by Sarah Wexler
I couldn't have laughed about these stories without my cabal of sympathetic (and often empathetic) smartass girlfriends, including but not limited to Amber Herczeg, Rachel Sturtz, Jess Dove, Sue Carris, Wendi Hausfeld-Carragher— and Peter Martin, who I talk to like he's a girlfriend, much to his chagrin. I promise never to tell which stories belong to whom. Lena Green, for her great illustrations, and for agreeing to help with this book when it seemed like the only payment would be in unlimited bottles of nail polish. Julia Scirrotto and Juno DeMelo, for inspiring me with their willingness to go on international first dates. Sergio Kletnoy, the Power Serge, for helping wrangle celebrities. Jeanne Marie Laskas, who somehow always makes writing look easy. Thanks to awesome copy editor Lani Meyer, who is responsible for all errors in my last book but none of these ones. Ginsberg, the dog who is always waiting up when I get home from a date and is always trying to remind me not to analyze things so much.
Thanks to all of the brave daters who shared stories, or at least weighed in on other people's stories, on www .awfulfirstdates.com.
To all of the guys who took me on dates, some even while knowing I was writing a book about bad ones: thanks for being good sports. To the ones who weren't good sports: thanks for being good material. To the guys who took me on good first dates and then disappeared: eat it. And to the next guy out there who's going to take me on an awesome first date: call me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Z. Wexler is the author of Living Large: From SUVs to Double Ds: Why Going Bigger Isn't Going Better. Her writing has been published in Esquire, Wired, Martha Stewart Living, SELF, The Washington Post Magazine, The New York Post, Marie Claire, Food Network Magazine, Popular Science, Allure, Redbook, and Ladies' Home Journal. She holds an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from the University of Pittsburgh. She lives, and goes on first dates, in New York City.
