friday loverly

Hey, guys!! Today I am so excited for you to meet my good friend Katie, who is without a doubt one of my favorite people I've met here in NYC. Katie is brilliant, hilarious, and CRAZY SUPER TALENTED when it comes to writing. As soon as she gets a job at The New Yorker, I'm signing up as her first groupie. Check out her blog, Long Story Short, at http://www.katemcneil.com. Take it away, Katie!

I'm really flattered (and slightly embarrassed!) that Andrea wanted to feature me on her blog. Here goes nothing:

1. You've got an incredible ability to capture the humorous/ridiculous in such a witty way. What's your writing process like? Are you immediately struck with an idea for a piece, or do you need time to review a day's events?

I try to find humor in the everyday. (Jerry Seinfeld is my hero in that regard.) Most often an idea will strike immediately. You know what I'm talking about: you're in a bathroom stall, buying flowers, or singing a song on the radio and you think, "Oh, this is so blog worthy." When that thought pops in, I'll whip out my phone and jot down the idea in a "to blog" note. If it's a really good idea, I'll start writing sentences in my head. Often inspiration comes late at night too. I never, ever write just because I feel a nagging need to update my blog. Those posts are always so obviously forced and sterile. But if you're not taking life too seriously, you'll always have something funny to write about.

2. You've got a hilarious husband. How does being married to Cameron influence/inspire your writing style?

Not a day goes by that I don't laugh with Cameron. And with 4+ years married, that means a lot of material! His easygoing attitude is the perfect balance to my neuroticism. Some of my favorite posts about Cameron are the one about the swimsuit issue, the one about his fleece jacket, and the one about the little league world series. I love that guy.

3. Guilty pleasure?

Candy, sleeping in, YouTube-ing French bulldog videos, following Internet memes on The Daily What and Buzzfeed while working, never leaving Uniqlo without buying something, and last but not least, Don Draper! The thing is, I never feel guilty about doing any of this.

4. What was teenage Katie like? I was nerdy girl, so....would we have been friends? Or would you have been totally making fun of me for my navy blue wide-leg shorts and hair-sprayed bangs?

Teenage Katie was very shy and insecure and some of that still lingers into adulthood. I didn't have my first kiss until I was 17! Reading back through my journals I was pretty angsty and confused and often wrote about the pressure to measure up to my siblings. I gained confidence through sports (volleyball) and writing (school newspaper). I was really lucky to have some very, very close friends that stuck with me through high school.

If I wasn't at volleyball practice, you would probably find me in front of a computer, downloading songs on Napster or chatting on AIM. I always loved the Internet. My shyness never hindered my online personality. I could be creative and witty through chatting and emailing in ways I could never be face-to-face. To this day I feel much more myself writing an email or blog post vs. talking on the phone or in person.


5. Strangest New York sighting?

So many! I saw a pirate walking out of the new Trader Joe's in Chelsea just the other day. One time I saw a homeless guy eating paint on the subway to get high. Literally, white paint dripping down his mouth and beard. That was really sad. I saw a chicken cross the road in Brooklyn. I've seen lots of public urination. A guy wearing a thong and heels at the Village Halloween parade. Countless old women with crooked drawn-on eyebrows and lipstick extending almost to the base of their nose. Lots of lap dogs in strollers. Rats, rats, more rats. New York = more blog fodder you could ever need!