Writer/novelist John Updike has been at his craft for a half century. And he has no intention of putting down his pen, er, turning off his keyboard.
I recently read about Updike on the books page of the Roanoke Times. In 2008 he published Widows of Eastwick, a sequel to Witches of Eastwick, the bestselling book that became a movie in the 1980s.
Explaining why he is still writing, Updike said, “I don’t know what I’d do with my mornings if I didn’t write in them.”
The man of letters also said he is still learning.
“This is very much an amateurish endeavor, so that the chance of growing in it is still there for a 76-year-old.”
Ah, yes. That rings true, doesn’t it?
“It’s fun to be active,” Updike said. “And it’s a wonderful profession, in that unlike being an athlete, you’re not really age-dependent.”
I smell a bumper sticker. “Writers don’t retire. They just lose their train of … ”
UPDATE: It was an odd and sad coincidence that John Updike died on the day I decided to write a post about him. RIP.
Neil Sagebiel 
the loss of John Updike makes me wonder if the literary world is being replenished at the same rate that it’s losing such great writers