Curmudgeon dabbles in shameless cross-promotion

I received an email from Susan Harris, a blogger whose on-line empire includes, inter alia, Boomer Turn-Ons. Her posts have cropped up several times in Jay Harrison's ezine BoomSpeak. Most important (to me, anyway), Ms. Harris left an actual comment on one of my recent posts.

I really like comments. (That is to say, I really like comments that are not spam or robo-comments. You can't expect a lawyer to make an unqualified statement, even in a personal blog, can you?)

But to return to Ms. Harris and her recent email. She was circulating a story proposal, looking to entice features editors stuck for story ideas into writing about the growing phenomenon of "Boomer blogs," that is, blogs written by, for and about persons of a certain age.

The strength of this proposal is obvious. Persons of a certain age actually read newspapers. The downside, sadly, is also obvious:

But if a story appeared in the newspaper, hesitant boomers might flock to the Internet... if only to look around at carefully previewed, safe sites.

Ms. Harris suggested I alert my "media contacts" about the idea.

But that's a problem. I'm an anonymous blogger. The good news about being anonymous is that no one knows where to send the Sheriff with the summons. The bad news is that no one also knows where to send a check. And while I actually do have some media contacts -- OK, a couple of reporters accepted my Facebook friend request (submitted in my actual name)... and a couple of others didn't reject me out of hand -- I am obliged to admit that, even in real life, I'm not exactly well connected with the 'dead tree media.'

Maybe if I didn't call it that....

Still, I wish to get in the spirit of Ms. Harris' venture. Let me pass on her suggestions by quoting liberally from her press release. (Don't you wish professional reporters admitted when they did that?) Ms. Harris provides this list:

Overview of Blogs aimed at Baby Boomers

The big guns

· AARP has professionally written blogs on every topic. http://blog.aarp.org/

· NBC Digital launched a family of “Life Goes Strong” blogs in May of 2010. They cover Play, Work, Life, Tech, Family, Style, Home, etc.

Magazine-format blogs

· Boomer Café, written by seasoned newsmen Greg Dobbs and David Henderson, began way back in 1999.

· Boom Speak is an ezine for Boomers who like to think they’re still edgy, by graphic designer and author Jay Harrison.

Individual blogs with unique voices.

· Going Like Sixty is smart and funny, penned by recently retired publisher Mark van Patten, now chronicling his move from Kentucky to Costa Rica.

· Boomer Turn-ons covers the TV, music, technology, second careers, etc. that are turning on a DC-based ex-hippie-turned-corporate-blogger and her friends.

· Baby Boomer Daily covers Boomer culture, politics and celebrities. Terry Hamburg waxes nostalgic about the cultural waypoints that Boomers experienced.

· Bodacious Boomer is also irreverent and funny, by a Texan.

· GeezerSisters is written by Ruth Pennebaker, author of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

· AgingHipsters.com, begun in 2003, is the granddaddy of Boomer blogs.

· Second Effort is the work of a Chicago “Curmudgeon” who defines himself as “a dinosaur” and “an Ozzie and Harriet person living in an Ozzy and Sharon world.”

· Boomer Chronicles is written by a Boston-based journalist, self-described feminist and lesbian.

Single-topic blogs

· Dirty Hippie Radio covers music.

· Boomeropia is about travel for Boomers.

· Boomers Offshore is for Boomers living outside the U.S.

· HappyHealth.net is about aging, not specifically Boomers.

· The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide covers consumer choices.

Boomers blogging to showcase their services

· Boomer Tech Talk, written by social media professionals, has excellent content.

· The Savyy Boomer covers all types of marketing to Boomers.

· Lots of Boomer blogs are written by life coaches and counselors. Examples are Feisty Side of Fifty, Retirement as you want it, Contemporary Retirement, So Baby Boomer, Midlife Crisis Queen and BoomerLiving.com.

It's nice to be listed among such accomplished writers and with such distinguished sites.

Technical note: If this list comes up as gibberish, it's because I imported it from a Word document. And I'm a WordPerfect guy. I will press publish now and see what happens....

Update: I think all of these links are live now... including some where the links don't look like links. I'd try and fix that, too, but that seems beyond my technical ken on a busy morning.