Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue - Tapa blanda

The author relates her childhood in Indiana, her early career as a broadcast journalist, her years at NBC with Today and Dateline NBC, her battle with depression and bipolar disorder, and her attempts to both rediscover and redefine herself at mid-life. Reprint.

"Truth arrives in microscopic increments, and when enough has accumulated-in a moment of recognition, you just know. You know because the truth fits. I was the only member of my family to lack the gene for numbers, but I do need things to add up. Approaching midlife, I became aware of a darkening feeling-was it something heavy on my heart, or was something missing? Grateful as I am for the opportunities I've had, and especially for the people who came into my life as a result, I couldn't ignore this feeling. I had the impulse to begin a conversation with myself, through writing, as if to see if my fingers could get to the bottom of it. It was a Saturday morning eight or ten years ago when I began following this impulse to find the answers to unformed questions. Skywriting is what I call my personal process of discovery."
And so begins this beautiful and surprising memoir, in which beloved broadcast journalist Jane Pauley tells a remarkable story of self-discovery and an extraordinary life, from her childhood in the American heartland to her three decades in television.
Encompassing her beginnings at the local Indianapolis station and her bright debut-at age twenty-five on NBC's "Today and later on "Dateline-Pauley forthrightly delves into the ups and downs of a fantastic career. But there is much more to Jane Pauley than just the famous face on TVs. In this memoir, she reveals herself to be a brilliant woman with singular insights. She explores her roots growing up in Indiana and discusses the resiliency of the American family, and addresses with humor and depth a subject very close to her heart: discovering yourself and redefining your strengths at midlife. Striking, moving, candid, and unique, "Skywriting explores firsthand the difficulty and the rewards of self-reinvention.

"From the Hardcover edition.