2012 Bombeck Workshop faculty: Jeff Zaslow
Jeff Zaslow has told the stories of some of the most inspirational people of our time. The Last Lecture, written with Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, has remained on The New York Times best-seller list for more than 110 weeks. Jeff’s book about female friendship, The Girls From Ames, spent 26 weeks on The New York Times list; People named it one of the “Ten Best Books of the Year.” He recently collaborated with astronaut Mark Kelly and his wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, on their memoir, Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope. His newest book is The Magic Room: A Story About the Love We Wish for Our Daughters, due for publication in January 2012. A columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Jeff was twice named best columnist by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. His TV appearances include The Tonight Show, Oprah, Larry King Live, 60 Minutes, The Today Show and Good Morning America.
Note: Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of Jeff Zaslow, whom we learned was killed this morning in an auto accident. (The WSJ story is here.) We very much looked forward to meeting this remarkable writer and thank him for all he gave readers everywhere.
Feb. 10, 2012
is the very model of a modern, middle-aged man — except that he’s now won four awards for humorous writing from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. He laughs at the absurdities of life in his humor column for his hometown paper, The Stamford Advocate. His column is syndicated by McClatchy-Tribune and has run in newspapers across the country and around the world. A collection of his columns appears in his book, Leave It to Boomer: A Look at Life, Love and Parenthood by the Very Model of the Modern Middle-Age Man.
Lisa Smith Molinari, an 18-year Navy spouse, mother of three and humor columnist, published an article, “I Want a Wife, Too” in the May issue of Military Spouse magazine. Check out her 
a “unique category with maybe two or three billion people.”
has released a book, A Real Mother: stumbling through motherhood. A columnist for the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, she quips her bio reads like a bad joke: “After working as a lifeguard, a Peace Corps volunteer, a middle school teacher, a switchboard operator and finally, an attorney (but don’t hold that against her), she is uniquely qualified to do absolutely nothing. That is why she writes.”
Lisa Tognola’s parody ad for a “Hunk of the Month” club (made of “medical grade plastic … as close as you’ll get to the real thing”) is included in the new Valentine’s Day anthology 