Running with Stilettos: Living a Balanced Life in Dangerous Shoes - Softcover

After a long fall from a tall horse put journalist and soccer mom Mary T. Wagner in a body cast for three months, she didn't take it as a sign to ease up on the throttle. Instead she changed careers, went to law school, became a prosecutor, and bought her first pair of spike heels. By turns funny, touching, courageous and enterprising, this award-winning and inspiring collection of slice-of-life essays is what one reviewer called "life writing at its best." Wagner takes her readers along as she discovers the freedom and joy of riding on the back of a Harley; learns to embrace power tools after her divorce; and finds new tokens of love the second time around in the form of bonfires and car repairs. Filled with humor, resilience and grace under pressure, "Running with Stilettos" is a wide-open window into one woman's mission to give every day her best shot...in fabulous shoes. WHAT OTHER WRITERS HAVE TO SAY... "From cookies to Harleys, Catholic school to country living, Mary Wagner wields a pen of steel that hides a marshmallow heart. Read these essays and try your best not to smile.” --FRANK JOSEPH, author, To Love Mercy and To Walk Humbly “Mary T. Wagner’s stories in Running with Stilettos charm and amuse. Whether she’s taking you with her on the backseat of a Harley or into a courtroom in high heels, it’s one heck of a fun ride." --RANDY RICHARDSON, author, Lost in the Ivy and Cheeseland “Whatever the subject, this author’s humor and resilience shines through... Time and again, Ms. Wagner shows her mettle and proves that she is not faint-of-heart... Her words touch your heart, tweak your spirit and make you smile.” --Vannie Ryanes, BellaOnline.com “Enthusiastically recommended...” Midwest Book Review “...a consummate wordsmith...” GrowingBolder.com

"It's never too late to make mid-course corrections!" That's the mantra of award-winning Wisconsin author and photographer Mary T. Wagner, who has been described as the Midwest's answer to Carrie Bradshaw and favorably compared to humorist Erma Bombeck...but "in sexier shoes." Wagner is a former newspaper and magazine journalist who changed careers at forty after a serious accident, going to law school and then becoming a criminal prosecutor. She lives in rural Wisconsin, where she draws much inspiration for writing from daily walks in the countryside with her dog, Lucky, and the cat who thinks he's a dog...Meatball. Despite the career shift to law, Wagner never could step away from the keyboard entirely, and since returning to writing has published two more essay collections-"Heck on Heels" and "Fabulous in Flats"-which have also earned national praise Featuring ordinary moments limned with extraordinary insight, Wagner's slice-of-life essays first appeared on her signature blog, "Running with Stilettos," as well as other websites. Life experience includes being the mother of four, and a former girl scout troop leader, truck stop waitress, office temp, judicial clerk, and radio talk show host. She counts both wearing spike heels and learning to use a cordless drill and chainsaw among her "late blooming" discoveries, and would be hard pressed to surrender either her favorite stilettos or her power tools.