late bloomer, n.
1. An adult whose talent or genius in a particular field only appears later in life than is normal—in some cases only in old age. [Wikipedia]
2. A person who doesn’t give a pomegranate about what’s normal and blooms in their own time; see LaterBloomer.com. [Debra Eve]
Ernestine Shepherd became a professional bodybuilder at 71
Welcome to Later Bloomer
A Captivating Archive of Lives Well-Lived
Ina Garten: Cooking Up a New Career at Age 51
She’s neither barefoot, nor a contessa, nor even Italian for that matter. But she was a nuclear power analyst. Ina Garten’s delicious story.
Sharon Kay Penman Takes On William Shakespeare
Long before King Richard III was unearthed from a Leicester parking lot, Sharon Kay Penman sought to tell the truth of his life. She ook on propagandist William Shakespeare and acquitted herself more than admirably. But not before a dastardly deed was done…
J.K. Rowling Talks About the Fringe Benefits of Failure
The first Harry Potter book only had a 1000-copy run. J.K. Rowling spent a year hawking it while getting a teaching certificate. And then magic happened…
Raymond Chandler Riffs on the Simple Art of Murder
In which I revisit Chandler’s classic 1944 Atlantic Monthly essay on genre writing.
How Bertha Benz Made the World’s First Road Trip—When There Were No Roads
The next time you see a Mercedes on the highway, think of Bertha Benz, the daring woman who, at age 39, saved her husband’s radical invention by making the world’s first road trip when no roads existed!
Eugenia Lovett West: The Brilliant Mystery Author Who Wrote Her First Novel at 56 and Her Second at 84!
A late-blooming writer who published her first novel at 56, but didn’t see her second one in print until age 84!
Later Bloomer is currently on hiatus. Please enjoy the archives!
There is nothing in the caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.
—Buckminster Fuller,
who patented the Geodesic Dome at age 50