You might be wondering what a soap opera actress, dispatched from the land of outrageous and hilarious plots, has to say about a difficult, painful, and emotional real-life issue like aging. Well, aging is at times both outrageous and hilarious, and no one knows more about reinvention and perseverance than an actress who began her career as the star of a show — and then became the mother of the star, and then the grandmother of the star. Getting older keeps you on your toes — you have to fight to remain visible, or risk being pushed to exit stage left.

In Changing Shoes, Tina Sloan addresses the issues and feelings most women eventually have to deal with, using humorous personal anecdotes from her personal life (starting with her first pair of Chanel pumps) and her twenty-six years on Guiding Light (where she started out in a pair of white high heels and a fitted nurse’s uniform and finished off in sneakers and modern nurse’s scrubs).  Changes in her looks, love life, career, and family are managed with footwear to match: broken-in black flats when taking care of her aging parents, lavender “Cinderella” shoes to seduce her husband, and pink snow boots to hike Mount Kilimanjaro.

Tina’s commitment to live life to the fullest is inspiring and filled with advice on everything from retaining the spark and zest of younger days, staying “forever frisky,” expanding your world, and, as Tina puts it, “staying in the game.”  Women of all ages will identify with Tina’s personal stories and appreciate her sincerity, honesty, inspiring words, and endearing sense of humor.

Tina Sloan, author of Changing Shoes: Getting Older – Not Old- with Style, Humor, and Grace, played the role of Nurse Lillian Raines on Guiding Light, which aired its final episode in 2009 after a seventy-two year run on radio and television.  She has appeared on many other television shows, including Third Watch, and Law & Order: SVU, and in a variety of feature films, including The Brave One and Changing Lanes. She is currently shooting two feature films and touring nationally in her acclaimed one-woman show, Changing Shoes. She lives in New York with her husband, Steve McPherson.  They have one son, Renny.

For more information please visit http://www.changingshoes.com/.

Tags: aging, arts, entertainment, reading