Twenty Pieces: A Memoir
My world collapsed the year I turned 58. My 25-year marriage ended; the only home my children had ever known fell into foreclosure; and my last child left the nest. My financial lifeline, my career in advertising, had gone stagnant.
From under the crushing realities a wild and impossible idea popped into my head. What if I went away for 30 days, all alone to New York City and took a crash course to learn the new digital ways of my business? After class I could sneak in a 1-mile walk, each day treating myself to a different neighborhood of Manhattan, the place I’d always dreamed of living. Using the lessons I’d learn, I could share stories and photos from my daily walks, all in hopes of reinventing myself professionally.
It seemed like the perfect plan, and it was.
However–the real truth I found on the streets of Manhattan never made it to my blog. Only in my personal diary did I share the rawness of what I learned about myself. And all that I needed to face and to do to bring about the changes I wanted.
In my memoir, Twenty Pieces, I share what I learned.
REVIEWS
“Weldon’s journey stands out in the memoir genre by telling the story of a life-changing 30 days rather than a years-long undertaking, which is likely to inspire readers to be able to take on their own manageable challenges. Weldon’s humor and vulnerability make her someone readers want to root for and allow her to feel like a treasured friend.”
BOOKLIFE/PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY
booklife.com
“Lisa Weldon is a brave writer who has much to teach us. I marvel at how vulnerable she makes herself on the page. As she walks New York City, she confronts her past, and, in doing so, creates her future. She makes me want to give myself 30 days. Every woman should. This is groundbreaking.”
BREN McCLAIN
Author of One Good Mama Bone
2017 Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction
Published in France as Mama Red | brenmcclain.com
“Lisa paints her walks through Manhattan with the eye of an artist. I could feel, smell, and taste all the surprises she finds in the city… and in herself. Her story is about much more than midlife career reinvention. It’s a soulful excavation of a life years in the making.”
LAURA MUNSON
New York Times Bestselling Author
and Founder of Haven Writing Programs
lauramunson.com
“Here is a woman’s story about surviving a midlife crisis, about courage, about freeing her spirit and stepping out of her comfort zone and trusting her instincts. She cast caution to the wind and became a new person by traveling alone and writing a blog about her experiences of walking the world’s major cities. It’s about renewing the human spirit..”
JOE BENTON
Photo Journalist
Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Southern Living Magazine
Pulitzer Prize Nominee
joebenton.net