Rosie made this exist one morning in Sag Harbor

All week I’m going to be talking about writers I admire, and their new, awesome projects. (Previously: Julie Klam, Colson Whitehead, and Emily Gould.)

Today I want to talk about Rosie Schaap. She is my friend and I love her. Also she is an amazing writer and editor. And she is a genius. And also she is very, very special, and now something great has happened to her, or rather, she has made something great happen, or, I suppose, a little bit of both.

When I met her she was running a reading series at the now defunct Good World, and I was about to get evicted from my apartment. We barely knew each other, but she offered to house my cat for me as I tried to find a new apartment, and I knew she was a good person. We played a lot of Lexulous. We had lunch dates in Indian restaurants. We got drunk together. I felt very quickly I had been missing knowing her all my life, and then we fell in love, as friends do.

She kept working on her own writing. She had a few stories on “This American Life.” Eventually she wrote a memoir proposal, DRINKING WITH MEN, which she sold to my then-editor Megan Lynch. Then she had to deal with a lot of crap in her life, because sometimes life works that way, life basically not being fair and all. It has only made her stronger. She would kill me for saying something so new agey, but it is very clear to me that she is surrounded by love. Also she has done the work. It has been amazing to watch her emerge through the past few years to triumph. Because now, as of this weekend, she is writing a column called DRINK for The New York Times Magazine.

Whenever I write to her about her new gig, it is always in ALL CAPS and EXCLAMATION POINTS. It is physically impossible for me to be any prouder of her. Please go read her column and give her a hand.

(10/21/11) | 3 Comments »