What do you do if you're a 44-year-old woman and are told that your job is gone?

That's what happened to Amanda Brunker recently.

Having spent 20 years as a journalist with The Sunday World, she suddenly found herself out of work.

It's new territory for her, as she explained on The Last Word: "I've been working since I was 14 or 15. I've always had my own money."

Amanda has also enjoyed success as an author, having written three books (the Champagne series).

She is now planning to use her free time to write another book, and says, "It's not going to be autobiographical, but it is going to be called Washed Up."

She is candid about the challenges of finding work in the media industry later in life, and admits she is concerned about the future of newspapers.

"People don't have an attention span to read more than 140 characters. I worry that journalism is decaying now."

"We need newspapers so that journalists have a vehicle to do really good work for society."