Vlog: What is boomer lit?

My second vlog is about boomer lit. More precisely, what is boomer lit?

The simple definition is that boomer lit deals with people who are classified as baby boomers—those born between 1946 and 1964. There are more than 75 million of us in the United States. 

My last two novels, Old Ways and New Days and Darkness Beyond the Light, fall under the boomer lit genre, as well as the third, New Horizons, that will be released May 1.

I've always felt my first four novels were boomer lit as well but didn't fit that category because there wasn't that particular label at the time for books.  

A few boomer movies I've enjoyed are The Big Chill, Return of the Secaucus Seven, and The Deer Hunter. 

Many of us grew up reading classic coming-of-age novels such as J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders.

To carry that further, boomer lit novels could be called coming-of-old-age novels, that milestone in which people move into the third and final act of life. 

Here's the vlog for your viewing pleasure:

Until the next time . . .  

It's Boomer Lit for Me

There are times when something almost has to knock you off your feet before you realize what you've been doing for several years. It was kind of like a duh moment for me as an author.

My latest novel, Old Ways and New Days, is a coming-of-old-age story about a recent retiree who discovers that there's much more to life than work and a few family obligations. By the way, did you know that 10,000 boomers retire, or reach age 65, each day? I'm a member of the growing pajama club. 

While doing marketing and promotional research the past week, I ran across the literary sub-genre, boomer lit. Those are novels geared for baby boomers, those folks born between 1946 and 1964. 

According to a Publishing Perspectives blog post, there are 77.5 million boomers in the U.S. And they read.  A lot.

Here's a general list of genres, both nonfiction and fiction. Writer's Digest published a lengthy list of sub-genres. 

While thinking about my books, it occurred to me that four of my novels fall under the boomer lit label -- The Touch, A Long Highway, Foolish Is The Heart, and Old Ways and New Days. The protagonist and other primary characters in these books were all boomers, folks in the 40s and older.

I've also written in the young-adult genre, with Shooting Star and The Bully List. 

A story in the The Telegraph I found interesting noted that young adult-fiction gained a foothold back in the '60s with coming-of-age stories when many of the boomers were in their teens and younger. Remember S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, from the '60s.? Or perhaps J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, from the '50s? 

 Now those teeny-boppers have all grown up to become aging boomers,  and they want stories that relate to their mature stage in life. 

In the past, I've generally referred to my novels as mainstream fiction (except for A Confidential Man, a murder mystery involving boomers). That's a broad category. From now on, it's Boomer Lit!

Until the next time....  

Timely Music As We Turn Back the Hands of Time

Those of us in the U.S. will be turning back our clocks one hour on Nov. 1, officially at 2 a.m., as we switch from Daylight Savings Time to standard time. 

Since time is on our minds, here are a few tunes from that I like from years past that deal with passage of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks....

One of my favorites is "Time Has Come Today" by the Chambers Brothers. The song was written by Joe and Willie Chambers and released in 1968, reaching No. 11 on the charts. 

I love the lines:

"I've been loved, pushed (put) aside I've been crushed

By tumbling tide and my soul has been psychedelicized"

The "cuckoo" is kinda cool, too.

Another "timely" song from the '60s is "Time of the Season" by The Zombies, from the great "Odyssey & Oracle" album in 1968. The Rod Argent-penned tune topped out at No. 3 on the Billboard chart.

Another great '60s song of time is The Rolling Stones' "Time Is On My Side," a No. 6 charter for the super group in 1964. It was written by Jerry Ragovoy.

The Outsiders, a band from Cleveland, reached No. 5 on the charts with the horn-driven,  "Time Won't Let Me," written by Tom King and Chet Kelley. 

One of the great time songs was written by Pete Seeger (and the Book of Ecclesiastes) and made famous by The Byrds -- "Turn! Turn! Turn!" It was a No. 1 song in 1965.

A few others that come to mind are "No Time" by The Guess Who, "Crying Time" by the legendary Ray Charles, and "Time Is" by It's a Beautiful Day. (Videos below)

And finally, when we get up on Nov. 1, "Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?" That's what supergroup Chicago asked in 1969, a No. 7 song written by vocalist Robert Lamm.

Until the next TIME.....