Spend ten minutes watching The Bachelor or trying to enjoy a holiday dinner at Grandma’s and you’ll soon learn that no matter how much you love it, your single life is going to be viewed as unhappy, unfulfilled, and swathed in desperation.
You can have 150 fabulous friends and/or lovers, but you’ll still be “all alone”. You can own a beautiful home, but it’ll still be undercut by the fact that “you don’t have anyone to share it with.” You can even be the most powerful woman on earth (I’m talking to you, Oprah), and people will still tell you there’s something “wrong” with you because you’re not married. Either you’re too selfish or too picky or too commitment-phobic or (my personal favorite) you’re gay and you just won’t admit it.
It’s enough to drive a happily single woman to distraction – or to edit a book that celebrates the single life, which is where SINGLE STATE OF THE UNION comes in.
Published by Seal Press and edited by yours truly (Diane Mapes), Single State of the Union is a kick-ass collection of essays by 37 funny, independent women writing about all aspects of the single life — from buying a house without a spouse to battling pressure from family and friends to undertaking that baffling search for Mr. Right Sperm Donor.
The launch party for Single State of the Union will be held Friday, April 13, hosted by University Bookstore in Seattle (check out the events page for more information). The launch party for this brand spanking new Single State blog begins right now.
Would love to hear your stories of singledom — and see you at one of the upcoming events, either here in Seattle or down in San Francisco or Portland. In the meantime, all the best from the Single State.
Your humble, happily single host,
Diane Mapes
