As her fiftieth birthday approaches, Rita Reynolds is faced with an uncomfortable thought: is it too late to start over and reinvent herself?
But it’s not just the half-century mark that sparks the question. She is also dealing with a bad case of empty-nest syndrome combined with the possible loss of her part-time job. Worse, she realizes that since her divorce five years ago, she’s been coasting on the highway of life. Everyone around her, from her twenty-year-old son Zack to her seventy-five-year-old mother Shirley, is making changes and taking on new challenges. Everyone but Rita, that is. She is stuck in a rut of her own making. Now, it’s time for her to hit the gas and start moving ahead, even if the bumps in the road are slowing her down.
A serendipitous chance to teach a six-week baking class to adults brings back her long ago dream of becoming a professional baker—a goal derailed by marriage and motherhood. But her self-doubt nearly keeps her from seizing the opportunity. Fortunately, her friends intervene, and with their support and encouragement, she overcomes her fears and takes on the new role.
This leads to more prospects that can make a significant change in Rita’s life and her perception of herself—if she can find her inner moxie and take them on. Can she? Will she? Or is it too late for a midlife makeover?
Targeted Age Group:: 40 years and older
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The genesis of Reinventing Rita was the idea of reinvention. Sometimes life reinvention is what you choose to do, but other times, it’s thrust upon you, which is the situation that Rita finds herself in. I wanted to show that when life throws you a curve ball that changes your circumstances, there’s a natural tendency to want to go back to an identity that felt safe and secure, and one where you felt confident.
But going back is rarely a doable option. While taking on new challenges and exploring new opportunities can be scary—or at least, it has been in my case!—it also opens doors that you might not have even realized were there. That’s what I wanted to illustrate through the events that Rita faces: that who you have been in the past doesn’t have to mean that is who you will be in the future.
How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
I freely admit I was influenced by people in my own life. I have a circle of women friends who have supported and encouraged me, and they have all demonstrated, to varying degrees, some of the qualities that Rita’s friends possess: a mix of brutal honesty, gentle encouragement and tactful suggestions. After that, I just let my imagination run with it!
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