Joan’s Boomer Blog

Here are two more luau party games from my friend Cindy over at CoconutRoads.com. She’s also in the over-50 crowd and thinks these are perfect for my boomer blog as they are fun, don’t require the flexibility

Learn the Hula!

of Twister or Limbo but speak to our sharp minds (except those inconvenient “senior moments”) and love of a good time.

Kimo Says

Played like Simon Says only with a Hawaiian twist – or hula move that is. Begin

by teaching a few basic hula moves. If you are booking hula or Polynesian dancers, arrange for your guests to be taught some simple hula movements. Otherwise, go to http://www.alohafriendsluau.com/hulamoves.html for some basic moves, and then type each move you want to learn into YouTube. You can get a good idea just from the web page, but it helps to the dancers in motion.

Many of the hand motions, such as for swaying palms, rain and the sea are fairly intuitive. Whether your luau’s entertainment teaches the moves or you do, it might also help the guests to have them sketched on a large board for easy reference during the game. And a bonus to this game is that everyone learns some hula!

Don’t expect moves to be performed perfectly. Dancing hula will likely be a first for most of the guest so expect lots of laughter! As long as the contestants are doing an ami instead of the hula gesture for love, they are stay “in.” If someone jumps the gun or performs a completely wrong move, then the person is out.

Hawaiian Pictionary

Knowledge-based games have lots of appeal for those of us over 50 - after all we’ve accumulated a lot of knowledge – some trivia, some important – in our lifetimes, a game is a fun way to show it off! Even more is a game that involves a skill not all are so good at because it adds an element of silliness. Enter Hawaiian Pictionary. This may be a bit easier than the Luau party game - Hawaiian Charades, depending on your guests’ acting and drawing skills. If you draw people like I do, then your Hawaiian Pictionary drawings may resemble ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs more than text book art but that adds to the fun!

Party Pictionary Supplies

Depending on your budget and how creative you want to get with your supplies, here’s what can work.

The important thing is to have a drawing board that is easy for all to see. This can be an easel with large sheets of drawing paper, or something as inexpensive as a roll of blank paper purchased from the local newspaper with a new piece quickly taped to the wall for each player taking a turn. Alternatively, a wipe-off white board with dry erase markers requires no paper, and if you have children in the home, they can enjoy this too.

Pictionary Subjects

Anything from Hawaiian culture is fair game. To slant this towards the over 50 crowd, consider movies, songs, books, personalities and other Hawaiian topics from the 1950s through early 1970s. This also happens to be a time when thanks to Statehood, jet travel and Elvis, all-things-Hawaii became of great interest to the U.S. mainland. For specific topic ideas, see my blog “Luau Party Games – Hawaiian Charades.”

Get more ideas and directions for luau party games.

Decorations for your Luau

Today I have a Guest Blogger, my friend, Hawaii Culture & Travel Writer, Cindy Blankenship. Check out Cindy’s Hawaiian travel website at Coconut Roads.com

Luau Party Games for the Over-50 Crowd – Hawaiian Charades

Hawaiian charades is a perfect game for baby boomers! Here’s why I think so. Most of us were old enough during the 1960s to have witnessed the huge increase in Hawaii-themed entertainment in that era that was propelled by the first jet service to the islands and Elvis’ Blue Hawaii shortly following Statehood in 1959.

Also, “Hawaii Calls” broadcast weekly from Waikiki Beach was at its height of popularity on the U.S. mainland in the 1950s through early 1970s and introduced many of us to the music and culture of our Aloha State. In other words, Hawaii was a popular subject in mainland American homes when we were growing up.

Many movies were made in Hawaii previous to Statehood and many more since the Golden Age of tourism, but the 1950s through early 1970s lend a vast number of subjects for Hawaiian-theme charades. Below the directions you’ll find a list of some of these (and a few newer ones) to help you get started.

How to Play Charades

Directions – There are many ways to play charades. If you want to make it a competition, divide your luau guests into two teams. You can create the Charades cards with subjects ahead of time, or you can have each team write subjects (see list below for ideas) on slips of paper, folding each paper in half and then placing in a basket or hat (a coconut woven basket or hat would be perfect!).

Each team player will have a chance to act out the subject on the card, while his team tries to guess the subject. No words can be used. The actor is not allowed to speak. A timer is set for 3 to 5 minutes (make it the same amount of time for each actor). If the actor’s team guesses correctly, that team scores a point.

Now it’s the other team’s turn. With each turn a new actor draws a subject from the hat to act out. Everybody gets a turn! Team members yell out their guesses. It’s important that the team choose a slip of paper or card randomly from the opponent’s basket. In other words the team doesn’t get to create their own subjects. Alternatively, the party host can create the subjects and allow the actor to draw from the basket.

Once all have had a turn at acting out a subject, you can go more rounds or end the game there. Decide ahead of time on this. Also be sure you have enough subjects for each team member to have a go at acting out.

At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins! If you’d like to play just for fun, simply have the subjects on folded cards or papers in baskets and take volunteers to act them out. Charades is probably the most or one of the most popular party games. It’s a lot of fun!

Hawaiian decorations for your luau

Hawaiian Charades Topics for your Luau

Movies Filmed in Hawaii

• From Here to Eternity (1953)
• South Pacific (1958)
• Blue Hawaii (1961)
• Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961)
• In Harm’s Way (1965)
• Hawaii (1966)
• Paradise Hawaiian Style (1966)
• 50 First Dates (2003)

More movies filmed in Hawaii for your luau games (charades or trivia!)

TV Shows Filmed in Hawaii

• Gilligan’s Island
• Hawaii 5-0 (original with Jack Lord or current)
• Magnum PI
• Lost
• Bay Watch

Hawaiian Songs

• Akaka Falls
• Aloha `Oe
• Beyond the Reef
• Blue Hawaii
• Hawaiian Lullaby
• Hawaiian Wedding Song
• Honolulu City Lights
• Hukilau Song
• I’ll Remember You
• Lovely Hula Hands
• Little Grass Shack
• Mele Kalikimaka
• Morning Dew
• Pearly Shells
• Sea Breeze
• Sweet Leilani
• Tiny Bubbles
• Waikiki

These songs are good ones for Hawaiian karaoke too!

A quick search for Hawaii’s most popular songs will bring you lots more.

Famous People of Hawaii (from Hawaii or had a home there)

• Alfred Apaka
• Bette Midler
• Charo
• Don Ho
• Don the Beachcomber
• Duke (Duke Kahanamoku)
• Elvis Presley
• Father Damien
• George Harrison
• IZ (Extra point for his full name: Israel Kamakawiwoʻole)
• Keola Beamer
• Kealii Reichel
• King Kamehameha
• Hilo Hattie
• Hapa
• Harry Owens
• Prince Kuhio
• Sam Choy
• Queen Liliuokalani
• Wayne Dyer

Books about Hawaii

• Hawaii ( by James Michener)
• Jack London’s Stories of Hawaii
• Roughing It (Mark Twain)

Words & Phrases

• Aloha
• Beach
• Mai Tai
• Coconut Tree
• Dolphin
• Hawaiian Punch
• Hula
• Kane (man)
• Kapu (tabu)
• Surf
• Fish
• Mahalo
• Poi
• Luau
• Paniolo (Hawaiian Cowboy)
• Pineapple
• Rainbow
• Samoan Fire Dancer
• Shark
• Snorkel
• Tahitian Dancer
• Tiki
• Tourist
• Tsunami
• Volcano
• Wahini
• Whale

Places

• Diamond Head
• Volcano National Park
• Honolulu
• Waikiki
• North Shore
• Kauai
• Oahu
• Pipeline
• Maui
• Hawaii Island (Big Island)
• Kona
• Highway to Hana
• Lahaina

Hawaiian Party Tips: Depending on their ages, your over-50 guests will have grown up in the 50s, 60s and 70s. You don’t need to get too technical but do consider the largest age group when planning games that require some cultural knowledge. Aim for the majority but include something for everyone. Or to make it easier on yourself, let your guests help come up with ideas for Charades and other knowledge-based luau party games!

Finally, don’t stop here. Get more ideas and directions for luau party games.

Stay tuned for Joan’s Boomer Blog post: “Luau Party Games – “Kimo Says” and “Hawaiian Pictionary”

Thanks so much Cindy! I can just imagine a warm summer evening, soft Hawaiian music playing, the patio decorated for a luau, and enjoying some of these luau party games with friends.

When I was a kid in the 50’s, if you wore glasses, you were called “four eyes.” In the 60’s though, glasses

Reading glasses from Optx2020

became a fashion statement. Watch the original Woodstock movie again and you’ll see lots of those little round hippie glasses in evidence. Think Janis Joplin and John Lennon. Now that we’re all getting older, those glasses perched on our nose are less likely to be a fashion statement and more likely to be a necessity for reading the morning newspaper.

Recently I had the opportunity to try reading glasses from Optx2020.com and I really liked their comfort. The half eye, plastic frames are ultra light and easy to wear, plus I have three different colors so I could wear a pair to match pretty much any outfit I have.

Optx2020 offers lots of different styles but this particular set is a 3-Pair ValuPac, with three different colors of frames. If you’re in the habit of leaving your reading glasses laying around in different rooms of the house, this option would be great for you too! I now have reading glasses beside my bed for nighttime reading, beside my chair in the living room so I can do my knitting in the evening, and a pair in the kitchen where I read the newspaper or magazines.

Optx2020 has been around since 1989 and offers a 30-Day Guarantee and Limited Lifetime Warranty on their reading glasses. The value pack of reading glasses even comes with free shipping! You can also find other styles on their website, including metal frames, full eye shape, rimless or semi-rimless, flexible metal frames and more.

The prices for these reading glasses are very reasonable as well. Plus, you can get a special 25% off at checkout by using the promo code “BOOMER25”.

This page explains how to order your reading glasses, plus tips on keeping your eyes healthy.

If you’re in the market for reading glasses, and what baby boomer isn’t, check out Optx2020.com. You can also visit their Facebook page  - Facebook.com/Optx2020. Here you’ll find lots of great information about topics to do with your eyes.

Don’t forget your annual eye exam too. Your optometrist can check your eyes for signs of diabetes, cataracts, macular degeneration or other eye conditions, while making sure you have the latest prescription.

If you aren’t getting pain relief from medications, even over-the-counter remedies, have you ever thought

Pain Relief Meditations

about trying methods of natural pain relief? Baby Boomers and seniors know a lot about chronic pain first hand. By the time we reach our 50’s, the aches and pains start to add up. Our back hurts with the slightest exertion, our knees hurt when we get up from the couch, our joints ache. Some of us even have more than these normal amounts of chronic pain that comes with aging, due to arthritis or other painful conditions or injuries from our youth.

If you have tried medications and are fearful of their side effects or just aren’t getting the relief you want, natural pain relief could be the answer. If natural remedies can’t entirely alleviate the pain, they can make you feel 70 to 90% better, depending on how much time and effort you are willing to put in.

In part one of my series on natural pain relief, I’ll talk about exercise and meditation programs you can easily set up to help you feel better. In part two, I’ll talk about supplements and diet changes which may help your chronic pain. Part three will deal with how to motivate yourself to make these important healthy living changes.

Natural pain relief requires consistent action and commitment on your part. You don’t get to just pop a pill and watch your chronic pain to vanish. Sometimes you have to try several different remedies or methods and sometimes you need a combination of several to diminish chronic pain but think about this: Taking medications masks the pain and the symptoms of whatever you have but natural pain relief methods not only help decrease pain, they actually help your body to heal itself. Depending on how much time and effort you are willing to put in, many supposedly chronic conditions can be overcome and healed.

Yes, you’re going to hear me talk again about things like exercise, yoga, qi gong and meditation (but I’ll give you tools to check out so you can get started easily) but if you dedicate yourself to a natural pain releif program, not only will your pain be less but your stress levels will go down, along with cholesterol and blood pressure, sleep will improve, energy levels will rise and overall health will get better. You might even lose weight.

Can any medication promise you that level of improvement?

I know something about chronic pain because I have small fiber neuropathy which causes tingling, numbness and sometimes sharp pin prick like pains. Because two different neurologists offered me no pain relief except to take what I consider to be, dangerous drugs, I went on a search for something natural. Have these pain relief methods taken away the neuropathy? No, but they have made it better (my osteoarthritis and joint pain is much better too) and overall I think I’m healthier than before I started exercising and meditating.

Yoga for People Over 50

Yoga and Pain Relief-Chronic pain may be caused by many different things and yoga addresses and improves pretty much all of them.

Arthritis pain is caused by swelling and inflammation of joints and yoga stretches and nourishes painful joints using gentle, flowing movements which don’t further injure you. If you have a specific type of pain due to an injury or overuse, such as back or knee pain, of overall pain such as fibromyalgia, it’s easy to find a book, cd or yoga class to address your problem.

Chronic pain is also made worse by stress, fear, and the mind/body connection. Yoga helps ease stress and calms your mind so you actually feel less pain.

Although taking a yoga class is the best way to learn proper yoga techniques, it’s possible to get started with a book or cd, especially if you just want to know more about how yoga can heal your chronic pain. Here is just one recommendation to help you. You’ll find dozens more at places like Amazon.

Kelly McGonigal, PhD, Author of Yoga for Pain Relief: Simple Practices to Calm Your Mind & Heal Your Chronic Pain (Whole Body Healing), explains this connection in an interview here.

Yoga is one of the best overall forms of exercise for those over 50 because if you don’t have any type of chronic pain now, chances are you will in the future. The more flexible you can keep your joint, the better your balance is, the more calm and peaceful you feel, the less pain you will have.

QiGong for Natural Pain Relief and Healing

In China, qigong exercises are actually prescribed by medical practioners and have been performed for health and healing in China for thousands of years. Qigong is gentle and flowing and helps increase circulation and flexibility, as well as being very calming for your mind. I start every day with 30 minutes of qigong, which energizes me for the entire day. Qigong is a form of moving meditation, just like tai chi but in tai chi, you perform a specific set of movements in a routine. Qigong exercises are often integrated into a tai chi class as a warm up but you can also find classes or purchase cd’s about just qigong.

Unlike tai chi, it’s easy to learn qigong movements from a cd. If you want to learn tai chi, I’d recommend finding a good instructor at your local YMCA or Recreation Center, as the form and etticute is difficult to learn on your own.

I took a 6 week class on qigong and then I purchased a few cd’s to learn more. My favorite’s are:

Qi Gong for Self-Healing by Lee Holden, who also has other qigong cd’s. For instance, if you have back pain specifically, he has a cd with exercises for that.

Another qigong program I really like is Qigong Beginning Practice by Garri Garripoli.

Both of these cd’s have wonderful exercises, which once you learn them, can be done anyplace, anytime, with no special equipment.

Heal Your Body Meditations by Glenn Harrold

Healing Meditations for Pain Relief - Numerous studies been done on meditation for pain relief and meditation has been shown to be as effective as medication in many cases.

If you think meditation is difficult or “new age,” think about this. Meditation is simply sitting quietly and clearing your mind. Focusing on each breath helps if you need something to focus on. You can also play soothing music. Giving your mind a break from the ceaseless chatter of every day life reduces stress and chronic pain. It also helps lower blood pressure, improves sleep and overall health.

If you think you can’t meditate, try sitting quiety with your eyes closed for just 5 minutes at a time. Put on some calming music, get comfortable, sit back and close your eyes. Take deep breathes and concentrate on releasing tension from different parts of your body in turn.

That’s all there is to meditation. Start with a few minutes and build up to 20 or 30 minutes a day.

Once you practice this for a couple weeks, you may find that you want to breathe deeply and focus on relaxing your muscles at different times during the day, expecailly during stressful situations.

Here are some healing meditation resources to get you started:

Heal Your Body Hypnotherapy meditations by Glenn Harrold. Glenn Harrold has several hypnosis cd’s for improving sleep, financial abundance, energy and more. I have several of his sessions on my ipod and use them often when I’m falling asleep at night.

Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief: Guided Practices for Reclaiming Your Body and Your Life

Many people have found success using The Healing Code by Dr. Alex Lloyd. Read my review of this book here.

The Healing Code: 6 Minutes to Heal the Source of Your Health, Success, or Relationship Issue

Deep Breathing is also very relaxting and meditative, which helps to ease chronic pain. Deep breathing is something that can be done anyplace, anytime.

Here are a couple of simple deep breathing techniques from Path2HealthyLiving.com.

These are just some of the natural pain relief methods you can try. You may think it will be difficult to stick to a program like this but it’s all a matter of priorities. Do you want to heal your body naturally and help reduce chronic pain and stress or do you want to make excuses and end up feeling much worse a year or two from now?

The choice is up to you.

Hearing loss comes on gradually and by our boomer years we already have tinnitus or some degree of hearing loss. Purchasing a hearing aid can be expensive and confusing - but does it have to be? Patrick Freuler, founder of Audicus.com, has provided me with this informative article on hearing aids and how you can save money when purchasing them.

Hearing is fundamental to our ability to perceive and connect with the world. Unfortunately, a lifetime of exposure to myriads of sounds - from soft to loud - can ultimately cause our ears to deteriorate. Mild to moderate hearing loss is part of the natural aging process and can be particularly dreadful; it increasingly isolates from one’s social sphere, affecting one’s self esteem and often creating frustration and even depression.

Hearing loss cannot be cured, but only be assisted with a hearing aid. However if you’ve ever been through the process of getting a hearing aid, you probably must have scratched your head when peeking at the bill. A pair of hearing aids cost anywhere from $3,000 to $8,000, with virtually no coverage from insurance schemes. In the US, there are 35Mn people suffering from hearing loss, however only 25% use hearing aids and price is often quoted as one of the main barriers to adoption.

The high price, however, is not due to the technological complexity of modern hearing aids, but almost entirely to the mark-ups imposed by manufacturers and retailers. The cost to produce a state of the art hearing aid is less than $150 - most of the components are commoditized and the manufacturing is done in the Far East – however it is sold for up to 25 times more. So isn’t it surprising that an iPhone, which is substantially more complex, costs five times less than a hearing aid?

As of this week though, a New York based startup, Audicus Hearing Aids (www.audicus.com), aims to address this entrenched market by launching a disruptive retail model for hearing aids. Audicus saves users up to 80% on high quality hearing aids, by making the retail process far more efficient, simple and transparent.

Similar to eyeglasses or contact lenses that can now be bought over the Internet, Audicus sells its devices directly to the consumer through its online platform. Users can browse through a range of hearing products, submit a prescription (so the devices can be custom-programmed) and receive the devices directly by mail. Audicus has a 45 day “100% happiness or full money back” guarantee, thus providing a risk-free environment for users to try a new device.

Audicus’ founder Patrick Freuler, thinks that consumers deserve more choice than the limited alternatives of traditional hearing aid clinics and dispenser chains. And choice will come: pharmacies and mass retailers like Costco have recently made some inroads into the space. The internet has been slower in developing its channel in a credible fashion: Freuler warns of poorly designed websites with no “money-back trial period” or no manufacturer warranty on their products and recommends users to carefully study the product offer details, as well as other user reviews.

User feedback is at the core of Audicus’ mission: its user reviews have so far been extremely positive, which Freuler attributes to its product quality, specialist support, customization (e.g. when custom-programming a hearing aid) and an overall credible experience. “Credibility and choice go a long way”, says Freuler, “and the hearing industry has been owing it to consumers for a long time.”

For more information go to www.audicus.com

Joan’s Boomer Blog receives no compensation for the sale of Audicus hearing aids.

Lucille Ball was born 100 years ago on August 6th, 1911. Even after all these years, everybody still loves Lucille Ball, as evidenced by the

New book about Lucille Ball

fact that a book and a DVD set were recently released relating to her. The book, Lucille Ball FAQ gives details of her life that go beyond the usual biography, proving that people are still fascinated by this talented red head.

The other offering is four Lucille Ball movies, The Long, Long Trailer, Forever Darling, Room Service and Du Barry Was a Lady.

Although Lucille Ball had been a movie actress since the 1930’s, (she appeared in 72 films during her career) whacky Lucy Ricardo, of the 1950’s TV show, I Love Lucy, is the persona she is best remembered for.

What I find fascinating about Lucille Ball, however, is the fact that she didn’t become Lucy Ricardo, Queen of Slap Stick, until she was already 40 years old and although she met and married Cuban bandleader Desi Arnez in 1940, she didn’t have her two children until she was also in her 40’s.

In today’s culture, where youth is not only worshipped but held on to with iron fists, and actresses over age 35 have trouble getting parts, Lucille Ball is still an inspiration to the AARP set!  I even remember one episode where Lucy was trying to lose 12 pounds to get into a size 12 dress to be in Ricky’s show. What! Lucy was famous and popular and a size 12? My how times have changed! Nowadays, most actresses are about a size zero.

Lucille Ball movies

Lucy was an inspiration not only because her age and her size 12 physique, and the fact that she was a powerhouse entertainer and comedian, she was also a smart, powerful businesswoman and the first female head of a major television production company, Desilu Productions. All this during the post World War II years when women were being told to stay home and be happy housewives to make room for returning servicemen in the job market.

Desilu produced I Love Lucy and other TV hits like the Dick Van Dyke Show and Star Trek when Lucy and Desi Arnez were running it together. In 1960, they divorced and two years later she and new husband Gary Morton bought Arnez out, and she managed the company alone for several years.

I have to admit, I’m a closet I Love Lucy fan. When nothing else is on TV and I’m cooking dinner in the kitchen, I can usually find an old episode to watch.

My daughter, who is now 25, was also fascinated with everything Lucy. She collected the Lucy doll set, she owned Lucy memorabilia and calendars. You name it, if it was about Lucy, she had it. I remember one time, I called the Lucille and Desi Center in Jamestown, New York to try and order a difficult to find Lucy item for my daughter’s birthday. I told the woman who answered the phone that my middle-school aged daughter loved Lucille Ball and she said, “You wouldn’t believe how often I hear that. Young girls still love Lucy!”

So, even after all these years, Lucy still has lessons to teach us. She showed us that true talent doesn’t depend on how young you are, or how thin. Although she’s best remembered as a whacky, comical redhead in a 1950’s TV show, Lucille Ball was a true trailblazer, both in comedy and in business.

Lucille Ball’s biography.

One for the Road by Lynne Marshall is the first romance novel I’ve read in many a year, I must admit. Because the topic of my blog is boomers, Lynne graciously sent me a copy of her book to review and although my last exposure to this genre was 30 years ago, I was curious to see if older heroines just might start a welcome trend.

One for the Road by Lynne Marshall

The heroine of One for the Road is D’Anne Palmer, a recent widow who found out her dead husband was up to some suspiciously dangerous things. The two of them had taken off on a trip across country in their new deluxe 40 foot motor home, when Reese died suddenly, an apparent suicide. D’Anne was left stranded, alone far from home, and broke. How would she get back to California without any money?

Hiring out the RV with herself as driver seemed like the perfect answer. She was less than happy though when the first person to approach her was a has been country singer, Tyler White, who needed transportation for his band to a series of appearances, ending up in Las Vegas. Could an uptight, 40-something California woman with two grown sons find true happiness with a washed up country singer trying to make a come back?

I have to admit, after years of reading about reed thin beauties who find love with handsome (and of course rich) hunks, it was a bit disconcerting, if refreshing, to find a heroine who worries she’ll have a hot flash at an inopportune moment or feels self-conscious because of her crow’s feet or a couple extra inches around her middle.

The hero of the book is also in his 40’s, suffers from high blood pressure and is a few pounds overweight. He examines his hair to see if a suspicious spot on his head is showing scalp and sucks in his gut, resolving to skip breakfast.

His view of D’Anne is “for an older gal, her curves are holding up real good” and she sees him as a “little over the hill, creased and broken in like a favorite chair.”

Still and all, romance and passion for the over 40 set is still alive and well! Sparks fly and we are given a good reason too why D’Anne the recent widow could so easily fall for a broken down cowboy on the comeback trail.

One thing I liked about the book was Marshall’s handling of the reality that the characters came from two different worlds. When we’re young, we tend to think love conquers all but as we age, we know that to keep a relationship going, we really do need to have many things in common. When D’Anne meets up with her two grown sons and a good friend at the end of the road in Las Vegas, she sees Tyler through their eyes and wonders if she’s crazy to even consider falling for him.

It’s easy to see why D’Anne’s sons thought she’d lost her mind. When a normal middle-aged mom hooks up with an aging country singer and his band and travel the road with them, it might just give the kids some moments of worry! It’s very real too, to think that a mother might look at herself through her grown children’s eyes and suffer doubts about what she felt and what she was doing.

Lynne Marshall has a very entertaining style and her middle aged characters’ romance is wonderful to read about. I think the story appeals to all of us who ever  think about packing up and taking to the road, living a different life and finding love along the way. If you like romance novels but you’re tired of beautiful, thin heroines and hunky rich heroes, pick up a copy of One for the Road.

On her blog, Lynne says she didn’t seriously pursue writing until age 50 and got her first book sold shortly before her 56th birthday. What an inspiration to all the baby boomers out there who think it’s too late to pursue a dream.

Visit Lynne Marshall’s blog to learn more about One for the Road and her other contemporary romance novels.