We are ALL at the height of our Power!

“FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY” -
For Immediate Release from Plume Books
We are ALL at the height of our Power!
“Well the first thing I want to say about Fifty is the New Fifty, is that it’s not the whole title. The whole title is 50 is the New Fifty, 60 is the new Sixty and 70 is the New Seventy…and who cares about birthdays anyway. The best thing is that we are all at the height of our power, and we feel that …

“A Circle of Trust Reader’s Guide”

One of the fun things authors get to do for the paperback edition of their book is work with the publisher on a Reader’s Guide for Book Clubs. The publication date for “Fifty is the New Fifty: 10 Life Lessons for Women in Second Adulthood” is March 30th.
In advance of the publication, we’re posting the Plume Edition Reader’s Guide here. Many women have told me the book inspired numerous conversations with their sisters, mothers and friends. I hope the guide leads to even more …

ALSO, AN UPDATE ON BOOKS BY FRIENDS

Like all of you, I have a circle of friends that I try to connect with on a regular basis. For me, it’s often over lunch.  I look forward to those dates with a real hunger – for the intimacy, the chance to chronicle our lives to ourselves and each other, and the sheer delight of gazing at a well-loved face.
If too much time goes by, one or the other of us sends an e-mail titled “re: lunch?” Occasionally we need to schedule an …

Marcy Adelman: 2009 Purpose Prize Winner
BRINGING EXPERIENCE TO SOCIAL INNOVATION CHANGES EVERYTHING
In a culture that often seems to thrive more on “creating” villains than honoring heroes, it is especially rewarding to report on people who are changing the world. THE PURPOSE PRIZE – announced by Encore Careers and Civic Ventures – celebrates and honors people over 60 who are bringing experience to social innovation (read the press release).
I was proud to have been a judge for this Award, and I can tell you the candidates and winners are a …

Good Natured Hysteria – Shaken and Stirred with Hilarity and Honesty!
Some of the best laughs I have experienced in the last decade have been with my girlfriends about the absurd things that are happening to our bodies and our minds. We are laughing at the absurdity of it all, and we are laughing with each other. That is how we surmount the inevitable. But there is a genre of post-menopause support books that does just the opposite – the jokes are about self-contempt and the laughter is about humiliation. …

 
A STORY FROM THE ‘FERTILE VOID’

 
The hallmark of the beginning of Second Adulthood is a necessary but disturbing descent into what I call the Fertile Void. Like the onset of menopause, this profound upheaval has nothing to do with chronological age. It may coincide with the loss of biological fertility and it may take as long or longer than a pregnancy, the similarities end there. The Fertile Void is a place of confusion in which a midlife woman wanders without a map until she finds her new self.
The good …

DO YOU FEEL IT? DO YOU FEAR OR WELCOME CHANGE?

Second Adulthood is all about change. It’s about a restlessness that creates a non-specific “itch” to make changes. Life in the Fertile Void, as I call this period, may feel like a free fall; it is alternately exhilarating and terrifying.
The changes you choose to make may not be as dramatic as parachuting out of a plane or as operatic as running off with the cable guy, but they will probably feel as momentous. Though some women are overcome with …

LOVE, SEX, INTIMACY…
A New Novel from Jane Adams
A year or so ago, I read the manuscript of a novel about a woman like us – turning 60, facing career challenges, dealing with uncooperative children, redefining love- AND sex – and getting to know her authentic self. Charlotte “Sugar” Kane is a great character and very, very funny in that wry way we enjoy in our friends.
The only problem was that the author, my friend Jane Adams, couldn’t find a publisher interested in fiction about midlife women, so she finally …

DEFINING A NEW WAY OF LOVING IN SECOND ADULTHOOD
Do you have a partner or a project or a person who moves you deeply? Someone you trust totally? Have you heard yourself use the word “love” in circumstances you hadn’t before? Do you connect love with sex? If you feel you are missing love in your life, what is it you miss?
The reason I ask is that everywhere I go, I hear from women who are experiencing love, intense love, in new ways. In some cases, they do not label …

DOING WHAT DAD WANTS TAKES A NEW TWIST!
Both our children are far away this year, so Father’s Day won’t be about the whole family “Doing What Dad Wants.” But it most definitely won’t be a joyless day. Instead, for my husband Bob and me it will be a celebration of “Dad’s Amazing New Project” – the BlueStone Gallery in Milford, PA (www.bluestonegallerymilford.com) which both our kids love.
We will be spending the afternoon where “Dad is Doing What He Wants.” In the past year, my husband has envisioned, brought to …