I Can Be Your Hero Baby....

Last Thursday, Raleigh's "Snow Day," I spent some time with friends that live in our complex.  We played the game "Loaded Questions" and one of the questions was "who do you want to model your life after and why."  None of us really had a specific name and, being the good Christian church kids we are, we all put down Jesus.  While we should all strive to be like Jesus, it was a total cop out answer.  It wasn't until Sunday, when I was at Target and saw her new book (and immediately bought it) that I figured it out:

Jen Lancaster is my professional/literary hero.

To say that my love for Jen is strong is probably a tad understated.  I have gone to her readings twice - once in Charlotte and once in Raleigh.

May 2010 - In Charlotte for My Fair Lazy reading

June 2013 - In Raleigh for the Tao of Martha reading.

I also own all but one of her books. You could say that I have a problem.

Jen started out as a blogger after she got laid off from her job.  Her first book, Bitter is the New Black, came about because of her blog, which she still keeps up and running.  She came out of corporate America, during the dot com era, as a pampered princess that you loved to hate and now is a New York Times Bestselling Author writing about her oh so suburban life.  I've watched her grow, literally watched real life character development.  She's dealt with her weight, her laziness and addiction to reality TV, and spent a year being more like Martha Stewart.  Now she's writing fiction, which I don't love nearly as much, but I still buy it because I love and support her.

She gives me hope.

Not that I will be her.  Not that someone will read this blog and say "Let's give Sarah a book deal!" Ha.  No. My life is nowhere near that entertaining.  But I have hope that I will keep writing, that I will keep doing this thing that I love and that people will keep reading what I write.

It's hard to blog once a week.  It's hard to think of something to write about on a weekly basis that someone else will want to read.  So far, though, I think I've done a pretty good job.  In my first three posts, I surpassed the amount of views of my old blog, which had about 19 posts.  I completely credit this to the use of Facebook, but I don't care how it happens.  About 50-60 people read something that I have written once a week.  They comment.  They even ask my mom if she's read my posts (and she hasn't, but I'll forgive her) and  then proceed to tell her how funny they think I am. Completely unsolicited.  It's awesome! So awesome that it causes happy dances on a weekly basis, awesome.

I also have hope that I will grow as a person and that I will look back at my blogs and get to see it in my writing.  I'm doing this for me. I enjoy blogging because it gives me reason to try new things. To write again. To not be afraid to fail.  And it's fun - because it's just for me. And for Aaron and whatever family we end up having.

So, thanks, Jen.  Thanks for getting fired, for being crazy and writing about it and making me fall in love with your memoirs.  Thanks for keeping it going for the past eight years and for being, in a weird, non-stalkerish way, my hero.