Pictured is Debra Dingman, long-time Dixon newspaper columnist, business owner and 2023 Dixon Citizen of the Year who has published her second book through WestBow Press that is written for people in their later years. Courtesy photo

DIXON, CA (MPG) – If you are a grandmother new or old, Debra Dingman, long-time Dixon newspaper columnist, business owner and 2023 Dixon Citizen of the Year has published her second book through WestBow Press that is written for people in their later years. 

Her new book on grandparenting will be available at a special book launch taking place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26 at the Dixon Historical Museum, 125 West A St. in downtown Dixon. The 168-page softcover book is an insightful and uplifting read that is refreshingly real and written with her warm writing style that is both enjoyable and genuinely helpful for growing “in the later years.”

In her first book, “Learning A+ Living: Adventures & Rewards of a Mom Entrepreneur,” also published by WestBow Press (2016), Dingman’s experiences were based in Solano and Yolo Counties while she lived in Dixon. She shared with other women valuable lessons learned as she balanced her years of work with family. In that book, she claimed to be an “ordinary mom who preferred comfortable shoes to high heels and who lived with crazy hormones, wild children, and unplanned career changes.”

Then came grandmotherhood, retirement, and new kinds of lessons. It is exactly 10 years later that “Learning & Living: Adventures and Rewards of an Overzealous Nana” is presented.

“My story is mostly fun about becoming a grandmother and is told through a collection of my Dixon newspaper columns sprinkled with current insights,” she said. 

“Learning & Living is a deeply heartfelt reflection on life, faith, family, loss, and growth. Through a series of short chapters, Debra Dingman invites readers into her personal journey of learning, healing, and loving more deeply in her later years,” said book reviewer Valicia Witte.

“Each chapter feels like a gentle conversation with honesty and vulnerability and is full of wisdom gained through real-life experiences. One of the most powerful aspects of this book is its authenticity. Debra does not shy away from difficult emotions or complicated relationships. Her reflections on grief are written with tenderness, honesty, and grace, offering comfort to anyone who has experienced loss.”

Readers can follow her new journey into the later years; complete with ideas for seeing the grandbaby for the first time, what to say and not to say to new parents, creating a family legacy, and entertaining the grandchildren “when you’re wanting to nap.”

Like real life, the author warned, there are difficult subjects also covered such as heart-wrenching estrangements, miscarriages, and deaths that only made her faith grow stronger. 

But there are also funny stories involving her despise for cockroaches, spiders and dreaded ants.

Dingman will autograph books while wearing the latest in “NanaWear” (sweats and tennis shoes) and warns that she is in fact, only taking cash or checks for the $16.99 purchase but both books are available on Amazon. For more information, see her Facebook page, Learning & Living.