Maureen Anne Meehan’s, Powerful Memoir “60 Dates in Six Months with a Broken Neck” Film to Be Released in November
Maureen Anne Meehan, a multi-talented individual with a fascinating journey to share. From earning degrees in education to pursuing a career in law and eventually becoming a judge, Maureen’s life took a dramatic turn when a tragic event inspired her to create a world of legal thrillers in the Mary MacIntosh series. Hailing from the charming town of Sheridan, Wyoming, Maureen’s 19 legal thrillers are set against the backdrop of this picturesque state.
Living in Southern California with her rescue kittens and occasionally visited by her four adult children and one grandchild, Maureen’s literary works have garnered recognition and laurels, with one of her books featured in the prestigious New York Times Magazine and honored with the Eric Hoffer Award in Literature. 60 Dates in Six Months (with a Broken Neck) was adapted to script and is now in postproduction with awards including Cannes, Santa Barbara International Screenplay Award winner, and many others. This nonfiction memoir has two sequels. Her latest project is Single Mom, No Manual Included and is a satire about the trials and tribulations of raising children.
Share your fascinating journey.
I was born and raised in Sheridan, Wyoming, and have the beautiful Bighorn Mountains as a character in my life and my novels. I was educated at Santa Clara University, the University of Wyoming, San Diego State University, and McGeorge School of Law. My legal secretary was murdered in Orange County in 1996, and it was at this moment that I started writing the Mary MacIntosh legal thriller series to keep my strong, female protagonist alive.
Your life took a dramatic turn with a tragic event. How was this a catalyst for your popular legal thrillers?
My protagonist, Mary MacIntosh, is my legal assistant, Lisa, and I have kept her alive in my heart and through my stories.
What do you love the most about Wyoming?
Wyoming is a character in my novels in the Mary MacIntosh series. It is a beautiful state with wonderful people, and the backdrop is gorgeous and wholesome.
Tell us about your recent novel, “60 Dates in Six Months with a Broken Neck.”
My husband and soulmate passed away 11 years ago from a rare cancer, leaving me with four teenagers to raise. I started dating in 2024 and it was awful. I wrote about it therapeutically, and it is a nonfiction satire about modern dating.
60 Dates in Six Months (with a Broken Neck) is a nonfiction book surrounding a personal experience attempting to date at age 58. It didn’t start out as a goal to write a book in a new genre, but it’s a numbers game requiring note-taking to keep it straight. Upon review over dinner with a girlfriend, it dawned on me that this was funny. In the middle of this journey, I fell and broke my neck, and it was serious. Decisions had to be made. I decided to keep dating by writing about it. And so, it goes. “60 Dates in Six Months (with a Broken Neck)” is a nonfiction satire and hysterically funny but honest.
How is your novel about resilience, risk-taking, and personal transformation?
My novel is about resilience to the extent that I put myself back out there after losing my soulmate, which required risk-taking and personal transformation regarding the belief of hope and the value of trying to find love.
What has been the greatest lesson that you have learned?
The greatest lesson is that I am a whole person without a man.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
They might be surprised with my tenacity and my ability to take chances, make mistakes, and learn from them while taking full responsibility for them.
You have exciting news to share about “60 Dates in Six Months with a Broken Neck.” Why was this story perfect for film?
It is about hope, love, resilience, respect, and humor in a romcom romantic dramedy setting.
How excited are you for THE DPA GROUP PRE-EMMY AWARD GIFTING SUITES?
I am over the moon about this opportunity with the DPA Group Pre-Emmy Award Gifting Suites opportunity and working with Nathalie Dubois is a dream come true. She is ethical, smart, intuitive, intelligent, and hardworking. My mission over those two days is to breathe it in, and be proud of my accomplishments and hard work.
The US Reviews of Books- “60 Dates in Six Months with a Broken Neck.”
Book review by Nicole Yurcaba
“I started dating in November 2023. It’s been awful. Dating in your fifties in Orange County, California, is not for the faint of heart.”
This poignant, personal book guides readers through the ins and outs of midlife dating after losing one’s soulmate. The book opens with an openly honest foreword about how Meehan met her husband, his cancer diagnosis, and the brave steps the author took to begin finding love again after the tragic loss of her spouse. As readers progress from chapter to chapter, they discover stories of intimidated men who scorn a woman who orders her own coffee, the strangeness of navigating dating apps, and the taboos that are broken when men decide a photo of themselves in a speedo is the best introduction.
Lacing the stories together, nonetheless, are astute observations of human behavior, as well as some humor rarely found in similar works written after the death of one’s life partner. What the book emphasizes, too, is that for those who begin dating again during their fifties, the small details matter. One of the best examples of this is “Pickleball Champ,” the slyly humorous and honest tale of the author’s encounter with a retiree who plays pickleball daily. Despite the retiree’s education, he occupied a “basement apartment in Newport Beach,” and, according to the author, the retiree looked “old.” Working in the retiree’s favor, however, was the fact that he “was punctual and wore appropriate footwear.” The attention to small details like these reveals that the author had a specific goal and was determined to reach it.
In other stories, the author reveals how technology—specifically dating apps—has allowed men who desire a “side hustle” to their marriages to form a sort of no-questions-asked playground. In “Who Needs to Be Divorced,” the author agrees to meet a man at one of their favorite trailheads. The man arrives in a Tesla, which the author humorously notes is a “common theme” for many of the men she dates. At the hike’s conclusion, the author asks the man his full name, which he gives, and during a post-hike Googling session, the author discovers that the man is married “with not even a divorce filing” in process. Thus, the story harbors a stark warning about conducting one’s research prior to a date.
Hiking and nature form the backdrop to a number of the stories in this book. The presence of these two important entities in the author’s life is significant. Because of their inclusion, the book develops a return-to-nature theme that emphasizes how being in nature, as well as the physicality of hiking, can be important steps in one’s healing and grieving process. Their inclusion, too, is another way for the author to emphasize that the small details matter in midlife dating. Obviously, nature and hiking are paramount to the author’s identity, and finding a compatible partner who enjoys them is a must since these would form some “common ground” for both individuals.
Boldly humorous and wildly brave, this book will appeal to anyone who has navigated the dating scene after the death of a spouse or a divorce. At the book’s end, the author provides a conclusion in which anyone seeking love in the modern world can take solace: “It will be organic and random and amazing. I’ve stopped looking. It will happen when it happens.”
