If you blink on the Internet, you’ll miss a million blog posts that you wanted to read.
Okay, maybe that’s an extreme statistic, but many lonely blog posts go unread and unloved. Enter the Deja Vu blogfest, brainchild of bloggers Katie Mills, DL Hammons, Lydia Kang and Nicole Ducleroir. On December 16th participants will re-post their favorite blog offering, or one that didn’t get a lot of exposure – maybe because it was early blogging days or a holiday – whatever. So I’m taking the opportunity to re-post one I wrote a little over a year ago for a contest in the Writer’s Platform-Building Crusade. After a week of serious blogging, I was in the mood for light. So here it is, for your reading (or re-reading) pleasure.
Julie: An American Girl
You may not know this about me, but they’ve created an American Girl doll and written six books based upon me and my life.* Yes, you read that correctly. The worst part is, I only discovered this a few days ago when I came across the boxed set of books and the doll in Costco. Imagine my shock! Here I was, innocently looking for the 60-count package of kartoffelpuffers when I saw myself looking back at me in doll form.
Don’t believe me? Consider the evidence. American Girl Julie grew up in the 70s. I grew up in the 70s. Julie’s parents got a divorce. My parents got a divorce (albeit not in the 70s, but still…). Julie has a pet rock. I had a pet rock. If that is not enough to convince you, let’s take a look at the photographic evidence. Here is a picture of the doll and a picture of me circa the mid-seventies. I rest my case.
The Doll
The ModelOkay, so AG Julie lives in San Francisco and I lived in Northern Michigan. Obviously the author (the fabulously talented Megan McDonald) had to change some of the details in order to avoid paying me my fair share of the significant proceeds of this series. Honestly, if I find out that AG Julie has a toy skeleton that glows in the dark after you hold it up to a light bulb, a Lite Brite, Weebles (they wobble, but they don’t fall down), and/or Shrinky Dinks, I might consider a lawsuit.
I just feel so violated… Lately, I’ve taken to walking down the street under an umbrella wearing sunglasses with plate-sized lenses just to avoid recognition. Now that they are filming the “Julie” story (out in 2012), I can’t get any peace. You’d think they would have at least given me a part in the movie – but no. Apparently I’m now too old for the title role. American Girl actually dares to put this series in the historical fiction category. First of all, it’s not fiction – it’s my life. Secondly, I am most definitely not old enough to be considered historical in any way, right? Right????
On that note, I’ve often told my mother that the name Julie is so seventies that by the time I get to be 80 years old, it will be the equivalent of Maude or Gertrude or Betty today. So for all of you fellow Julies out there, we need to stage a comeback for the name. They’ve done it with names like Olivia and Sophia, so why not Julie? Who’s got some pull with the Top 100 Baby Names Book publisher? Best get on it.
Otherwise, we’ll all soon be known as Julie: An American Old Lady.
*Some or all of this post may or may not be true…
This post was written as part of Rachael Harrie’s Writers’ Platform-Building Crusade. She is 100% to blame for the kartoffelpuffer reference.
Categories: Authors, Children's Books, Writing · Tags: American Girl, American Girl Dolls, Blogfest, Blogging, Children's Books, Deja Vu Blogfest, Julie Hedlund, Julie: An American Girl, Lite Brite, Megan McDonald, Pet Rocks, Shrinky Dinks, The Seventies, Weebles, Writer, Writer's Platform-Building Crusade
