On a scale of one to ten of how she's doing, these days Lauren Weedman is a solid eight. But the author of Miss Fortune: Fresh Perspectives on Having It All From Someone Who Is Not Okay hasn't always been this 'okay.' In fact, she revealed to host Ophira Eisenberg, "When I started writing the book, I was way less okay. It was very much embracing ... what a mess [I am]."
The memoir gives readers a peek inside Weedman's failing marriage and desire for human connection. But the first draft of the memoir was very different, and Weedman was unsatisfied with the way it turned out. "There was no depth to any of the stories," she explained to Eisenberg. That is, until she discovered her husband had been having an affair. Then, everything changed. The rose-colored glasses were off, and for the first time she could clearly see her story; a total rewrite followed.
The book isn't only about marriage and divorce, however. In the memoir Weedman reveals she was the youngest member of her local Weight Watchers. She was only in seventh grade when she joined. "It was very isolating," she told Eisenberg. It also wasn't effective. "I just gained weight and it made me hungry. Every time they'd show the forbidden foods I was like 'note to self: get that as soon as you're out of here. Find a Little Debbie.'"
Inspired by a shared appreciation for sensational memoir titles, we challenged Weedman to a guessing game: can she figure out which titles are real, and which we made up?
HIGHLIGHTS
On how autocorrect titled her memoir
I was complaining to somebody about what a bad day I was having, and he responded with "I'm sorry for all your misfortunes." And then he goes, "Oh that's so funny, when I tried to type it, it turned it into 'Miss Fortune.' ...You should use that for your book." And I thought, "That's a little obvious..." and then I took it and sent it to the publisher.
On being told her writing is brave
Would you say that to a guy? ... I just want a good story, the things I wrote about... it's because I thought they were a good story.
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