Georgina Moore answers The Questions I Always Ask

This week, the book publicist extraordinaire turned debut novelist tells us what she's learnt from starting a second career at 50

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What has been your biggest life shift?
Becoming a published author at 50. Everyone says ‘What took you so long?’ Which is just rude. There has been a lot of chauvinism around it – a woman my age with a good career isn’t supposed to then go and do something else, too. About now we’re supposed to be moving out of the limelight not into it. I have found the way people respond fascinating. After a career in publishing it is strange to be the other side (poacher turned gamekeeper) I have even more sympathy now for authors!

What do you wish someone had told you about life after 40?
How much the menopause would kick my behind. How old I would suddenly feel, creaky and fragile like an 80-year-old. And the anxiety! I had lived my life anxiety-free, pretty much, until the second half of my forties and I loved it that way. I went from that to thinking I couldn’t drive the car, that I was terrible at everything. It was when I realised that I wasn’t able to enjoy all the good stuff that was happening in my life that I realised I needed to get on HRT!

The best thing about getting older is?
Thicker skin. More sympathy for people’s flaws, what they have been through, more empathy. I needed to get a bit more diplomatic and kind and aware of other people’s feelings and I hope I have a bit. But also if someone is not bringing joy I am able to move on from them with very little regret. I have a better awareness of life’s end and how brutally everything can be cut short. That makes things terrifying but also really pushes me on to do the things I really love and try and live in the moment a bit more too.

And the worst?
Not being able to stay up all night and party the way I once could. Also, I had kids later in life so when many women my age have kids going to university I have an eleven and twelve-year-old. I need a lot of energy for that and two jobs! That means that almost always now I choose an early night.

What’s your emotional age?
Thirty-two. I had a ball in my 30s. I was a Director in Publishing, I had disposable income, I was in and out of the Groucho club, and I was living an emotional minefield of excitement and drama and bad romantic choices, starring in my own mini drama. It couldn’t continue but it was fun while it lasted.