Fifteen minutes of fame

In 1968, artist Andy Warhold said, "In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes." In those pre-Internet days, that sounded like an outlandish claim.

Now, we see it happening all the time. In fact, it just happened to the son of a good friend of my family’s, in a sequence of events worthy of a Harlequin American romance

New York resident Patrick Moberg – whose parents live across the street from my parents in Nashville, Tennessee – saw a cute girl on the subway. Just as he worked up the nerve to introduce himself, she exited, and a knot of people prevented him from following.

So he did what any savvy 21-year-old Web site designer would do. He posted a site, nygirlofmydreams.com, featuring sketches of himself and the cutie, along with a description of her and some sweet, humorous remarks begging readers to help him find her.

Instead, the media found him.

Next thing he knew, he was being featured on ABC-TV (read all about it at http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3828525&page=1) and his parents were fielding calls from reporters around the globe. It wasn’t just New Yorkers who got a chuckle, it was also people as far away as Australia which, as it turned out, is where the young lady hails from.

Did they meet? Yes. And clicked, according to Patrick. The girl of his dreams is a 22-year-old magazine intern named Camille Hayton, and they’ve appeared together on “Good Morning America.” They also went out to dinner, on ABC’s dime.

All very well. Here’s the part of the story that should interest us authors, though.

The same week that Patrick was rocketing to fame, his sister, Julia Moberg, saw her first novel published. Entitled Skies Over Sweetwater, it’s the story of an 18-year-old girl who trains as an Air Force pilot during World War II. Suitable for all ages, it’s aimed at celebrating the Women Air Force Service Pilots and encouraging young women to take an interest in aviation.

Needless to say, Julia did not get featured on “Good Morning America.” ABC did not pay for her to eat a fancy dinner (let alone travel there by limousine), nor were her parents swamped with calls from abroad about her new book.

She’s just an author, like the rest of us. Hard-working and still dreaming of our fifteen minutes of fame.
Well, here’s a tip of the hat – and a bit of blog attention -- to Julia Moberg. Good luck with your book, and keep on flyin’!