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Irene Woodbury has lived in two of the locations featured in her novel: Los Angeles, where she worked at the Los Angeles Times, IBM, and Time Magazine, and Houston, where she graduated from the University of Houston in 1993. She also got married in Houston. Since 1994, the couple have called Denver home. As for midlife crises -- his, hers, yours, mine -- Irene believes it’s a time for asking questions. “Where am I? Where have I been? Where am I going? That’s it in a nutshell,” she says. “Writing this novel has been my midlife crisis. And it’s not over yet!”

Listen to interview with Irene Woodbury

Topics of conversation:

• What is midlife crisis and how many people have it?
  
• Advantages of being in midlife
  
• Re-evaluation of friendships and marriage
  
• Women in midlife
  
• Menopause experiences
  

Synopsis: A Slot Machine Ate My Midlife Crisis is a dark, funny novel that describes Wendy Sinclair's spin-crazy life in Las Vegas after she impulsively decides to not return to Houston following a bizarre girls' weekend in 2005. The confused, unhappy 45-year-old newlywed soon rents a ramshackle apartment in a building filled with misfits; wallows in a blur of spas, malls, and buffets; and ultimately, becomes a designer of cocktail waitress uniforms and an Ann-Margret impersonator in a casino show with Elvis. 

She also hangs with some pretty colorful characters. Paula is her bold, brassy glamazon BFF who's looser than a Casino Royale slot. Maxine is her saucy former-Tropicana-showgirl boss. Paige and Serena are two twenty-something blackjack dealers she shops, gambles, and clubs up a storm with. Major crushes on a hunky pilot and sexy former rock star are also part of the mix. And then there are the phone fights with Roger, Wendy's workaholic husband waiting impatiently in Houston. Their clashes are louder and more raucous than a hot craps table at Caesar's! Does she go back to him, or does her midlife crisis become a midlife makeover?