Dear Abby

My parents didn't name me Abby for nothing.  It was only a matter of time before I had access to some forum where people could reach out to ask me questions or give me suggestions.

No, I'm not talking about being a mother to an inquisitive and highly opinionated daughter.  I'm talking about this blog.

Every weekday, I sit down to write about things that are going on with me, things that I've been thinking about, or things that catch my eye in the news.  And that is very, very selfish.

The other night, I was "meditating" (that's the word I like to use for "folding laundry") and I was having all these Eat-Pray-Love deep thoughts.  Thoughts like:

• Why have I still been so unsuccessful at finding a product that tames my frizzy hair?
• How am I supposed to get in shape when food is so delicious?
• Why does my husband have so many white undershirts?

The one I really noodled on, though, was "how do I get my readers more involved in the blog?"

You see, some bloggers have community forums, some bloggers receive tons and tons of comments on their posts that they respond to, and some bloggers have actual fans who consider them to be some kind of celebrity-deity combination.  I'm too stupid to figure out how to set up a forum, I'm apparently not provocative enough to get the people who do read my blog to comment on a post, and I'm not Jenny from the Butcher's Block, so I will never reach a level of fame beyond my household acclaim for best bed-maker.  (Which I won solely because I'm the only bed-maker.)

But there was this formula floating around in my head.  I want people to like reading this blog.  People like reading about things that ring true to them, or that are on their mind, or that they want an opinion on.  I have an email address for this blog.  People who read this blog necessarily have some form of Internet access, and probably an email account of their own to boot.

So I whipped out my TI-82, called my accountant, cried a little bit, and came up with the following:

I formally invite you, and you, and YOU to write me with a suggestion, an idea, or a request for a topic for me to write about.  It can be anything that strikes your fancy.  A celebrity you'd like me to insult.  A play-date etiquette debate you'd like me to resolve.  My thoughts on the Greek austerity debacle. 

The way to reach me is pretty easy.  See that email address winking at you in the upper right-hand corner of this page?  Look, I'll even put it right here so that it's easier to cut and paste:

abbysblog@rocketmail.com

Put that in the "to" line of an email.  Then in the message, just tell me whatever it is you think I should write about.  You don't even have to assign a subject to your email.  That's how easy I'm willing to make this for you.

I won't identify you in the post where I address your suggestion (unless you specifically tell me you want me to).  And I will also give you a heads up via email to let you know when I'm publishing my post on your topic.

Can you feel the love already?  It takes a village to raise a blog, so let's get this going!  It doesn't have to be today, or tomorrow, or next month, but whenever that flash bulb of an idea goes off, now you know where to find me and you know that mi blog es su blog. 

I think that this kind of something-for-everyone would qualify my blog as socialist and bad for America in some circles, but I don't even care.  Let's stick it to the man, fellow Left Over-ers!  This way is so much easier than living indefinitely in a tent!

Love,
Dear Abby