Almost Famous

As those of you who regularly read my blog know: I don’t do edgy. You could read my posts to your 90 year old grandmother without fear of ruffling her feathers.  Unless you are personally offended by a boatload of family stories, and my bellyaching about cleaning my house and organizing my office (and maybe you are! If so, I’m sorry and I take it all back!) there ain’t much in my writing to find objectionable. I work hard on my entries, and cherish my faithful readers (the few, the proud).

 But sometimes I dream of going viral, of joining the ranks of the super-bloggers, those giants of the medium who number their fans in the hundreds of thousands. Even though I know my skin is paper-thin, and a lot of the snarky comments I find on other blogs would truly make my heart sink if aimed at me, I’m still jealous. Bottom line: I would love a wider readership, provided all those readers are always nice to me. Is that so much to ask?

Head shot for my nationally syndicated column?

I’ve thought about my yearning to be a little bit better-known a lot lately. At 57 I have a ways to go to become a household word, even in my own household. But I have to say, in today’s culture, it’s really hard to stand out in the size crowd the internet has created. And once you’ve “made it”, longevity in the limelight is another matter. Artist Andy Warhol predicted that everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. That was quite a few years ago; nowadays, turnaround time is more like 15 seconds. I love the joke about the rapid show-biz life cycle, voiced by an agent (“Who’s Sally Jones?” “Get me Sally Jones!” “Get me a Sally Jones type!” “Get me a younger Sally Jones!” “Who’s Sally Jones?”)  We seem to go from 0-60 and then back down to 0 at warp speed. 

So what am I doing to broaden my fan base, as it were?  My Rose, she of the hilarious (and super-edgy) Facebook posts, thinks I’m playing it way too safe, literarily speaking. I don’t think she’s hoping I’ll pen the next “50 Shades of Grey,” but she’d love me to take on more wow topics sometimes, to make a bold stand in print. I always promise her I’ll try, and then my next article comes out and it’s Mrs. Namby Pamby again. Why am I so leery of saying anything that could possibly be polarizing?

One of these days (but not today), you’ll get my opinion on universal health care, gun control, capital punishment and gay marriage. You’ll learn that I support three out of four of these things.  You’ll also find out whether or not I’m a big fan of war. Or a safety net for the poor. Or more tax breaks for the 1%. For now, I’ll leave you guessing!

Whew! All this sharing is exhilarating! Who knew controversy could be so much fun?

Huffington Post, here I come!



"Remember My Name" from the movie "Fame"