Are Women Invisible After Age 50?

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Catherine Nichols, I feel you--Homme de Plume: What I Learned Sending My Novel Out Under a Male Name--sending out query letters as a man and getting praise and adoration for the same work that got rejected--probably by those obnoxious "writing is subjective" canned e-mail replies--is definitely demoralizing (but not really a surprise).

I'm a fiction writer too, but my rejections aren't based on unconscious biases. They are fully aware, awake, slap you across the face with reality biases. I am an older woman writing about older women.

Naturally Beautiful, my new novel--which I am very proud of--germinated after I saw the first of Sanjay Gupta's documentaries, Weed. I had one of those day-dreamy thoughts, hmmmm, what if cannabidiol, also known as CBD, the non-psychoactive component of marijuana (that has anti-inflammatory properties) would reduce under-eye bags?

I was off and running. My three protagonists, a filthy rich Beverly Hills housewife, Lily, a celebrity herbalist, and Olive, and journalist, suddenly find themselves husbandless, homeless, and broke, broke, broke. They decide that they will not settle for anything less than a "killer third act." They begin by selling every single possession in Fifi's twenty-one million dollar estate and vaulting three million in cash to avoid bankruptcy penalties and the IRS. Already in the gray zone legally, they step right into it, formulating a cream that erases under eye bags, the active ingredient, CBD from marijuana. When it goes viral that the anti-drug DA candidate was the (accidental) first customer to use the weed-based cosmetic, the women become fugitives.

Sounds fun! Yes, everyone loves it . . . except agents. The reason? Fifi, Olive, and Lily are all 60 years old. (Which sounds young to me because my 65 birthday is looming.)

Of all the obstacles I've faced in my life, being "old" was not one I was prepared to face. It happens insidiously. All of a sudden, one day you realize that you're looking at a child on the cover of your favorite fashion magazine. You pick up the latest best seller and it's about a twitty 20-year-old girl's angst about some silly love interest boondoggle that you vaguely remember having experienced light years ago, but now it's just a snore. You're doing exciting things with your life, but for some reason, you're invisible to merchandisers, publishers and film producers.

Don't they know that American women born between 1946 and 1964 control the net worth of $19 trillion, owning more than three-fourths of the nation's financial wealth. Fifty-plus American women are the healthiest, wealthiest and most active generation of women in history.

I could go on. But you get the drift. Whether or not I get an agent, my book is getting out there. It's too good, too fun, and there are millions of women who would love to read about mature women making money, doing their own thing, and having sex (we still have it, and lots of it).

So as much as I feel you Catherine, check back with me in another 40 years, if I'm still alive, and we'll share a tissue together. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.












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