on one-paragraph bios

Below is the “bio” paragraph as it might appear on the jacket of my book, which is coming out soon from Houghton Mifflin. I've inserted some parentheticals.

Late one Sunday evening it seemed an interesting exercise, to explain the thought process behind these things. But all it does is reflect my standard Sunday evening state of mind:

Megan Hustad is a former book editor who has worked at Random House, Basic Books, and the Counterpoint Press. [This first sentence does two things, ideally. It makes my professional accomplishments sound reasonably impressive but also comfortably attainable. It helps that Random House is somewhat of a household name, because if I’d worked for, say, faber & faber some individuals would go huh? and put the book back down. This first sentence also takes care not to mention my first job, which was customer service representative at ProEx Portrait Studio and Photo Lab in Highland Park, St. Paul; those two -- three? -- months I spent cashiering at the Barnes and Noble in Union Square when I first moved to New York; and also that time I took a temp job at AOL as a fact checker for their “City Guides” listings, which meant I sat in a cubicle on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, dialed phone numbers of Nashville area restaurants that an unknown software program generated for me, and, when someone finally answered (I was calling at odd hours), I’d ask if they could please confirm their opening hours and their address, and they’d say something like, “Well, you know where the Fuddruckers is on 280? We’re just past that. Can’t miss it!” And then I’d explain that actually I didn’t need driving directions, because I was calling from New York, and I really just needed to know the street address, as in the mailing address, and no, didn’t plan on writing them a postcard or anything, I just...needed to know. Implicit in this abbreviated resume is also the idea that a potential buyer will be most moved by my most impressive accomplishments -- and how does my brief stint as a cashier testify to my qualifications for writing a book? It doesn’t, the thinking goes, unless my book is solely about the experience of cashiering, like those waitressing and bartending memoirs that have popped up in recent attempts to recreate the success of Kitchen Confidential.] She holds a degree in history from the University of Minnesota, [This line is tricky. “University of Minnesota” lacks the wow-factor that some other schools do. On the other hand, it’s more likely to appeal to people in the Midwest -- like my family -- who also spend money on books. A major in History is good because it makes me sound serious, practically earnest.] and lives in Brooklyn, New York. [“Brooklyn” doesn’t just situate me geographically, but spiritually alsoo. A pale-faced writer from Brooklyn in the 18-54 demographic is liberal, soft-spoken, sensitive to nuance, perhaps too sensitive to nuance, yet also “hip” and familiar with the latest in art, design, and music. A Brooklyn writer has a pair of Converse low tops stuffed in the back of the coat closet, can point you to a decent Thai take-out, and watches The Daily Show and The Wire. Lately, the weight of this stereotype has me thinking I should move to Philadelphia, or maybe Asheville, North Carolina. Antwerp or Santo Domingo. Anywhere blanks don’t get filled in for you quite so easily.]

Soon I'll post a more professional C.V.

UPDATE: Still no professional C.V., but I've moved back to Manhattan. The book is available at your local bookstore.