Recognized by the national media as a relationship expert, Ellie is the author of Mom, There’s a Man in the Kitchen and He’s Wearing Your Robe (Da Capo Press 2005), Dating for Dads (Bantam Dell 2008) and It’s Either Her or Me: A Guide to Help a Mom and Her Daughter-in-Law Get Along (Bantam 2010). She also contributed to the anthology, Single Woman of a Certain Age.
A print journalist with more than 25 years of experience, Ellie has been featured in CHILD, Working Mother, Parents, Essence, Complete Woman, and numerous regional magazines. A former reporter and editor for United Press International, and landscape designer, she has also edited a magazine for professional landscape designers. It was during that time, Ellie’s husband of 15 years suddenly died. In her late thirties with two small children at home, she unexpectedly found herself doing something she had long ago given up: dating.
First lesson she learned: Begin dating when you feel you’re ready and ignore the judgmental comments of married people.
Second lesson: Your parents won’t be waiting up for you. Your children will.
Third lesson: If your blind date cuts his salmon into neat little squares which he devours in sequence so as not to upset the grid and talks about his ex-wife’s new marriage, it’s okay to let him pick up the tab and never see him again.
Ellie’s personal dating experiences from having sex for the first time in 20 years with a man other than her husband, to carelessly marrying – albeit briefly – a man she found though a personal ad, give her the empathy, understanding and ability to communicate with people in similar situations.
When men showed up at her public events on the Mom book, Ellie realized that there is little available to fathers who date. Her sensitivity led to a book for single dads and dating and opened a dialogue for men, who often are uncomfortable discussing sexual relationships.
Her newest book has grown out of her relationship with her son and his significant other. Until her son discovered girls, Ellie had no idea that how she got along with the other woman impacted her relationship with her son.
