Monday, July 17, 2006

What's up with YOU in midlife?



CALL FOR STORIES!


50 Ways to Leave Your 40s

What to Do When Midlife Crisis Is Not Enough

By Sheila Key with Peg Spencer, MD

For more information about this book in progress, visit http://www.50waystoleaveyour40s.com/

or email sheilakey@newmexico.com

Our book, 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s, is a funny, soulful collection of essays, stories and informative sidebars, for people in midlife. Our publisher, New World Library, plans to market it as a gift/personal-growth book. Personally, our goal is to get it into every bathroom (and outhouse) in North America – at least until it gets translated into 26 languages. Then, watch out world!

We’re looking for “lived experience” to flesh out our 50 chapters, which are divided into the four sections of Body, Mind, Soul and Heart (though there is necessarily plenty of overlap of material). Below you'll find chapter lists with thumbnails explaining the key concepts, to give you lots of ideas for the sorts of stories we're seeking.

50 Ways focuses (obviously) on the late-40s/early-50s passage, but pretty much any “midlife” story will fit. Please send us brief anecdotes related to our chapter ideas. Also welcome: your favorite movies, music, books, pop-cultural references, jokes, one-liners, quotations, websites... really, whatever ideas our chapter lists evoke in you.

Send it all! We'll sort it out!

Don’t worry about where your story “fits.” We’ll sort that out, too. Don't even worry if it's well-written! Just tell us your story in your own words. While we are always on the look-out for what pro photographers call "the money shot" (and we -- or, at least, I, Sheila -- call "the quotable quote"), we are happy to accept what you've written, however you've written it, and, with your permission, to "pretty it up" later.

Finally, as you may have guessed, this ain’t a payin’ gig. As mentioned, we reserve the right to edit what you send – or to not use it at all. In any case, you have our undying gratitude and at least a chance of seeing your story in print – coming in Fall 2007 to a bookseller near you (ISBN 1-57731-545-6).

SPREAD THE WORD!! -- hopefully RIGHT NOW, while the people in your life still have the chance to submit their story, too!

Email your input to sheilakey@newmexico.com. Please include your real name, your (real!) age, and the first name (real or not) that you’d like us to use for you in our book and/or blog.

DEADLINE: August 31, 2006 (though sooner is better, as we could then use your input to stimulate further comments here at the blog). Many thanks!

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Authors Interview with Pat McMahon

PAT'S LAST WORDS... Sadly (er, cheaply), when Peg and I ordered a copy of our appearance on the show, we opted for merely our "segment" -- as opposed to the whole show, or even the first half-hour. While this saved us all of ten bucks or something, it also, tragically, left off "the money quote" --- that is, what Mr. McMahon had to say when they got back from commercial. "Don't worry," he said. "The Loofah Lady is gone!" And indeed I was, along with my trustee sidekick and coauthor, Dr. Peg ---- off to tape another interview across town. (This was in Phoenix.) Let me see if we've got that one linked here -- it's called "Your Life: A to Z" ...

Authors Interview on KCHF TV