With all of this talk about ABC’s The Bachelorette returning next Monday — entertain us, Emily Maynard! — it occurred to me that I hadn’t posted one of my latest stories, for the L.A. Times: “Twitter Friends: It May Be a Good Idea to Meet Up.” Check out that adorable illustration!

The story was inspired by two of my favorite things: The Bachelor and social media — specifically, live-tweeting The Bachelor and the camaraderie that viewers (including me!) enjoy by following each others’ tweets about the show. I highly recommend joining in!

If you’re a fan of reality TV or snarky commentary about American absurdities, follow me at @jamiebeckman, especially on Monday nights at  8 p.m. EST. Hope you like the story!

Better late than never! I wanted to share with you all an audio clip and pic of me reading from Madonna and Me: Women Writers on the Queen of Pop at a very special Madonna-themed Soundtrack Series event on NYC’s Lower East Side on March 29. You can listen to me here or download the MP3 at the link below:

Jamie reading “Where’s That Girl” from Madonna and Me

It was such a thrill to meet and hear such amazing women writers, including Laura Barcella (Madonna and Me‘s editor), Susan Shapiro, Dana Rossi, Kristin McGonigle, and many others. Buy your very own copy here!

Really exciting day: The book Madonna and Me: Women Writers on the Queen of Pop is on sale now! And I’m one of the aforementioned women writers. I wrote a lighthearted essay about the time I was “neighbors” with Madonna on the Upper East Side. Those were the days!

Packed with essays by amazing writers like Rebecca Traister and Emily Nussbaum, it’s definitely worth checking out, even if you’re not a Madonna fanatic. Buy it here!

My latest story, “2 Styles 1 Home: Decorate Your Living Space Together—Without a Fight,” for USA TODAY’s American Life: Home magazine is close to my heart because it, ahem, may or may not have been inspired by real-life events. Let’s just put it this way: the “granite or graystone paint” reference I make in the lede? Yeah, that’s an argument that I’ve actually had.

So obviously I wanted to help couples in the midst of combining their personal tastes in one abode — and I hope this story will do just that. Thanks so much to my sources for this story: They outlined exactly what compromising really means.

Read the PDF here and enjoy!

I’m thrilled that I have three (count ‘em!) stories in the January/February 2012 issue of Health magazine. Topics range from which muscles to tone for better sex to the little changes docs recommend that will improve your health in big ways.

Here’s one of them!: “Lose Weight and Get Fit with Your Phone.” My real-life women sources were all so inspiring. Enjoy!