I’m in the process of writing an article for a men’s magazine. The topic: The Top Ten Things You Can Learn From Chick Flicks. The thing is, I really don’t enjoy going to the movies. So there are probably a billion “chick” movies I haven’t seen. But I only need ten. So I surveyed some people and had them give me their opinions on the topic. Hopefully that will get me through.

When I had the idea for THE BOOK OF LUKE I thought it would be cool to start every chapter with a “tip” from the notebook Emily keeps. A great idea, to start. By chapter 16 I was stalling big time. I tried to think of every piece of advice I’d give a guy, dug down really deep to remember every annoying thing a guy ever did around me or to me. And I finally, finally, had one for every chapter. But it wasn’t easy.

Because here’s the thing. Giving advice implies you have some sort of authority over what you’re talking about. But for every piece of advice there’s probably about seven others you could give. It’s daunting, thinking that someone might actually listen to you. And scary. Some people might think what you have to say is brilliant. Others might think you’re full of crap. I’m hoping for the former with my article. But if it ends up not going so well, I just might have to seek someone’s advice on how to fix it. And hope they’re not full of crap, too.