I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

I first heard about Sloane and her writing on the Girl Boss Radio podcast which came out about 2 years ago. I've been working my way through old episodes so it was amusing to hear her and Sophia Amoruso chatting about an upcoming book. "It is already out." I thought gleefully reclining as far back as possible in my driver's side seat waiting to inevitably go back to the boredom and tedium of work.

I'm always on the prowl for new books and writers to discover so I looked up her books online after the interview. I read samples of them and picked I Was Told There'd be Cake because it amused me the most and I had an Amazon gift card. I enjoy her writing style because it doesn't seem to dumb down anything which I appreciate as a reader. Also we have a few overlapping experiences though I've never lived in New York. I sometimes feel like a scrappy New York writer at heart. I'm not sure if I could live there with higher cost of living, crazy rents and more craziness in general.

I have a feeling whenever I visit the city I will be revolted and elated which is how I feel in most huge cities downtown. I also assumed even before listening to the podcast that Sloane would be cool just because of her name. Sloane was the cool girl in Ferris Bueller's Day Off after all.

I think the bridezilla story was my favorite only because I love hearing about these particular tales of horror. As a previous bride last year I can sympathize with brides to a certain extent. Event planning and emotional mood swings throughout the day and the whole planning process can make anyone act a little crazy. But this girl who was her friend from high school took it to the next level with pink plaid bridesmaid dresses and matching headbands. Also changing your last name to Universe? Wow.

I lived in abject horror of this situation happening to me. Some old high school friend asks you to be in their wedding and then puts you through the ringer as a bridesmaid. Thankfully for me I've only attended weddings when I was an undesirable bridesmaid, child through moody teen. Then those adult years came around the bend and since I have normal, sane friends they didn't morph into monsters over night.

I didn't get to be a chill bride just because I'm super chill in general. I will have to thank yoga which I forgot to practice during wedding planning and A Practical Wedding and Offbeat Bride. These websites and books kept my sanity and weird questions in check. It makes you feel so much more justified when you see a thread of people all talking about some problem you thought was unique to you.

Finding your voice as a writer is hard. Like the stone under the rushing river it takes awhile to smooth out all the sharp edges. Sloane's voice is competent, original and unforgettable. Also a great dead pan which is hard to do in writing and can even flop when talking face to face with someone who knows your verbal nuances. Anyone who can make me laugh out loud through sarcasm in a book is a great writer.

The tyrannical boss was another treasure. I feel like everyone universally has at least one horrible boss story or will discover one sooner rather than later. I was fooled early on in my first job where I had the best boss a lifeguard could ever want and the easiest way of stating your available shifts. You would circle the days and times you wanted to work on a sheet of paper! And they would actually schedule you when you wanted!

Needless to say this rosy experience wasn't duplicated when retail smacked me in the face with their scheduling nonsense. I used to work part time. One week when I was scheduled to work only two days one of these days was a day I had asked off. Ridiculous. I look forward to reading more of Sloane's writing in the future. And yes one of the best parts of the wedding is still the cake. I should know. I didn't leave any behind to freeze for our one year anniversary nonsense. Eat it now while the cake is moist. A new personal mantra.