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Friday, May 3, 2013

Guest Post from Boomer Lit Author Michael Murphy


In the past few months, I’ve come to know several Boomer Lit authors. We often talk about what motivated us to write novels about and for baby boomers. Here’s my story.

Four days after my sixtieth birthday, my employer of 17 years laid me off from my management position. With the economy the way it’s been the past several years, what happened to me is hardly unique or noteworthy. Unfortunately, it’s happened to millions of baby boomers over the past few years. Still, that knowledge didn’t lessen the shock and grief over what happened.

An attorney friend of mine told me being laid off is one of the major stressors in life second only to losing a spouse.  To better understand what I was going through I researched the subject of loss. I came to understand the seven stages of grief I was experiencing. The stages are 1) shock and disbelief 2) denial, 3) anger, 4) bargaining, 5) guilt (with a loss of self-esteem) 6) depression and finally 7) acceptance.

Grief can cause physical, even life-threatening conditions such as broken heart syndrome.  Hoping to avoid health issues, I grew determined to reach a level of acceptance. Still dealing with a loss of self-esteem and anger over what happened, I focused on my writing intent on utilizing what had happened to me in my next novel.

I’d written seven previously published novels, mostly mystery and suspense. That genre didn’t seem right for what I had in mind, a novel about and for baby boomers.

With that audience in mind, I began a novel that had been churning around in my mind for some time, a return to Woodstock story. Goodbye Emily. I created a character, Walter (Sparky) Ellington who’d lost his wife, his job as a college professor, and he’d lost touch with his best friends since high school, who had their own grief to deal with.

As an author, I’d learned the importance of keeping one’s audience in mind. While determined to be honest and open about my feelings and what aging baby boomers increasingly face, I vowed to portray boomers the way I knew them to be, funny, talented, sexy and optimistic about the future.

The result was Goodbye Emily, a Boomer Lit novel released in January by Koehler Books. From the reviews, it’s been well received.

Goodbye Emily is one of a growing trend of novels you’ll find on this blog. Many involve mystery, suspense, intrigue, romance. They’re well-written, exciting and wonderfully entertaining. I hope you’ll take a look.



About the Author:
Michael Murphy and his wife of 41 years live in Arizona. He’s a full time writer and part time urban chicken rancher. His next novel is The Yankee Club, a humorous mystery set in 1933 New York, inspired by The Thin Man series.

Visit Michael:



16 comments:

  1. It's so great to read this, Michael, and I can really relate -- my husband lost his job three years ago, and even though he's found something new, it's still been a very difficult and stressful period. I will definitely check out Goodbye Emily, sounds like I'd really enjoy it.

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    1. Although me experience and I'm sure yours and your husband's was emotional and tragic, Goodbye Emily is humorous and touching. I think you'll enjoy it.

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  2. Goodbye Emily is well worth a read. I enjoyed it immensely. Michael really does take the reader through all those stages of grief with him, but the end result is an uplifting story full of hope. Like life, it is funny, sad, tender, and joyous. A writer can't write a book like this without having experienced all of those emotions. Wisdom rules!

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  3. I loved being able to relate to the main characters. I too lost my job a few years ago and felt lost. I loved the music from the Woodstock era, although I was out of the country at the time of the concert. When I read Goodbye Emily, I felt instant kinship with the characters. Good job, Michael.

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  4. Sounds like an intriguing read, Michael. Even though I haven't experienced all that you have, I was pink slipped back in the early '90s due to budget cuts (last hired, first fired). I, too, was shocked, embarrassed, angry, but I found an even better job quickly. I know how blessed I was.

    I agree that writers write best when they have experienced the emotions. On a different not, when I wrote Slightly Cracked, my own boomer lit, I had to include all of the hot flashes, hairy embarrassments, weight gain, and hurting myself on gym equipment as I tried to regain youth. lol I wish you the best with your writing. Go Boomers!

    www.susanwhitfieldonline.com

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  5. I loved Goodbye Emily and I think you're a heck of a guy, Michael. Best wishes with your bright future.

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  6. I loved Goodbye, Emily, and I think your future is bright, Michael!

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  7. When I read Goodbye Emily, I felt the grief and frustration that Sparky felt, as well as the underlying optimism in the story, and now I understand how you were able to describe it so well. Thank you for sharing.

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  8. Great post, Michael. I also lost my job about three years ago due to the economy. I live in a small town (also in Arizona) and there simply aren't many jobs available. So writing it is, and I love it. Your book sounds like it just might be something I need to read.
    Marja McGraw

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    1. Best of success to you in your writer's journey.

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  9. I, too, am a baby boomer and a novelist. My next romance novel is a time travel (back 50 years) titled Running Out of Time that I'd classify as Boomer Lit, too. I loved Goodbye Emily and highly recommend it, and not just to older readers.

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  10. Thank you SO much for sharing that story with us, Michael, in such a candid way. I have to say, after reading (and LOVING!) Goodbye Emily, I was very curious as to how the story came about. I knew you had experienced a loss of some kind - the way you described Sparky's grief was so very personal. But I knew it wasn't your wife you had lost because I read your bio. Again, it was very special to hear what happened. I'm sure every Boomer can identify with loss in some way. By the time you get to be our wonderful age, each of us has experienced some sort of loss. Goodbye Emily was certainly an upbeat way for you to work through your feelings - and a gift to us readers at the same time!
    Marsha

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  11. Thanks for sharing, Goodbye Emily sounds like an entertaining read!

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  12. Michael, I enjoyed very much reading your novel and suspected all along that such a good book had to have its roots in your own personal experience! Thanks for sharing here the birth process of your book.

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  13. Enjoyed reading this as much as your novel. Thank you for sharing how your personal story that was the inspiration for Goodbye Emily.

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