Leap Day is Ending... but May Your Leaping Go On & On!

Oh my heavens. What a day! I still have one important leap I've gotta fit into this dwindling evening. Besides being the day 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s leaped into the hands of the book-buying public (at least, those who paid for overnight shipping on amazon!) --- today was also the ridiculously optimistic "grand opening" date of my (Sheila's) other midlife baby: StudioFiftyForty.com.

As IF! Progress at my e-commerce website --- "the online gift shop for cool people of a certain age" --- is coming along u-l-t-r-a---s-l-o-w-l-y. But, as today's date adorns "The Studio's" welcome screen, I must LEAP over to there and post at least a little update.

I added a page for "WHO" the other day...

Wait, let me explain. Quickly! In setting up that original homepage for StudioFiftyForty --- a spotlit dancefloor, empty --- this fab idea occurred to me. Rather than title the pages like every other website out there (About Us, Contact Us, etc.), I decided to use the journalist's cribsheet: When reporting the news, a journalist is supposed to tell the "Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How" of the story. So... the other day I posted a first draft of the "WHO" page. Wanna see it?

OK, so now, being that it's the last minutes of this relatively rare date -- Feb. 29 -- let me leap off like one o' those proverbial Lords a'Leaping, and post something new about "WHEN."

Love, Laugh, LEAP!
Sheila

LEAP BLOG!

Happy Leap Day! Are you leaping yet? I am. Leaping between appointments -- all of them with "The New Me." Actually, I've been inching up to this New Me for ages (that's the only way to make changes stick, wouldn't you agree?). But I always look to special days like Leap Day for declaring a spirited new Beginning!

I'll play more LEAP BLOG with you when next I land here at the computer. But right now, I'm OFF again!

Love, Love, Love
One Lady a'Leapin'
Sheila

CONFIRMED: Amazon Is Shipping Orders!

THIS JUST IN.... from my friend Kevin, up in beautiful Roseville, Minnesota, USA:

Sheila,

Your book has been shipped from Amazon and I will receive it tomorrow.

This is so exciting. Congratulations - it was hard work but well worth it.

Can't wait to read it.

Love,

--Kevin--

Oh my God! PEGGY! Our book has been shipped! And it's arriving on LEAP DAY!

All day today I've been preparing for tomorrow's spirited LEAP. Make that "tomorrow's spirited LEAPS," as I have a short list of them cuing up for manana. Anyway, Kevin is in the book -- in Way #45: Respect Your Youngers -- along with his sweet daughter, Kaitlyn, and I sure do thank him, for letting us know that the blessed event is upon us: 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s is being born!

Hot diggity!
and, as always, Love, Love, LOVE!
Sheila

Check out StudioFiftyForty!

Hey, just a quickie to invite you to take a peek at my new baby. No, for once, it's not the book. This baby is still a bun in the oven. It's a companion to the 50 Ways website (indeed, it's temporarily "parked" at the 50 Ways website) and just the kind of thing you might expect from an old rock-and-roll DJ like me. Sorry the links aren't operational yet -- the bun is but half-baked! But have a look, anyway, would'ja? And stay tuned for your invitation to the Grand Opening of StudioFiftyForty.com.

Million-watt thanks to my friend Diane Arnold, who's finding time in her gruelling* schedule to teach me web design. (*She's training to do her first triathlon this year. Go, Di, go! What's more, this week she's "single-parenting it." Rest, Di, rest!)

Speaking of going, I gotta. I may not be running, biking, and swimming scores of miles weekly (nor single-parenting, thank God!), but as a web designer-in-training and a budding e-commerce retailer, I've gotta go pound pavement and push pedals in my own way. Gonna make a splash, don't-cha know!

Love all around,
Sheila

"Take a Leap" Day: T-minus two weeks and counting

Just a reminder -- that rarest of all dates, the 29th of February, is making its quadrennial appearance just two weeks from now. Got plans? If not, go on and think some up quick, because, according to my trusty little Pocket Astrologer, Feb. 29, 2008, is going to be a right dandy day for taking a Spirited Leap.

For one thing, the Moon will be in Sagittarius, and that (says the P.A.) "can give an idealistic feeling, restlessness, desire for adventure and sports, a love of change and motion, and the itch to travel."

Gosh, sounds like "Take a Spirited Leap," to me. But wait, there's more!

"People will be warm and friendly since Sagittarius is ruled by expansive Jupiter, but they will also have a strong need for independence and feel unable to endure restrictions." [Must...LEAP!] "People will likely feel spontaneous," [Now!] "intuitive (prophetic)," [The net will appear; I just know it!] "and animated with enthusiasm. Here the Moon stimulates our aspirations for self-improvement," [Watch me FLY!] "and brings a philosophical influence."

My wee little reference book goes on in this positive vein, and that's just in the "Moon in Sagittarius" part. Oh, but Feb. 29 is loaded with planetary "aspects," too, all of which seem plenty conducive to spirited leaping, even if I don't quite understand every aspect of "aspects." To wit:

On Leap Day, 2008, at:

• 2:03 a.m. (MST): Moon sextile Mercury -- "Communication and conversation are easy with this positive connection of mind and emotions. Practical mental abilities and good common sense are highlighted. It is a good time to conduct business," [at 2 in the morning, riiight], utilize communications media or to use writing as a means of expression." Perhaps we should all plan to be up blogging and emailing that night!
• 4:48 a.m., Moon sextile Venus -- "Sensitivity and affections are strong as subconscious sensuality seeks emotional satisfaction. This is a good time for romance or any social gathering. Personalities mellow. Dispositions are pleasant. Have a party!"
• 12:00 Noon -- Moon square Uranus -- "Expect disruptions or obsessions with the unusual and unconventional." [Break with tradition! Take a spirited LEAP!]
• 8:31 p.m. Moon sextile Neptune -- "Sensitivity opens the unconsciousness. Imagination is strong and inspirational."

See? A perfectly wonderful day to Leap. That's Feb. 29th, two weeks from today. Personally, I didn't need any more convincing. It's enough for me that there is but a single Leap Day in four long years. Rather like Presidential elections and the Summer Olympics, only way more fleeting -- and fun, I think, for the Average Joe & Jill. So don't miss it, okay? Get ready to LEAP!

My Gift of Love to the World

Coming soon to an internet connection near you, it's StudioFiftyForty.com, a gift shop for cool people of a certain age!!!

Tonight I finally registered the domain name, and while I was at it, I also registered such variations on the spelling as Studio50forty.com, StudioFifty40.com, and Studio5040.com. Those'll all forward to the main domain. Was disappointed to find that two variations --- Studio_50_40.com and Studio50_40.com --- were already taken, but you know what? When you type either of those URLs into a browser, nothing comes up. In other words, someone registered those domains but hasn't actually created a website yet. So I went ahead with my registration of, and webhosting agreement for, StudioFiftyForty.com.

Next, I loaded up my DreamWeaver software and read through the QuickStart. I'll be hard-pressed to do my real work tomorrow, I can tell already! (I'm supposed to be applying to be on Oprah's show --- fairly important stuff for a new author --- but I can't seem to give it my full attention. Not when there are expansive New Vistas to explore!)

My html-savvy friend Diane is gonna school me on DreamWeaver this Saturday. Not only are we going to update the official 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s website, but, by gum, I'm gonna get something up on my brand-new, 10GB piece of cyber real estate, at www.StudioFiftyForty.com. Hold me to it, would'ja? Click on over there on Sunday or so, and see if I've kept my promise to the world, or what!

Hope you had a LOVERLY Valentine's Day. Mine was positively heart-warming -- thanks for asking!

Love x3,
Sheila

Cupcakes & Cupid's Arrows

Valentine's Eve is always such a tizzy. I'm just finished with baking 36 cupcakes (my daughter decorated 'em, thank god) and cutting out dozens of red paper hearts and spearing each with a freshly sharpened Valentine's pencil, like Cupid's arrow, after my son wrote them out to everyone, in silver ink. Now all these pretty little things lie packaged and waiting at the door, for the school day tomorrow, when there'll be affection in the air and a mite too many confections in the teeth and bloodstream of the student body. Ah well.

Anyway, speaking of affection, I just wanted to share the email I got from my friend Lindy today. She handles marketing at KHFM, the commercial classical-music station here in Albuquerque, and has been such a fabulous cheerleader for me and this project, I can't begin to thank her enough. Now that Lindy is lining me and Peg up for an interview on KHFM, naturally our publicist sent her a copy of 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s. So today comes this email from Lindy:

Subject: "I Got It! I Got t!"

Hi! I am so excited!! I just got the book… I was holding it in my hands until I had this uncontrollable urge to write to you to let you know…. I GOT IT!!!

I have been waving it all over the office, making people queue up for “the reading” of it! I’m first; then Bob, then Kip. I AM SO AWFULLY PROUD OF YOU!!!!! I know I have no right to be “kvelling” (…a wonderful Yiddish word that means beaming from someone else’s good fortune), but I am!

Thank you for having Kim send it to me. I have also pre-ordered two copies and plan on giving it to all of my friends and my children and their friends!!! (Do you have a bulk rate?)

When can we have lunch so you can actually SEE me beaming?

Love,
Lindy

Oh, kvell away, my dear! Kvelling is something the world can always use more of. As to bulk rates, hmmm, I'll have to check that out. Thanks for writing, Lindy, and here's some love right back at'cha! You made my day.

Sheila

P.S. Oh, and yes, let's be ladies who lunch, for sure. I'll email you...

New Biz... New Biz Card!

Ta-daaah!

So, whad'ya think? I designed it yesterday, printed it up today, and handed a bunch of them out at a New Mexico Business Women's soiree this evening. It seemed to do the trick.

Of course, this is but one of 50 variations of my new business card, as each flipside reveals just one chapter title, one of the fifty "Ways."

Naturally, I chose the number that answers an earlier question on this blog (see Feb. 10, 2008). The cool coincidence is that "launching my legacy" is exactly what I'm doing right now, with this card and with the book -- and with this blog, for that matter. Don't'cha just love it when cool coincidences reaffirm how unbelievably swell life can be? I do.

Onward and UPward!
Sheila

Amazon ranking 9,376

Peg writes: "Now I'M clicking Amazon every 5 minutes! Well, not quite, but enough to notice that we're still climbing! Hey, maybe we'll even make it into the 3 digit group someday!"

Oh, Peggy, we're not stopping at 3 digits. Heck no. Straight to the top, beh-beh! On past the double dijjers to the singles.... UNTIL??? (Recall that the following is sung to the tune of Sheryl Crow's "All I Wanna Do Is Have Some Fun")... "UNTIL OUR NAME'S ON TOP OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERS LIST!"

We broke into the Top 100,000 on Amazon!

This actually happened the last week in January, while I was still in the throes of my family's New Year's mailing to Everyone We Know. After sending out 100 or so of my "It's a BOOK!" emails, I left a browser window open to our book on amazon.com --- left it open all day. Well, that night, before closing the browser, the thought struck me, to refresh the page, and when I did,

I SAW THE SALES RANKING OF 50 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR 40s GO FROM AROUND 330,000 TO SOME 94,000! It was a sweet moment, to say the least.

OK, so today now, Peg trumped the heck out of that story by emailing me and our publicist with this: No, for heaven's sake, this warrants a post of its own.

Read on!

Sheila

Happy My-Birthday to You!

So, how many does this make? Here's a hint: With the New Moon three days ago, the lunar calendar ushered in the Year of the Rat, and that just happens to be the sort of year I was born in. Got it? OK, so who are my fellow Rats out there?

Here I am with one of my birthday gifts: Hoberman's sphere --- a glow-in-the-dark model, no less! I mention this cool expanding toy in 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s, in Way #8: Play Ball! So it made sense for me to own one, don't you think? At least, that's why I shopped eBay and "gifted" myself. This thing'll be a hoot during my bookstore appearances, I can tell already.

Oh! Have I buried the lead? I do that all the time.

Peg and I have the beginnings of a book tour booked, with gigs in New Mexico and Arizona, as follows:

Wednesday, March 19, at Garcia Street Books, in Santa Fe
Thursday, May 1, at the Duck & Decanter, in Phoenix
Friday, May 2, at Antigone Books, in Tucson.

Meanwhile, a bookstore owner right here in Albuquerque has declined to book us, isn't that nuts? I won't mention his store, because hey! By his own choice he doesn't make the list! But do stay tuned to this blog, as we expect more bookings --- gosh, maybe even one here in town!

But back to birthdays. Don't you just love 'em? I do. And I've always been especially happy that mine comes so soon after New Year's. As a kid, of course, it was a pretty good bet I'd finally get the gift I whined about not getting for Christmas. Nowadays, it's more about having a second crack at the whole Resolutions thing. Hope springs eternal that one day I will truly start living a healthier lifestyle, and indeed, now that our book is coming out, and it talks all kinds about healthier lifestyles, you might say I'm feeling a hard-pressed to Bring It On! To Switch Into Glide with smooth, solid, daily habits of eating right and exercising with a passion.

So today, in my journal, I'm detailing two side-by-side lists, for the sake of self-motivation, titled "The Now Me" & "The New Me." Okay, dig it, because this isn't just about me. "Happy 'My Birthday' to You!" YOU can have another crack at your Resolutions, too! I mean, why NOT? As Thich Nhat Hanh says, each day brings us 24 brand new hours, and thus a fresh start.

But, I know... some days really do have more of a "fresh start" kind of feel than others. New Year's is naturally a biggie, and birthdays can be just as big. Some folks start fresh with the first day of a new month, or on the day of any month's New Moon. Others refresh their efforts weekly, routinely starting again on Monday. Whatever works! Habit-change takes persistence.

Well, here comes a Fresh Start day I'd call four times more auspicious than New Year's: LEAP DAY, Feb. 29, 2008. I've decided to call it "Take a Leap" Day, and I'll be blogging more about it. Indeed, I'll be sharing my plans for a big leap of my own, one that I hope will bring a bit of joy to legions of people. Stay tuned!

The Eagle Has Landed!

Heard a knock at the door just a few minutes ago, and darn if it wasn't the Fed-Ex guy, delivering a copy of 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s to my doorstep! Across town, presumably, Peg is receiving a copy, too. Golly! We are published authors!

The book looks great, with "spot varnish" to give the cover image lots of shine. Amazon.com has been taking preorders since before Christmas --- at a third off the cover price, no less! Officially, the book's "pub date" -- which, despite the sound of it, is not a get-together for a drink -- is March 15. So beware the Ides of March, would'ja? If you don't find our book in your local bookstore by then, Peg and I would appreciate it very much if you would get all over their asses about ordering it --- in large quantity, por favor.

Cheerio!
Sheila

Endorsements for 50/40

Dear Fans,

The book is going to the printer this Friday! We are very excited. Meanwhile, our wonderful publisher has collected some awesome endorsements for us. Check them out:

"Good, juicy, inspiring words and ways to live as a gloriously aging soul."
--- SARK author and artist of Fabulous Friendship Festival


What a treasure trove! 50 Ways To Leave Your Forties is a joyful, irreverent (and at the same time, very reverent) enthusiastic, and incredibly informative book. The authors present their suggestions for zestful and meaningful living in wonderfully inviting ways. I loved it!

--Sue Patton Thoele, author of Freedoms After 50, The Courage To Be Yourself, and The Mindful Woman


"So far, the statistics are convincing: everyone ages. How we age, however, is largely a choice. In 50 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR 40s, Sheila Key and Dr. Peggy Spencer serve up a delectable recipe for healthy aging that is both delicious and joyful."

--Larry Dossey, MD, author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things

Dipping into this treasure trove of a book makes me want to go back in time so I can leave my 40s again. 50 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR 40s offers so many creative ideas, so much thoughtful information and is so darn much fun, I’m sure I’d do it more gracefully, heathfully, and happily the second time. Congratulations and thanks to Sheila Key and Peggy Spencer for giving all of us a life-affirming map to follow no matter what our age.

-- Judy Reeves, author of A Writer’s Book of Days

"Sheila Key and Peggy Spencer know that a new decade of life is the beginning, not the end, of something great. With generous helpings of wisdom and wit, 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s is a recipe for joy during what comes next."

-David Niven, PhD, author of The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People and The
100 Simple Secrets of the Best Half of Life

Not only that, but you can already buy the book on Amazon! See HERE.

The End Is In Sight!

For those faithful fans who do check on us from time to time, you will be pleased to know that this book is almost finished!

Our deadline to have our manuscript to the publisher is August 1, 2007 and we are going to make it! We're very excited. The book, if we may say so, is looking great. The editor thinks so too.

Of course, after the due date there are all kinds of other steps before publication, which puts the publication date in Spring of 2008. Naturally, we will keep you informed!

Guess who stopped by yesterday!

It's Michael Davis and Colleen Anderson, my friends from West Virginia! They stopped through on their way to Taos, by way of Jemez. Colleen and Michael love New Mexico (luckily for us) and visit often, albeit fleetingly.

These are the good people who came up with the title "50 Ways to Leave Your 40s" (Michael's brainchild) and delivered it to my kitchen table on Oct. 13, 2000. Less than an hour earlier that evening, I'd scrawled "I must write a book!" on a stray piece of paper, then, a moment later, "What shall it be about?" Whereupon Colleen arrived for the first of her now customary autumn stays at the Ghost Ranch. It's a writers' gathering; I'll have to get the URL and put it in here...Fall Writing Festival.

Anyway, there was Colleen at my door, all those 6½ years ago, and within a matter of minutes, she was regaling me with the story of a road trip a few months earlier, notably a gift she gave herself on the occasion of a certain "Big Oh" birthday.

...Which is how the book title came up in conversation. I myself was 40 at the time, and we thought for a minute we might write the book together. But in the end, Colleen and Michael --- these two lovelies flanking me in this photograph --- decided, "YOU should write it, Sheila!" And so, at long last, I am.

Speaking of... I'd better get back to it. I'm at exactly the two-thirds point in the manuscript, working on Way #33 today: "Break On Through to the Other Side." Gotta get my MOjo RIsing! Meanwhile, I have handed The Tome (i.e. the 3-ring binder containing the first 32 chapters) over to Colleen and Michael for their critical -- and I do mean critical -- reading. Stay tuned!

Wait! Before I go, I promised C & M that I'd add their links here on my blog. Give me a minute...Here we go: Colleen's and Michael's.

OK, that's better

Wha' Happened?

Expert Excerpts, Expert Excerpts, Expert Excerpts

To recap: Last Friday, our editor at New World Library set us straight that, in order to be the precious little gift book we all intend, 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s requires a total word count of 50,000, not the 100,000 cited in our contract. Oops! Wish that boilerplate detail hadn't slipped through a crack. Meanwhile, here Peg and I were, trying for months to figure out how to make all our fabulous material fit into a mere 2,000 words per chapter.

Now that push comes to shove and our new target is smaller by half, clearly we need to narrow our focus. We had done a lot of writing, of course, but thankfully not the bulk of it. The major loss comes in terms of time spent doing tons of research for the many "nuggets" that lie now on the cutting-room floor.

(heavy sigh...) Life happens. What'cha gonna do?

Onward! Upward!

We do still want your stories! But obviously, the name of the game will be "Expert Excerpts." (Say that fast three times!) We'll zero in on the strongest material, the most compelling experiences, the liveliest quotes. Don't just tell us what happened with you in the "leaving your 40s" passage. Tell us how the experience changed you. And pass on your best advice for others facing similar situations. Our book aims to be upbeat and humorous, even as it conveys some of life's heavier lessons, so don't be afraid to crack wise!

DEADLINE: September 30, 2006. Email sheilakey@newmexico.com. Include your real name, your real age, and the first name (real or not) you'd like us to use for publication.

Thanks.

But first, a few photos!

Can you believe Peg and I showed up at our second book-writing retreat wearing the same dress?! We didn't even know we owned the same dress. Bonus: Since my kids really, really wanted to see the room and jump on the beds (Retreat Central was just three miles from home) -- and since I was happy for their help, along with Dad's, to shlepp the last of my gear up to the room -- Peg and I had a willing photographer on hand for a moment, to document the coincidence. (Thank you, Maya Sweetie!)

And when I say we shlepped in the stuff, I mean
We shlepped in the stuff!

Call us urban campers. I snapped this photo at the end, as we awaited Sean the Bellman to help pack us out. A photo of the incoming load (if it existed) would show lots more groceries. We ate well! Though the room lacked cooking facilities, the elevator stood ready to whisk us down to the doorstep of McGrath's, Hyatt's downtown-Albuquerque restaurant, where the kitchen staff stood just as ready to please, if only to bake Peg's gourmet pizza in their oven or pop my bag of corn in their microwave. We never did actually dine at McGrath's, but we recommend it to any restaurant-goer in the neighborhood, purely on principle.

Lugging in the cappucino maker and accoutrement definitely paid off. Saved us considerable dollars and minutes (OK, half-hours) not spent running down to Starbuck's in the lobby.
Nope, we ate in, drank in... Just hunkered in the bunker and wrote.

Peg brought along her brand-spanking new copy of the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition, our publisher's stylebook of choice.
Oh, and she struck on a possible solution to midlife changes in visual accuity, to say nothing of cutting-edge fashion.

The weather was kind enough to be cloudy all weekend while we hunkered indoors. Not just dull gray, though. We enjoyed our 9th-floor view of blanket after blanket of clouds spilling over the Sandia Mountains. Photos through the window never do justice to such beautiful scenery.

...And we even made it to the hot tub! Only once, but still. While we were there, we "collected" a little story for the book, from a couple passing through on their way from San Francisco (their home of 30 years) to their new home in Amarillo, Texas, a town they had yet to set foot in. Now that's a midlife adventure!

WHICH reminds me: I owe you an update about our story needs for the book, now that our template is much condensed. It's coming. Stay tuned.

"Did we say 100,000 words?"

Peg and I are just back from retreat. We holed up at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Albuquerque, our hometown. Didn't set foot out of the place from check-in on Thursday to check-out on Tuesday. In-room cappucino maker (lugged from home) prevented us from frequenting Starbuck's downstairs. Well, almost. We gave in to the scone urge one morning. But hey, "once" is not "frequenting," so I guess I was right the first time.

Oh, but look: I've buried the lead.

Our retreat began with a long-awaited confab with our editor, and boy-oh-boy, are we wishing we hadn't waited so long. The upshot is this: Although our contract with New World Library calls for a first-draft manuscript of "approximately 100,000 words," what NWL really meant to ask of us (had they caught the boo-boo) was "approximately 50,000 words." The 100K figure is boilerplate for the typical 9" x 6", 300-page book. But ours is not the typical 9 x 6 same-old, same-old.

50/40 is a gift book. It'll have a gifty shape (we spoke of 6" square) and a "precious" look and feel. As such, it cannot accommodate 100,000 words. Good lord! We had hoped to find out we had some "wiggle room" above the 100K. We came away with a firm "half that." Yikes!

But we've gotta laugh. How many thousand words do they want, after all, for this book about "leaving your 40s"? Why, FIFTY, of course!

In fairness, our editor gave us the choice of going the "standard 9 X 6" route. But we agreed with her that 50/40 is, first and foremost, a gift book. So, with her help, we pared the template to the bone and got to work.

Where does this leave us, vis-a-vis stories from contributors? Good question! And it deserves its own stand-alone blog post.

Soon!
Love, Sheila