Pat Bertram Is Two Years Old Today!

On May 17, 2007, I --- or rather, Pat Bertram --- signed up for the Internet, and it was love at first byte. The entire world opened up to me, and I was reborn. I’d already written four books, but until I went online, I hadn’t started creating the author of those books. Who should I be? What name should I use? I considered using a male pseudonym, Cole Black, perhaps, since men with hard C’s and K’s do well in the public arena. Anyone heard of Steven King? Dean Koontz? Tom Clancy? Kevin Costner? Clint Eastwood?

In the end I decided to stick with a version of my own name, one that I didn’t use in my offline life. It’s a good name for an author with enough hard consonants to sound authoritative. And it has the whole androgynous “It’s Pat” thing going for it; I can be whoever I want. Besides, p’s and b’s and t’s and r’s didn’t hurt Brad Pitt any.

I signed up for my domain, set up a website at patbertram.com, then fished around for another way to create myself, and discovered blogging. I didn’t even know what a blog was, didn’t think it was something I would ever be able to do (my diaries as a kid never lasted more than a day or two), but I’d discovered that an author needed a blog. Since I was intent on creating myself as an author, I signed up for Wordpress, and oh! What a joy! I could write whatever I wanted, say what I wanted, be what I wanted, and people would read what I wrote. Okay, only a couple of people read Bertram’s Blog at the beginning, but I am still friends with one of them. How cool is that? I’m too embarrassed to admit how many blogs I now have -- some of which I keep up with on a regular basis, some I don’t -- but blogging remains one of my favorite online activities.

From blogging, I went to Gather.com to enter a crime writing contest, and through a series of incredibly serendipitous encounters, I found a publisher. And more friends. After that, of course, I had to start promoting, so I started social networking. I’d heard from so many authors how much they hated promoting, but me? I think it’s great fun. It’s all about making friends, and what’s more fun than that?

So, friends, please join me in celebrating this very special birthday. You don’t even have to bring me a present. I have presents for you! Click on any package to open. Or click on any other image. I hope you have fun.

I know I will.

The Blogging Grannies

If you're like me, you may find it difficult to convince your mom of 65 years old that blogging is something she'd enjoy. Too many moms that age still don't know how to turn on a computer, much less understand the benefits of the internet. And some moms (and dads) who are 60+ don't even know what a blog is.

But there are 2 lovely ladies who love to blog and have a lot to say and share. I stumbled across Maria Amelia Lopez, who is 95, and Olive Riley, who just turned 108. These 2 gals put the rest of us to shame! :)

Maria's grandson set up her blog as a birthday present, and no one knew it would take off the way it did. In her first blog entry, she posted "Today it's my birthday and my grandson, who is very stingy, gave me a blog." Maria is billed as one of the world's oldest bloggers, with Olive Riley in the lead by 13 years. Maria's blog has seen over 340,00 hits since December 2006. Spain's "little grannie" has become a hit world-wide, although most of her blog is in Spanish. She talks about everything--life, children, war--and she does it with wisdom and often humor. She talks of the past and her youth, and of current affairs, and she does so bluntly. I wish I could read Spanish!

Olive Riley, fondly referred to as Ollie, at 108 is blogging with the assistance of Mike Rubbo. I'm not sure if he's family or a friend, but regardless, he has a great heart and is the film industry. In fact, he has put up some never before audition footage from his Canadian film Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveler. Mike is trying to track down some of these 'kids' who auditioned for the Tommy Tricker movie. Olive is from Australia, a great, great grandmother, and she also talks about a wide variety of topics, although for the most part, Mike does most of the talking. I have to laugh at some of Ollie's comments. She prefers to call her blog "my blob". This gal has got spunk!

This just goes to show that our senior seniors still have something to say. And they're gonna say it, by golly! And all the power to them. Gotta love 'em! :)

And for my not so seniorly friends and writer pals who haven't gotten up the nerve to start a blog, what the heck are you waiting for?

Visit Maria Amelia Lopez's blog.
Visit Olive (Ollie) Riley's blog.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
bestselling author of Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention
http://www.cherylktardif.com/