A sixth-grade teacher told Patricia Lee Lewis her story "could never have happened." She stopped writing creatively until she was in her forties. At 88, she just published her debut historical novel, Thorns of the Mesquite — 15 years in the making.

In this conversation we talk about the writing workshop that cracked her open in her mid-forties, why treating your pain as fiction can set you free, what curiosity looks like at 88, and why she believes community is our most powerful tool right now.

Patricia Lee Lewis is an award-winning poet, writing retreat leader, and co-founder of the Straw Dog Writers Guild. All profits from her novel go to organizations supporting domestic violence victims and civil rights.

Because it's never too late to bloom like you mean it.