Revisiting the "Attention Whore" comment.

It still gets under my skin, even weeks later. The woman used a personal tragedy to work for the benefit of all our soldiers and some yutz called her an "attention whore" for it.

I was incensed.

Damn it, I'm the attention whore. I need to sell books. That's what I do. Calling her an attention whore not only insulted her but it insulted me . As a group, authors are attention whores. It's what we do. It's who we are, when we're not actually writing. It's what pays the bills. Embracing attention whoredom is how we go from being part-time writers with a day job to the real deal.

I feel terrible that I was left almost speechless by this description of someone I'd grown to respect greatly. I should have been Johnny-on-the-spot and posted this immediately. Okay, I'll admit, I wasn't doing all that well at the time, dealing with a problematic root-canal and subsequent pain and barely-effective painkillers.

But as we all gather around and fling insults at one another's candidates, let's keep something in mind. Let's make sure the insults are aimed correctly. Scattershot insults that just happen to hit a target are wasted effort.

And compared to politicians, (particularly those inhabiting the WH and its environs these days) we authors are amateurs in the Attention Whore department. If only WE could stage a photo op on the deck of an aircraft carrier with a rolled up sock in our pants. We'd sell MILLIONS of books.

On the upside, for us, there truly is no such thing as bad publicity. Being cheered for charitable donations and having our books be the focus of a book burning are both beneficial to our cause. For a politician, there most definitely is such a thing as bad publicity.

One thing we should all keep in mind, however. Compared to authors and politicians, the media folks are Olympic level Attention Whores. Even if they have nothing valuable to say, they're still yakking. So take what they say with a grain of salt, even if it agrees with your point of view. They want, need, and crave your attention.

And they don't really care if it's good or bad attention either. Ann Coulter is just as happy having you bash her for being a harpy as a "Conservative Goddess."

Now THERE'S an Attention Whore if I've ever seen one. She's so addicted to attention she'd pose for Hustler (eek, what an image) if she couldn't get it any other way.

So, on behalf of all of us (mostly) righteous Attention Whores. We'd much prefer you pay attention to us than our counterparts.

They don't deserve it.

We do.

;)

This message brought to you by the "Man, these people need to lighten up a little" Commission.