Now, see, this is what I like. Here is an opportunity presented to me, so I think the only sensible thing to do is to milk it for every single drop. So, here we have: 
Yes. That is Joe. Joe has ambition. Joe is a plumber.
Sort of.
Joe works for a plumber. Joe is studying to be a licensed plumber. And one day Joe wants to be the boss.
Joe had the courage to ask Obama a question about taxes. And now Joe the Plumber is a celebrity for maybe five more minutes! Now, I've been doing a little investigating and maybe somebody put Joe up to this, but no matter for all the plumbers (or women who have written a love story with a plumber as the main character-all of you, stand up. Hello? Anyone? Bueller? What? Only me?)
Anyway, will The Jinx who is actually ABOUT a plumber who owns his own business and who DOES have a single syllable name (though it's Rick, not Joe) and IS licensed (though I guess I didn't mention that in the book) get any hits on Amazon because a good friend of mine put "plumber" as one if its tags??!! Who knows? But maybe so. Wouldn't that be great? And even though The Jinx takes place in Georgia and not in Ohio, no biggie, we're talking about a likable guy here, any person, really who could be Joe Blow or...er...Joe Wurzelbacher. No, really. That is his name. But I think Rick Braswell sounds better. And that is why I made Joe's name that. Did I base the character of Rick on Joe?
Possibly.
Because Joe seems to be a popular name for Plumbers. I did a google search and I found:
Joe Lara the Plumber. This Joe has two mottos which are "the Plumber's Plumber!" and "Jobs BIG & small, I do them ALL!" Joe lives in Ventura County in Southern California. And then there is:
Joe the Plumber who lives and services Amarillo, Texas. Joe is illusive with his last name, but he has a cute cartoon picture of his butt crack on his website which I could not figure out how to copy so you you'll just have to trust me on this or look at the website yourself (http://www.joetheplumber.com/) Sorry Joe Wurzelbacher, this Joe already has the domain name. Interestingly enough, you can buy a shirt with the cartoon buttcrack plumber on it. Not sure why you'd want one, but, hey, it is good advertising for Joe the Plumber (the illusive no last name one, not the one who likes to ask hard questions to presidential candidates).
Both Joe Lara and Joe Cartoon Butt Crack are licensed, according to their websites. Good to know. And we hope after his 15 minutes are up, the famous "Joe the Plumber" will study hard and get his license as well.
I'm betting this has been great for business for all the Joe Plumbers. Good PR is very important. I took an online publicity class to find out how to get the name of my book and name out there for potential readers. One of the suggestions was putting a magnetic sign on one's car. I haven't done this yet. However, I do know of a plumber that has memorable advertising on his van. All I can say is I bet his kids would rather walk ten miles to school than have him drop them off. Ready for it?
No, seriously. Do you really want to see this?
Suffice to say, this is NOT Rick. Rick drives a classy red truck with absolutely no advertising and no pictures whatsoever. Nada.
That picture? It demeans every Joe Plumber out there. And, honestly!! What was this guy thinking? That's just gross. But funny in a disturbing sort of way. Okay! Shoot me. I sometimes laugh at bathroom humor, especially when painted on the side of someone's truck (preferably not someone who lives or works in my neighborhood).
