Leslie Karst

Busy Living; Busy Dying

Bob Dylan famously proclaimed to the world that “he not busy being born is busy dying,” thereby dividing life into two segments: the period when we consistently make the most of our life and move forward, after which we merely exist and begin marching towards our grave.

But having just celebrated my 68th birthday this past weekend, I’ve been thinking a lot about our human lives and how we choose to portion them out. For a goodly portion of Americans (at least those in the middle class or higher), I’d say our lives can be more accurately divided into thirds, which I’ll call Learning/Working/Resting.

From birth to around age thirty, we’re “growing up.” During this time, we actively absorb all that’s around us. We observe the world and how others act. We go to school and are taught facts and history, and learn (hopefully) how to think—how to process and analyze the information we acquire.

We may become an apprentice of some sort during this first third of our existence, acquiring a skill by actively engaging in a vocation and learning from others who have more experience than we.

Then, during the middle period of our life, from around thirty to our sixties, we work. We earn money, make a home, raise a family, engage in art or industry, or construct buildings.

And then, finally, we rest. Ahhhhh…. For some, that means golfing and fishing on weekdays, rather than just Saturday and Sunday. For others, buying an RV and setting off to see America. Or perhaps we spend our days reading novels or streaming movies or TV shows. Or hanging out with our grand kids, dogs, and cats. Or going to the beach.

My life was all set to follow this pattern. I studied hard and went to law school (learning), after which I got a job as research and appellate attorney at a civil law firm (working). And then I retired, at which point it would have made sense to simply “have fun” (i.e., rest).

But it turned out I couldn’t just have fun. I realized I needed something more. So I tried my hand at penning a mystery novel.

And lo and behold, it got picked up by a publisher who wanted more of them. So here I am, with eight books now published and the ninth on its way, and I can tell you the past years have not been full of what most folks would call “rest.”

But I wouldn’t change it for the world. Rest can wait.

Readers: What about you? Has your life followed this pattern? Do you envision resting in your retirement, or are you driven to keep going, even in your old age?

24 thoughts on “Busy Living; Busy Dying”

      1. Leslie, what an interesting coincidence you posted this today! Yesterday hubs and I saw “Kimberly Akimbo,” which won a bunch of Tony Awards. It’s all about growing up and growing old, with a main character who has a condition where she rapidly ages well past her 16 chronological years. The whole theme is “you gotta live before you die” which I wholeheartedly subscribe to, and I know you do too!

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  2. I’m a nonagenarian–with two cozy series running now, and just signed a new three book, hard cover contract with Kensington! No rest for me!

    Carol J.Perry

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  3. Leslie, it sounds like you are doing what you are meant to do.

    I am still firmly in the “working” stage of life. But even when I get to “resting” from a corporate job, I suspect I’ll still be “working” at this fiction thing.

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  4. Leslie, I think you just described the life span of a lot of mystery authors – maybe that’s why our cons are a sea of gray or graying hair, lol.

    My professional career has been in some ways because I was freelancing, then working on shows which were run by production companies. We’d work our butts off for nine or ten months and then have a hiatus. When we worked. There are years when I was back freelancing, only writing pilots instead of articles or plays. I took my pension a few years ago, but for support, not retirement.

    I have to say, my third act – sorry to disprove you, F. Scott! – is the best so far. Except for the aging part. It took me a good five minutes yesterday to come up with a word I was searching for (the password is… defective.) I felt a little better when husband and child were no help!

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  5. Terrific article. Maybe the last chapter isn’t really rest, but something like actualization. Given health and financial security (which are big givens…)you can finally do whatever makes your heart happy with a lifetime of hard-earned wisdom to draw from.

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  6. My life is following this pattern. And while I am ready to retire now, my savings says I should wait until closer to a traditional retirement age. I’m hoping to keep blogging/reviewing even after I quite a day job, so I will rest, but not as much as most.

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  8. I’m still in stage two. Though at times I feel like I’m still in stage one since I’m on my third career, as far as the day job goes. It’s like Jimmy Buffett said, I may be growing older, but I’m not growing up.

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  9. Well, my work (EMT) was cut short, and my rest period came too soon. But I do dabble with writing, of course I read, I travel to out of state author friends when I can, and after being a widow for over 6 years, I’m dating a classmate from high school- I never knew she had a crush on me then. She’s moving back home from GA while I’m traveling with the BFFs. So, October will be a great month for me. We’ll see what the future holds.

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  10. So happy you chose to spend this chapter of your life writing chapters for us to read!! ❤

    I have a number of working years ahead, but I don’t know that I’ll ever stop working in some way. I enjoy writing too much! (My day job is writing, as well.)

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  11. I am going to be 76 years young (Ha!) in two weeks. I started teaching at 22 in Texas and taught there for 29 years and retired with full retirement from there at age 52 in 2000. So, what did I do next? Not write a book though I always wanted to write one. Though, I have written a few articles for a newsletter from my old hometown about growing up there and our families’ lives. Despite receiving a pension, I decided to teach here in Georgia where we were now living and worked here for 9 1/2 years when I decided teaching was not fun anymore. I lived on my Texas pension and saved most if not all of my Georgia salary. Hubby Dearest encouraged that. We kept our money separate but split things. I tried to make it to 40 years, but 38 1/2 was a good number. I got full retirement from Georgia when I retired in 2009. I love every minute of retirement. You can still enjoy life and get paid for doing whatever you want to do. I make almost 80 % plus of my working salary. Still have not touched my 403 B and IRAs. I work about 34 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles a year, read 30-60 books a year (love all of you wonderful author’s books), work on genealogy, do house stuff, cook some meals (Hubby Dearest does most as he is a better cook, and I am his sous chef), visit a best friend and family in Texas, love my dog, go out to eat at times with either Hubby Dearest or some neighbors, watch TCM and Hallmark among other TV shows, used to travel a lot to the Florida Keys and NOLA for thirteen or more years to meet friends from Texas (until Covid), met family from Texas in California, New York, London, Paris, and Florida, went to car shows in our 1937 Ford Roadster, and just enjoy life. My Daddy worked so hard and was about to retire when he had a heart attack at 68 and died. He so wanted retirement and so deserved it. I did not want that to happen to me. Thank God it hasn’t. The only downside is when I hear of friends, family or favorite stars that have died and they are around my age. But I can’t dwell on that. Too many books to read yet. God bless you all and keep being who you are and writing what you write so I can read more. So, many books, so little time.

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  12. I am also not resting, but I am trying to cut back just a little. I have a lot of career catching up to do, since my first book came out when I was only 60, 12 years ago! Still, priorities like grandbabies and family aren,’t exactly restful, but they’re a change from the busy author life I have been leading and still plan to lead.

    And because this is probably the most incoherent comment you have gotten today, I will sign off and go to bed at last!

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