Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: August 24, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 909122
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“Truth arrives in microscopic increments, and when enough has accumulated–in a moment of recognition, you just know. You know because the truth fits. I was the only member of my family to lack the gene for numbers, but I do need things to add up. Approaching midlife, I became aware of a darkening feeling–was it something heavy on my heart, or was something missing? Grateful as I am for the opportunities I’ve had, and especially for the people who came into my life as a result, I couldn’t ignore this feeling. I had the impulse to begin a conversation with myself, through writing, as if to see if my fingers could get to the bottom of it. It was a Saturday morning eight or ten years ago when I began following this impulse to find the answers to unformed questions. Skywriting is what I call my personal process of discovery.”
And so begins this beautiful and surprising memoir, in which beloved broadcast journalist Jane Pauley tells a remarkable story of self-discovery and an extraordinary life, from her childhood in the American heartland to her three decades in television.
Encompassing her beginnings at the local Indianapolis station and her bright debut–at age twenty-five on NBC’s Today and later on Dateline–Pauley forthrightly delves into the ups and downs of a fantastic career. But there is much more to Jane Pauley than just the famous face on TVs. In this memoir, she reveals herself to be a brilliant woman with singular insights. She explores her roots growing up in Indiana and discusses the resiliency of the American family, and addresses with humour and depth a subject very close to her heart: discovering yourself and redefining your strengths at midlife. Striking, moving, candid, and unique, Skywriting explores firsthand the difficulty and the rewards of self-reinvention.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Rated by buyers 
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The only shortcoming was that, because we have a bipolar daughter, I expected a bit more insight into the condition.
Rated by buyers -
I'll be honest. I had Jane confused with Katie Couric when I picked up this book, but I'm certainly glad I got it. I was never a watcher or fan of Jane Pauley during her NBC years, mostly I suppose because I was always at work when she aired on the morning show. I did see a few of her Dateline shows probably, but don't remember much about them. But I was hooked from the very first page of the very first chapter. "The room was nice." Nice is a word my folks always used, a very "midwestern" word, perhaps - bland and hard to argue with. Yes, Jane is so obviously a midwesterner. Her Indiana upbringing rang a lot of bells with me and my Michigan childhood. SKYWRITING surprised me with its insight and absolute honesty. I believed her when she told how her phenomenal sucess just happened to her, that she never really aimed for or aspired to that level - it just came "out of the blue," as her subtitle indicates. Of course, I don't think her apple-pie good looks or natural charm hurt her any either. She just happened to come along at a time when network TV news was just discovering the value of a gorgeous women - "eye candy" for the news consumer. Look at today's morning major network news shows, with babes like Ann Curry, Meredith Viera, Diane Sawyer, etc. And the same is true on cable networks - more beautiful girls/women than I can remember or name. But perhaps the most interesting and compelling aspect of Jane's story is her treatment of her struggle with bipolar disorder. I noticed some of the book's readers complain that she doesn't go into enough detail on that aspect of her life and career. I will chalk that up to modesty and a sincere wish not to hold her family up to microscopic examination. (There is bipolarism in my family and I know it can be very difficult to deal with and is a delicate subject to talk about.) Since I haven't followed Pauley's career that closely, I'm not sure if her daytime talk show is even on anymore, but I don't think it is, because my wife watches so many of those shows, and I don't think Jane's is one of them. So maybe that "new career move" she talks about toward the end of the book didn't pan out. So what. I'm confident that Jane handled it. She's got class, this woman. I read this book through in just two sittings, so it must be "compelling" reading. Good job, Jane, and I wish you all the best in your life. - Tim Bazzett, author of ReedCityBoy
Rated by buyers 
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The book is bland and one should borrow it from the library. Jane may
have had good intentions to come out of the closet on mental health issues but the book seems like she is guarded and protective of her
image, her husband's celebrity status and her future employment prospectives. I do not think she is insightful enough about her experience and how her celebrity and wealth affect the entire process.
I believe a waning career (mid-life crisis) and the onset of menopause
had something to do with her health crisis. Menopause hormonal imbalances
can create as much havoc as post-partum depression--including bouts of
mania and psychosis. Not enough details in the book to help anyone or
feel that you know Jane.
Rated by buyers -
While bi-polarism introduces the book and recurs, the theme is really Jane's career.
Jane was catapulted to fame not by experience, her knowledge of public affairs, or even her rolodex, but by her looks, youth, midwestern charm and ability to make interesting conversation. She tells the story of this unmerited rise in a straight forward fashion. I remember Jane and Bryant as unrehearsed, positive, informed and amazingly entertaining. Despite the lack of a resume, she clearly rose to the occasion.
The photos of her family, childhood house and home made clothes show the simplicity of her roots. The text reveals that she never lost this quality. Despite my enthusiastic read, I didn't give it 5 stars because Jane gives the issues all too light a treatment. Ironically, I held back 2 stars for the very simplicity I admire in Jane.
One of these issues is the zeitgeist of Jane's rise. It illustrates role of women in news in the 70's. A sweet non-threatening personality was preferred over experience not only by the network execs, but also the audiences. She describes the fairy tale but the analysis is inadequate.
Jane gives us some old fashioned values in discussing her style which is not to create gotcha moments or invade an interviewee's privacy. She alludes to the competition to "get". She does not discuss how this change is driving the personalities of today's journalists, and ultimately the character of the news, nor the outlook for a future personalities such as Jane.
I'd like to know more about the issues raised in Jane's "brush" with Princess Diana. The American from the Great Plains and the British Aristocrat indeed had a lot in common. Both were plucked up at young ages and put before cameras with little training or preparation. Jane relates the story and the feeling in her plainspoken way ... and that is that.
It looked like the Today show was to be a marriage of 3. All the signs and rumors were there and there was no straight talk from the execs with Jane. Jane, writes about juggling and guilt of a mom with a career. She did a pleasure/pain calculus and had the resources stay home. With career drop out of successful women being a hot media topic, I'd be interested to know if uncomfortable situations like the one Jane found herself in (Jane, not Bryant, Willard or Gene) are the common trigger for this reported phenomena.
Jane writes of her children, but not of her marriage. This is provocative, because it seems so out of character... or out of the character that I believe her to be. Gerry is not just any cartoonist, but, one of the most controversial ones in my lifetime.
There is more to know about Jane's bout with bi-polarism too. It is the stated theme of the book. It appears as an isolated thing in her life, which it surely could not have been.
Rated by buyers -
A beautifully written account of Pauley's illness. As I have a son with bipolar disorder, I found this memoir very reassuring. I have hope that my son will, with the right treatment, reach his potential.
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