Behind the movie: the girl who got dumped and then got famous.

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Author: Coyne, Kate

When Jennifer Weiner had her heart broken, she didn't gorge on chocolate, watch weepy movies, or live in her sweatpants. Instead, she started writing. Today, Weiner is a novelist whose best-selling book In Her Shoes has been turned into a movie starring Shirley MacLaine and Cameron Diaz. But in 2000, Weiner was just a Philadelphia newspaper reporter whose long-term relationship had gone down in flames. "All I wanted was to get this guy back," she says with a slight grimace. "So I thought, I'll write a story about a girl who gets dumped and how she wants the guy back, and I'll write myself a happy ending." Writing nights and weekends, Weiner produced a novel called Good in Bed. about a plus-size girl who hopes to reunite with her ex-boyfriend but finds a much better life along the way. She was surprised when the book was published to rave reviews, in 2001, and even more shocked when it became a hit. "1 was convinced that about 12 people would read it-ten of them would be my friends, and the other two would be women from my Weight Watchers meetings," she says with a laugh. "I didn't even include my mom because I knew she'd wait and just take a copy out of the library."

Weiner followed Good in Bed with In Her Shoes and was thrilled when her second book became a film. "I went to a screening, and I told myself I was going to stay so cool and calm," Weiner recalls. "Then the movie began, and the 20th Century Fox logo came on the screen, and I just burst into tears. I turned to one of the producers sitting next to me and said, 'Well, that part came out great.'"

Weiner, who lives in Philadelphia, is now married to an attorney and is the mother of a two-and-a-half-year-old, Lucy. Long over the man who let her get away, she now has four novels to her credit, including her latest effort, Goodnight Nobody. But she isn't jaded about her success. "I still can't believe this is my life," she says. "I keep waiting for someone to leap out and show me the hidden cameras and say that this is all an elaborate practical joke. But until that happens, I'm going to appreciate every minute."

PHOTO (COLOR): Author Jennifer Weiner

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By Kate Coyne