At 48, I should be inspired by Gwyneth Paltrow and her abs. But they make me want to throw things | Emma Beddington

You want a middle-aged woman to run an ultramarathon or start a wellness empire? Can't I just have a breakdown?

There is good news for midlifers, so gird your loins for a flurry of off-brand optimism. Kicking off the list is a new prize for debut novelists over 50. The reason we launched the award was to say to people over 50: yes, you too can be a shiny, sparkly, new writer - just older," said Lisa Highton of Jenny Brown literary agents, who launched the award. I am delighted, because it will add new literary later bloomers to my carefully memorised list: Penelope Fitzgerald (first novel published at 60), Raymond Chandler (51) and Annie Proulx (56). It looks less impressive every year I still don't write a novel, so new blood is welcome.

It's heartening to see more recognition that while life might have stopped you from making that cursed Granta Young Novelists list, this might make your writing richer and more exciting - although nothing short of a full transfusion of virgin's blood in a Swiss clinic could achieve shiny, sparkly" for me. This year's Women's prize shortlist offers further evidence of that, with five out of six nominees over 50.