Creatrix Rising

AUTHOR HIRED: Books Forward • Publicists: Angelle Barbazon and Brittany Kennell for digital. • Press kit for the book, highlighting accolades of the previous and upcoming release • Author-branding strategy for platform of women’s growing strength and creativity in older age • Pre-order campaign and national book blog tours • Extensive social media campaign with positive aging and book influencers • Facebook group cross promotions (Aging With Balance, Hot Flashes Cool Topics, Women Over 50, Cool Retired Women, and more) • National lifestyle media, and outlets that reach women 45+ interested in the topics of aging, cultivating creativity, and strengthening their own voices • Podcasts tour and advertising with major tastemakers in the field • NetGalley and Goodreads promotions • Trade publication reviews and literary awards • Charles Schwab partnership and other promotional videos • Virtual events with bookstores, positive aging groups, regional bookseller association, and other venues

Through personal stories, essays, and reflection questions, Raffelock redefines the midlife woman as a creatrix—a woman who remakes herself beyond the stereotypes of midlife, which often lead to feeling insignificant, used up, defeminized, or desexualized—and illuminates the authentic strength, courage, and power of women in life’s third chapter.Ever since Eve was banned from the garden, women have endured the oftentimes painful and inaccurate definitions foisted upon them by the patriarchy. Maiden, mother, and crone, representing the three stages assigned to a woman’s life cycle, have been the limiting categories of both ancient and modern (neo-pagan) mythology. And one label in particular rankles: crone. The word conjures a wizened hag—useless for the most part, marginalized by appearance and ability.

None of us has ever truly fit the old-crone image, and for today’s midlife women, a new archetype is being birthed: the creatrix.

In Creatrix Rising, Stephanie Raffelock lays out—through personal stories and essays—the highlights of the past fifty years, in which women have gone from a quiet strength to a resounding voice. She invites us along on her own transformational journey by providing probing questions for reflection so that we can flesh out and bring to life this new archetype within ourselves. If what the Dalai Lama has predicted—that women will save the world—proves true, then the creatrix will for certain be out front, leading the pack.