Anthology Interview

There’s an interview with me up at the lovely Sarah Skilton’s blog. I discuss submitting a proposal, writing the essay, and working with an editor on revisions. Go read!

My Fictional Boyfriends – Round Two

A continuing series of utmost importance and solemnity in a time of great uncertainty and fear.

My next fictional boyfriend is my newest of the bunch. Unlike the first two, he’s currently age-appropriate, but that does not detract from his dreaminess. Ladies and gents, I present to you the case of Will Gardner.

OK, to be fair, I have a weakness for Josh Charles characters apparently (watch out for a future round, plus there’s Bryan in Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, who is a catch despite his paper hat). But, oh! Will Gardner, Will Gardner. (I can’t stop making this joke, sorry.) Why do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

1. You look pretty dashing in a suit, but you in casual clothes is so amazing that Entertainment Weekly has devoted blog coverage to the phenomenon.
2. You have, on occasion, expressed attraction to inked ladies.
3. You are unapologetically ambitious and accomplished, but you’re not afraid of ladies who are too. SWOON. OUR POWERS COMBINED COULD RULE ALL, WILL, DON’T YOU SEE? YOU ARE A TOP LAWYER AND I, ummm, well, I’m unapologetically a lot of things. Just saying. I have tattoos!
4. Oh man, when right off the bat Cary got all uppity about all his frigging billable hours, Will laid in a super amazing passive aggressive insult to put him in his place, and while I don’t approve of, well, passive-aggression OR putting people in their places IN GENERAL, at this point in the series Cary was a snot who deserved it for his smugness. (Of course I came around to (mostly) love Cary too; he would be my office flirtation while I was waiting for Will to get over a certain someone or to notice my ambition BECAUSE I’M REALLY GOOD AT BEING SUBTLE.)

Oh god I am so off-topic I am not even sure what the eff I was talking about.

Ohhh right. Back to business. I think this material is sufficient evidence. In closing… I am too legally-unaware to push this lawyer metaphor any further than its current half-assed state. So here’s a picture of Will Gardner in casual clothes:

You’re welcome.

My Fictional Boyfriends – Round One

I started thinking about fictional boyfriends because all the lovely ladies at my new office are deep head-over-heels crazypants in love with… Edward Cullen.

Now, look, you guys. I (sometimes) think Robert Pattinson is pretty hot:

…but Edward would be a terrible boyfriend! He can’t even enjoy a good meal with you (unless you’re into biting fresh bunnies or something)! I’m a foodie, so what the eff would we do on dates if we can’t enjoy food together and we can’t get it on? Also he tells you what you can and can’t do! He watches you sleep, which would be a total dealbreaker for me:

…and not just because I’m a snorer and I prefer the boys not to get a whiff of that right out of the gate.

The same ladies mocked me for my High School Musical calendar, but lemme tell you something: Troy Bolton is a way better fictional boyfriend.

Firstly, let’s just get this out of the way: not only is his hair just as dreamy, IT’S ACTUALLY FRESHLY-WASHED. You just know it smells like conditioner and freshly-applied product, not freshly-eaten animals and forest twigs and cold marble. Because, you know, speaking of that, also HIS SKIN WOULDN’T FEEL LIKE COLD MARBLE.

Also: he is a good dancer, he respects musical theatre, and he’ll prioritize your college/career plans ahead of his own when necessary. OK, he’s not perfect. Sometimes he gets a little caught up in his fancy-pants friends and Italian shoes, and he eschews washing certain garments to bring luck to his basketball team, but he’ll dance it out and make amends. This is not a boy tethered too tightly to gender norms.

Next up, because I suppose I should try to balance out my TV and movie refs with LITERATURE, is If I Stay’s (and Where She Went’s!!) Adam. Ag, Adam. You’re dreamy too, and even though I assume you have spectacular emo hair and a punk rock DIY touring sched, I bet it’s relatively clean and fantastic-smelling.

But, YES, he’s a musician! But even though he’s rock ‘n roll, he’s gonna respect my dorky tastes too, as evidenced by just how much (HOW MUCH!) he got out of that Yo Yo Ma concert. Right? Oh, yes. Boys who are passionate about things – and by “things” I don’t mean “how your blood smells” – are boys I can get behind. And, um, other prepositional phrases.

Which leads me to my last point about Adam, which is that he doesn’t care about not besmirching your precious virtue or whatever. BESMIRCHING BE DAMNED. VIRTUE BE DAMNED. PRECIOUSNESS BE DAMNED. Swooooooon.

This concludes Round One of My Fictional Boyfriends. Stay tuned; there are more in store.