When I tell people the title of my first novel, How to Sleep With a Movie Star, I almost always get some sort of amusing reaction. Usually it’s a giggle; often it’s a raised eyebrow; occasionally it’s a sarcastic (and generally unoriginal!) comment from a guy who thinks he’s being clever by suggesting that I write my next book about how to sleep with whatever his occupation is.

So I’ve learned -- the hard way -- to preface the title by explaining, “Before I tell you what it’s called, please understand that it’s fiction – not a real how-to guide.”

That’s because honestly, truly, I wouldn’t know how to sleep with a movie star if I tried. Not that I would try. Really – I wouldn’t. That’s the whole premise of the book.

See, I’ve been a contributor to People magazine for the last six years, and I’ve been doing celebrity interviews for more than ten years (since I was 16, actually – but that’s another Almost Famous story for another day). Among my interviewees: Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, Scott Speedman, LL Cool J . . . in other words, lots of gorgeous, NICE movie stars that any girl in her right mind would be interested in. But I vowed to myself a long time ago that I would never cross the line of professionalism and even think about mixing business with pleasure.

Not that Ben, Matthew, Scott or anyone has actually tried to sleep with me. So maybe it's a moot point. But that’s another self-deprecating story for another day too.

In any case, it was this line of thought – the fact that I’m surrounded by hot movie stars at work but can’t do anything about it because of my self-imposed professional ethics – that made me start wondering what would happen if I did throw my morals out the window and cross the line. (Believe me, when you're drooling over Matthew McConaughey, it's hard not to think like that!) Or worse yet, what would happen if everything I did was on the up and up . . . but someone started a rumor that something had happened between me and someone I had interviewed?

Sure, celebrity journalists sleep with celebs all the time. But they become “that girl who slept with that movie star.” And I never wanted to be that. I’m really proud of what I do for a living – and of the fact that I didn’t need to sleep with anyone to get here.