Fired travel bloggers unite

This has been the week of the dooce — blogosphere-speak for being fired for keeping a blog. First, “La Petite Anglaise,” a secretary for an accounting firm in Paris, got a pink slip for her humorous — and anonymous — blog.

Then there was the troubling case of Christine Axsmith, the CIA blogger who lost her job after a posting on the Geneva Convention.

Full disclosure: I have been fired for keeping a blog (you can read the sordid details here). If it’s any consolation, the editor who made the decision to axe me is no longer employed by the newspaper in question. (It isn’t.)

The good news is that there’s life after being fired.

I know it. And Ellen Simonetti knows it, too.

Simonetti, you’ll recall, got jettisoned as a Delta Air Lines flight attendant after it discovered her Queen of the Sky blog in 2004.

This fall, Simonetti is releasing a self-published book, “Diary of a Dysfunctional Flight Attendant: The Queen of Sky Blog.”

It isn’t actually a book in the traditional sense, but a “novel in blog format,” according to the former attendant. The story “brings the Internet phenomenon of blogging to the traditional publishing world. In the process, a new and exciting genre is born — a genre that allows everyone (even the technologically challenged) to experience the addictive voyeurism of this hip new medium.”

The novel — according to the press release — is based on Simonetti’s “controversial true story.” It follows the online ramblings of “Queen of Sky,” the alter ego of Elena Guaio, a “fun-loving, light-hearted and slightly dysfunctional flight attendant for ‘Anonymous International Airlines’.”

Elena eventually decides to post pictures of herself on her blog — pictures in her flight attendant uniform. “The result of this seemingly innocent act throws her life into complete disarray. And a struggle of David and Goliath proportions ensues,” according to the news release.

I’ve asked for a review copy of the book and will report back with details.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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