Karen Kilgariff - 28 May

Oh, hiiiiieee!

Welcome to our first-ever book! Were so glad you could join us. Isnt it weird? We know! It is for us, too. Weve never written a book before. We dont know where to put our hands!

Let us begin by saying thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts for buying this book. Your support truly means the world to us. We know some of you are young and hungry, living off of your wits and whatever spare change you can find in an old coat pocket. So this purchase was a true sacrifice. God bless you, child. The kingdom of heaven shall be yours. On the other hand, maybe you didnt buy it. Maybe you checked it out of the library and the only sacrifice you made was hauling your ass to the building. Still, we like your style. And we love libraries. Never change. Theres also a chance you stole this book off your sisters nightstand while she was in the shower and then later, when she asked you if youd seen it anywhere, immediately started a fight to throw her off your scent. Hell yeah. We support you in any way you want to support us. Bless us all, but mostly the people who actually spent money.

Wait, hold on. Maybe youre just standing in the bookstore right now skimming this introduction to assess whether or not youll like the rest of the book. Whats up, judgy? Are you pleased? Are you ever? You know what, how about you quit getting your finger grease all over our beautiful, pristine publication and just buy it. In fact, buy three. Thats right. You do what we say now. Look how the tables have turned. Also, thank you! We love the push-pull of your withholding personality. Its not tiresome at all. Our overall point here is, no matter what you did to get this thing into your dirty little mitts, we appreciate your efforts.

Normally, wed be talking to you through our podcast, where its all microphones and couches and air. But now weve gotten paper and ink involved and things have become rather highbrow. Thats right, this scrappy little true crimecomedy podcast that youve been sneak-listening to at your temp job has somehow figured out a way to transition itself into the world of (SPINNING IN A CIRCLE AS ORCHESTRAL MUSIC SWELLS) literature. We have gone from living inside your headphones to pouring ourselves out onto the page like a couple of Edna St. Vincent Millays. We invite you to drink deeply of us. Well get you good and fucked up.

Oh, youve never heard of us before? Sure, we understand. Podcasting is a relatively new thing. Let us introduce ourselves. We are the hosts of Mywhats that, you say? Youve never listened to a podcast before and youre not sure how they work and you dont feel like getting involved? Gotcha. Youre not alone. But before you run off and buy some other book with sexy in the title, let us tell you a little story. Its about two gals who were living passably fine lives in Los Angeles in the late 2010s. One was named Georgia, and sheto oversimplify both of their incredibly complex and varied careerswas a Cooking Channel host, and Karen, the other one, was a sitcom writer. So, one Halloween, theyre at a party together and they start chatting about a then new HBO series called The Staircase, which tells the story of a man going to trial for the murder of his wife. They realize theyre both obsessed and are thrilled to have found someone else to talk to about it. So they do. They talk and talk. Some people join in, some dip back out, and soon the kitchens clear of everyone except the two women. So they decide to meet for lunch. And they talk even more. Hours and hours of coffee and talking. The next time they see each other, Georgia suggests they start a true-crime podcast. Why not? They both already had podcasts of their own. They knew what it would entail. So they agreed to give it a try. CUT TO: hundreds of episodes, millions of listeners, sold-out international tour dates, and a book deal. Its kind of a feel-good story. It feels really good to us, anyway.

OK, now that weve caught everyone up, lets get back to the part about the book. We put a lot of effort into its creation, and for it, we have suffered mightily. For the past year and a half, we have been travelers set adrift on foreign seas aboard the HMS Write-a-Book. We set out impetuously, blindly, unfamiliar with the charted course, unsure what the food at the buffet would be like, afraid the other passengers wouldnt be nice to us. We were anxious. We were seasick. We told ourselves, Lets just try to get through this metaphorical book boat journey in one piece. Be cool. Act natural. No, dont whistle, stupid! Thats the opposite of natural. Why does everyone think whistling indicates relaxation? Its literally one of the weirdest things you can do in public without breaking the law. Blowing spurts of air out of your pursed lips to produce a raspy little song like some sad bird impersonator. No discernable tune, no clear plan. Just kind of a long, vocalized exhale through big kissy lips. What better way to let the world know youre at ease. Whoops, sorry. We got carried away there. BECAUSE THAT, DEAR FRIENDS, IS THE POWER OF LITERATURE.

Heres the bottom lineand not a lot of authors will be brave enough to speak their truth this way, but were just gonna say it: writing a book is a tiny bit terrifying. It threatens to expose you as the fraud that you are, but instead of running and hiding from the shame of it, you just have to keep staring into the mirror. Its incredibly unnatural. You start out with an idea you like. You write that idea down. You let it sit for five days, and when you come back to it, the words have rearranged themselves on the page. Now its shape-shifted into the dumbest idea youve ever seen. So you try to fix it. And you just keep fixing it until you go computer-blind, all the joy is drained from your soul, and you no longer know what words mean. Then its on to chapter 2!

But look and listen: we did it! We actually finished a book. We mustve, right? Youre holding it with your greasy fingers right now. And were all the better for it. Plus, now well finally be in the Library of Congress! Thats been on our bucket list since, like, day one.

When we first agreed to write this book, we had a lot of different ideas about the kind of book we wanted it to be, but they all boiled down to the same general concept: big glossy pages with pretty pictures and a meaningful sentence or two here and there about unity or, like, the soul. A sort of printed-up Instagram or, like, a cookbook without all those cumbersome recipes. Short and sweet; the length and depth of a picture book made for a gifted toddler. And then, at the very end, maybe wed have some kind of pull-out calendar featuring all of your favorite true-crime authors with their shirts off. But tasteful. Basically, we were imagining the kind of book you find in the sale bin at Urban Outfitters a week after Christmas. In hindsight, we can admit that we were aiming low.