Personals Work!
Living|Arts
by Nathan Cobb Globe Staff
| Ghostwriter Susan Fox gets beyond sunsets, beach walks to make singles sound irresistible. |
"Trim, creative, green-eyed WF. Forties. Successful business owner. Enjoys Paris, hiking, and fine wines. Seeks D/SFs and D/SMs from late 30s through 60s who desire a lasting relationship but can't write a personal advertisement that doesn't mention walking on the beach or sitting in front of a roaring fire. Come to my place and let's talk." And so they do, schlepping up three flights of narrow stairs to the light-filled top floor of Susan Fox's South End duplex condominium. They come in search of Mr. or Ms. Right and it is Fox's job to make them sound downright irresistible. As a professional ghostwriter of personal ads, she will not only describe most of her clients as trim (a must for women) or professional (de rigeur for the men), but will let loose a fusillade of adjectives that no reader in search of a relationship could possible withstand: passionate, witty, romantic, warm, curious, resourceful, articulate, supportive, sophisticated, expressive, outgoing, attentive, forthright, sincere.. |
Alas, such perfection does not guarantee that
someone with similar traits will reply. "I tell my clients,
'You're gonna have to kiss some frogs,'" says the 47-year-old
Fox. "'Well, maybe not kiss them. But at least look at
them.'"
Fox, who runs a small company called Personals Work, has been coaching her single and "re-singled" clients for six years. The majority, she says, are widowed or divorced; they're trying, as she likes to put it, "to get back up on the horse." They range in age from their late 30s through their 60s, meaning that a lasting relationship is more important to them than keeping raging hormones at bay. About two-thirds of them are women, about 95 percent are straight. Some have tried personal ads and failed, others are newbies. Most are professionals, preferring to advertise in the likes of Harvard Magazine and Cruising World. (It's a sailing magazine.) And they are willing to pay Fox from $325 to $450 for her services in addition to their advertising costs.
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er
own personal ad might read something like this: