Mary Fran Bontempo shares the story of how she got the idea of writing her book, Not Ready for Granny Panties. Coming from a very difficult time in her life, Mary gathered the courage and turned her experiences into positive outputs. She explores the metaphorical significance of being stuck in a certain way of life and gives insights on how to break from it. Also touching on another book, The Woman’s Book of Dirty Words, she bravely and humorously shows how self-talk should be handled. At the bottom of it, she gives us the lessons on being a little bit more kinder to ourselves.

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Breaking Out From Our Granny Panties with Mary Fran Bontempo

I had the pleasure of meeting Mary Fran Bontempo. I had wanted to meet her for a long time. Her name kept flying around in my local community. I'm like, “How have I not met this woman yet?” I heard her speak and I was blown away. Mary Fran Bontempo is an award-winning author, speaker and a humorist who believes in the power of women. For over 30 years, she's written for and about women and girls. She's shared laughter, joy, and sometimes hysterical tears.

She has a lifestyle blog called Not Ready for Granny Panties. She's the author of three books and a former newspaper columnist. She has a book which is The Woman's Book of Dirty Words. It takes on the everyday words that make women cringe. She shows readers how to redefine the dirty words and clean up their self-talk. She's going to help you get a more vibrant, productive, joyful life. She received recognition from the Erma Bombeck Writer's Workshop and Humor Press. I want you not only to hear her speak, but to connect with her. I want you to read her books because they are a delight. Hi, Mary Fran.

Terri, I always tell women to write their own intros or have their best friends write their intros because when you hear the things that you've accomplished out loud, you'll be blown away by how fantastic you are.

When I heard Mary Fran speak, we had her speaking in a not ideal situation that was humorous in itself. She was able to use everything that was going on in this awkward speaking situation she was put in. It made the talk even stay in my mind longer because you were living and breathing all the things you were talking to us about. I wanted to honor you for that.

It comes down to taking whatever insane experience is handed your way, dancing your way through it, and making the best out of it. Nine times out of ten, you dread these things and they work out fine, which is one of my dirty words, fine. Thank you for that. It was quite an interesting experience.

It left quite an impression on me. I have to also say the names of your books, Not Ready for Granny Panties and The Woman's Book of Dirty Words. When you first hear those, I don't know what other people thought but I was like, “What's this?”

That was done with that intention to get that reaction from people.

Tell us how these books came to be.

I was at a very dark period in my life years ago. The economy was tanking. It was threatening our family business. I was losing all of my newspaper jobs due to the influence of the internet. I was turning 50, which at the time I thought was so traumatic, and now I think, “I wish I could get that number back.” Worst of all, my son was in the throes of heroin addiction and that was devastating. In lamenting all of this with a friend of mine,