Holidays are looming. For some, it means breaking out the old family recipes, decorating batches of cookies, and cooking up a storm for family and friends. For others, it means melting down those credit cards as the holiday list gets longer and the time to shop gets shorter. And many are determined to shed a few pounds so they’ll be able to fit into that glittery dress for New Year’s Eve.

But there are hundreds of thousands of other folks who’ll be adjusting to a different stage of their lives: the newly-single adults who spent previous holidays with spouses or significant others. They may be ringing in this New Year’s with Fred and Ginger on Turner Classic Movies. And they’re undoubtedly dreading that “coo-some, twosome” holiday in the coming year: Valentine’s Day.

In 2008, many singles may make resolutions to get back in the game of couples. Some will succumb to blind dates while others will get serious about joining or returning to one of the numerous Internet dating sites. With over half of all marriages ending in divorce, it comes as no surprise that Internet dating is alive and well in the United States. For single adults with or without children—as well as empty-nesters, widows and widowers—scrolling and trolling online for their soul mates is a quick, anonymous way to meet the next Mr. or Ms. Right.
 
The statistics are staggering: there are 89 million single adults living in this country, there are over 78 million baby boomers, and close to one-half of all of the dates in the U.S. are generated online. When my husband of 31 years died, I became a member of this triple statistic simultaneously.

My friends convinced me to try my hand at online dating, and I found myself viewing profiles of men who advertised themselves as “Lover Boy,” “Gun in My Pocket” and “Want a Wife Right Now.” Always making lemonade out of lemons, I decided to write a book about my suddenly-single status and my online dating experiences: MatchDotBomb: A Midlife Journey through Internet Dating, which chronicles my experiences as a 50-something cyber-dater.

Here’s a glimpse of just a few of the 20 “chapters.” There’s Jack, whose Borscht Belt humor wears thin after the 10th consecutive

With Baby Boomers like me flooding online dating sites and some sites catering specifically to the over-50 crowd, MatchDotBomb is both a laugh-out-loud look at the challenges of navigating the Internet dating scene and a wake-up call to both sexes to stop waiting for Mr. or Ms. Right and instead concentrate on living life to the fullest.
Feedback from both males and females has been equally positive. One male reader commented that it’s an indispensable guide for smart men who want to know what’s on a woman’s mind. Both men and women say it’s about love, loss and making sense of one’s journey.
 
Although I never had a second date with any of my online acquaintances, I kept my sense of humor and — to my surprise — I found that each failed encounter taught me something about myself. MatchDotBomb is much more than a book about Internet dating.  Ultimately, the experiences helped me make peace with my husband’s death, come to terms with my newfound single status, and realize that I’m responsible for my own happiness — with or without a significant other.

MatchDotBomb: A Midlife Journey through Internet Dating (184 pp., Wheatmark Publishing, $15.95), is a hilarious and simultaneously poignant story of disastrous meetings as well as self-discovery. It’s a book that follows one woman’s true, touching, and very humorous return to singlehood after decades of being one-half of a couple. Most readers say it should be required reading for any single who’s getting back in the game.

You can visit my book’s website at MatchDotBomb.net to read excerpts, hear about some of my appearances, and to read book reviews. It’s received all 5-star ratings on Amazon.com. One Amazon.com reviewer said that she’s giving the book to all of her single friends for Christmas.

MatchDotBomb: A Midlife Journey through Internet Dating is available at selected bookstores, and can be directly ordered through www.wheatmark.com and various online stores including www.Amazon.com, Borders, Barnes & Noble, and BooksaMillion.com.

                                                                                     ~  Francine Pappadis Friedman

About the Author
Francine Pappadis Friedman is a non-profit fundraising specialist who has her own fundraising and communications consulting firm in Chicago.  A former English and journalism teacher, she is an author of short stories and magazine articles. MatchDotBomb is her first book.