a compulsion. Once you turn on the faucet of words and stories, it’s hard, if not impossible, to turn it off. I’m writing ‘in my head’ all the time. In addition to the three novels I have planned, I’m planning two memoirs and a major revision of the memoir I have published.
From time to time, I link to products or services I love using with affiliate links. This means that I may receive a small percentage or fee for referring you to any product you may purchase from one of those sites. It does not cost you anything. These small fees help sustain my small business. I truly appreciate your support.
Do you have guidance for my readers should they wish to rapid-release at some point?
Yes. Get ahead of the game. Exercise patience and write several books before you begin to publish any of them. I’m planning to rapid-release a series I’m writing, and even though I can draft a book in a month if I put my mind to it, by the time I’ve written, revised, and sent for editing three of them, it will be late this year or even early next year before I start releasing. I may even wait until I have six written, to give me a cushion of time for unexpected events. This pandemic is a case in point. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been distracted by it, including me. So, give yourself some space before you start.
Meanwhile, begin cultivating readers. It never hurts to have a few dozen or more readers eagerly awaiting your first book.
Which writers inspire you?
Oh, wow. It would probably take hours to discuss all the writers who have inspired me in one way or another. I’ll say that my early inspiration was having been given Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women for Christmas when I was eight years old. I read that book every year until I went to college just before my eighteenth birthday.
As an English major, I was inspired by the classics, and then as a young mother I fell into genre fiction with a vengeance, devouring science fiction, historical, romance, romantic suspense, thrillers, action/adventure and procedurals.
Lately I’ve been into memoirs. My goal these days is to write as well as a few of my favorite Montlake authors – Kendra Elliot, Melinda Leigh, Mary Burton. My new series will be romantic suspense.
Are there any craft books or resources you’d recommend to beginner writers?
When I ‘discovered’ revision, it was from a blog post by Holly Lisle. I have taken several of her writing courses. My website (which is under construction right now) will have reviews and links to them by the time you publish this article. I’m an affiliate because I heartily recommend them. I also recommend some books there, on craft, marketing, and self-development.
A lot of beginner writers worry about not being good enough, was this ever something you worried about? How did you overcome it?
I’m not sure anyone ever overcomes it completely, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. After interacting with many writers for the past five years, I’ve observed that those who ‘know’ they’re good enough often disappoint me, while those who have a touch of impostor syndrome either are brilliant or just need a bit of guidance to uncover their brilliance.
However, the only way to get through it is to stop the perfectionism, get eyes other than yours on your writing, take guidance, and then publish. Eventually it won’t cripple you, even if you still secretly think all those readers who love you are just being kind.
You offer writing courses and coaching services. Who do you teach/coach?
Right now, I offer a course in productivity for writers. I don’t teach craft except as it comes up in my editing work. So that course is for any writer who is struggling with procrastination, resistance, or any of the underlying challenges that keep them from writing. I’m also developing a memoir-planning course to be piloted later this year.
There’s some crossover in coaching. I’m a developmental editor, too, so there’s some coaching in that. I’m available for individual coaching for writers who want help with anything and everything from workflow, to personal and professional development, to the business aspect of writing. I’m certified as a Life Coach.
You had your first Virtual Writers Retreat earlier in the year. Why did you decide to offer the retreat and how did it go?
There were a couple of reasons. I wanted to offer a mini-version of my course affordably for writers who might be struggling or stuck, and I wanted to attract a community of writers virtually to take the place of the writer’s group I had to leave when I moved away from the city where I met them. Nothing improved my writing so much as being surrounded by other writers and interacting regularly with them.
As for how it went, I have now offered it monthly since January, and there’s a bit of a challenge attracting participants. However, I have plans underway to fix that.
As I write this, we are on the third day of the March 5-day virtual retreat, and I have one participant. I’m enjoying her so much that I’m hoping she will participate again in April.
If this article was useful, you’ll love:
If you’ve been working on your novel for years (perhaps even decades) the maybe it's time to consider working with a coach.
If you have multiple versions of your novel and you don’t know which works best, are scared nobody will like your book and don't feel like a 'real' writer, then my guess is coaching is the right next step for you.
Find out more and sign up for your free Clarity Call here: https://emmadhesi.com/personal-coaching/
Emma Dhesi writes women’s fiction. She began writing seriously while a stay at home mum with 3 pre-school children.
By changing her mindset, being consistent and developing confidence, Emma has gone from having a collection of handwritten notes to a fully written, edited and published novel.
Having experienced first-hand how writing changes lives, Emma now helps beginner writers find the time and confidence to write their first novel.
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