Book Description
A serious, intelligent and practical guide to finding a husband or significant other using the personal ads. Written in a wonderfully appealing style, with clear instructions that make the guide easy to follow and fun to read. The author's wealth of life and personal growth experiences and her ability to express them add depth and dimension to the book. Intelligent safety concerns and detailed 'how I did it' anecdotes, awash in waves of encouragement for the reader, elevate this guide from the simple novelty rack to the serious 'do-it-yourselfers' shelf.


From the Publisher
Zippy Larson discovered a formula for turning the personal ads into a highway to the altar. She had been happily single, though dateless, for over a dozen years when she read that a woman's chances of finding a man when she is over forty were slim and none. In fact, it seemed that she had a better chance of becoming a victim of a terrorist's attack. Incensed and more than a little outraged, she took on the challenge of proving this prediction wrong. She perused the personal ads, using her newly discovered formula. With a skeptical single friend watching, Zippy found and married a wonderful man. When this friend asked for the formula and found a man in four short months, even Zippy was amazed. She had discovered something important. A second friend wanted the recipe, too and quickly met a gem of a man. All during this time, a priest who does a lot of counseling was encouraging Zippy to write her ideas and discoveries in a book to help more women.


From the Author
I had a secondary reason for wanting to find and marry a really nice man. I had never had the experience of being in a good relationship. I had been married twice before and both times was an abused wife. Based on a doctor's comment that 'once an abused wife, always an abused wife,' I had vowed never to marry again. But I was very curious and never stopped learning about the choices we make in life, especially the unconscious choices. And I had worked very hard in therapy learning to chose to be around people who were good to me and for me. When I decided that my man-choosing gene might no longer be stuck on 'turkey', I realized that my 'over forty' age might defeat all the work I had done. Thus arose the challenge. As a woman over forty, with a history of two bad marriages, I was in a battle with little or no chance of winning. But I was fairly smart and very determined to find and marry and experience life with a good man. I knew I was a good catch and set my sights for an equally good male match. By this time, it was clear to me that the personal ads offered the best selection of mates in the 90's decade. So I focused my research on the ads, and studied them, searching for a dependable formula, method or recipe that would produce the man I sought.


From the Back Cover
Top 10 Reasons to Find a Fella
1. Because I've created a great life and want to share it with someone wonderful.
2. Because it takes two to tango and I love to dance.
3. Because part of taking good care of me is finding companionship.
4. Because I'm great at scoring career goals and want my personal life to be just as successful.
5. Because people who make a life-change are upbeat and happier.
6. Because my friends will say, "Good for you! You deserve a good relationship."
7. Because I want to feel cherished by a sweetie-pie of a guy.
8. Because there must be a moral in the story of Noah's Ark.
9. Because my mother wants to see me married.
10. Because it pays to advertise.



About the Author
Zippy Larson's first career was nursing. She paid her own way through nursing school and became a Registered Nurse. Always longing for the college education that had been vetoed by her mother, "college is a waste of money for a girl," she finally got a BA with a major in history as a 'non-traditional age' student. In her home town of Baltimore, in 1980, the renaissance at the inner harbor spawned Harbor Place, the festival market place that turned blue collar Baltimore into a tourist attraction. Since she was born, bred and buttered in Baltimore City and did years of independent research in to the city's history, Zippy started a business, Shoe Leather Safaris. Originally walking tours through the old row house neighborhoods outside the 'tourism bubble', her repertoire grew when seniors requested tours by motor coach. She still shows the 'hidden Baltimore', little known by tourists or even natives. Smithsonian's tour department describes Zippy's tours as "an incomparable experience of Baltimore." Hopkins says they are "wonderfully informative and lots of fun." She offers 'bragging rights' tours. She doesn't know how to do a cookie-cutter tour. She tells participants that they will not see another tourist when they are out with her, and away from the 'tourism bubble'. She loves the old blue collar town where she grew up.

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