Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a celebrity? Nope, me neither, but I actually got a bit of an insight into the question over the past few days. Not that I am in any way like a celebrity, but there were people from the PR firm calling and emailing me both ahead of and after the WSJ interview, buttering me up.

Seriously, this seems to be what PR firms do. It was embarrassing. I like having clients tell me what a brilliant job I did for them, out of sheer happiness, but having the PR people tell me how great I was seemed odd. Presumably this is what PR people do, and it becomes natural to them. Just as elementary school teachers get accustomed to saying things like, "Bradley, I love the way you used your words when Madison hit you!" and "I like how Brianna is being quiet!"

So I suppose celebrities have PR people calling them up not merely a few times a day to say, "You're brilliant! We love you! Here's what we want you to say to the reporters, though of course you can say anything you want..." but probably hovering over them saying these things. How can they get any work done?

My husband has gone for one day without smoking. #1 son got a notice that he won $50 for an essay he wrote last semester. #2 daughter made it safely to Paris. My Northerner gave me a title and helped me configure Outlook so I can email people as though from his company. Or indeed, actually from his company, in a flat world sort of way. I have lots of work to do, including a vendor table to staff on Saturday. Since I've got that to do, I actually would like to take today or tomorrow off. Or parts of today or tomorrow. I think I'd better sit down with my planner and figure out when and if I can do that.

The nice woman from the WSJ called and interviewed me yesterday. Unfortunately, she called just as Janalisa arrived for a walk, but I had to talk with her. I had spent much of the day up to that point talking with the PR firm and so on.

I think she probably wanted a sadder story than I had to offer her. She was looking for a laid off worker who had successfully taken up contract work, and that's me, but I didn't have much adversity to offer her along the way. As you guys know, if you always read this blog and have total recall, I actually didn't have any adversity in the course of this year.

"Well, I got laid off so I went and asked a computer guy for work and then I wrote some stuff and people offered me jobs" doesn't make a thrilling story. I may be one sentence in her story. "Some workers found the transition relatively easy. Ms. X, a middle aged lady in a small rural town I've never heard of, just kind of went out and got some work. Mr. Y, however, had a much better story. Let me tell you about him..."

She may also make me sound like a complete idiot. This is my real concern. I have read the WSJ for years, and they often make people sound like idiots. She was nice to me, while the PR person had warned me that some people found her impatient, but I know that reporters are nice to their subjects merely to lure them into unguarded remarks which they will later use to make their subjects sound like idiots.

Still, the overall coolness of the event made it worthwhile. I hope.

I got a couple more new jobs yesterday, but the assortment of calls and emails and things involved in that and the WSJ interview caused me to get only four billable hours in.