Jennifer Brown

When a good friend told me that her humor column had succumbed to newspaper downsizing, I felt sad for her. But more than that, I felt scared for me. My friend has major talent; if her column could go... would mine, too?

Well, this weekend, I found out that some restructuring was going on at Star Magazine, where my Sunday column runs semi-regularly. The editor I've been working with (an awesome guy, btw) was hopeful that the new editor would find space for my column. But alas, she doesn't. Which means my Sunday spot in Star Mag is a thing of the past, less than a year after it began.

I'm not bitter about it, actually. It was sort of a gift to me. The opportunity had come to me without me asking for it, which doesn't really happen to me very often... okay, ever. And right in time for Mother's Day, to boot, which scored me a cool gig at a Mother's Day banquet -- a couple hundred potential readers. My readership increased tenfold and I never -- not ONCE! -- got hate mail based on a column that ran in Star Mag.

Plus, I still have my Neighborhood News column, which runs weekly and has been going for over 2 years now (seriously? Where does the time go?!).

Not to mention, Scott was quick to point out, this will free up time to write an actual humor book (yes, I think one would sell if I had the time to write it) and, oh yeah...feed that pesky little obsession I have with fiction-writing.

Still, I'm going to vy for some space in the FYI section. I'm just a glutton that way, I guess.