Finding More to read

I made an early morning run to the grocery store yesterday because we were out of coffee. I consider my timing fortuitous (an amazing thing considering my lack of caffeine). The newsstand must have been freshly stocked with July issues so of course I picked up a few for "research."

In my bag was More magazine. Three things attracted me to the combined July/August issue: the magazine's heft or "thunk factor" of 260 pages (signifying healthy ad revenue, hence an advertising-worthy readership); the cover photo of actress Holly Hunter looking positively fabulous at age 49; and the cover blips, which stood in stark contrast to say Glamour:

"Act your age: Over 40 and loving every minute"
"Summer style from classic to cutting edge: Real women test the trends"
"Uncautionary Tales: 18 women prove it's never too late to start a business, take up rock climbing ... or run away to Greece with your hairdresser"
"Hormonal weight gain: How to beat it"
"City of Dreams: The best place on earth to reinvent yourself"
"Beach books with a brain"

Last night I sat on my patio after dinner and read this thing from cover to cover. Cannot even remember the last time I was compelled by a magazine to do that. It was filled with great shorts and meaningful content and, more than anything else, the story of real women.

Positively loved the feature on San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and the women who shed their American burdens to live and thrive there. The piece on women entrepreneurs reminded me of one of the last business pieces I co-wrote as a full-time employee. The More piece even featured Cleveland's own Carol Latham, of Thermagon. There was even more Cleveland with a book excerpt of Connie Schultz's "...and His Lovely Wife: A Memoir from the Woman Beside the Man."

Smartness saturated each page — smart stories, smart women, smart ideas, smart writing, smart design. Love it, now I want to write for it, which is a good thing considering the women I find interesting subjects for stories tend to above the 20-35 age demographic of most women's magazines.

Back to pitching.