Fishtails

FISHTAILS is a collection of essays that chronicle one woman’s hilarious - and often poignant - journey through a very modern midlife. Pushed into singlehood right before her 50th birthday, she begins Internet dating on a site called Plenty of Fish - which is appropriately named since her “pond” is a Northern California city that boasts more men than women. Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s is her single life role model, and her fishing buddies include a platonic male roommate and a band of female friends who call themselves “The Tail Club” and assign points for every cocktail you don’t have to pay for. Using the metaphor of fishing (for men, for a soul mate, and for a better second half of a life,) FISHTAILS tackles sociological issues like the myth of monogamy and “cougardom” with humorous veracity. As our “Holly” encounters many fish; like one who nearly bites off her lower lip, another she thinks will someday kill her, and a polyamorous paramour who invites her to live on his ranch with his wife and two girlfriends, we learn that dating at mid-life has more drama than dating in high school.

FISHTAILS is a collection of essays that chronicle one woman’s hilarious - and often poignant - journey through a very modern midlife. Pushed into singlehood right before her 50th birthday, she begins Internet dating on a site called Plenty of Fish - which is appropriately named since her “pond” is a Northern California city that boasts more men than women. Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s is her single life role model, and her fishing buddies include a platonic male roommate and a band of female friends who call themselves “The Tail Club” and assign points for every cocktail you don’t have to pay for. Using the metaphor of fishing (for men, for a soul mate, and for a better second half of a life,) FISHTAILS tackles sociological issues like the myth of monogamy and “cougardom” with humorous veracity. As our “Holly” encounters many fish; like one who nearly bites off her lower lip, another she thinks will someday kill her, and a polyamorous paramour who invites her to live on his ranch with his wife and two girlfriends, we learn that dating at mid-life has more drama than dating in high school.

Nanci Williams was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and caught the writing bug at an early age. She won numerous awards for her short stories and essays as a student, and went on to pursue a career writing marketing materials for clients large and small, earning the coveted Silver Medal Award from the American Advertising Federation and a Silver Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of American, among other honors. In 1992, she co-founded a successful advertising and public relations firm in San Jose, California, and served as its CEO for 20 years. During that time she was tapped to serve on many boards and commissions, and chaired the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce for two terms. She left the agency she co-founded in 2012 to pursue writing full-time, completing "Fishtails: Men who bite, dates that suck and other cautionary tales from a mid-life fishing expedition." She is currently at work on a novel, tentatively titled "Acronyms," which she hopes to complete in 2013.