Dear —
As a perfectionist mom, I took “doing it all” to the next level when my husband and I became the world’s worst attempted swingers.
Married for ten years and with three children, I was home birthing, homeschooling, and homesteading, while also running the nonprofit I started when I was 23. My husband and I were looking for a break from the extreme demands of our life when we entered the swing lifestyle.
We were immediately entranced by the excitement and pleasure of the subculture. We visited clubs in Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and NYC, continuing to expand the boundaries of contact we were willing to have with other couples.
Then came Jess and Brad, our first attempt at “dating” another couple. I was immediately smitten by Brad’s attention, which was radically different than my husband’s non-expressive personality. But before long, our adventure in desire would start to become a burden. We realized we had greatly overestimated the strength of our marriage and thoroughly underestimated the complexities of the swing lifestyle. Shockingly, it turned out to be more than a just matter of gathering some people and having some sex.
My memoir, SWING (80,000 words), is equal parts hilarious, heartbreaking, and hopeful. What begins as a quest for excitement results in the breaking apart and rebuilding of our life together. It forced us to radically reimagine everything we thought made a marriage strong and allowed us to discover authentic intimacy for the first time. It will appeal to readers of Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle and Three Women by Lisa Taddeo.
Until this past March I was the director, head coach, and choreographer of one of the largest synchronized skating programs in the country, an organization I started after college when I moved to the US from Canada. Each season I led 150 young women on 10 teams. I was one of only three coaches who was also a National Technical Specialist (part of the judging team for US Figure Skating).
Thank you for consideration of my project. I look forward to hearing from you.