Walker Lamond from the “Rules for My Unborn Son” Media Kit
courtesy of ‘K1rkles’

Walker Lamond can be described as the fatherly sage of the masculine aesthetic.  Perhaps you don’t know his name, but it’s more than likely that you’ve at least heard of his blog, “1001 Rules for My Unborn Son.” As the title suggests, Walker doles out practical advice to his son on his popular Tumblr page.  He’s gathered a substantial following over his past year and a half of blogging, including the attention of a few publishers.

Tomorrow, Walker will join the ranks of the bloggers turned authors when Rules for My Unborn Son, a book of his axioms, is released. It turns out that Mr. Lamond is a resident of DC and, on the eve of his literary debut, he graciously agreed to answer a few questions about his book and life in the city.  He even gave some advice while he was at it. So, continue reading to discover Walker’s thoughts on becoming an author, DC’s greatest sartorial misstep, and how to improve our taxi system.

First of all, you live in DC! I had no idea until recently. Where do you live and what brought you to the city?

Walker: After ten years and about as many apartments, my wife and I decided to leave New York and settle back in our hometown to raise a family. We live in Georgetown.

What, in your opinion, is the most underrated spot it DC?

Walker: Honestly, I think Georgetown is underrated. I know it’s not as hip as Columbia Heights or U Street, but you can’t really beat Georgetown in the fall. I dig the Georgetown flea market on Sundays, and the greenhouse at Dumbarton Oaks is a good hideout.

Name one thing, aside from traffic, that you would change about the city.

Walker: I wrote a letter to the mayor that I thought all the taxis should be painted the same color. I even offered to run a city-wide design competition. It hasn’t happened yet, but to Mr. Fenty’s credit, he did write me back.

Are there any rules that you think the average DC man particularly needs to take to heart?

Walker: I am a firm believer that men should never wear sandals. I see a lot of guys in the city rocking flip flops with their suits, as if their feet might just burst into flames if they were forced to wear their wingtips between home and the office. Keep em covered, gents.

Is there a local figure that you would send your book to free of charge, just for the improvement of his character?

Walker: Dan Snyder

What was the timeline for the creation of your of the 1001 Rules blog? Was it a flash of genius or something that took time to develop?

Walker: The rules started as a way to preserve the lessons my father taught me growing up, so they had been in the works for a long time.

At what point did you feel that Rules for My Unborn Son could actually go somewhere? Did you ever imagine yourself as an author?

Walker: At some point, I noticed that more than my friends and family were reading the blog everyday. I mean not millions but probably more than the number of people who bought Ethan Hawke’s last book. When a couple of publishers called and said they thought it would look nice as a book, I thought “why not?”

Your project is pretty ambitious. Do you fear running out of rules before you reach your goal or do you already have all 1001 stored in your head?

Walker: Unfortunately for my son, new rules come to me everyday. And I get some pretty good ideas from people that write in to the site. The other day a woman wrote, “Don’t hire your Ex to be your wedding photographer.” Now that’s a good rule! See, there are rules for everything. 1001 might be conservative.

I understand that your unborn son is no longer unborn. Has becoming a father given you new perspective in your rule making? Are there any rules that you’d change, in retrospect?

Walker: Once my son was born I had an overwhelming feeling of wanting him to do anything he wants. Luckily I have the rules to back me up.

Do you worry that your unborn daughter feels left out?

Walker: If I knew how to braid pigtails or pick out lipstick I would write her very own book. I might have to leave that to my wife.

Can you give us an as of yet unpublished rule?

Walker: Never take a cruise vacation.

Rules for My Unborn Son goes on sale tomorrow, and Walker will be signing copies at the Borders on Wisconsin at 7pm this Wednesday.