Local author and blogger Stacie Chadwick has made life after 40 an adventure for those who are willing to come along for the ride.

“It wasn’t until I started writing that I found a passion,” remarked Stacie Chadwick, a local writer and blogger. Chadwick decided to embark on the arduous process of writing a novel about a year ago, soon after she turned 40.

“With the ankle-biters in school, I had way too much time on my hands,” she said. “When you earn VIP status at Kohl’s and they’re calling you every day for Franzia and queso parties (that you regularly attend), something’s gotta give!” Chadwick signed up for writing classes and began her journey.

“Turning 40 was a life changing time for me, and I had an accumulation of life experiences that came at that age.” Her novel is middle grade fiction focused on a group of eighth graders that includes mystery, best-friend friction, a love triangle, and potentially dodgeball Pom girls. When she started the writing process, her characters were in the fifth grade, but she’s had to go where her characters take her, and she’s moved them from the playground to the lunchroom. She hopes to finish her novel and query it to agents by this summer.

In addition to her novel, Chadwick is an avid blogger. As she puts it, “I started my blog this past Christmas so I could avoid working on my manuscript and feel good about it.”

Chadwick finds that her blog allows her to flex a different voice. It allows her to push boundaries a bit, and the result has been a huge success. Chadwick now boasts almost 1,000 followers. Chadwick’s blog is titled “Gemini Girl in a Random World,” and as the title suggests, her posts are random.

Chadwick makes the reader laugh and cry, and generates every emotion in between. Her posts are sometimes poignant and thoughtful, like “What would you do differently today if you were having brain surgery tomorrow?” in which she interviews her friend who is faced with this exact circumstance.

Other posts are hilarious and relatable essays like, “How Skate World changed my life,” in which she reminisces about easy days and weekends spent in a dubious roller-skating rink, complete with the sound-track list.

Still others are laugh-out-oud hysterical like, “An open letter to Steve Wynn: Why the forty-year oldish woman is your ideal guest.” Chadwick’s quirky style of writing captures the reader from the start and keeps them engaged throughout.

Chadwick grew up in Kentucky and majored in English Literature at the University of Miami, Ohio. Following college, she lived in Chicago where she worked as a commercial real-estate broker, and met her husband Scott who is a Colorado native. Today, they live with their three children in Castle Pines Village.

“I love to write, the most rewarding part being that I’ve finally convinced my husband that I’m not crazy!” states Chadwick.

To follow Chadwick’s blog, go to www.geminigirlinarandomworld.com.