“From the moment that I got to New York, everyone said, 'Do a book! Do a book!' It’s something you’re told if you work at a newspaper or a website. It feels like this — not pressure, but the ‘next leveling’ of your ability as a writer. The problem was that a lot of my initial cracks at writing about my past were done with a real sense of resentment and victimization and self-pity. Or just total lack of authenticity, where I was trying to sell myself as a ‘Seven Tips and Tricks To Get That Man’ kind of expert. That’s never been my area of expertise. I would read all the books — Why Men Marry Bitches, The Rules — but I have the kind of personality where I start to feel dead inside if I employ that in my own life. I eventually have to call myself out on it, or I feel a little crazy."