'40 Days of Dating' Book to Reveal New Details of Couple's Lives
A book expanding their online confessional will appear in bookstores next month.
— -- They came, they saw, and they broke up.
So went the viral 40 Days of Dating experiment in which friends Jessica Walsh and Timothy Goodman tried committing to a relationship, and then documented their experience online in a he-said-she-said-style blog.
Though the confessional was derided by many, other fans were left wanting more when it ended. Soon, such cravings will be fed: This week, the friends-turned-lovers-turned-exes announced that their tome, due on Jan. 20, is now available for preorder.
So what can readers expect from a book built around a dating diary? Apparently, the pages pick up where the couple left off, having ended their relationship.
"We documented and kept journals for everything that happened for the year following the experiment," Goodman told ABC News in an e-mail sent from Mexico. "We talk about who we were before the project, going back to our childhoods. We have third-party essays on love and dating from different people, such as the screenwriter to the movie, Lorene Scafaria and much more."
While the writers acknowledged that "some dismissed the blog as a side-effect of the too-much-information generation," they asserted on their website that "many more have been loyal followers of our journey—hating to love it, loving to hate it, or just simply loving it."
For those who fall in either of the former two camps, Walsh and Goodman will include a pointed accessory with each purchase: It will be "a dart to throw at our faces," they wrote.
If that sounds self-deprecating, it's meant to.
"Both Jessica and I feel extremely fortunate to have connected to so many people through 40 Days, so we understand that with the good comes some of the uncomfortableness of having our lives on the Internet," said Goodman. "But nowadays, everyone does. In today's digital age, with online journals and online dating, we're a product and a mirror of our generation."
While Goodman was reluctant to reveal too many specifics, or explain an image in the book's promotional video of what looks like an engagement ring, he did acknowledge that the pair were currently on another adventure.
"We're right in the middle of another crazy experiment together that uses our personal lives as a catalyst to tell a story. (Look for it this summer!)" he wrote.
He then added this advice for followers: "Don't be afraid to date that friend you've always liked. Don't be afraid to put anything out there, creatively. And call your mom!"