I turned on the tv early last night and then went into the kitchen and couldn’t see the screen but I heard a voice that I remembered always sent chills down my spine. I walked into the living room and sure enough, staring me in the face, swastika on forehead, cigarette in hand, Charles Manson, probably one of the most notorious figures of our lifetime.

I had to look twice. I shouldn’t have been so surprised they had given him yet another Andy Warhol 15 minutes; I worked in news for nearly two decades before saying “enough is enough” as I saw it going in a direction in which valuable camera-time was being handed over to the infamous, rather than the famous; and often the famous had worked hard and been productive all their lives to get where they were. In other words, sensationalism was winning out over positive broadcasting. I am not saying stories of such notorious characters should not be mentioned or remembered. It is important to remember the Holocaust. It is important to remember Hilter; and for obvious reasons. It serves the educational process. Media can have a powerful effect on teaching a government, a citizenry, an entire nation on how not to repeat the errors of the past.

So I said to myself, “Okay, maybe it is time for Charlie to show his mug to remind us what we don’t want to be. The problem I had with the program was he was given an entire hour of nothing but his predictable rambling. He was having a blast. The media was showing the world, “Look, doing something crazy like brainwash people into killing other people, and you two, a half century later, can still be a big celebrity.” And that is exactly what was happening. I kept thinking to myself, why couldn’t this cable news program dedicate a full hour to a captain of industry such as Bill Gates or Michael Dell or the founders of Google who do so much good in the world. I could have even tolerated another Donald/Rosie fight over Charlie’s mug; or pretended like I cared about “Barbara Walter’s torrid sex life” now being broadcast from here to eternity due to her new kiss and tell book. But I digress.

Would you believe Charles Manson almost became a Monkee? I mean the sixties singing band. He actually tried out. They didn’t accept him however.

Manson, I do not believe, was on Andy Warhol’s mind when he was telling us how to get our 15 minutes of fame. He knew the steps, and none of them required any evil or violence.

Sigmund Freud felt everyone is driven by something. Do you want your 15 minutes of fame? What drives you? Perhaps not. Maybe it is money. Maybe it is doing good in the world. Maybe it is having money and doing good in the world with it. Whatever it is, chances are, are you willing to take the positive steps necessary to “get it”?

As a cartoonist and writer, I have had way more than my 15 minutes, and I am grateful for it. I have been able to help other people, animals, and environmental causes, and do things I never dreamed I could do.

The steps to fame or success or both are fairly simple, but hard work.

Know first what your dream is. Without that, there will be nothing but false starts and no follow-through.

Take action on that dream. Keep taking notes as it grows and changes. Make a plan. Seek out the right people to help you make it happen.

Expedite that dream using the world wide web dor all its worth. Andy Warhol and his friends Marilyn Monroe and so many others did not have the luxury of the Internet. Norma Jean never had a blog and Andy did no social networking. You can. You can learn article marketing. Do it. Don’t stop with just a few articles. Write in blogs, learn social networking and bookmarking. Learn to do article marketing. Learn all about SEO. Learn while you are doing. Before you know it, you have succeeded. You are now a brand name, possibly a household word.

Repeat that process every day. Now you are not just successful but happy with what you are doing and have become. Congratulations