Confessions and observations of an American girl in Paris. Or…after years of trying to keep my mouth shut and failing, I am now proclaiming loudly. Or…how to spend years trying to hide your slutfulness. Or…just a normal girl talking about normal stuff (liar).
I am a jack-ess of all trades. The only thing that isn’t on my resume is dog grooming. I spent 39 lifetimes launching new products in corporate America. Rarely with products I would enjoy, like The Hooker How-To Book or Never-Smell Undies or Maslov’s Drooling Dog Theory for Men. No. Instead, I launched printed circuit board design software and double-knit sans-a-belt insurance agent marketing software into the universe. Where it died the inevitable death of nobody-gives-a-shitness. Now, I focus all my energy on revealing the dark and festering stories of my past, while hopefully getting some voice-over, on-camera or paid writing gigs on the side.
I was about to burst. I had a plethora of essays swimming around in my head. I needed to express myself. I had always said, “I wanna be a writer.” But I never just sat down and wrote. I had been pretending to be “nice” – at work, with my family. Whatever the definition of “nice” was at the time. I would suss it out and try to be just that. It never worked. My blog is a mid-life coming-of-age story.
I started this blog in March of 2006. So, only six months. I’m not sure why that surprises me.
Probably on average, I get about 25-30 hits per day. I have about 28 email and RSS subscribers as well.
Not much of an income yet. It hasn’t been a big focus of mine, but I wouldn’t turn money away. I’m more interested in attracting an online or print columnist gig. But I have dabbled with PayPerPost and Blogsvertise. In total, I’ve made about $45 from them in a month’s time. I know of other bloggers who do about $5K per month doing embedded advertisement blogging. But I always feel slimy when I do an ad post. I try to make them snarky and funny and a little bit shocking so that if I must force my readers to slog through an ad, at least they’ll be entertained and learn something. I just removed my Amazon and Google ads from my sidebar. Nobody looks at those things. I put up a Donate Via PayPal button recently. So if someone likes what they read, they can throw me some Brie and Cote du Rhone money. Haven’t received any of that yet, but I continue to eat Brie and drink Cote du Rhone.
Women, or people in general, who long to be themselves, without apology. People who are a bit “off.” Comedians, lap ‘n pole dancers, torch singers, lesbians (lots of lesbians), flight attendants (these are people who have had more sex than me) and firemen. Not many people in my family, though. People who wish they could escape the drudgery of corporate America. People who wish they could take risks, the ones who say, “When the kids grow up I will…when I retire I will…when my parents die I will…” People who want to know all about the interesting things one finds on the sidewalks of Paris. Reformed degenerates and drug smugglers. Shall I go on?
From dawn ’til midnight. Every day. I am not kidding. If I go out to shop, or have a drink, or meet people for dinner, or listen to music, I have my IPAQ phone with me and I take tons of notes and pictures. They all turn into blog posts eventually.
You will be able to say, “Did she just say what I think she just said?” You will laugh. You will feel more human. You will believe that there is hope for all of us. Most importantly, you will begin to be inappropriate yourself. And the world will be a better place because of it.
Delight in your own voice. It’s the only one you have. Don’t compare yourself to others. As somebody wise once said, “Comparisons are odious.” Just start writing. Over time, your voice will emerge. You have control over when you publish or delete a post. Seek out other bloggers. You will make amazing new friends worldwide. Be gracious and read other blogs and make meaningful comments in them. Encourage other writers. They have fears and insecurities too. Be honest. People can smell crap a mile away. Do NOT focus on traffic statistics. Just like in real life, you create relationships one person at a time. And if you speak in a true voice, and join communities of like-minded people, you will attract the kind of loyal “sticky” traffic that is the envy of corporate marketers.
This blog can be visited at http://omywordblog.blogspot.com
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