The most valuable piece of advice that I was given when I began Why We’re Single is that blogging anonymously is tricky. The world is small and the internet is smaller, inevitably at some point members of your nearest and dearest will put two and two together and figure out who you are. And I took this advice seriously. Ish.
friend: Ok, so I think the blog is a great idea, but what happens if you meet someone?
e.k.: I don’t understand the question.
friend: Like, if you start seriously dating someone. Would you stop writing it?
e.k.: No. Because like I said, this blog isn’t actually about being single, right?
friend: (hesitantly) Right.
e.k.: Plus, it’s anonymous. I wouldn’t ever have to tell him.
Maybe I need to pay closer attention to good advice. Or maybe I didn’t think this one through, because I have just realized what should have occurred to me from the get go: this blog might end up being the biggest cock-block ever.
Hypothetically, let’s say I somehow meet a guy. Say we actually hit it off, hang out a bit, start sleeping together etc. I am a strong believer that everyone is entitled to their own little secrets, and I am comfortable making Why We’re Single mine. I think. I mean I thought I was. But what if things progressed beyond the preliminary dating stage and against all odds somehow got serious?
This blog is my only extra curricular. So how would I explain to a newly significant other why I constantly have a notebook in hand, obsessively observe and discuss other people’s social interactions and pore tirelessly over the relationship/lifestyle sections of every newspaper I can get my hands on? It’s perfectly acceptable for a student to tote around a laptop and sociology textbooks, requiring hours alone in libraries or coffee shops writing, editing and brainstorming. But I am no student.
Why We’re Single is my new pet, and I love her, yet here I am facing the fact that she could be my one way ticket to permanent spinsterhood (and the fact that I just personified a blog without shame is only increasing that likelihood). But I am stubborn and I’d like to think that I have become too attached to abandon her, even for a boy.
Call me delusional a romantic, but I can only hope that somewhere there is a guy who, when asked what his super-wicked-awesome new girlfriend does in her spare time, can say “she writes this great blog about why she’s single”. And be totally ok with it.
- e.k.
