Whoopi couldn't make it

(Jim Horton, Wayne Pollard, Helena Holgersson-Shorter, Yours Truly, Doug Perkul, Sarah Lester)

Forgive me for allowing you to wait this long to hear about my moment in the spotlight-my moment of glory and fame. Some of you were unable to attend the Local Writers' Panel at the Maplewood Library last night and you were deeply missed. Perhaps you had nothing to wear to such a grand occasion. It’s not every day that renowned authors and pundits gather to share profound learnings, pontificate on the future of the written word and compare war stories that take us from humble beginnings to the very heights of celebrity. Those who were able to attend are most likely thinking at this moment, “Were we at the same event?”

It’s true that the Writers Panel was not produced with quite the same budget as The Oscars. And it’s true that Whoopi Goldberg was unable to make it-something about conflict of interest with The View or something that didn’t seem to make any sense given that there is no interest in The View. In any case, what we lacked in superfluous glitz we delivered in wisdom and experience that surely was worth the price of admission. “Deborah, there was no price for admission.” Whatever, people, it was my 15 minutes, and I’ll imagine whatever kind of event I please, thank you very much.

It’s very fulfilling, albeit delusional, for me to imagine the masses tuning in each day to see what I have written. I try to ignore the fact that a significant percentage of my readers have stumbled on to my blog after googling “camel toe” and choose not to return when they find only one or two references to “camel toe” and not one single image of midget wrestling (their words not mine). In my world, readers all over the globe find a bit of happy with every visit, and I choose to keep living in it. In my world, I was one of 4 keynote speakers at a scintillating literary event that informed and inspired, and it felt good.

“When are you going to tell us what really happened, Deborah?” What really happened is that I got out of the house for an evening. The next best thing that happened was that friends came to support me and our mutual friend, The Head of Adult Services at the Maplewood Library, who orchestrated the series of Writers Panels. Also, Gabriella booked a babysitter (Hi K!) and took numerous photographs, shot video and clapped the loudest and longest at the end of the event. She’s a keeper. “No, seriously, Deborah, how did it go? We'll lose sleep if you don't tell us all about it!”

If you’ve made it this far, I suppose I could give you a snippet. Jim Horton, our moderator, posed questions to our prestigious panel of 4 regarding the what, how, when, why and for how much of blogging. There were some facts and recommendations and a bit of humour which made the evening an overall success. Did you know that there is little to no money in blogging? No surprise for me, but perhaps it was news to our hopeful audience. Of course there are exceptions, but it would be a bad idea to quit your day job and expect to retire early on blog revenue. I did suggest that if you were to sell things on your blog, you might have a fighting chance of making some money. I believe I recommended selling organs online. It was an easy laugh. I’m not above it.

We talked about the fate of newspapers and whether or not blogging would replace published news. We didn’t think so, but it doesn’t look good for newspapers these days. I learned that Adolph Ochs, son of German Jewish immigrants, bought The New York Times in 1896 and saved it from going under by introducing a new kind of reporting – objective reporting. Before that time, all news was opinion and hearsay, but Ochs realized he could make money by offering something completely different-facts. I also learned that Adolph had a daughter named Iphigene; a name I would like to file away for one of our pets if ever we decide to have one.

Jim asked us to share our motivation for blogging. Blogging can lead to paid work for other sites or even commissions in print. These days, there are many journalists who are out of work due to the economy and have turned to blogging as a way to stay busy and earn a bit of cash. Some blog to connect with communities-locally and globally. Some blog to share information and advice. I blog because in a house of two small children, the only space that is mine and only mine is in my head. When I blog, I may be in a public space of the house, but what goes on between me and my computer is deliciously private-until I post and I’m instantly sharing my privates with you all.

I think what came across loud and clear is that anyone can blog. You don’t need to be technical and you don’t need a degree in English. It may not pay the rent, but it can serve many purposes and provide great satisfaction. So, join us!

For those of you who missed out, I will let you know as soon as Whoopi invites me to appear on The View. I’m sure she’ll give me extra tickets to the show given how gutted she must feel about missing last night’s forum.