Very, very rarely do I get on a bandwagon since they rarely seem to be going somewhere interesting… but I’m loving all the year in review posts I’m reading this week. So… the Top 10 posts of 2009 is a wagon I’m getting on. Buckle up for a cruise through the top 10 most read posts on Dating and Mating in America this year. I thought I would add the twist of divulging the inspiration behind each post. (You may be surprised …)
1. How To Date An Entrepreneur
Easily the top post of 2009 generating more views, comments, private emails and link-backs than rest of the top 3 combined. Honestly, this one was a bit of a shocker for me. I guess I didn’t think there were THAT many people dating entrepreneurs out there since we all seem to be inundated with too much work to find much play time, but I was wrong. I got emails from thankful business owners who had printed and posted the article for their husband/wife to read as they walked by the refrigerator every day. Wiki How published the content soon after it posted on my blog. I was accused of pandering to gold diggers by those who didn’t read the post and fired upon by daddy’s girls who never saw the hard work side of what their father had to do to build his business. All in all, I loved the conversation and discussion the post generated. But what I loved most of all was hearing from the people who were about to break up with their entrepreneur until they read the article and realized that not only were they not alone… there was a method to the madness.
My inspiration was simple… I am an entrepreneur, raised by an entrepreneur who has dated entrepreneurs. It really is a different world. Not bad, just different. And it takes a certain kind of someone to be able to go with the flow when dating or mating those of us who live in the land of self-employment.
My greatest challenge? Spelling entrepreneur.
2. Does Hooking Up Hurt You?
Inspiration on this one unfortunately came from real life. I had just gotten out of a month of hearing one friend after another hurt by “no strings” hook-ups only to discover that strings were, in fact, attached. I learned this lesson the hard way myself a few years ago and have done what I am able to honor the fact that I’m a pretty typical girl on this point. When I read Oakley’s article, I knew I wanted to share it and see what my readers thought.
3. Don’t Be So Sure You’re In The Friend Zone
You can see the inspiration for this post in the first paragraph — totally real life and contrary to my normal practice, right on target with what was going on in my own life. Personally, I tend to not think too much about the friend zone. If I’m in it, well, then that’s that and I move on to someone else… but I have wondered a time or two…
4. What Does It Mean That He Asked Me Out For A Weekday Night?
Despite my awkward title, this post continues to generate read after read which gives me the giggles since it’s just my own personal take on something silly. My inspiration was a friend’s question as to what it could possibly mean that he’d asked her out for a Tuesday and my reply was… “That he wants to go out with you?”
5. How To Know When Someone Is Rebounding
I love this one. It was fun to write and I was able to borrow quite a bit from all the crazy stories I hear from daters all over the country. Not to mention… a recent ex of mine and I were rebounding after our break up (yes, there were some funny stories attached to that one as well.)
Not surprisingly, “rebound” is a search term I see almost everyday on my stats page.
6. High Maintenance/Low Maintenance
Another fun one to write. My inspiration came from celebrities, friends, stories, “When Harry Met Sally” (who doesn’t get inspired by that movie?) When I lived in LA, I used to say that I wouldn’t date a guy who took longer than me to get ready. I suppose that isn’t very fair considering I take about 20 minutes max and the LA guys do LOVE their hair products… but what can I say? I was young. I suppose that doesn’t excuse that I still feel the same way today… hummmmm…
7. You May Be In The Friend Zone If…
No surprise here… more friend zone questions. This one was inspired directly by a blog comment on my first friend zone post.
8. Let’s Talk Body Language
One of my more practical application posts, I’ve used this one pretty heavily as reference in other posts. Body language is a huge part of communication and something I’m somewhat fascinated by. It’s also a big reason I’m not a huge phone talker… I think I really just get a better feel for someone when I can see beyond what they are saying 
9. Email, Text and Phone Call Return Etiquette
Inspiration here came from multiple friend conversations about being “over” texting or the guys not calling thing and then wham… I went to see “He’s Just Not That Into You” which brought the whole post together. Monica Hesse from the Washington Post interviewed me about this topic… bringing my first mention as a dating writer in a national pub (exciting) and I had a lot of fun fielding the comment and email questions this post brought up.
10. What Do You Do With A Bad Kisser?
Along with searches for sex and “granny mating” (don’t ask, I don’t want to know) come the constant searches about bad kissing. Finally, I decided to write a post sharing my own bad kissing experience just for fun. And you all can apparently relate.
Honorable Mentions
These posts all came within a few hits of being in the top 10…
We’ve all been there…the date where you just missed the cues… She wanted you to kiss her and you shook her hand instead. He wanted to be anywhere but there and you couldn’t stop telling that story about your grandmother’s teacup poodle. When you forget to pay attention to your audience… you run the risk of being “that” date living on your date’s oral tradition of crazy date stories.
