On a walk the other day, I was trying to remember a word. It was a word I'd used in Surplus to Requirements but for some reason I couldn't think of it. This is not at all unusual, for me or other humans. The way in which words run away from us is common at any age, but may increase in certain circumstances: stress, mood, intoxication and changes in cerebral function, for example.

Ageism is a word associated with writing, though it's rampant in most parts of our society. 'Is there an age bias against older writers?' asks one article in a recent publication by the Society of Authors. As a 66 year old woman about to publish her first novel, I'm interested in the answer.

Added to which, is there an age bias in fiction content as well? I wonder this having made a 79 year old woman my main character in a book about life and death in 2050.

I eventually remembered the word. It was 'futile'. I like the word. For me it is a word that has no rhyme but that might depend on your pronunciation. A quick check suggests some folks think it rhymes with 'brutal'. It doesn't. That would be 'futal' which isn't a word.

My many trawls through the proofs of Surplus to Requirements have sharpened my ear, my eye and my wit, a bit. Not enough to be certain there are no more errors but enough to sign off the proofs with moderate satisfaction and send the book to the printer. It's on its way.

Of course it may be futile. Writing a book about a dystopian society set in the North of England in 2050 in which a woman of 79 confronts her own state-sanctioned death may be pointless, but I'm pleased to have done it, as I aimed to, five years ago when I was made Surplus to Requirements.

Happy New Year

Janet Lees, 2nd January 2025. Longdendale.