Booming Baby Boomers

[Paul Whybrow]

Blimey, I'm starting to feel glad to be ancient. Apparently, the latest genre of writing to be expanding is what is known as Baby Boomer Lit.

http://publishingperspectives.com/2013/03/is-baby-boomer-lit-the-next-hot-genre/

It's undoubtedly a trend in all aspects of entertainment, including books, film, music, fashion and exercise. There's an increasing number of people who are living longer, so it would be foolish to ignore them as a consumer group.
I've written stories with characters from eight years old to eighty, but have only concentrated on the complications of ageing a couple of times. Once was in a novella that contemplated what happens after a marriage partner chooses assisted suicide as a way out of suffering in life, with the bereaved widower having to begin again at 60. The other story portrayed a newly single divorcee spreading her wings at 50, trying to reinvent herself. This was partly based on some of the women I've met while computer dating. I may write more about what's it like to age - after all, we're advised to write about what we know.
Should any of the younger Colonists have wondered this very thing, let me propose that you think about when you're going to stop listening to your favourite bands, drinking the booze you enjoy, indulging in the sex that floats your boat, driving too fast sometimes for a thrill - or even writing those stories that you spend so much time on...
Your answer will probably be never, I'm always going to do those things, as I love them.
Good for you, that's exactly how I feel. Ageing really is a detail.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

The title or genre is enough to put you off surely?

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I've never been keen on the term baby boomer to describe my generation. Mind you, I once asked my parents why they had me. I was only a little boy at the time, and I thought that they'd say something romantic about how they loved each other very much and wanted to have a baby to prove it. But no, the blunt reply was that "rationing ended, so we could afford to have you" - welcome to real world economics, Paul.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Better than being an accident Paul!

 

[Jason Byrne]

I was "unexpected." Kind of like my unborn self was nonexisting looking in on existence, and was like, "screw this I'm breaking in."

 

[Carol Rose]

Nicole (my daughter) was an oopsie, but David and I had been married for over a year by then, so it was a nice oopsie.

 

[Jason Byrne]

Nicole (my daughter) was an oopsie, but David and I had been married for over a year by then, so it was a nice oopsie.

My brother was three years after me, "because you seemed like you needed a sibling."

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Better than being an accident Paul!

Hmm, you're right Alistair, though being the first-born did feel like taking on the role of the practice child. I know that my twin sisters, born three years after me, had a much easier time of it. I was glad for them, while still harbouring feelings of 'that's not fair.'

 

[Carol Rose]

Being first born sucks. You're held up as a shining example for your siblings, even when you secretly want to be the rebel and the bad girl. Could explain my college years…

 

[Paul Whybrow]

My brother was three years after me, "because you seemed like you needed a sibling."

I've often wondered what it would have been like to have a brother - my imaginary friend Peter didn't quite provide this. I wouldn't have wanted to have an older brother though, as I definitely preferred being the eldest child.

 

[Jason Byrne]

Being first born sucks. You're held up as a shining example for your siblings, even when you secretly want to be the rebel and the bad girl. Could explain my college years…

Or you get, "we just didn't know the right way to do it yet, with you. By the time we got to him, we knew how to get it right."

 

[Carol Rose]

Or you get, "we just didn't know the right way to do it yet, with you. By the time we got to him, we knew how to get it right."

Nah. That would have meant my mother had to admit she'd done something wrong. Not a chance. LOL!!

 

[Nicole Wilson]

Being first born sucks. You're held up as a shining example for your siblings, even when you secretly want to be the rebel and the bad girl. Could explain my college years…

I love being first born. I was the shining example but also super independent so it didn't matter much to me if I was the example.