Author uses first-hand experience to write dating book
6:10 p.m. Sunday, February 17, 2008
In Jo Renfro's case, the old saying, "write what you know" could be amended to "write and draw who you know."
The forty-something divorced mother-of-three wrote and illustrated "The Big Book of Bad Dates" based on, you guessed it, some painful yet humorous, first-hand experiences.
"I was just with some friends one night and we were discussing some of the dates I'd been on and one of my friends said, "You need to do something with these guys, and it was kinda like, 'Ding!'" said Renfro. "But then I sat down and whipped out a dozen guys really quickly. So, then my agent pitched it to the calendar company and they liked the idea, but they wanted to do the page-a-day thing and they say, 'Yeah, we need 315 images,' and I was like, 'OK, well, I've got 12, so hmmm'."
But as luck would have it, there were a lot more than 12 bad dates to poke fun at and with her friends' help, Jo came up with classic examples such as the Bad Guy, the Dancing Fool, the Wild Man, the Space Invader, the Old Hippie, Clueless Guy and more.
So many more, Renfro had no trouble filling the page-a-day 2008 calendar and the book that was just released, ironically, in time for Valentine's Day.
Renfro said she didn't expect any backlash from her book.
"I certainly hope not," said Renfro. "I didn't get any hate mail or bad phone messages or anything."
And even if one or two of Renfro's bad dates happen to see the book, her friends say the chances that they'd recognize themselves are slim.
They'll be like, "No. It couldn't be me. That's not me."
Yeah, that would be Mr. Denial.
Yeah, exactly. Another guy.
For more on the ins and outs of dating over forty, go to boomergirl.com.
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