Sex & the Blog

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If you’ve read this blog for a while, you already know I’m a sex, dating and relationships writer in New York City. “Oooh, so you’re like Carrie Bradshaw!!” people often tell me. “Well,” I answer, “not quite.” I don’t live in a huge apartment. I don’t wear Manolo Blahniks. I get my most of my shoes from DSW, and I take shopping tips from the Budget Fashionista. My life in New York is good, but it’s nowhere near as glam as the fictitious writer on the show Sex and the City makes the NYC publishing world out to be.

I’m paid by the word when I do freelance gigs … and that’s when/if I get paid. Seriously, $1/word is an industry standard (e.g. Write a 500-word article, get $500. Write a 1,500-word article, get $1,500). So, needless to say, like most of the writers I know, I have a day gig to pay the bills while I spend my nights and weekends cranking out articles. I write because I was born to do it, not because I wanna get rich. I’ve written for Nerve, Lifetime, Gen Art, Fast Company and others. Also, little sprinkles of me have been in Glamour magazine and Time Out New York. (See bio, press and my print, online & video work if you want details.) I’ve gossiped about the boys in my life — or lack thereof — since I was a child. I’ve written about guys in my private journals since I was 14 years old, and I have boxes of dated, bound books to prove it. In high school, I wrote articles for the school newspaper and I was a writer on the yearbook staff. You get the point: I love to write words.

So, I was really happy when NPR asked me to come on one of their shows and talk about dating and general, and this blog in particular. Farai Chideya had me as a guest on News & Notes — a show about African-American life, politics and culture. We talked about my favorite topic: sex & dating. Listen to it now:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90776368

By the way, returning to the topic of Sex and the City for a second, it you want a more realistic view of what it feels like for me to put my private life on public, check out any of the following posts: My Family Found My Blog, Should Men Wear Thongs?, Who is More Gangster – Stolie* or the Mouse?, 2 out of 3: Apartment, Boy, Job and New York City 3, Me 0. Game Over? Hardly! Also, for yet another perspective about putting yourself “out there” online, be sure to check out Emily Gould’s essay, Exposed — the new Sunday Times Magazine cover story that picked up 800+ user comments.

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NOTE: Before I used my real name online, I was an anonymous blogger called “Stolie.”

Technorati Tags: Budget Fashionista, Emily Gould, Farai Chideya, New York Times, News & Notes, NPR, Sex and the City, Twanna A. Hines