Friday, November 22, 2013

CELEBRATE ONE THOUSAND POSTS AND I'M ON WIKIPEDIA

As promised, I'm presenting my top ten most popular posts as part of my one thousandth post celebration. This post was first published on March 5, 2013. Four hundred fifty people viewed "HOW I GOT TO BE SO FAMOUS THAT I'M ON WIKIPEDIA". 

Here's #9 on my top ten hits list:


Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

Once upon a time, I was a lonely dumped first wife and a lonely blogger. I had a few followers, and then for the longest time, I had 13 followers.

I cried out, How come I have only 13 followers?

And my friends came to the rescue. Legal Mist (who no longer blogs as often as I want her to) gave me advice, and Cinderita (who no longer blogs as often as I want her to) promoted me on her blog. One by one, you came to visit me, and we became friends.

Now I have 159 followers. One of them is the famous author and publisher EC Stilson, who blogs at The Crazy Life Of A Writing Mom. I was intrigued by her because of her great writing and because I noticed that her friends called her Elisa in their comments.

Elisa! That was my Norwegian grandmother's name. I had never met anyone else named Elisa.

Gradually, my new Elisa and I got to know each other better and better, and when Elisa started Wayman Publishing, she let me come along on the roller coaster ride. She knew I used to be a newspaper reporter and editor, so she asked me to edit some of Wayman's books.

I edited Homeless In Hawaii by EC Stilson, True Nonsense by Melynda Fleury (another great friend), and the soon-to-be released The Blogger's Survival Guide: Tips and Tricks for Parent Bloggers, Wordsmiths and Enthusiasts by Lexie Lane and Becky McNeer.

As I edited books, Elisa and I started talking on our cell phones, sometimes several times per week. We realized that she is exactly the right age to be my middle child.

When my no longer a wedding anniversary rolled around last summer, I was sad, but Elisa suggested that we make that day a new anniversary: It morphed into the happy anniversary of the day she became my Middle Child and I became her Mother From Another Planet.

Now, Elisa is so spectacular that Wikipedia has an entry about her at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Hirsch. And she's put me on the carousel with her.

Here's the relevant paragraph: In 2011 Morris was fortunate to meet Dee Ready,[4] a well-known editor and bestselling author previously published through Crown, Janie Goltz,[5] a former newspaper reporter and editor, Joshua Carstens,[6] who’d just graduated with an MA in professional writing, Lexie Lane, a well-known mompreneur, and Fran Fischer, a retired legal editor. It was from the support of these key people that Morris found the strength and knowledge to found Wayman Publishing[7].

The footnote leads to my LinkedIn Profile. 

I can't believe I'm on Wikipedia!

I may not be the most successful person in my family, but I think I'm the first to make it to Wikipedia; and it's all because Elisa is so generous and loving. 

But perhaps the most interesting part of this story is that Elisa and I have yet to meet face-to-face. In fact, I've only met one other blogger in person. So many of you out there are so extremely important in my life, and sometimes I'm afraid I'll never get to see your faces and tell you in person how much you mean to me. 

So I have to do the best I can right here, saying I LOVE YOU ALL!

One thing kind of irritates me, though. The Hurricane met Elisa. The Hurricane attended a math conference at a university in Salt Lake City. Elisa was right up the street, holding a book signing. My two girls got to go out to lunch together.

Ever since then, The Hurricane has told me over and over and over, Elisa is so sweet; Elisa is so pretty; Elisa is so nice. 

I'm so jealous that if The Hurricane weren't super strong from rowing crew, I would probably put duct tape over her mouth.


Sisters By Choice

Elisa, thank you for inviting me to join you on this journey. 

I swear: We will meet, and I will hug you and all your adorable children.



Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug, who is on Wikipedia, thanks to Elisa




Update: Middle Child and I met in person a few months ago. I spent a few days staying with her and her adorable children. She's had a great deal of turmoil in her life since then and is no longer blogging regularly. I miss you, Middle Child!




63 comments:

  1. Now that is truly a modern day mark of distinction- to make Wikipidia! Congratulations! I'm glad you are getting the recognition you deserve. I've visited Elisa's blog and enjoyed it.

    BTW- I used to kind of stress a little that my blog was so little, but I've decided that in the case of bloggging, size really doesn't matter.

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    Replies
    1. Well, I don't have thousands of followers (Elisa has more than 2,000), but I appreciate the loyal group I have. And your blog might grow -- you never know.

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  2. Hi Janie .. well that's some entry .. so pleased for you and the family - Elisabeth did you a great service ...

    Cheers to you ... glass of champers on the cards .. Hilary

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  3. A great post. I love meeting members of my blogging family!

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  4. What a wonderful tribute to sweet, generous, and hard-working Elisa. You deserve all the good stuff that comes your way, dear Janie Junebug.

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    1. Aw, thank you, Inger. Elisa is soooo hard working. I don't know how she accomplishes all that she does while taking care of her four adorable children.

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  5. that is neat! congrats on being on Wikipedia!!! That I think is a great accomplishment!! I do agree that it is a wonderful community of bloggers with people we may never meet face to face this side of eternity.

    betty

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    1. Thanks for reminding me that if we don't meet here, we'll meet in Heaven.

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  6. You're the only person I know mentioned in Wikipedia. I'm so impressed that you were mentioned in that article. Congratulations.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, but don't you follow Elisa? If you don't, then you should. The article is about her, and she's great.

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  7. Woo hoo! How cool are you? That just makes me want to jump up and down. I'm so happy for you, and Elisa rocks! I hope you get to meet her in person, too.(And I hope I get to meet you, because you're an awesome blog mom - even if I'm not your middle child :))

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    1. When Elisa sent me the article, I HAD to tell somebody about it. I like to have lunch at a little cafe in my neighborhood, so I told my server. Now she calls me Miss Wikipedia. I love it! And I hope I get to meet you, too.

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  8. From one celebrity to another: I'm mentioned in that same Wikipedia page, too. ( Fran Fischer, a retired legal editor) although how I got to be a legal editor, I'll never know. Bud used to have me proofread his legal work, so maybe that's it!! We all know that if it's in Wikipedia, it's true!

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    1. If you proofread his legal work, then you were a legal editor.

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  9. Way to go, Janie! That is so, so, wicked cool and exciting. My famous friend, Janie. I'll bet you could photoshop yourself right in between the Hurricane and pretty, sweet, Elisa.

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    1. Hmmmm. I didn't think about photoshop. You are so clever.

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  10. Janie,

    YOU are soooo sweet! Thank you for this--and for everything. I'm so glad to have you in my life. I hope we'll get to meet in person too.

    Love ya,
    E

    P.S. The Hurricane is so awesome; The Hurricane is so pretty; The Hurricane is a genius! :0)

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    1. I think that should be Hurricane, you is awesome. Hurricane, you is so pretty. Hurricane, you is a genius. You have to build poor little Hurricane's self-esteem because her southern fried mama has always been so nasty to her.

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  11. How totally cool is that?!?

    Dreams do come true in the blogosphere. (So you two will meet eventually; I know you will.)

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    1. I know we will, too. We're a match made in Heaven.

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  12. Thank you for a total day brightener! I loved this post! You made my day!

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    Replies
    1. If I can make your day, then I've done something right.

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  13. Congratulations! What a great story and I'm a middle child so I know how important (and overlooked) they are!
    xoxo and add me as follower (just call me 160!)
    xo

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  14. That is so beyond AWESOME! And while I am so proud of you, I am also proud that I was follower number 14. :)

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    1. I know! You broke my stuck at 13 streak. If it weren't for you, I'd probably still have 13 followers.

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  15. Although I as well haven't met Elisa yet, she's such a sweet girl and deserves all the best.

    And I'm glad to have stumbled into your blog. I'll definitely add it to my blog roll :D

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  16. Cool! Thanks for sharing this and inspiring those of us out here who truly wonder if size really DOES matter...(size of our blog following, of course!) LOL #KUDOS

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    1. The important thing to me is that I've found a core group of bloggers who have become family. We're quite devoted to one another.

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  17. Dear Janie, she's just amazing isn't she? I think Elisa is a creative genius. And I'm so glad that you've made it into Wikipedia!!!!!!!! You surely belong there! Peace.

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    1. Well, you're there, too, and you surely belong!

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  18. Elisa is awesome and so are you. I'm so proud to say I know you both. Someday we'll meet in person. I'm sure of it.
    Love,
    Stephanola

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  19. How the hell did I miss this post?? I was looking at an old page that popped up on my comment section at MY blog, followed all the links til I ended up here.

    I had no idea you were so famous and here I was, sending you my manuscript to read....and I honestly had no idea that reading manuscripts was WHAT YOU DO.

    color me embarrassed.

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  20. Now 'that' is something to be proud of.

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  21. I remember this post. I'm glad it's in your top ten!

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  22. AH! You're on Wikipedia? That's awesome. Congrats--and now I'm going to have to go search you. :)

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  23. If I go to the side bar, click on your blog, then click on the your blog in blue, I see it. It doesn't show up normally. Maybe it's showing up in a different feeder.

    Woo hoo!

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    Replies
    1. I appreciate the extra trouble you go to so you can visit me.

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  24. Also, if I click on your comment, that takes me to your profile page which takes me to the post. I had this problem with another blogger.

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  25. I don'[t mean to be a problem. It just turns out that way with me.

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  26. Since I already commented the first time around, I don't suppose there's any need to comment now. Tough. I'm commenting anyhow. (Yeah, I'm a rebel!) I enjoyed this post the first time around, and I still enjoy it!

    Happy weekend!

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    1. You can comment as many times as you like, Ms. Swiderski. You are always welcome at my bloghouse.

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  27. Wow Janie, I want your autograph :) Loved your post.
    R

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Send a SASE and you can have it for $10. Photos are $25.

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  28. Wow that is awesome. It is amazing the opportunities that come our way just from simple blogging.

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  29. Now that is some bloody great news how exciting to be on Wikipedia

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    1. You hang out with some famous people, Jo-Anne.

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  30. I love this post! Congrats on the Wiki...with my luck, I'll just get stuck under a Wookiee.

    -andi

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  31. Replies
    1. It wasn't that long ago, but so much has changed since then.

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