THE GOLDEN AGE OF CHARLI

Are you like me? Were you born with two hearts? Yes, we all have a heart that sings through the stethoscope, but do you have a secret heart that also pumps and pulses all day and night, sending surges of ideas and thoughts, wispy memories and rhyming lines through your soul? Have you always wanted to be a writer?

If you have wanted to write, I hope you didn’t wait as long as I did to make my dream a reality. For over forty years, I told my family, friends, people in the grocery, that I wanted to write a book. One day in the fall of 2014, my husband said, “Well, then why don’t you write it?”

Why don’t I write a book?!

So I did. As my husband spoke those words, an idea for a series pulsed from my heart to my brain. I would write a positive, and encouraging story of a woman with dreams, a women with a zest for everyday life, a woman who was facing retirement. I wanted it to be humorous, but I also knew it had to contain some beauty and meaning. And so after forty years, I began to write my first book.

I self published the first book in the series in September, 2015. I joined the whirlwind that most of you in the book world can relate to- starting my social media, blogging, and writing the second book and then the third book in the series.

I never took the time to celebrate. So please indulge me now. For the next few weeks I am going to share my books with you.

So lets begin, with the book one- The golden age of Charli- RSVP. In the first book of the series,  Charli and her hubby Pud start their retirement. Charli is ready to jump into the matching soaker tubs. But where is Pud? And what is retirement about anyway?

The Golden Age of Charli- RSVP begins with a short introduction. Just like my dream of writing, my book begins with a dream. Here is the start of my first book:

My Dream

I jerked awake, arms and legs tangled in the sheet and comforter, my pillows in a heap on the floor. What happened? What did he say?

 Where am I? Oh no, not again. Not another nightmare, another shadow on my day.

If I were wearing a red-bordered name tag, it would read, “Hello! My name is Charlotte Angstrom Eddy McAntic.” At school, I’d enrolled with my given name, but I’d changed it to Charli as a preteen. Now I answered to hon, Mom, Auntie, “Where are you?” or “Help!”

When I had been a teenager, at the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, my friends and I had been convinced that we wouldn’t live, or didn’t want to live, past the age of thirty. But of course I had survived to cross that infamous, untrustworthy threshold. I’d spent my thirties, forties, and even my fifties in peace and harmony aligning marriage, mortgage, careers, and children.

I’d married Pud, a no-nonsense, hardworking, establishment-type guy. Somewhat surprisingly, based on his serious, no-frills demeanor, he’d parlayed a math degree into an exciting career supporting open-wheel auto racing. I’d started out as a free spirit but had ended up taking the more traditional route. I’d earned a law degree, focused on contracts, and then dedicated myself to my favorite jobs—wife and mother. Our two boys were young adults now, almost launched, although still within the orbit of Planet Home.

Thanks to love, the stars, and a little help from my friends, the seasons gently went round and round.

So why was I having bad dreams?

A Favorite Review

You may want to read more about my writing process.

How did your writing dream start?