Welcome to the Lammas 2013 Blog Hop. The subject for this blog hop is "What we can share from our table with the community." Which led me to make a joke about some tasty cat food...which led to a reminder that this blog hop was about Tarot...which led me to offer the cat food served on the Fool card...no one thought that this exchange was funny, other than me--which is why it was best that the whole exchange only happened in my head.
And the point of that imaginary story?
I will get to it eventually. Promise. Provided that it actually had a point. And maybe even if it didn't have a point.
One of the weird things about my childhood is that I grew up reading Emma Bombeck. Well, I find it weird because it makes me sound like I had a normal childhood. For those who do not know, Emma Bombeck was humor columnist (back in the stone age of actual newspapers); she wrote a twice weekly humor column about being a mother in suburbia. It is estimated that Emma Bombeck had thirty million readers across the nine hundred plus newspapers that her column appeared in, and had written four thousand columns over the course of her thirty-one year career. It is from her that I got the urge to be a newspaper columnist.
I didn't get the chance to be a newspaper columnist until I was in my forties (late to college I was). When I was first asked to work on the student newspaper of the Community College of Denver, I attempted to talk my way into doing a column--but they needed reporters more than columnists. Ironically, I did end up being a columnist within the first semester--I ended up writing an astrology column. It might have been better than my proposal to write about college life as a non-traditional college student.
And I made a lot of stuff up, starting with the very idea of the columns in the first place, and quite often ending with at least one sun sign being pure imagination and/or inspiration from an astrology or Tarot book. Occasionally, I would make up a story about the associated trump card to figure out what the sun sign was like in a given situation. It amused me that readers thought that my made-up nonsense was the truest part of the columns ("That is so me." "I know someone exactly like that.")
Being a columnist is much like being a blogger...except that the pay is slightly better. You have a deadline; you scour the neighborhood for an idea; you start off a column positive that you can finish it; and you struggle to finish it before you submit it.
Being an astrology columnist led me to doing a monthly column for the Hearthstone Community Church's newsletter (the Open Full Moon People). It was a matter of money--as in I had no money to toss into the cauldron to help pay the church's rent. So kicking it around, I realized that I could do a monthly column for the church. Hence, I started to do a monthly column about Wicca...and other stuff.
Three and a half years later, I am still going strong. Well, strongish. And some columns start off with me having to pull a Tarot card to spark my imagination. Which often involves conversations in my head--I told you that I was going to get back to the imaginary story--I talk to myself a lot as a writer. Of course, I always wondered how many of the stories Emma Bombeck told were true, and how many of them only happened in her head.
And that is what I believe that I am sharing from my table with the community: My charm and wit in humor form...or is it lunatic form? Besides people locally reading the column for free, three of the articles have been collected into a free ebook by me (Barnes & Noble; Smashwords; Kobo).
And here, you thought that I was only inflicting my opinions on people though a blog--silly people. Of course, I am not sure how many people know that some of the columns I do have their origin in a deck of Tarot cards. Perhaps, we should keep that secret between ourselves.
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12 comments:
I remember Erma Bombeck! Thanks for the memory...
Love it! Three cheers for made up stuff! :-D
Rock on! I can't BELIEVE you showed the behind the scenes... errr, I saw nothing.
Great story that moved right along. I resonate especially with the made up stuff as I as well have no idea where those inner conversations come from, and am just glad they keep me on the list.
Great expert skill in play here I'd say. Kudos and thanks!
Interesting :)
I once tried serving my cat a small piece of steak but he ran away screaming at the top of his voice. From his point of view steak is the work of The Devil :/
Loved reading your story about how you became a writer. And you know what they say... "reality leaves a lot to the imagination."
Great post. It was great to get to know you better.
I have always aspired to be a writer...I studied English and Journalism in my uni days but never got to becoming a writer...I need to learn from your charm and wit. But methinks, it's only unique to you:) I so enjoy your blogposts always ...your sense of humour is so infectious. Thank you for sharing.
I love the idea of picking a Tarot card to find inspiration for a written piece.......!
I do miss Hearthstone. When I went, it was always such a welcoming place! Lovely sharing. but I do have to point out...there were no monkeys.I find myself strangely depressed.
Arwen, the monkeys aren't there every month, but they do turn up from time to time...along with with a little girl who loves to climb with the nickname Monkey.
Actually Alia, I believe that Arwen was referring to the Monkey Tarot that I am slowly drawing, and often use to illustrate my Tarot Blog Hop posts.
Bizarrely, my dad having been a jouralist, I never really thought about the difference between a reporter and a columnist before. Glad you made your dream a reality, and that you shared that inspiration with us :)
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