How to break up with someone

One of the biggest challenges of being a relationship columnist is deciding how much of your personal life to disclose.

You can't explain all your anecdotes through abstract examples.

But at the same time, if you're in a relationship and want to write about it, you have to remember your partner didn't sign up to be a case study.

After writing a dating column for four years -- and being in a serious relationship for three and a half years -- I think I've found a comfortable balance between complete avoidance and full disclosure.

I had a period when I didn't mention my relationship in print at all. I couldn't give up being hollered at downtown. (Just kidding, honey!)

Actually, the real reason I didn't want to mention my relationship was because I didn't know how I'd handle the fallout if we broke up.

Here, one reader discusses the pain the she felt after her favorite married writers divorced.

The post addresses one of my biggest concerns: inadvertently holding myself up as a relationship expert, and then failing in my own attempts at romance.

Yet I guess the point of being a writer isn't to flawlessly exist above your readers, but rather to let your insecurities forge a closeness with the rest of the world.

Right?