What's Up, Pussycat? - 09
Christine Pride on unicorn exfoliating pads, the secret beauty of easy sex, and cold-calling international volunteer work.
If you’ve read No One Tells You This you have, by proxy, enjoyed the genius of writer and editor Christine Pride.
NINE years ago next week, Christine, then a senior editor at Simon and Schuster, read my proposal for a memoir about being a single woman with no children and jumped on it. There are no end to editor horror stories in publishing these days, but I have been fortunate to only have had good experiences. None more so, than the one I had with Christine, who worked on (and worked on) NOTYT with me until it turned into the book that went out into the world (seven years next month!).
[Related: I just went back and looked at my proposal: “It’s worth noting that on the scale of history, being a vital, self-sufficient, 40-year-old single woman is so rare that my tale might be deemed epic even if all I did was walk out my front door, remain happy, and not die.” Still here!]
These days Christine is a best-selling author (and co-author with fellow fave Jo Piazza) with a new book coming out next month. All the Men I’ve Loved Again is a perfect summer read. Smart and fun and delightful. And I say this as a person who rarely reads romance! So good.
Christine also continues to work as an editor (she still reads the first drafts of all my proposals, which is nothing short of heroic), and is hosting a Write with Pride workshop retreat in Santa Barbara this September. Details here.
Below, Christine tells us about the glory of an exfoliating pad that actually does what it says it will. The time she cold-called an orphanage in Central America to see if they needed volunteer help. And gives one of the more enjoyable answers I’ve read about sex.
Three Pleasurable Words To Describe You
Passionate! Adventurous! Fierce!
What's The Most Enjoyable Thing You've Done This Month?
Dancing in a Dublin bar at midnight (aka the forty year old's 4am) with my best friend to a 26-year old playing reggae and pop covers on a guitar. I can't remember the last time I was as carefree and happy and having so much pure fun. It felt like one of those magical, giddy nights out that's limited to your twenties so it was even sweeter to be reminded that those moments can be timeless. I leaned over to my friend and said, "we're going to remember this night forever." My entire personality is nostalgia some days.
Best Beauty Advice? (Favorite Beauty Or Make-Up Essential?)
I wish they would hire me as a spokesperson for as much as I've recommended these, but the M61 Exfoliating Pads from Blue Mercury do just what they promise-- my skin is noticeably brighter when I use them. The industrial skin care complex tries to trick us with so many "magical potions"-- I don't have the time, energy or budget for 267 products or an eight step routine. So I love a product that's actually worth the money. Seeing is believing.