Fix your life in 30 days!

   Sometimes, despite our best intentions, life turns into one big mess. More often than not, it’s our own darned fault.
   Washington, D.C., writer Cathy Alter was 37, divorced, in a rotten job and an even worse relationship. Her life was pathetic, in her words.
   So one day she decided that since she had done such a poor job of managing herself on her own, she would turn to the experts — Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Glamour. She decided that for one year she would read the advice contained in the self-help articles and advice columns in 12 women’s magazines and apply their guidance to her own life.
   She decided that each month she would focus on a single issue — beauty, fitness, spirit, relationship, job — that wasn’t working in her life, and do whatever that month’s magazines recommended on that particular subject.
   The result of Cathy Alter’s self-improvement project is "Up For Renewal, What Magazines Taught Me About Love, Sex and Starting Over" (2008, Altria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster). It goes on sale Tuesday, July 1.
   Cathy is hilarious, self-effacing, poignant — her kindly therapist chokes up when she tells him about the time her mother sat her down and informed her, in the interest of getting her to wear makeup, that she is no Christie Brinkley.
   Cathy’s life changes in ways she never dreamed of, as she discovers that Cathy isn’t such a mess, after all. It’s a story that a lot of us can relate to.