When Marla Miller, teacher, media whiz and mentor, heard me squawking about the dearth of movies and novels featuring mature women, she asked me to do a video rant about it. I did, and it’s called Why Am I Talking to YOU?

It was my first ever YouTube video and I’m so excited, because it forced me to learn a new skill, one that will be helpful as I market my books. Of course, in the couple of days I experimented with backdrop, lighting, clothing, makeup and script, I wasn’t actually writing, unfortunately. But now that I know those things, any future videos will be done more quickly.

Marla’s blog is called Women over 45: SPEAK! You will love it. Check it out. Maybe you have an issue you’d like to talk about. It’s a great forum for women to be heard.

About one minute after I posted that video, I found out about a stellar new work about an older woman, the fantastic new novel by Ann Patchett entitled State of Wonder.

It features two strong women in the lead roles, one of whom is older. The reviewer suggested Helen Mirren or Meryl Streep should hustle to option the script right now. The book is supposed to be Patchett’s very best, even better than Bel Canto if you can imagine that! You can read the review here. I just received my copy and I’m savoring the opening chapters. Just awesome. The setting, the conflicts, the premise, the adventure to come – and none of this is belabored. Patchett isn’t just a gifted writer, she’s a gifted writing instructor. The story is unfolding cinematically as if I were watching a movie. I almost don’t want to read it, because I don’t want to finish it! This may be the slowest I’ll ever read a book.

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