Miss A asks Ms. C

For those of you who don't already know the wonderful and gorgeous Andrea Rogers (advice columnist, charity champion, socialista, and all around smart cookie), allow me to introduce her and her fun and informative askmissa.com. In fact, if you go there now, you can read a really flattering (thank you, thank you!) piece she wrote about me and the book.

There's a Q&A section, and although I really enjoyed answering all the book-specific questions, I have to say, I really had a good time answering Andrea's dating-centric ones. Like, should you text a guy you've just started dating? Or, how do you know if a guy is interested in you? And, what are some dating deal breakers?

At first I thought, gee, now that I'm married, should I even be answering these questions. It's like when my mother tried to give me dating advice and was completely baffled with the idea of gang dating (which was a bunch of guys and girls all going out together to the movies and you hoped you got to sit next to the guy you liked.) She just had been out of the game too long to know any of the rules.

Another reason why I thought I had no business providing dating wisdom to Andrea's readers is that, until I met Karl, I had no idea what I was doing. (Hence, the book.) I was color blind to all the red flags that guys raised. I allowed and accepted the worst kind of treatment by men. Dr. Phil would have slapped me upside the head and said something like, "You can't get more than you demand." Or something head scratching like that.

But then I realized, after spending a year reading nothing but 14 women's magazines a month, (including Dr. Phil's column in O magazine) I had a pretty good idea of how dating should work. And when I thought back on my year, I also realized that a lot of my single friends were coming to me with their relationship woes, like somehow, I was absorbing all the magazine content into my psyche and, like some sort of circus act, could recall the exact perfect answer to any dating dilema.

Plus, as I was answering some of Andrea's questions, considering what I'd wear on a first date or when you should have "the talk" with a guy - I realized that I was (key the mushy stuff) thanking my lucky stars to have found someone as great as Karl. Considering what and who I suffered through P.K. (pre Karl). As my friend Billy said last night, when describing how his friend Christine never thought she'd find the man of her dreams (a man who listened to The Cramps and liked to hit the town Saturday nights dressed as a woman), a man whom she did find and did marry, "There's a lid for every pot."

Yes, and some fits are better than others.

The real reason I don't blog a lot

I forgot how to make those click-on links. So if I'm writing about my visit to Dollywood, for ex, I could just turn that word Dollywood into a wormhole to the actual Dollywood site. But you see, I can't remember how to do it. Because the way my page view is set up (thank you, Karl) the link gets all small-screen and narrow. And I don't want to insult Dolly by giving her short shrift. So I've been avoiding my blogging duties out of hypertext anxiety.

So there you have it.

But then I thought, hey, how about if dial things back a bit, Alter. Who cares about being able to link to things like Dollywood? Certainly not my readers, who are meccas of self reliance and know how to use Google.

Which is all to say, until I get another lesson in making links to things, I will try and make a more regular appearance here.

Oh Happy Day

I have been totally LAME in keeping up with my blog. It's not like I haven't been writing, dearies. I have. Just out in hard copy. For the greater public. And for money. Plus, I'm sort of in the "enough about my book what do you think about my book" ennui of things. I've been milking this thing since July, after all.

But I felt inspired today to update my site with a simple word: Yippee.

I am so relieved that I don't have to drown my sorrows today in a bottle of bourbon or move to Canada or anything.

Thank you, Obama.