(Similar to the 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Me meme. Just more of it, I guess

So here it is, 8 Random Things About Me:

1. I could have worked on the original advertising campaign for AOL back in the late 1980s, but I had to take a pass because I was already a Section Leader on Compuserve (Religion and Sex, of all things.)
2. I hate beets, although I keep trying them to be a good role model for my kids.
3. In my whole life, I’ve bought only one car completely on my own dime (not mingling the moolah with a dad or hubby.) I kept my 1989 Camry for 17 years.
4. I’ll tell anyone my age, but only my doctor will ever know my weight.
5. I quit graduate school when I discovered how much I enjoyed copywriting.
6. I think Mark Ruffalo is completely hot.
7. I do a perfect imitation of the Warner Brothers cartoon baby vulture.
8. I enjoy reading the celebrity plastic surgery news in the Star, National Enquirer, and especially here.

And there you have it. The good, the bad and the sublime. (Yes, that’s Mark Ruffalo — again.)

Now it’s my turn to tag: Greg chose 8 folks randomly from the Age of Conversation contributor list. That’s a great idea worth repeating, so here - in no particular order - are my tag-eez:

Spike Jones

Nathan Snell

Simon Payn

Ryan Rasmussen

Ron Shevlin

Roger Anderson

Robert Hruzek

Rishi Desai

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[tags] memes, greg verdino, age of conversation, Spike Jones, Nathan Snell, Simon Payn, Ryan Rasmussen, Ron Shevlin, Roger Anderson, Robert Hruzek, Rishi Desai, copywriting maven, roberta rosenberg [/tags]

I’m always impressed and grateful that anyone is even paying attention at all. So many thanks to my gracious friend, Drew. You are deeply generous of heart and head. (Best part? He thinks I write funny!)

Now that I’ve been tagged, it’s my turn to tag 5 blogs that make me think, without knowingly hitting on ones that have already been tagged. Here are my 5 where I learn, I ponder, and learn some more:

• Tom Chandler, The Copywriter Underground - Tom and I have spent about the same amount of time plying our trade in the copywriting waters. He’s smart, engaging, and a comrade in arms. He also writes The Engagement Principles. Both should be immediately added to your favorite RSS reader.
• Bryan Eisenberg, Conversion Rate Marketing Blog - Plain-English, common-sense approaches. I must share at least a post a week from here with all my important clients.
• Jennifer Mattern, Naked PR - PR is not my specialty but as more clients ask me for assistance, Jennifer’s direct approach to the topic is a great help to me. I have a folder filled with her tips and resources.
• Scott Baradell, Media Orchard - the blog arm of Idea Grove, I enjoy getting a broader view of the PR/media/marketing world I inhabit. Worth the price of admission for the Top 10 lists alone.
• Copywriter, Peter Stone - No cute or fancy blog name for Peter. Nope, he just continues to produce powerful, original thinking about the profession I call home.

Honorable Mentions:

• Brian Clark, Copyblogger - I’m sure Brian already has this award, but doesn’t blast it all over his blog, well … like me. He doesn’t call himself a copywriter, but he knows how to explain it, teach it and use it far better than many I know.
• Lewis Black, Comedian - Funniest man working the political beat today. Wish he had a better blog. (Lewis, I’m calling you out! If he calls me back, I’ll let you know.)

Here are the rules according to the originator of this meme:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Link to the Maven’s post which says such nice things about you so that people can follow the meme’s trail.
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn’t fit your blog).

Lady and Gentlemen, you have been tagged!

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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This whole social/viral marketing thing fascinates me, hence I like to play to learn more about its nature, how it works and for how long.

As someone who continues to benefit from business/work contacts made 25 years ago when I first began work in DM, I know the long legs of personal networks. Social marketing? Maybe it’s all about our 5 minutes of fame. Maybe it’s the ultimate in self-absorption. (Andy Warhol made famous the 15 minutes of fame remark. But those we’re the pre-internet days. I often wonder how Andy, known for his reclusive nature, would express his art today. Wouldn’t that have been something!)

I do know it’s fun. In any case, here’s the 2000 Bloggers photo compilation and their respective links. My, my, what an extraordinarily good-looking bunch o’ bloggers we are!