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I’ll be leaving tomorrow to speak at the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Conference which is a great thrill for me. My client Bill Scheft will be speaking there too, as well as one of my heroes Gail Collins.
Erma is another hero of mine and I started reading her books when I was very young and my Mom would pass them to me to inspire me and give me the gift of humor. I’m taking my Mom, a 72 year old English teacher, who still teaches in an 95% economically disadvantaged school district near Dallas. My mom gets the kids in 9th grade who everyone else has “passed along” but those same kids can’t read and often have no one to believe in them. My mom changes all that for them. Several of her students are now in college and many have gone on to work in other careers as well. She inspires them to do more with their lives.
Erma’s writing always inspires me. It is timeless because it is good common sense and elevates the power of humor and love in our lives. Being a humorist is the hardest writing job one can have, yet Erma did it effortlessly. So before I leave for the trip in the morning, I wanted to share my favorite Erma quotes.
1. Before you try to keep up with the Joneses, be sure they’re not trying to keep up with you.
2. Don’t confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.
3. Humorists can never start to take themselves seriously. It’s literary suicide.
4. If you can’t make it better, you can laugh at it.
5. Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
6. There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.
7. When humor goes, there goes civilization.
8. When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me”.
9. When your mother asks, “Do you want a piece of advice?” it is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.
10. It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.” I’ll be presenting “Overwebbed: Help I’ve Had a Social Media Breakdown and I Can’t Tweet Up”. I’ll also be tweeting from the event so look for hashtag #ebww . I think everyone will be using that one for tweets.
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Humorists can never start to take themselves seriously. It’s literary suicide. (Erma Bombeck)
If you’re ready to be inspired to write and join a fantastic group of people who will encourage you along the way then I highly recommend you register NOW for the Erma Bombeck Writers’s Conference. The registration is ongoing and they sell out usually in a very short time period. Folks like Gail Collins and Bill Scheft will be part of the event and I’ll be presenting on authors and social media there too! I hope you’ll join as well!
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Today is my 15th wedding anniversary and to quote Erma Bombeck, “Marriage has no guarantees. If that’s what you’re looking for, go live with a car battery. ”
I thought in celebration of these 15 years I might post 15 things I’ve learned about marriage and PR.
1. Marriage is hard.
2. PR is hard.
3. Marriage doesn’t mean you will always agree with one another.
4. PR does not always mean you will barbecue with your clients socially, but you will always champion their book or their work.
5. Marriage does not give one license to endlessly run around in sweat pants and think one still looks hot.
6. Getting that first PR-driven TV appearance does not give one license to endlessly hound your PR person about “now being on Oprah.” This is espescially true if your book is by its very nature (think business book) one that Oprah and her minions might never read. Continue reading »
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