Sex and the City: Dating Confessions of a Real Life Columnist

2 years ago

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On Saturday night, I had a first date with a guy who told me that he had read a bunch of my columns, and that I'm a very funny writer. Nice compliment. He then said that he laughed hardest at my column on eHarmony, which is about my wanting to get married and being rejected by the online dating site. Gulp.

He also asked if anything he said would end up in one of my stories. I said everyone in my life gets quoted at some point or another (my poor dad is still getting questions about a goats and cows dowry in his back yard in Baltimore.)

Then I got to thinking, why does my fictional doppelganger, Carrie Bradshaw, never get asked by her dates to keep them out of her column on "Sex and the City"?

All these years, Carrie has written a weekly column about dating, yet none of the men ever mention being named in the column, or asked to be left out of a story.

Oddly, though I've written a lot about single life, dating and marriage, I've never considered a potential date would actually read it. In one moment, the fourth wall between real-life dating and writing about dating came tumbling down.

And, how do I let a guy get to know me slowly in the real world, when I'm an open book in the Worldwide Web world? And if all conversations with me are on the record, do I offer dates the opportunity to speak off the record in the hopes that it will give the potential relationship more depth and trust?

So I ask my Woman Up readers: How do I date and write about dating at the same time?

Follow Miller on Twitter @EmilyMillerDC

Filed Under: Woman Up

Tagged: Carrie Bradshaw, CarrieBradshaw, Sex and the City, SexAndTheCity

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