Having your new partner co-write a semi-fictitious novel about two perennially-single, Thelma and Louise-style characters would cause even the most secure males to become a little nervous.
Rachael Weiss, 40, decided to use her long-term single-dom as inspiration for her first novel, Are We There Yet? - a story of two women on a journey of discovery, searching for the secret of eternal happiness.
The novel, which is part travelogue and part road trip, finds Weiss and her friend Julie Adams discussing the bigger questions in life: is it okay to eat basil after it's been stuffed down a guy's trousers and is there such as thing as a good internet date?
In the genre of a Bridget Jones diary, Weiss comes across as genuine, likeable and funny. Anyone who has ever been single will relate to the book.
The book was inspired by a trip to the hairdresser, says Weiss.
"My hairdresser asked me if I was seeing someone. It made me realise I wasn't even thinking about it. I'd been single for so long I'd forgotten how to date.
"When you are single, you get used to the idea that there are no single, straight men. In fact there are, and they are having the same trouble that we are," says Weiss.
Ironically, Weiss - who was single for six years - is now in a relationship. The new male in her life has read the book; he "took it well" and the pair are still dating.
"The story about the guy in the book who doesn't call made him a bit nervous though. He didn't know if he called me in the right amount of time," she laughs.
Weiss admits that single life is actually "not as glamorous" as it appears in Sex and the City, but she adds that writing the book has been good therapy.
"A woman who had been married for 50 years told me that marriage is like being hit over the head, if you get hit enough times you get used to it."
But coming from a big Jewish family, being single can bring a good deal of pressure to couple up.
"You come up against people pitying you, saying 'We'll pray for you'," says Weiss. Her father, a Holocaust survivor, also put particular pressure on Weiss to help produce a new generation in the family.
Oryana Kaufman, Australian Jewish News, February 25, 2005
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