Claire Cook's Blog

I want you to be the first to know that my brand new novel is out in the world!
 
This is my 25th book in 25 years! Not actually a book a year—a couple of missed years, a catchup year or two. I’m grateful every day that after decades of fear and procrastination, I finally wrote my first book.
 
I’m just as grateful that so many of you have been with me from that very first book. Thank you all for reading my books and spreading the word and staying in touch. Your kindness and generosity have made all the difference in my career and in my life. Your feedback helps me write books that I hope speak to your lives. Our lives matter. We matter. We’ve still got it!!
 
So take it from me, whatever you most want to do and are most afraid of doing, whatever that thing is that you’ve started and stalled out on a gazillion times, do it! Carve out some regular time, learn all that you can, and just keep putting one foot in front of the other until you get where you’re going. It really and truly is never too late to shine on!
 
It’s also never too late to dive into a fun book!

BONUS TIME: STILL GOT IT

“People think it’s all about the big moments. But it’s the fun that you remember. The friends. The joy. The unbridled bliss of doing silly things. Of being alive.” —Bonus Time: Still Got It

They’ve still got it! And they’re figuring out what to do with it.

Even if you’re lucky enough to move from Marshbury, Massachusetts into adjoining townhouses on a gorgeous semi-tropical island south of Savannah, Georgia with your two oldest and dearest friends, every single day of your bonus time might not turn out to be quite what you’d imagined.

Glenda, Harmony and Jan thought sharing a spot on their HOA Board as well as working as role players for FLETC, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, would fill their lives with intrigue and glamour. Instead they’re voting on mulch colors and pretending to grocery shop at Winn-Dixie.

But the guy Glenda is lowkey almost-dating might actually turn out to be a catch, even though Chickpea, her adorable chihuahua-pitbull rescue, isn’t so sure about him. And Jan is bound and determined to turn her front bedroom into a castle of creativity, if only she can get a handyman to call her back. Harmony’s husband still hasn’t headed south, and their daughter is scheming to take over the house they’re supposed to be selling up north.

They’re old enough to know that life is a series of ups and downs and bumps and changes and shifts and tweaks and surprises and resets and reboots and reinventions. It’s never too late to try something new, and friendship might be the most important thing of all.

Bonus Time: Still Got It, Book 2 of the Bonus Time series, is filled with humor and heart and some hilarious shenanigans and a bit of badassery. Plus lots of twists and turns and fun strolls down memory lane, as well some awesome hacks for rocking your own bonus time.

You can buy your copy in ebook or paperback right here: https://amzn.to/4lStg8F.

If you’re on Goodreads, I hope you’ll also add it to your Want To Read list right here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/240712785. And make sure you send me a Goodreads friend request while you’re at it!

I really hope you enjoy my new novel.

If you haven’t gotten around to reading the first Bonus Time book yet, you can still jump right into Bonus Time: Still Got It since I wrote it to stand on its own. 

But if you’re the kind of reader who likes to read books in order, or if you want to make sure you don’t miss anything, you can start with the first book and then read your way through to the second one.

You can find the Bonus Time series page with both books right here: https://amzn.to/45ZZN7a

Happy reading and thanks so much for your support!

Talk to you soon!

CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now an 8-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 25 fun and inspiring books including her latest series, Bonus Time. Join Claire’s newsletter list for monthly inspiration and tips for 40-to-forever women and to stay in the loop for new releases and insider extras.

AN EVENING WITH CLAIRE COOK, New York Times bestselling author of Must Love Dogs:
It’s Never Too Late to Follow Your Dreams!
June 8, 2024 7-9 PM
Epworth By The Sea, Jones Auditorium, 100 Arthur J. Moore Drive, Saint Simons Island, Georgia 31522

FREE EVENT

Wondering how to get to that life you really thought you’d be living by now? Finally ready to dig up that buried dream? Still trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up or just need the perfect little tweak to your existing life?

The Southeastern Writers Association is thrilled to have New York Times bestselling author Claire Cook as an instructor and keynote speaker for the 2024 Southeastern Writers Conference, which marks the 50th anniversary of SWA.

Claire will give the Keynote Address on Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 7 pm, discussing the overarching theme of her 24 books: It’s Never Too Late to Follow Your Dreams. The event will take place at Epworth By The Sea in the Jones Auditorium and is FREE and open to the public. A book signing will follow her talk and books will be available for purchase at the event. Snacks will be served during the book signing. 

Claire wrote her first book in her minivan when she was 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of the movie adaptation of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now an 8-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and international bestselling author of 24 books, fiction and nonfiction, which have been translated into 14 languages.

The Today show has featured Claire as a Today’s Woman, Good Morning America chose one of her books as a summer book pick, and People magazine has featured several of them. The Times-Picayune said, “The exuberant and charming Claire Cook is one of the sassiest and funniest creators of contemporary women’s fiction.”

She has been a finalist and a judge for the Thurber Prize for American Humor and spoken and given keynotes at the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, Denmark Literary Festival, Cape Cod Writers Conference, California Women’s Conference and the Dress for Success International Conference. 

Born in Virginia, Claire Cook lived for many years in a Massachusetts beach town before moving to Saint Simons Island, where her most recent novel Bonus Time is set.

Join us for an evening of conversation and fun!
Reserve your seat here: https://bit.ly/4bnbFBt

Talk to you soon!

CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now an 8-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 24 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women. Find out more at ClaireCook.com.

It’s never too late to shine on with Claire Cook, New York Times bestselling author of Must Love Dogs and The Wildwater Walking Club series.

“When you’re younger, you think friendships like ours will just keep on coming, one after another and another. Over time you realize what a rare and beautiful gift they are.”—Bonus Time

If you’re lucky enough to get that bonus time, what are you going to do with it?

For Glenda, Harmony and Jan, it’s heading south to age feistily in side-by-side townhouses on St. Simons Island.

One minute they’re just out of college and working together in Marshbury, Massachusetts. The next, they’re using their golden parachutes to land just south of Savannah on the Golden Isles.

They’re ready for reinvention, not withering on the vine. Plus all this ageism is getting really old. So they hatch a plan to take care of Butt, the dishonest, lecherous head of their HOA. To ramp up their supershero skills, they get jobs working as role players at FLETC, the massive, hot-guy-filled Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

Because age is just a number when you’re taking names and kicking butt. And when your life starts to feel like an I Love Lucy episode, you know you’ve got the right friends.

With an adorable chihuahua-pitbull rescue named Chickpea, plenty of twists and turns, plus some terrific hacks for rocking your own bonus time, this wise and witty Claire Cook novel is filled with hope, heartache, hilarity and the power of female friendship.

Here’s what early readers have to say:

“Bonus Time is my new favorite Claire Cook book! I laughed! I cried! I stayed up way too late reading! I found new health and beauty hacks! What more can you ask for from a book. Buy one for you and one for an old friend. She’ll thank you.”

“I love these women and want them to be my new best friends. I can’t wait for their next adventure!”

“Bonus Time is like a sequel to 9 to 5 and a prequel to The Golden Girls. And yet it’s fresh and funny and all Claire Cook.”

“Bonus Time is a great reminder that all of life’s challenges make us who we are.”

“When you’re younger, you think friendships like ours will just keep on coming, one after another and another. They’ll be a dime a dozen. Over time you realize what a rare and beautiful gift they are. And if you’re smart, you go back and do your best to scoop them up. You let them ebb and flow, as all good friendships do, but you treasure them. And you never, ever let them go again.”—Bonus Time

Start reading now! Buy Bonus Time in paperback or ebook here: https://amzn.to/46XFANq

Talk to you soon!

CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now an 8-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 24 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women including her latest, Bonus Time. Find out more at ClaireCook.com.

Hi Everybody,

So I’m walking the beach trying to think of what to write about. Something that might inspire you in your own life, maybe trigger a creative or a give-back or a feel-good idea.

As I walk, I breathe in the salt air, stretch out my legs. Occasionally I stop to scoop up a sand dollar exposed by the tide. I check to see if it’s alive, and if it is, I gently toss it back into the ocean.

The beaches here on St. Simons Island are rich in sand dollars. Sand dollars are called sea biscuits or sea cookies or sand cakes in other parts of the world. In South Africa, they’re called pansy shells. Some people call them mermaid money.

Whatever you call sand dollars in your neck of the beach, I love them. Whenever I find one, I feel lucky, and it makes me think that the world would be a kinder and gentler place if sand dollars were our currency.

So when the tide is right and there’s enough light to see, I scoop up beached sand dollars, careful not to break their fragile flat circular skeletons as I gently return the live ones to the ocean. Sometimes just one or two, sometimes as many as twenty or thirty sand dollars stranded on a single stretch of beach. A sand dollar can’t survive out of the water long, so returning it by carefully placing it back into the ocean is a good thing.

For me, it’s a magical ritual. Rescuing sand dollars makes me feel like a cross between Wonder Woman and a mermaid.

There’s a beachcombing law in Georgia, as in lots of other states, which makes it illegal to collect and kill living beach creatures. You can only collect empty shells or non-living treasures.

The trouble is that many people have no idea how to tell if a sand dollar is dead or alive. The sand dollar they’ve just found doesn’t appear to be moving, so they pick it up and take it home as a souvenir.

Just so you know, unless a sand dollar is white or the palest gray, it’s probably alive. A live sand dollar will be some shade of purple or brown or dark gray and have tiny bristles like little hairs on the underside and around the edges. It has kind of a velvety feel.

If a sand dollar is dead, it will be smooth all over because its bristles have fallen off. The skeleton that remains is called a test. If you look at the sun-bleached test, you’ll see a starlike pattern, which legend has it represents the Star of Bethlehem that led the wise men to the manger.

Long sand dollar story short: If it’s brown, put it down. But (flashback to high school alert!) it’s okay to take the test. Another version: If they’re purple or brown or gray, they have to stay. If they’re white or light, you can hold on tight.

When in doubt, gently put the sand dollar back in the ocean. That sand dollar you just rescued could live another six to ten years.

Today I saved fourteen sand dollars while thinking about what to write for you! It also made me remember that wherever we are and whatever we’re doing, ideas are swirling all around us.

Whatever your version of my daily walk is, creativity and something worth saving is always out there waiting for you. And in my book, that’s where the best kind of feel-good comes from.

I write more about walking the beach and sand dollars and creativity in my nonfiction book, Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life.

“Our creativity doesn’t fix everything. But it gives us a place to focus our energy, to connect with our passion and purpose. It allows us to be the conduit for some pretty cool things. It helps us find the joy.”
—Claire Cook (Life Glows On)

Talk to you soon!

CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now an 8-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 23 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women. Get your free gift at ClaireCook.com.

Hi Everybody,

I’ve been hearing from lots of you saying that you were so excited about a new project or goal in the beginning, but now that the initial excitement has worn off, you’re having trouble staying on track. 

And the question that follows is: How do I manage to stay so excited about my writing and/or walking?

The truth is I don’t. I mean, I love what I do. Most of the time I feel so grateful to be able to write the books that are in my heart and to have incredible readers who look forward to reading my next one. Most of the time I feel truly lucky to be able to walk the beach every day.

But sometimes I just don’t feel like it. At all. Not one bit. Sometimes I’m exhausted or grouchy or discouraged or whatever.

But I do it anyway. Because I know if I do it, I’m going to feel better. And if I don’t, I’ll feel even worse than I already do. It’s simple. And yet so hard. Which is often the way it goes with the important things. You’ve got to do the work. Sometimes you’ve just got to fake it until you’re feeling it again.

I believe the key is to paint yourself into a corner with a specific, manageable, non-negotiable plan. I talk about finding your version of my two pages a day all the time. (If you need a refresher, read or reread my book Life Glows On: Reconnecting With Your Creativity to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life.) You can order the ebook or paperback here: https://amzn.to/3klHGEM

I use the same specific, manageable, non-negotiable approach to stay on track with my walking.  I walk 10,000 steps a day, seven days a week. It’s the magic number that studies show cuts your risk of cardiovascular disease, thirteen types of cancer, and dementia. (I talk about the other great walking benefits here: https://clairecook.com/10-awesome-walking-benefits/.)

The books in my The Wildwater Walking Club series actually use the narrator’s daily step count as chapter headings. When Noreen’s life is imploding and she can’t drag herself out of bed, we know because that day she walks maybe 24 steps.

In my own life, I find a way to walk those 10,000 steps. Most times I feel like it. Sometimes I don’t. But I do it anyway, because I know if I don’t finish all my steps that day, it’ll be easier not to do them the next day. And the downward spiral we all know so well will begin.

Sometimes I walk all those steps on a gorgeous day at the beach, or I discover a new favorite walking neighborhood. Other times I find myself with another 2,000 to go at the end of a long day, so I walk in place in front of the TV while I binge a show. For me, 10,000 is manageable. (It’s somewhere around 5 miles a day, depending on your stride length.) If that’s too many steps for you, do 5,000. Or 2,000. And work it up from there.

Whether you’re talking pages written, or classes taken, or steps walked, or another fitness activity you prefer, consistency over time is the most important thing. More steps than 10,000 doesn’t equal more health benefits, and it causes more wear and tear on your joints, so I don’t keep trying to ramp up my daily step count, just as I don’t keep trying to ramp up my daily page count. 

One thing that really helps me stay on track with my walking is a fitness tracker. I personally think when it comes to fitness trackers, less is more. I don’t want to measure my sleep, my heartbeat, my blood pressure. I don’t want to have to link it via Bluetooth and have to go to my phone to analyze data. I don’t want to join yet another online community. I just want to know how many steps I’ve taken, and then I want my fitness tracker to leave me alone!

That being said, I use an Apple watch. I like it for other things, but I totally DO NOT need it for counting my daily steps. In fact, all the fitness metrics are so ridiculously distracting that I downloaded a free step-counting app and uploaded it to my watch and I use that instead. This is the equivalent of buying a car and parking it in your driveway so you can sit in it to drink your coffee, but I don’t care if I’m wasting features. I only want my step count!

So if you’re looking for a new fitness tracker, I’d suggest thinking about which features you want, instead of looking for one loaded with all the things. I’d also look at the size of the screen, because it really helps if you can actually read it. You also might want to find one with free returns, so you don’t end up stuck with a fitness tracker you don’t really love.

I hear good things about a simple fitness tracker called the Cloudpoem. (I also like the name, of course!) You don’t have to link it to a phone, and you don’t need an app to set it up. It’s also under $40, with free returns. Here’s the link if you want to check it out: https://amzn.to/3xPTDpt
 
If you want more features and a fitness tracker that links to your phone, I also hear good things about the Fitbit Versa 3. It has an easy-to-read display and built-in GPS to help accurately track distance. It also gives regular reminders to move and drink water. (That drives me crazy but you might love it!) It’s more expensive, but it also has free returns. Here’s the link to check it out: https://amzn.to/41kho6r
 
 If you’d like to donate your existing fitness tracker to a good cause so you can justify buying a new one (or am I the only one who thinks like that?), I just found out about a nonprofit called RecyleHealth that collects still-functioning fitness trackers and gives them to underserved populations. Feel free to tell them I sent you!

If you want more walking inspiration, you can buy your copy of the books in The Wildwater Walking Club series in paperback or ebook for yourself or for a friend here: https://amzn.to/3if22hG  (Tip: If the link doesn’t open for you, just copy and paste it into your browser.)

Talk to you soon!

CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now an 8-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 23 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women. Get your free gift at ClaireCook.com.

A huge thank you to everyone who took my free It’s Never Too Late to Follow Your Dreams Reinvention Workshop on Zoom! Almost 700 people signed up from nearly every US state, plus lots of countries including Canada, UK, Australia, Israel, Brazil, Belgium, Germany, Trinidad & Tobago, Thailand and more! 

I really appreciated all the participants’ fabulous feedback, including this from Julie: “You cram more information into the shortest time than anyone I have ever known.” That was my plan, and I’m so glad it felt that way to you!

You can now watch the video below:

(If you’re not seeing it, you can watch the video on YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/@Clairecookauthor. At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s the one titled Claire Cook Reinvention Workshop 2023!)

So many great questions came in during the workshop that I couldn’t get to them all. I’ll answer more questions in future newsletters, so if you’re not already signed up for my newsletter, you can sign up by clicking at the link at the top of this page, or right here: https://clairecook.com/newsletter/.

Talk to you soon!

CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now an 8-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 23 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women. Get your free gift at ClaireCook.com.

Drumroll please . . . The Wildwater Walking Club: Walk the Talk is out in the world! I hope you’ll download the ebook or order the paperback to inspire you to get out there walking!

Here’s a little bit about the book:

#1 Amazon Bestseller in Walking!

The truth is most of us know what we should be doing by this point in our lives. The trick is doing it, actually walking that talk. But even for The Wildwater Walking Club, walking the talk is easier said than done when it’s winter in New England and you’re supposed to be rolling out of bed to walk the beach at the crack of dawn. Noreen’s buyout package benefits have run out, her health coaching business hasn’t exactly taken off yet, and she’s really hoping she can walk her relationship talk with Rick. Rosie is on overload with mom life and too many landscape design plans. Just as Tess is trying to purge and downsize, her borderline adult son boomerangs back.

Dashing from the snow to thaw out and reset in a last-minute women’s walking getaway to Savannah might be just what The Wildwater Walking Club friends need to take the next step.

Join Noreen, Tess and Rosie on their most inspiring adventure yet. You’ll be lacing up your sneakers and walking your own talk in no time!

The Wildwater Walking Club: Walk the Talk is a freestanding book, so if you haven’t read the other books in the series, you can just jump right in. But if you’re the kind of reader that likes to read books in order, you can buy your copy of any or all of the four books in The Wildwater Walking Club series in paperback or ebook here: https://amzn.to/3if22hG (Tip: If the link doesn’t open for you, just copy and paste it into your browser.)

“In a way, walking had become my North Star. Whatever was or wasn’t happening in my life, if I set my sights on those 10,000 steps and just kept putting one foot in front of the other, eventually I’d work it out. Because it can take a long time to find the courage to say no to the stupid stuff and take steps toward the things that will make your life soar. And more and more I was realizing that courage doesn’t mean you lose the fear. It means you keep walking anyway.”— The Wildwater Walking Club: Walk the Talk (#4)

You can read excerpts and find other links, including international links, to buy all my books by going to ClaireCook.com/books and clicking on the book covers.

Talk to you soon!

CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now an 8-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 23 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women. Get your free gift at ClaireCook.com.

Here’s a list of my 22 books, in case you’d like to keep track of the ones you’ve read so far:

The Wildwater Walking Club (#1)
The Wildwater Walking Club: Back on Track (#2)
The Wildwater Walking Club: Step by Step (#3)

Must Love Dogs (#1)
Must Love Dogs: New Leash on Life (#2)
Must Love Dogs: Fetch You Later (#3)
Must Love Dogs: Bark & Roll Forever (#4)
Must Love Dogs: Who Let the Cats In? (#5)
Must Love Dogs: A Howliday Tail (#6)
Must Love Dogs: Hearts & Barks (#7)
Must Love Dogs: Lucky Enough (#8)

Best Staged Plans
Seven Year Switch
Summer Blowout
Life’s a Beach
Multiple Choice
Time Flies
Wallflower in Bloom
Ready to Fall

Life Glows On: Reconnecting With Your Creativity to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life

Shine On: How to Grow Awesome Instead of Old

Never Too Late: Your Roadmap to Reinvention

You should be able right-click the photo and save the image. Or if you’d prefer a printable PDF, just send me an email at Claire@ClaireCook.com and I’d be happy to email you one!

Happy reading!

CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 22 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women, including Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest Of Your Life the Best of Your Life. Get your free gift at ClaireCook.com.

As the mother of two awesome adult children, Mother’s Day fills me with joy and gratitude. But the sadness of losing my own mother never goes away. In case you or someone you know might be feeling a little bit of that same thing on Mother’s Day, or any day, I’d like to share a short excerpt from my book Never Too Late: Your Roadmap to Reinvention.

I originally wrote a version of this piece for Good Housekeeping magazine, and it has since been included in several anthologies. Wherever it goes and whatever form it takes, it always seems to find its way into the right hearts just when they need it. I hope that happens today.

Excerpted from NEVER TOO LATE: YOUR ROADMAP TO REINVENTION
© Claire Cook. All rights reserved.

On a Saturday morning when I am almost eleven, I knock at my best friend’s front door.

“My mother died,” I say when she opens it.

“No sir,” she says, though since this is a Boston suburb, it sounds more like, “No, suh.” Today, she would have said, “No way.”

“Swear to gawd,” I say. Way.

“Liar,” she says. “You’re making it up.”

I’m not. The day before, my mother’s flu had turned into sepsis. She slipped into a coma at the hospital and never came out, leaving five children under the age of twelve motherless. Neighbors met us in our driveway after school and brought us home with them. They didn’t say much, but I knew my first pajama party, scheduled for that evening, was definitely canceled.

The funeral takes place on Valentine’s Day, also my birthday. Back at the house, someone sticks candles on a dull chocolate cake, so unlike the heart-shaped, candy-studded pink ones my mother had baked for my other ten birthdays, and mourners sing “Happy Birthday” to me. After that, people start tucking bills—mostly ones and fives, and one hundred-dollar bill—into the pocket of my dress, as if I were a prepubescent stripper-in-training. My mother would have found the whole thing incredibly tacky.

Over the years, I’ve met other women who lost their mom at an age when she was still the sun and the moon and their favorite hula hoop all rolled into one, yet they were also on the cusp of needing her to walk them through that first period and bra. Time heals most wounds, but not this one. Eventually, you learn to compartmentalize it, but this loss becomes the defining sadness of your life.

By the time I come out of my posttraumatic fog and really want to know what my mother was like—as a person, a woman, a friend—the people who could have told me about her are either dead or long gone.

Then one summer I have a book event near my mother’s hometown on the other side of the state. A woman about my age, give or take, waits in line with an elderly lady in a wheelchair. The younger woman tells me her mother has something to say to me. I lean over the wheelchair and smile.

“Your mother was the most generous friend in the world. I went into labor with my son, Jimmy, in the middle of a blizzard,” she says.

Even though it’s a hot August night, a chill runs down my spine.

“The snow came so fast, my husband couldn’t get home. I called the ambulance. I called the police. Nobody came. I called your mother. ‘Put your coat on,’ she said. ‘It will be the adventure of a lifetime.’”

All these years later, sitting in her wheelchair, she giggles. “Your mother walked me all the way to the hospital in the snow, laughing and joking the whole time.”

I reach out to hold her cool, dry hand, and it feels lighter than air.

“She was Jimmy’s godmother, you know. Your mother had more godchildren than you could shake a stick at.”

I’d been old enough to know my mother was big-hearted and smart and generous, to remember the huge pile of cards, with family photos tucked in, at Christmastime. But at that moment I feel her spirit again, as if it has lived on for decades in the heart of her friend, who is now bequeathing it to me.

My mother’s death is still the defining sadness of my life, and though it’s been many, many years since it happened, my eyes tear up as I type this. Her death is also the place my best writing comes from, even when I’m writing about other things. That raw place that will never heal over, the place that’s so blindingly, painfully real that it triggers Technicolor images and feelings.

I think we all have that place. For me, at least, allowing myself to access it again after hiding from it for so many years has resulted in some of my best work.

Keep reading Never Too Late at this link: https://amzn.to/28YspnD

Talk to you soon!

CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now an 8-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 22 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women, including Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest Of Your Life the Best of Your Life. Join Claire’s newsletter list and get your free gift at ClaireCook.com.

Some of you have reached out lately to tell me about roadblocks standing between you and your dreams. Believe me, I totally know what that feels like. In fact, I share what I’ve learned along the way in Life Glows On, so just in case you need a refresh, or haven’t read the book yet, here’s an excerpt for you:

Excerpted from LIFE GLOWS ON 
© Claire Cook. All rights reserved.
 
So how do we know when to let go and move on to the next thing? How do we know when it’s time to give up?
 
It feels so good to complete something, to get that sweet rush of success when we meet a goal. After that, it’s the perfect time to reassess.
 
If we quit midway, it doesn’t feel good. It feels like failure. And that failure might be small and insignificant in the scheme of things, but it has a tendency to trigger memories of all the other things we’ve started and not finished. It can tear a surprisingly big hole in our self-esteem.
 
So hang in. Take it day by day. Finish what you set out to do. You’ll learn so much from the experience, about your creativity and about yourself. Even if you didn’t love it after all, it will help you choose your next thing. And when you finally find that click, you’ll recognize it and appreciate it all the more.
 
But what about those bigger, long-term, pie-in-the-sky goals? The destinations that our headlights can’t see in the fog, the ones we dream about as we toss and turn at night? Not that very achievable smaller thing, but the huge, go-for-it goal we’re hoping is waiting at the end of the long and treacherous road.
 
We’ve been painting and painting, but every art competition we submit our work to turns us down. We’ve been working so hard on our memoir, but not a single literary agent we’ve pitched has even asked to read it.
 
How do we know when we’re simply frittering our lives away on these dreams? How can we tell if we should just let them go and move on?
 
What I see over and over again are people who just didn’t hang in there long enough. A couple of waves knock them over, and instead of getting up again and brushing off the sand and positioning themselves for the next wave, they pick up their surfboard and go home. Or they let an imaginary rip current take them way out to sea. And then, after going through all that, when they finally swim the whole way back to shore, instead of reassessing and using all that hard-earned knowledge to take the next step, they jump to another project.
 
I get it. Failure is awful. It’s demoralizing. It’s embarrassing. But here’s the truth. Everybody fails. And if you try to keep your life really small and unassuming to avoid failing, you’re still going to fail. You’ll just have smaller failures, and you’re going to miss a whole bunch of growth and satisfaction. So you might as well go for what you really want.
 
“If what you’re doing is significant,” I say in Never Too Late, “of course you’re going to fail. In fact, if you can’t remember the last time you failed at anything, you might want to step it up a little. You might be playing it way too safe and easy.”
 
Failure can really take us by surprise. It catches me every time. I don’t know if my setpoint is to be naturally optimistic, or if I’m just really good at denial, but I’m always at least a little bit shocked when something doesn’t work out the way I imagined it. It’s no fun.
 
There are lots of versions of the saying don’t quit before the miracle floating around right now. But the sentiment has been around for a long time. Even Thomas Edison said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
 
Think about that. What if you quit today and your big dream could have happened tomorrow, or next week, or next year? And you’ll never know.
 
It’s what we do after our inevitable failures that matters most. We can consciously flip those failures into fuel and use that energy to drive us forward. Personally, as soon as I hit a dead end, I let myself whine and wallow and get all pathetic and feel ridiculously sorry for myself. I used to give myself twenty-four hours, but I’ve failed enough by now that I’ve streamlined the process down to a few hours. After that, even I’m sick of my dramatics.
 
And then I ask: What else is possible? What’s my next step?
 
Because if we want to get where we’re going, it’s all about tenacity. Failure is just a stepping stone. It teaches us what to do differently to get to the next stepping stone. It makes us resilient and helps us fine-tune our focus.
 
For each of us, I think there’s a sweet spot between what we have to offer the world and what the world is looking for. We just have to hang in there until we find it.
 
Keep reading Life Glows On at this link: https://amzn.to/3A0vmN2

Talk to you soon!

CLAIRE COOK wrote her first book in her minivan at 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now an 8-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 22 fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women, including Life Glows On: Reconnecting with Your Creativity to Make the Rest Of Your Life the Best of Your Life. Join Claire’s newsletter list and get your free gift at ClaireCook.com.