<p> My name is Holly.<br> This story is about me?<br> a writer who's way behind<br> on her deadline. </p> <p> But, honestly,<br> how can I concentrate on my work <br> when my fiftieth birthday's <br> rushing at me like a freight train, </p> <p> my hormones are making me feel <br> like a Szechuan flambÉ, <br> and my eighty-year-old mother's <br> biting her nurses? </p> <p> Not to mention the fact that my daughter's <br> just begun applying to colleges <br> (none of which are within <br> a thousand-mile radius of home), </p> <p> and lately my husband's been <br> such an irritating, finger-pointing stinker <br> that I've found myself dreaming of ways <br> to spend his insurance money . . . </p> <p> My name is Holly.<br> This book <br> tells my story?<br> a coming-of-middle-age story. </p>