Ask a Blogger

Call me Ann (as in Landers).
Or maybe Abby (as in Van Buren).
How’s Emily (as in Post)?

Oh, fine, call me Jenny. Or rather, ask me Jenny. Starting this September I’m going to be an advice columnist. The topic? Ask a Blogger.

I’m a little over a year into my freelance writing career, so I thought it was time to ask myself where my writing is going.

Self? I said. What do you want do as a writer?

Easy. Myself answered. Write a column.

Yep. I want to write a monthly column for a magazine on daily life. Much like Mary Roach’s “My Planet” in Reader’s Digest. Speaking of Mary, she's on sabbatical working on a book – maybe I could be her replacement?

I wasn’t sure how to snag a gig as a columnist, so I e-mailed the one and only woman I know – personally – who writes one: UCLA professor Amy Friedman. I thought she’d give me a few pats on the back (oh, you’d be a great columnist!), point me in the right direction (see, it’s just waiting for you 10 years down the road!), and give me a contact (here, call Jane Doe, she also writes a column!).

Instead, I received a phone call from Amy’s husband. He’s launching an on-line publication called The Mad as Hell Club. He’s taking essay submissions on topics people are “passionate” about, and he’s also going to have 31 columnists – one for each day of the month – on various topics.

Ask a single guy.
Ask a musician.
Ask a Buddhist.
Ask a mom.
And, of course, Ask a Blogger.

Not exactly a “daily life” column, but I’ve gotta start somewhere.

“Amy said I have to hire you,” he told me.

That was easy.

“She’s never wrong about these things,” he added.

Let’s hope not. I took the job. Then I panicked.

“What if people ask me legal questions?” I cried.

“You are a lawyer,” my husband Ron said.

“Oh yea. But what if people ask me technical questions?” I fretted.

“Refer them to a techie,” Ron said.

So there you have it. I’m collecting questions NOW for my first column. You can post them in the comments section or send me an e-mail: jenny.rough@jennyrough.com. You can sign your first name, your full name, your initials, or anonymous. And if you have your own blog or know of a must-read blog, please pass on the link(s).

Okay, ask away – anything and everything. Well, as long as it has to do with blogging.