The New York Social Diary recently published Tracey’s blog entry, “When In Rome.”

Follow the link HERE!

To see the rest of Tracey’s blog in the New York Social Diary, click HERE!

Read the original article here!

Mary Caraccioli interviews Tracey about “Mid-life Financial Crisis”. Check out the episode below and see what Tracey has to say!

To read the original article, click HERE!

Read the original article HERE!

Read the rest at telegraph.co.uk!

Los Angeles Times 5/13/11: Book Review: ‘Between a Rock and a Hot Place’

Sometimes you just want someone to tell it to you straight. You may look and feel better than your grandmother or even your mother did at 50 but the idea that 50 is anything like 30, Tracey Jackson practically screams, is either a marketing scam or a line made up by a 50-year-old guy in a bar trying to pick up a 30-year-old woman…

Frogen Yozurt 5/13/11: Between a Rock and a Hot Place

The pop-culture mantra has it wrong: 50 isn’t the new 30, 50 is 50. And while today’s 50 may not look the same as one’s grandmother’s, one shouldn’t necessarily use a teenager as a role model either. Veteran screenwriter Jackson adopts a take-no-prisoners approach, with an Accept-o-Meter reading that tilts toward the kicking-and-screaming side…

The Art of 50 4/25/11: 50 is NOT the New 30

One day back in February I was sitting in bed, sipping on my coffee, and having a little pity party all while watching the TODAY show.  My birthday was a few days earlier and I was having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I was officially a card carrying AARP member…

Mary and Money 3/26/11: My Money Tips are in Tracey’s New Book 

Tracey Jackson has written about the second most awkward phase in a woman’s life with spit out your coffee humor and practical sisterly advice. I love it! I am also proud to have helped her with her chapter on money…

Not Ready for Granny Panties 4/15/11: Tracey Jackson – NRFGP Woman of the Week

You know Tracey Jackson even if you don’t know you know her. If you’ve ever been to the movies or watched television, you’ve doubtless seen her work; Tracey has over fifteen feature films and fourteen television pilots to her credit….

The Many Minded American 4/11/11: Impossibly Rare Video Interview with Gone with the Wind’s Olivia De Havilland

Champagne coursing through her veins, writer Tracey Jackson has a mind so provocatively exciting she could distract a stuck elevator full of strangers from panicking. Jackson listens tightly, one eye on detail, the other on the big picture, balancing self with others…

wowOwow 4/11/11: Liz Smith: Smart Women Ponder Age at Literacy Partners’ Le Cirque Luncheon

I DROPPED into the fabulous Le Cirque last week to see a clutch of good-looking women in the upstairs room. They were hearing all about beauty in all its guises, including age, through a program co-sponsored by Literacy Partners and this great restaurant…

Book Bargains and Previews 4/11/11: Between a Rock and a Hot Place

This is one of the most honest books I’ve ever read and it was really laugh-out-loud material. It was a great read for women entering mid-life and for those who aren’t too far away and would like to know what to expect…

The Really Little Bookstore 3/31/11: I’m Living a Teenage Dream

But I’m reading BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HOT PLACE by my friend Tracey Jackson. This book is funny as all get out. And despite the fact that she wants us to buckle down and face the demons of middle age, she is showing us how to do it with panache…

The Sunday Book Review 3/18/11: Between a Rock and a Hot Place

The subtitle already had me connected with the book : Why Fifty is Not The New Thirty. While I am not a woman in my 50′s, I am a woman. And no matter what age we are at, it always seems like we should be younger. That’s what they keep telling us anyway…

One Year of Firsts 3/14/11: Why 50 Can’t be the New 30

If you are a woman age 50+ like I am, you quickly come to understand no matter how well you’ve aged and taken care of yourself, you can’t fool yourself or anyone else. YOU ARE NOT 30. I don’t want to be 30 again but I think a lot of my friends feel stuck or that they’ve “come to the end of the line.” They think they’ve done all the exciting things they’re ever going to do…

National Enquirer 3/4/11: Hollywood Hot for ’50′ Book From ‘Shopaholic’ Writer

It’s THE hot new book celebrity women all want to get their hands on — and it’s already been featured on “The Today Show,” FOX and CNN! “Between a Rock and a Hot Place: Why Fifty Is Not the New Thirty” has just been penned by Hollywood screenwriter Tracey Jackson. Published by Harper Collins, it’s a hilarious, bare-knuckled, and ultimately practical appraisal of what it REALLY means to be a 50-year-old woman today…

Women’s Day 3/2/11: The Big M: Not Sagging or Drooping

Palm Beach Post 2/25/11: Tracey Jackson’s bad news for women of a certain age: 50 is not the new 30

Tracey Jackson is the hilarious, brutally honest friend you need when you turn 50. The one who says things like: “There is no ‘pause’ in menopause. It should really be called Menocometoaschreechinghaltyouwillneverfeelthesameway again.”…

Technorati 2/12: Between a Rock and a Hot Place: Why Fifty Is Not the New Thirty by Tracey Jackson

Oh, we can tell ourselves that age is a state of mind or age is just a number (better kept unlisted), but the truth is that no matter how young-at-heart we are (or immature), our biological age is a major influence on how we live our lives…

Confessions from a Rambling Mind 2/5/11: Between a Rock and a Hot Place: Why Fifty Is Not the New Thirty by Tracey Jackson

Bless Their Hearts Mom 2/4/11: Book Review: Between a Rock and a Hot Place by Tracey Jackson

With a comedy writer’s training and a screenwriter’s eye for detail, Jackson skewers the myth in Between a Rock and a Hot Place, a hilarious, bare-knuckled, and ultimately practical appraisal of what middle age…

Bookstack 1/29/11: Simply Reading: Between a Rock and a Hot Place

O Magazine – 1/24/11: 15 Books to Watch for in February 2011
Between a Rock and a Hot Place included on O Magazine’s 15 Books to Watch for in February!

Library Journal 1/15/11: Jackson, Tracey. Between a Rock and a Hot Place: Why Fifty Is Not the New Thirty

Finally, there is a voice of reality to counter the claims of a youth-oriented culture and put forward the idea that successful aging isn’t about denying reality, but planning for the future… 

If you’re in the Houston area this Wednesday, April 13th, turn on your TV to KRIV-TV/Fox 26 News at 5pm to catch an interview with Tracey! She will be discussing her new book, Between a Rock and a Hot Place, Why 50 is Not the New 30…So tune in, Houston!

’50 Is Not The New 30′: MyFoxNY.com

Honesty is the best policy… so goes the saying.

And, if you’re in your 50s pretending to be in your 30s, you’re only fooling yourself, according to author Tracey Jackson.

We’ll sit down with the woman behind the popular book ‘Between A Rock and a Hot Place, Why 50 Is Not The New 30′ in the morning.

A screenwriter for the past 17 years, Jackson confronts the truth about turning 50 in a very funny way. She has written and sold films to all the major studios; her most recent writing credits include Confessions of a Shopaholic and Lucky Ducks, a feature-length documentary that she also produced and directed.

Jackson blogs on her own website ( traceyjacksononline.com ) and the Huffington Post. She lives in New York City with her husband, Glenn Horowitz, and two daughters.

Tracey was recently interviewed on It’s Your Health Radio by host Lisa Davis! Find the links to this two-part segment here. (Scroll down about half way to find Tracey’s piece!)

Tracey Jackson — screenwriter, wife, mother and blogger – -debunks the popular new catch phrase “50 is the New 30.” She gave a no-holds barred take on what it really means to be that age and the changing roles that women everywhere are facing.

Ladies love a tearjerker, an “aha!” moment and a reason to relate to strong female writers; they pour over the stories of others and dissect their own lives in comparison. And while the Scarlett O’Haras of the past expressed themselves in love letters, today’s inspirational women take to computers, PDA’s and social networking sites. The result: five motivational books for the modern woman. Whether these must-reads make you laugh, cry or both, you’ll find yourself enthralled and inspired.

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HOT PLACE: WHY FIFTY IS NOT THE NEW THIRTY
By: Tracey Jackson

As much as we love to euphemize aging, there are some milestones that just can’t be disguised. No 30-year-old is openly having hot flashes; they’re not wrestling with crow’s feet and colonoscopies either. So, no, 50 is not the new 30. Jackson’s hysterical book delves into the midlives of women in their 50s and encourages them to embrace their ages, hormone-replacement creams and all.

Read more at askmichaelcohen.com. 

Hear Tracey talk about why 50 is not the new thirty!

Let me start out this column by saying that I am not 50 yet.

I am nowhere near 50 years old.

OK, the sum total of my journeys around the sun is not quite 50–yet–but I’m a heck of a lot closer to being 50 than I am to being 30.

The fact that I have difficulty wrapping my head around this oh-so-obvious reality was part of the inspiration for Tracey Jackson’s humorous new book, “Between a Rock and a Hot Place: Why Fifty is Not the New Thirty,” a part memoir, part self-help, part rant and always entertaining look at what happens to women when they hit the big Five-O.

“The idea that just because we want to we can turn back the clock and pretend to be thirty is both amusing and insane,” laughed Jackson, speaking to me from the back room of a hair salon. This busy lady fit in our interview during a quick trip home to New York before flying off to D.C. to continue a book tour that includes visits with Kathie Lee and Hoda, Meredith Vierra on “The Today Show” and the Writing Mamas of Corte Madera County.

“Being on a book tour is tiring, but it’s a good kind of whirlwind,” said Jackson, who has had a lot of whirlwinds since her childhood in Santa Barbara, where her extended family still resides. A comedy screenwriter for 17 years–”Confessions of a Shopholic” and “The Guru” are some of her better known titles–Jackson writes frankly about being shocked when she got older and the writing jobs started drying up. Ironically, her last screenwriting job was adapting a book called “The Ivy Chronicles,” about a woman who loses her job and reinvents herself.

Jackson also reinvented herself, producing and starring with her daughter in a documentary film called “Lucky Ducks,” (about the complex relationship boomer parents have with their over-indulged teens), daily blogging and most recently, writing “Between a Rock and a Hot Place.”

All of the hot button middle age stuff is there, with her amusing takes on what could be depressing topics like menopause (“it’s not all in your head, it’s in your vagina”), money (“I didn’t mean to spend it all”), death (“ready or not, here death comes”) and my favorite, “Sex, Estrogen and Not So Much Rock and Roll.”

Of course I immediately turned to the chapter about sex, where Jackson describes in hilarious detail her attempt to spice up her marriage with a trip to a very posh sex store. The resulting misadventures involving Jackson, her husband, a shiny black bag of toys, and Lola Falana (their Chihuahua) made me laugh so hard that I woke up my husband who was sleeping in another room.

With sex, face lifts, finances and sandwich generation challenges of aging parents and exhausting teenagers sitting side-by-side, the book casts a pretty wide net over the issues of “second adulthood.” Jackson said that was her plan from the start.

“When you’re writing a comedic book, which a lot of this is, and then you have to throw in things that aren’t funny, it’s hard. … When you’re writing about death, you’re writing about death so it’s trickier to make that buoyant and make that something that people don’t go ‘OK now I’ve read this really funny chapter about sex and now I’m reading about dying.’ How do you keep that light? That’s more of a challenge and you really can’t…. At the end of the day you kind of give in and say OK I’m writing about death, this is not a funny topic any way you cut it, so we just have to kind of go for it. ”

She still manages to get the comedy in– when she talks about death she includes the story of her husband’s spinning teacher dropping dead at the gym. In fact, no matter what the topic, the laughs and hard truths resonate throughout both the book and my conversation with Jackson.

“We aren’t old and we aren’t young; we are in kind of in-between states, passing through the transit lounge of life,” she writes. “No matter how much Botox you get, things will start falling apart: some marriages end, some kids are job, some jobs are terminated, most faces fall and all boobs do. No one bothered to fill us in on this.”

Luckily that’s where Jackson and “Between a Rock and Hot Place” come in.

Find the original article at The Daily Sound here.

View the original interview here!

by Sarah Treleaven Feb 24th 2011 7:00AM

Everyone has something to say about getting older. For one woman — Tracey Jackson, author of “Between a Rock and a Hot Place” — the entire process sucks, largely because she doesn’t feel like she was prepared for life post-50.

Q: What has, so far, surprised you most about aging?

A: That we’re not prepared for it. That’s why I wrote the book. We are primed and pumped and well rehearsed for ages 20 through 50. But you hit 50, and over the next few decades, many things in life start to change. No one has really bothered to give us any guidelines to prepare us for those big moments. Details on how to cope with changes — death, aging, body transformations, etc. — would help.

Q: What’s the worst thing about getting older?

A: Death would have to top the list. People around you start to die — parents, parent’s friends, older role models or mentors, some of your own friends and people in your own age group. That’s all very tough.

Q: Does society discriminate against older people?

A: We are not a society that values aging. We are youth obsessed. Watch TV or look at ads anywhere: The only older people selling products are selling medicine. And let’s face it: 50 isn’t that old. We buy bicycles and tennis racquets, TVs and jeans, but we’re never represented in commercials or ads as doing any of that. Society seems to send out the message that those over 50 no longer matter — our input isn’t important.

We may not be 30, but we want — and deserve — to be heard. We want movies made for us, products others than adult diapers and heart medicine sold to us, we want to contribute and to continue to be thought of as relevant.

What’s required are big changes in the way people think. Maybe this generation of Boomers can do that. We’re certainly trying. Fifty is not 30, but it’s also not what 50 was 50 years ago.

Q: Do you have any tips people can use to prepare for aging?

A: Ask yourself, “What kind of a 50- to 80-year-old do I want to be? How do I make these years really count? How can I feel relevant?”

You don’t have to run around acting like a teenager, but why should your basic goals, passions and life be altered by what other people think of your age? Stay busy, stay up to date, stay healthy. That last point is huge: If you’re healthy, you can scale mountains, literally, if that’s what you want.

Q: Are there any upsides to aging?

A: Well, it’s the only alternative to dying. And it can be as much fun — if not more — than your younger years. It’s what you make of it!