Tom Chandler, The Copywriter Underground, decided to tag outside the box and pick a few of the not-so-usual suspects to take part in the latest meme, "Why I Blog."

Tom wrote four reasons, but I had seven in me, screaming to get out:

#1: I like writing.

Writer’s write, it’s what we do. Although I have no novel in the drawer and find personal journaling a chore, I like blogging knowing I have an audience who might find what I have to say helpful, useful, informative, and perhaps a little entertaining.

#2: I like sharing.

I love being a copywriter. I started writing advertising over 25+ years ago for a dress manufacturer in NYC. Did a little more ad writing for a small, daytime-only station in Maryland. Then I found myself writing copy full-time for a medical/health science publisher and then a direct marketing consultancy. 20 years ago (April 1987), I took the plunge and opened my own little DM shop.

And I’m still here.

I’m as enthusiastic now as I was then. With so much new opportunity and media to explore, who wouldn’t want to be a copywriter?! I learned mostly on my own with lots of trial and error and my employer’s deep pockets. But I discovered a long time ago I am a maven (self-proclaimed expert) and like to share what I know. And if a little business comes my way because of it, that’s a bonus.

#3: I like and understand the power of social networking.

I’ve been online, in one form or another, since 1986. I was one of the original creatives for an online subscription service called GEnie. (General Electric was looking to make a little cash off its mainframes nights and weekends.) (Side note: The agency I worked for was the original ad agency for AOL, too.)

I wrote a great ad with the headline: "Come play after dark with GEnie." GEnie thought it was too risque and changed "play" to "compute." (Considering the multi-billion dollar online adult industry, GEnie missed the point, I’d say.)

• I met my husband-to-be on GEnie in 1988. (This was the no-image, text only days of online chat.)
• I tell my kids their father and I invented LOL and :=) … but I’m only half-kidding, because I did invent :=D
• GEnie closed, I moved to Compuserve where I was a Section Leader, as they were called, for the Religion and Sexuality Forums (because I like to live on the periphery of controversy and inappropriate jibber-jabber. I also got to play for free.)
• I networked my entire Las Vegas divorce (6 weeks from start to finish) with the help on online friends.

I may be a middle-aged mom, but I "get it" and have for a long, long time.

#4: I like experimenting, trying new things, and analyzing the response it generates.

As a direct marketing, I enjoy the testing/analysis aspect of results and response. The online world simply has sped-up the process. Blogging and the associated widgets and affiliate programs give me a chance to fine-tune my message and media mix on the fly.

#5: I like learning.

As much as I enjoy being the smartest girl in the room most of the time, I like learning anything and everything from mavens in their own fields.

#6: I like entertaining an audience.

I don’t have to see your eyes or hear you breathing to know you’re out there. If not laughing, then smiling from time to time. As a former stand-up comic, that’s a plus.

#7: I like building my business a little bigger, a little stronger.

(See #2, I like sharing.) Because as much as I love what I do, I don’t do it for love. I do it to make a living. With 3 kids to get through college and a retirement to fund, yeah, revenue is a good thing.

And now it’s my turn to tag the unsuspecting!

Like Tom, I’ll cast my net over semi-unfamiliar waters and tag: Yvonne Russell (who brought the Blog Posey maker to my attention) … Nathania Johnson … Elizabeth Perry … and with a nod to the blog lads, Ben
Yoskovitz and Todd And(rlik)

Have fun!

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