Today I speak with the author of The Fat Girl's Guide to Life. Wendy Shanker has also appeared on too many TV talk shows and comedy stages to count. She writes for all kinds of magazines (are you sensing a pattern here? Overachiever.) and is the resident humor columnist for Grace magazine.

Tell us about how you wrote and performed your one-woman show: I'm sure many writers have dreams of writing for the stage but would never dream of trying to perform their stuff...alone.
I think that most writers secretly long to perform - you can get a lot of wonderful feedback when someone reads your words, but the writing itself can be very isolating. There's nothing like the instant gratification - the clapping, the laughter -- of a live audience. Uh, wait, but the bombing part sucks. I actually was performing before I started to write - I used to do sketch, stand-up, even toured nationally with an improv group. At the same time, I was working in television production during the day, trying to write anything they'd let me do - promos, tag lines, VJ copy, etc. As I started to narrow down my "voice" and write for magazines, I found that a lot of my live material made for a great read as well, and vice-versa. I also wasn't madly in love the comedy "lifestyle" - a lot of open mics, late nights, pitchers of beer. Now I just try to write how I speak, so my written voice feels pretty live and direct. And right now, I love speaking to groups, doing readings...they're a lot more my speed than the stand-up stage is. People are always surprised that they laugh so much at my readings or speeches. I'm so comfortable in front of large groups of people; sometimes it's easier than one-on-one.

What advice would you give to a writer who was going to try to publish a piece about her struggles with weight? How can she make her piece seem unique when it's such a universal topic?
Actually, I disagree. Yes, there are a zillion pieces how the struggle to lose weight, but there's very little mainstream material about respecting the body that you have or challenging conventional wisdom about weight changes/gain. What's out there now most preaches to the converted or is kind of...how do I say this: a little bit cheesy. Like, "Hey bodacious beauty, love those curves in every way, every day!" I wanted to be a lot more pragmatic than that; my view was that women (including myself) were wasting a whole lot of time and energy obsessing about our bodies - thin or fat. Never good enough. And I wanted to get in touch with the ambivalence of feeling positive about my body. There are good days, and there are bad days - not everything is black and white. But I refuse to disrespect my body and myself any longer.

Whew! I think what I'm trying to say is that every writer has one thing no one else can touch - and that is his/her individual point of view. Your opinions and experiences (or at least your perception of those experiences) are unique to you. Therefore, anyone who wants to write about weight will come to it with an original take.

The upside of it is that weight struggles can easily be seen as a metaphor for any struggle we have with our bodies and ourselves. I compare my resolution to stop dieting with coming out of the closet. An Asian woman told me she related to the book because she felt like she looked different from anyone else. Skinny chicks related 'cause they were never skinny enough. If you are writing well, people will let themselves into your story.

Oh, and P.S. it helps if you have some realistic aim about where you expect to publish. If you're like, "Vanity Fair dinged this?" on your first try as a writer, back it up and start way lower down the food chain. Just go get those clippings.

What in your writing career do you think was the biggest step that took you from average struggling writer to spokesperson/TV host/columnist?
The biggest break I got was the opportunity to work at Oxygen Media, from day one. I had a hand in everything from creating shows to writing promos to creating web content, and then hosting shows on air. Like most media enterprises, my experience there was absolutely wonderful and sometimes pretty compromising. I'm grateful to have met some of the people who worked there - they really were the crème de la crème.

Can you give us any dirt from the insider's view of US Weekly's Fashion Police? Do you get Juliette Lewis' castoffs or anything?
LOL - I don't have any major dirt from the Fashion Police - I actually haven't written for them for a while. I started to feel a little hypocritical telling people to look however they wanted to look, but then ripping on semi-celebs each week. I also ran out of Helena Bonham Carter jokes. But it's amazing how many people read that page! By the way, I did work on a show with Juliette Lewis, who was very sweet and well intentioned, but her castoffs would mostly likely be super-sweaty spandex, and that just ain't my look.

What is your next project?
Oh, there's a lot do to. The Fat Girl's Guide has been optioned for TV, so we are in the process of pitching a reality show around it. It's also coming out in 7 different languages worldwide, so I'm doing some press for each edition, including Spanish, German, and Japanese (but not French, because as we all know, French Women Don't Get Fat). I just started working on the next book - little bits are finally coming into my head. In the meantime, I'm also freelancing for mags and TV because I gotta fill the coffer - anyone who is thinking that writing a book will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams is better off marrying Trump. Don't get me wrong; I'm proud (and honored) that my book has been a success on many levels, far beyond my expectations. But unless you're Da Vinci Code guy or (dare I say it) James Frey, you still gotta pay the rent.