Monday, October 22, 2007

Guilty Secrets is Back!

After taking a couple weeks’ break to reintroduce ourselves and talk about the our own Simone Elkeles’ book, How to Ruin a Teenage Vacation, being nominated for a YALSA Top Ten Book award, we’re back to our Guilty Pleasures theme.

This week, our subcategory is Boys. This was something I had to think long and hard about, revisiting different times in my life, trying to zero in on one male trait that makes a guy stand out in my mind.

I realized it was listening.



What stops my clock is when a guy will block out the world to pay full attention to a girl who needs to talk. Who will concentrate on what’s important to her, hear her, and become part of her world.

Even if what she is saying seems trivial to him. Even if he doesn’t have much to contribute on the subject. Because sometimes all a girl needs is to vent...and in doing so, the problem at hand disappears, or she simply feels better.

In any case, listening really does it for me.

And there’s some cyber chocolate (sorry, the real giveaways were last week) to whoever can identify the celebrity whose ear I used. (Hint: I took the picture myself, and there aren’t many celebs I’ve gotten that close to.)

What I’m Reading: How to Take the Ex out of Ex-Boyfriend, Janette Rallison

Tina

Tina Ferraro
Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress
How to Hook a Hottie, January, 2008
The ABC’s of Kissing Boys, Spring, 2009
www.tinaferraro.com

8 comments:

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

Hmm, taking a guess, is it Matt Damon??

And I totally agree about guys taking the time to listen, tells a lot about a person!

stephhale said...

I'll second Kelly's Matt Damon guess!
And oh to find a man who listens..sigh..I'm in a household full of pint-sized men who don't! :)

TinaFerraro said...

Cyber chocolate to you both. It's Matt Damon's ear...which I'd love to have (in the "listening to me" sense) any day.

Me said...

No fair! I was traveling today, so I didn't get to vote in time, but I totally knew it was Matt Damon! Sigh. That's what I get for having a grandmother celebrate her 95th birthday, geesh.

But seriously, I'm with you on the listening thing. And if he understand when you don't need him to say anything, then he gets major bonus points. =)

Heather Davis said...

I was going to guess Matt Damon! Darn you guys are fast. :) It's all those cute freckles and moles and does he need a hair cut maybe??

Anyway, still cute!! And yes, listening rocks. I love a good listener.

xxo!

TJ Brown said...

I took a great workshop on creating sexual tension and the speaker was talking about the differences between men and women's communication styles. She said where people have problems is that women fix things in their mind by talking about them. Venting. It'ss how we process. men have a hard time listening because they are fixers. They just want to fix the problem and move on. Most of the time, we don't want them to fix it... we want them to listen!

So yeah... a guy who listens without interupting and telling you what to do is a gift.
Teri

TinaFerraro said...

Happy 95th to your grandmother, TLC!

Heather, looking forward to seeing what YOUR Guilty Sercret is about boys!

TJ, thanks for jumping in about listening styles. Yes, I agree completely that men are fixers, and actually my husband has been known to ask if I'm just venting or if I want input!

Wendy Toliver said...

That is so funny you have a picture of Matt Damon's ear! Great job guessing, ladies!