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  • Illustration: Erika Moen
As the first signs of Back-to-School season rears it’s ugly, crayola head, we know in our bones that YES the nine-months of wet/gray/winter-ish is coming. So, have you thought about your cold-weather relationship yet? Dating is fun in the summer when activities and patios are plentiful. Come autumn, you can harvest your relationship like a ripe tomato and make a rich sauce to sustain you during the cold months. If you are like literally everyone on the planet, you date online to increase your odds of meeting someone. Here are my tips for finding the biggest fish in your pond.com:

1. Talk about your lifestyle
Say I stumbled across a dude online who has dedicated his life to ice fishing. He goes on several ice fishing trips a year, has Marlins mounted all over his house (Marlins aren’t products of cold-water fishing, you say? Shut up nerd, I’m just trying to make a point), and all his friends talk ice fishing 24/7. That would be a real red flag for someone like me; I’m too soft for that life. My point is this: Service industry folks aren’t going to be able to get up and jog with you at 5 am, starving artists aren’t going to be able to afford to travel with you to Antigua, and devoted Christians aren’t going to brunch with you on Sunday… God doesn’t even brunch on Sunday, he waits until Monday when the lines are shorter. Smart, God.

MORE TIPS TO ONLINE DATING PROFILE POETRY AFTER THE JUMP!

2. Brevity is your friend
For the sake of pure readability, I urge you to keep it brief. No more than 500 words in total for a site like OKCupid or Match.com. If you are going long, cut the details about your personal “history” first. Those are great details to offer in the first couple of messages you write to the person you want to meet with.

3. Ask your friends for help
Everyone needs an editor, and I’m nothing without Wm. Steven Humphrey! Ask your friends to read your profile, for grammar and content. Ask them if it sounds honest, or if you left anything out. Good friends will be honest, mediocre friends will give you some nice fluff about how great your butt looks. Go ahead and brag, you won’t sound like an asshole; you’ll sound like a person who knows they deserve a rad partner.

4. Don’t list “dealbreakers”
We all have boundaries hidden in the deep confines of our soul. However, I’d wager on the journey toward love, you’re more flexible than you think. Through messaging and the first dates, you’ll be able to identify the things that are just NOT going to work for you.

I met my sweet boyfriend online. He wrote pages and pages of OKCupid profile prose, his username referenced a foreign film I liked and I knew immediately he had the gentle soul of an artist. Surprise, I’m into that kind of thing. So I asked him a couple of questions… I didn’t even say hi. He was glad to meet a straight-forward, brass tacks kinda broad. By our third date, we started clearing our schedules to make time for each other, then we got all boo’d up.

It can happen to you too, folks! Next time on Let’s Do it with Bri Pruett: Opening Lines for Online Daters.

Wishing you great love and good sex,
@BriPruett