Lately, we’ve mentioned from time to time that we’re working away on the book. It’s true. Sam and I get together at least four afternoons a week for two hours so we can work on the book in the same room. We are in the intensive writing phase, so what that looks like is each of us sitting with her laptop, quietly typing away.
We use google drive, so we can work in real time on the same file at the same time. Sometimes we do that, sometimes we work on different chapters (each chapter has its own file).
The manuscript is due on July 31st. The launch is scheduled for spring 2016. The book will be available in print and as an ebook.
We heard from our editor, Nancy Flight, at Greystone Books today and they had their “concept meeting” about the book. Apparently it went really well. We’d originally proposed that the book be called:
Fittest by 50: Two fearless women swim, bike, run, lift, twist, bend, and headstand their way to the big 5-0
It’s not going to be called that. We suggested at first because the idea is that the book documents our “fittest by 50 challenge” that gave birth to this blog and, along the way, introduces some of our feminist analysis of fitness, all with an eye to encouraging more women in mid-life and beyond (roughly from the 40s on) to get excited about physical activity. For some, it might be for the first time in their lives. For others it might be the little nudge that reconnects them after some years of hiatus.
The publisher, quite rightly we now think, thought that “Fittest by 50” might be a misleading title that would mistakenly suggest a rather narrower audience than we had in mind. Maybe only women approaching 50 would feel drawn to that book. So it’s not going to be called that. Instead, it looks like Fit After Forty is at the top of their list right now.
But then there is the matter of the subtitle. We knew, when we first wrote that subtitle, that it was unwieldy, what with all the different things going on — swimming, biking running, lifting, twisting, bending, and standing on our heads. Perhaps, our editor suggested, it may even be a bit intimidating. Surely you can get fit without doing all that?
They also think it would be better in the first person — “we” instead of “two women.” And can it have a feminist slant to it? We’d love that too.
So today is for brainstorming subtitles that will flow nicely on the other side of Fit after Forty. Something like: Fit after Forty: How we added feminist to fitness to hit our fitness peak (well) after forty, and you can too. Note that I said “something like.” Because that’s not quite right yet. It’s a bit long. And maybe it doesn’t need the “how” (because it’s not a how-to book).
So here’s where we ask for help, your help. Any and all suggestions for a subtitle are welcome and will be seriously considered. If we go with your suggestion, we will send you a free copy of the book when it’s published.
