Do you love chain letters or do you hate them? Sometimes they are just like daisy chains, bits of sun drenched thought linked together to brighten someone’s day.Sometimes they are really annoying. Well I have been invited by Mary Tabor, the wizard of words about love and life’s other irresistible trials to play in The Next Big Thing chain and I am thrilled to be part of this!
Here is how it works;
Mary tagged me at Mary L Tabor.com
Mary’s latest book, Who By Fire is a journey into a relationship which left me delightfully “jumbled” and hungry for more of the Mary L Tabor style of scripting life and love.It is honest, heart wrenching and a winding path you cannot put down.

Now I get to tag five other authors,the hard part is deciding who and on which of their books to focus. Then I encourage the five I chose to tag five more and so on and so on.

So, who shall I tag?

Hilary Mantel author of Wolf Hall: A Novel and Bring Up the Bodies, the first two books in a trilogy based on the life of historical figure Thomas Cromwell. I admit to being addicted to the Showtime series The Tudors in which Thomas Cromwell played a significant role. After the Tudors Ms Mantel’s books are a great indulgence for me, so much more detail, so much more intrigue. I have always loved historical fiction,since childhood, because what interested me the most about history were the stories about the people of those times. Historical fiction grants the author such leeway to expand the characters and plumb them out with human emotion, frailties and heroism.
The Cromwell series works well within the boundaries of fact but does exactly as I described,it plumbs out the man and his life in a way that makes the tales irresistible.
OK Hilary, as much as I would love you to join this chain mail, I must insist you stay tied to your desk and working on your next big thing,The Mirror and the Light, the third in this trilogy.

Tim Winton is an Australian novelist and short story writer. I have read many of his books but Breath,A Novel was my first and your first is always special. I have traveled to Australia twice and I have seen those waves which holler at us as we stand in awe on the beach,“ I am in charge. Take note, mere human”. Mr. Winton’s novel explores the marine waves and the developmental waves of a young man coming of age on a surfboard and in his heart. After Breath I read five more Winton masterpieces in a row, need I say more?

Peter Heller is an adventure writer so perhaps this explains The Dog Stars,a novel which is not just another apocalyptic tale. Who doesn’t love a tale about when it is all over and the rules are up for grabs? We like to fantasize about how we would act, where we would draw our boundaries. The Dog Stars will give you that opportunity. It has its share of gruesome detail but you will also laugh and cry sweet tears. I intend to explore the world of Peter Heller again soon after this first trip with him.

Raul Ramos Y Sanchez took me to an L.A. with which I am not familiar and quite frankly hope never to be. House Divided vividly describes what can go wrong in a multi ethnic city full of fear but it also inspires as it describes what can go right with the human spirit. Raul Ramos Y Sanchez is Cuban born, raised in both New York City and Cuba and he draws from his own experience and considerable insight into the human soul to create this book.

Simon Mawer, grew up in one place was educated in another and now works and lives in yet another. I think these shallow roots blossom creativity; they also allow an author to ably take his readers on a journey to wherever he cares to set his tale. I was quite undecided on which of Mr. Mawer’s books to highlight here but in the end I picked The Glass Room. This book is about a room, which if you are an architecture fan like I am is enough to intrigue you, but of course a room is envisioned, build by and contains people and there the story begins.

This is the part where I answer ten questions about my writing set by the Next Big Thing chain letter game and the five folks I have tagged above will hopefully do the same.

What is the title of your book (or story)?
Fifty & Fabulous! The Best Years of a Woman’s Life

Where did the idea come from for the book?
When I was 54 years old both my parents died. I was kicked off the bench and onto the field of life. One day as I struggled to reconcile a thousand competing emotions this question popped into my head “What is a woman’s role in life after the biological imperative to reproduce is passed, in other words after menopause?

What genre does your book fall under?
Non fiction- research based, but not the sort of research that seeks to proof an existing hypothesis. My research began uninformed and I had no idea what I might find. I interviewed women from 45 – 102 years of age in five countries before I began to write.

Write a one sentence synopsis of your book.
Life after 50 is stage of human development not a stage of human decline.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
My book is nonfiction so I am not sure how to answer this one but it is fun to imagine representing the voices of the women I interviewed with actors. My casting list would include; Meryl Streep, Isabella Rossellini, Annette Bening, Susan Sarandon…get my drift, amazing strong willed, talented woman who are aging in confidence, naturally.

Was your book self-published or represented by an agency?
Watkins Publishing, London, UK

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Actually plopping words down on a page… about 24 months. However the interviews and analysis of the information gathered took about another 24 months…not full time of course, a girl has to eat which means work at a paying job.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Anne Morrow Lindberg’s A Gift From The Sea.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
When I analyzed the words of my interviewees I saw that life after 50 is a natural spiritual journey, the most fertile time of a woman’s life and I just thought …wow! I had to find a way to share this. Why would anyone be afraid to grow old if they knew what was waiting for them in these years? I was inspired by the sparkling eyed women across the world who had so generously opened before me their hearts and minds and their experience of life after 50.

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
I am now interviewing men over 50 and hoping to give the male gender equal time on the topic of aging. What I am finding so far, is in many ways, quite different from what I am found while interviewing women.
If you know any great older men, particularly 85+ please send them my way and help me on my Next Big Thing.

Mary Tabor will interview me on May 8th at 1:00PM PCT. You can tune in live on Rare Bird Radio, bogtalkradio.com at
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rarebirdradio/2012/10/24/mary-l-tabor-and-tbd
or catch it later on Mary’s page at the same address.