Wilton's Own Octogenarian and Author

She was always the author's audience, never the author – until now.

"I've been to many author events but I've never been the author," said Wilton resident Lyla Ward. "But a funny thing happened on my way to becoming 80. I thought I'd relax and write a book. It turned out not to be relaxing at all."

Ward, celebrating the publication of her new book "How to Succeed at Aging – Without Really Dying" at the Wilton Library last night, spoke to more than 20 people at the library's new program: Area Author Affair. It was the second such event, said Sally Gemmill, director of programming for the library.

"It's amazing how much talent is in the area," Gemmill said.

The book, called a wry and witty collection of essays, addresses "living in a world of bubble packs you can't open, electronics you can't turn on, the shame of not being poll-worthy, expiration dates you can only hope don't apply to you, and the difficulties of staying on the planet when it's spinning out of control."

A prolific writer, Ward has written for several newspapers and magazines across the country, including Good Housekeeping, The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, Woman's Day, Family Circle, The Washington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor.

The audience laughed and nodded as Ward read from her book. She spoke of how for much of her life she sought self-help success – from child rearing and marriage to saving and school. Finally, when she hit 70, she thought she'd be done with all that advice. Not so.

"It's not enough that I'm a ripe old age, I have to be good at it," Ward said. "I worry about living up to my potential."

Ward said she swims three times a week, but worries about marathon running octogenarians or nonagenarians climbing mountains in Nepal.

"To every writer telling me how to do it, I say 'Chill Out,'" Ward said. "I want to do it myself."

And she did do it herself; get published that is.

After gathering about 30 essays, Ward got an agent. The agent told her she needed at least 50 short essays for a book. The agent sold the book to Arcade Publishing. But the publisher died. So Ward got creative.

The author emailed Barnes & Nobles, Amazon and Costco thinking she could find the name of a publisher that way. Amazon decided to publish her book as part of its new foray into publishing. The book came out in April.

"I have a book!" Ward said.