Breaking up? Here's some advice on breaking up and moving on from the book "How to Survive Dating" (Hundreds of Heads Books, www.hundredsofheads.com, $12.95), straight from people who've done it:

“I don’t know which is worse, breaking up or getting broken up with. It’s just part of life. Suck it up. If you are dumping someone, you have to do the whole ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ thing, even if it was them. Even if you’re planning to be honest, the words ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ will just slip out. And that’s OK. It’s the best way to play it.”

—Tim, Scottsdale, Ariz.

“When I break up with people, I say the usual things. ‘This isn’t working out. I feel like I need to grow. I need to experience other things.’”

—Anne, Wilmington, N.C.

“When I’m not interested in someone, I make it as obvious as possible in my attitude towards them. I can be really condescending, standoffish, and sometimes vulgar and obscene to the point where she gets completely offended. I think it’s better that way than making someone feel rejected. I’d rather make her think that she’s not interested in me. I find it easier than rejection.”

“I had a dragged-out break-up with a boyfriend. We dated two years, and we were on and off for a whole year. At first it was the summer of my discontent, and then it turned into fall, winter and spring of my discontent. Sometimes break-ups aren’t black and white. You really care for the person, but there are some things you can’t work through or accept in the relationship.”

—Karen S., Sacramento, Calif.

“I dated a guy for a year and it was amazing. I was going to marry him. And then he broke up over the phone—over the phone! I was like, ‘If you’re a man, you’ll come here and break up with me to my face.’ Then he came over and we made out that night. Then we hooked up twice the following year, and he gave me a urinary tract infection. Then I saw him out with someone else, and I was actually calm. I went up to him and I said, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ And he wouldn’t even acknowledge me. He had never done that before. I started fuming. I couldn’t believe he was doing that. The next thing I knew, my drink was out of my glass and all over him. It made me feel very liberated.”