Reader’s Digest Australia & New Zealand – May 2019

READER’S DIGEST

May• 2019 | 97

fulfillingwhatI’vealwayswantedto
do,whichismakingotherpeople
happy,”hesays.“I’mnotearning
moneyoutofmisery,whichI think
a lotofpeopledo,andI don’tknow
howthat wouldfeel.If you’rea
lawyerandmakingalivingdealing
withpeoplewhoaregettingdivorced,
thatmustbea miserableexperience.”
Theopportunity for Child to
pursuewritingfora livingarosein
1995,afterhewasmaderedundant
fromhisjobasapresentationdi-
rectoratGranadaTelevision.But
thedecisiontobecomeanauthor
wasn’t taken lightly. He was 40,

unemployed,andhadwifeJane,
whohemarriedin1975,andyoung
daughter,Ruth,toprovidefor–it
wasa stressfultime.
“Ihadtotakeitseriously,”Child
explains.“Ithadtoworkbecause
I wasbroke.I’mnotfalselymod-
estaboutit– I canwrite.Butapart
fromthatI’ma completelyordinary
person.I’mjustanormalguy.So
whateverI want,lotsofotherpeople
want,too.I cancommunicatewith
hugenumbersofpeoplebecause I
am them. It’s that simple.”

Childbelievesthesinglemostim-

portantfactorthatenableshimto

writewithsucheaseandclarityis

lifeexperience.Beingoldermeans

hehas somethinginterestingto

writeabout.

“Writingisnotonlysomething

thatyoucandolaterinlife,”he

explains.“Itissomethingthatyou

shouldwaituntillaterinlifetodo,

untilthegastankisfull,untilyou’ve

seenthingsandknowthings.Until

youhavesomethingtosay.”

Turning 40 sosoonafterleaving

GranadaTelevisionmeantChildfelt

confident that he had enough life

experiencebehindhimtolaunch

intothenextphaseofhislife.

“At40,youcanusewhatyou’ve

learnttomoveforwards,”hesays.

“Ina wayit’sa greatopportunityand

thelasttimeyoucanmakea radi-

calchangetoyourlife.Thechances

ofactuallysucceedingasapopu-

larwriterareverysmallbutI just

thought,Well,obviouslyit willwork.”

Andso,onThursday,September1,

1994,thevoraciousreaderfamously

boughtsixdollars’worthofpaper

and pencils, and then sat down to

“Writingis somethingyoushouldwait

untillaterinlifetodo...untilyou’veseen

things. Until you have something to say”