WTF?! Woman Turning Fifty Postcards from a Midlife 'Crisis' . . . In Progress

Dynamic meditations on adulthood, mortality, and ageing as told by an unprepared Gen-Xer. WTF: Woman Turning F*fty is a collection of savagely personal ‘postcards’—or eclectic experiential essays—from a former journalist on the margins of middle age. Pondering timeless questions about life, maturity, and loss, Marga Ortigas dips into universal truths that not even hormonal changes can alter. Or can they? These rants—oops, we mean, writings—will hopefully help others on the cusp of, gulp, middle age (or other life transitions) feel less alone. And you, yes you who have read this far, surely you are also grappling with uncertainty—don’t we all? So if you’d like some company . . . or perhaps simply want a laugh, WTF are you waiting for? This is for you, too.

Marga Ortigas has published several books with PRH SEA, including the critically acclaimed The House on Calle Sombra. She spent three decades travelling the world as a journalist, with a career spanning five continents and two of the largest international news networks. Along the way, she hit middle age and decided to step away from reporting the news before turning fifty. That shift in course led her back to her first love: writing. A British Council Chevening Scholar, Ortigas earned her MA in literature and criticism at the University of Greenwich in the UK.

For You xi Woes, Worries, Wednesdays Alarm Bells 3 One and Done, aka Over It 7 3.19 a.m. 15 Sleepless In . . . Where Am I? 21 Alphabet Soup 25 Duster Diary 29 When I Grow Up 33 I’ m Mortal• ity 37 Letting Go 39 Is It Hot in Here? 43 Silence Isn’ t Golden 49 A List 53 Dental Appointment 55 Warning: Intruder! 57 White Flag 61 A Million Miles from Paradise 67 Haemorrhoids 73 Holy Wood 77 ‘ Tragedies’ , Torment, Thursdays One Step at a Time 81 Marching into Consequence 89 Betrayed 93 A Postcard from New York 99 Word Count 103 Fortune Smiles . . . on Someone Else 105 Front Row 109 Merienda with a Side of Myopia 113 I Remember the Girl 117 Imaginary Playmates 121 UnLinkAble 125 Another List 133 Freq uencies and Mantras: Gen X in a DeGENerate World 135 Supernova 137 Fridays, Freedom, Finally Golden Girls 141 The Yes Zone 145 Hot Chocolate and a Hermit 151 An Afternoon at the Power Station 159 Drafting 101 163 Stuck and Flow 167 The Golden Line 169 Level 50 175 Yet Another List 181 Acknowledgements 185