More than 15 minutes of fame?

I just checked the counter for my article Snappy Comebacks to Rude Breastfeeding Remarks over at Type-A Mom. It's up to 2,046.

Dang!

I wonder about all those people who have clicked that link. Did they like the article? Did they think it was lame? (Am I lame for using the word lame?) Were they irritated? Enraptured? Did they maybe click on that link, meaning to click on the one above or below it?

It's kind of weird to think that the ripples of my snarkiness are working their way outward. Gee, I always fantasized about people reading something I'd written (aside from toxic material manuals, policies, procedures, and standards). This is both wonderful and weird.

Now all I need to do is come up with another post that'll get people clicking and reading. Hmm. After 30+ articles about breastfeeding, coming up with a unique slant on the topic is proving to be a weekly challenge. But I'm just the woman for the job!

My 15 Minutes of Fame?

This past Saturday I posted my 22nd article at Type-A Mom. (I'm the breastfeeding editor ... er, the editor of the breastfeeding topic, and I post an article every week.)

The article, Snappy Comebacks to Rude Breastfeeding Remarks, was one I was able to write pretty quickly. This is because:

• I didn't have to do any research (and 2 factual errors bear this out).
• It made use of my innate snarkiness.

As I usually do on Monday mornings, I checked the hit counter for my articles. I think it was a fairly respectable number, like 20 or so. Not bad.

I checked again at the end of the day and found that the number had gone up to 99. Wow! I pretty impressive!

I checked my numbers at around 7 Monday night, and they'd raced up up above 200. Now it was getting weird. Only one other article (Top Tips for Increasing Breast Milk Supply) had the big numbers -- up around 450.

When I refreshed my screen, the number had jumped to just over 250. The little hairs on the back of my neck all stood to attention. Time to find out what's going on. (SpecialEd suggested that the hit counter was stuck. I'm no computer genius, but I was pretty sure that it was something else.)

So I wrote to the numero uno Type-A Mom, Kelby:

Ummm, Kelby? I'm trying to keep my cool, but I'm on the verge of completely freaking out. The number of hits on my latest article was at 99 when I left work. As of a couple minutes ago, the number was 254 and climbing as I watch. Are this many people really clicking on it? I mean, I'm flattered and gratified, but I'm also just a bit freaked about it.

How's that for confidence, eh?

It turns out that Kelby had mentioned my article on Twitter and another social networking site. She'll do that from time to time with articles that she thinks will stir up some interest.

Boy howdy! Right now, 8:00 Wednesday evening, the hits are up to 1067.

Hmm. Should I think about quitting my day job? Well ... I can think about it, anyway.

And I'm Still Being Published -- What Fun!

Just a quickie -- I've published two more articles at Type-A Mom. The first tells exactly how to tell when your baby is getting "enough" from nursing; the other is a rundown of exactly what's in it for women when they choose to nurse their babies.

I know this picture doesn't have a thing to do with writing articles or breastfeeding. I just like it because Buddha Boy looks like Curly and Tucker is showing how much he loves his boy ... and whatever food is clinging to him.

Finally ... a Byline!

When you're a writer, it's all about the byline (as in "this article was written by ... me"). For virtually all of my professional career, I've written documents anonymously. In general, you're not going to find user manuals, brochures, newsletters, and other corporate ephemera with the author's name on them.

So, when the "Internets" came along and I started putting out feelers for clients, I found that most of them wanted clips ... or, more often, links to my clips. What to do?

Well, as of last weekend, I now have an article I can link to -- hoorah! I'm now the breastfeeding editor at TypeAMom.net, a wonderful resource for moms and dads. (First article: "Surprise! Breastfeeding Doesn't Contribute to Breast Sagging") Check it out!