TRACY MCMILLAN

Women with low self-esteem love bad boys. Women who have work to do love bad boys. Women who love themselves love good men.

Because I was a television writer for many years, I write very conversationally. I put things straight, and with a lot of humor.

I think every woman has this point in her life where she's like, 'I have a great job, great outfits and great friends, but something's missing.'

Lots of people feel more alive when they're riding a roller-coaster relationship. But while this might be fun for a while, it can't possibly last.

I'm a blunt person, not mean-spirited. I come from a place of love, but I'm interested in being real.

We have this false idea in our culture that if you haven't made it by 30, then you're never going to do anything interesting. My 40s have been the most incredible time of my life.

Here's the thing: you're not really ready for love until you have enough self-respect that if you met your exact self, but in a guy, you would totally, completely, absolutely want to be with him.

The thing is, relationships never work out... until they do. You learn a lot from relationships that don't work out.

The deal is: most men just want to marry someone who is nice to them.

I'm the straight-talking woman in your life who is going to be really honest with you, but come from a place of love. I'm not talking down to you; I do this from my heart.

Though it's safe to say there are a whole lotta American gals who agree with the core ideals of feminism, they are somehow nevertheless watching 'Say Yes to the Dress' by the millions.

I've been standing at water coolers for the past thirty years talking to women about their love lives, and here's what I've learned: Eventually, most women I know want to be partnered.

I think of masculine and feminine energy like two sides to a battery. There's a plus side and a minus side, and in order to make something turn on, you need to have opposites touching. It's the same in relationships.

A sure-fire way to know you're crazy is if more than one person has told you you'd be great on a reality show - and you agree with them.

If you're not married, chances are you think a lot about you.

I talk to women for a living. It's pretty much what I do with my day.

Somehow, married or single, we'd rather anesthetize ourselves with love substitutes than go for the real thing, because let's face it: The real thing is pretty scary.

You can't trick The Universe - it's like Santa Claus that way.

Being all about me is not a good thing - I don't care what 1978 tried to say - because as long as you mostly think about yourself, you're not going to be a wonderful person. You're just not.

Relationships are like the world's most intense yoga! It's a daily practice.

Yes, I have 'failed' at marriage - a lot.

People who find that they have a lot of drama in their relationships need to allow themselves to get 'bored'. At first, it will feel excruciating, and they may find themselves confronting a very real fear underneath all that drama: being truly close and therefore vulnerable to another human being.

Work is a different type of pursuit than relationships. You can't take the skills that you know that have gotten you into that great school or into that great job and apply them to your relationships.

If I had an office job, I'd probably be doing the exact same thing I'm doing on television: hanging out by the water cooler and talking to co-workers about their relationships.

Rather than diminishing the idea of 'truly needing' a relationship - and trying to deny it, shame it, or talk ourselves out of it - why not just celebrate it? It's exactly what the world needs.