In 1968, Andy Warhol said, “In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes.” He may not have had MySpace in mind at the time, but he saw the potential for anyone to get their moment in the spotlight. So if you are interested in grabbing those 15 minutes of fame, here are some suggestions on how to get started.

Release your Inner Author

It used to be that to get noticed as a writer, you had to write a manuscript, get an agent, and cross your fingers and hope you are part of the 1 – 2% of those who actually make it on the shelf of a bookstore. Now, if you want the whole world to read what you wrote, all you need to do is hop online, and you can build your readership, one tweet at a time.

One way is to start a Blog. Blogs have been around since the late 90’s, and began as an easy way to keep a personal journal online to share with friends and family. Now there are all types of blogs – news, art, corporate, video, humor, tutorials – there are even blogs about blogging. It’s easy and can even be free to create and host your own blog, with popular services like WordPress. If you want to make sure people can find it, you can register your blog with a blogging search engine, like Technorati, that will index tags within your blog and put you in their directory. There is a ridiculous amount of advice out there on how to get started, of course, on thousands of blogs.

But if the task of keeping up a blog is too intimidating, try Twitter. Nothing will make you feel more famous than having people “follow you.” You only get to express yourself 140 characters at a time, but lots of people are starting to push the limits, creating novels and poetry, even collages on Twitter. And if 140 characters is still too intimidating, there’s always Flutter.

For those of you who have that 430 page Great American Novel on your c:/ drive (which by the way, is a very bad idea, see how to backup your work here), but haven’t gotten that literary agent and book publisher lined up yet, you can publish your book yourself. With online services like Lulu, you can self-publish your novel, print actual bound books or publish an e-book. You can even make your book available at major bookstores, without all those pesky rejection letters from big time publishers. You will, however, need to arrange your own book tours, but you can do that virtually as well.

Compose a Concerto

Hey Maestro! Ready to compose your first opera? No? You aren’t classically trained? Well that’s okay, because in the magical age of computers, there’s no need to know how to play an instrument or read music to compose a song. You don’t even have to change out of your jammies to jam with other musicians. You can experiment to your heart’s delight, just you and your computer, and face your fans when you are good and ready.

There are some fun, easy to use online music notation software programs, like Noteflight, where you can write music, hear it played as you compose, and even share your masterpieces with friends. You can literally just type the letters for the notes on your keyboard, or click and drag the notes along the staff. Next thing you know, you’ve just created an original composition. When you are ready to take it to the next level, there are more sophisticated programs that the pros use, like Sibelius.

If you aren’t quite that high brow, you might want to try a music creation site, like JamStudio, where you can create your own songs. You just choose your key, pick your chords, add your instruments, and mix away. You can even choose a specific sound you are going for – from country to techno – change the tempo, and choose variations of your chords. Keep your song private or share it with the world. No one will ever know you’ve never played an instrument in your life.

If you actually do play an instrument, but you haven’t gotten the band back together and don’t have cool friends who play, you can tap into the World Wide Web and collaborate with other musicians online. Sites like Indaba Music let you upload a track, and invite others to contribute. You can even take the individual tracks, mix your own song and next thing you know, you’re the next Postal Service.

Then when you are ready to face your fans, you can build your rig, set up your own home recording studio, soup up the van and go on tour.

Create Fine Art

Do you wish you could create fine art, but you just don’t have the raw talent or inspiration to start from scratch? Here are some really fun websites to get your creative juices flowing.

Last time you saw a Jackson Pollock painting, you probably said to yourself, “I could do that!” Well, hotshot, here’s your chance. At JacksonPollock.org, you use your mouse as your paintbrush, click to change colors, and voila! You can hit “print screen” on your keyboard and sell it for a million dollars!

Jackson Pollock not exactly your cup of tea? Then how about Monet? Or Van Gough? You can turn your photos into fine art with a free website called Psykopaint. It’s not your typical photo editing program where you blanket different filters on like peanut butter. Psykopaint lets you take actual artist inspired brush strokes, adjust the effect to your liking, and apply it to very specific parts of the photo. They even have a gallery to help inspire you.

Mr. Picasso Head. Enough said. This is a ridiculously simple program that at first glance, you might say, “how could I ever create fine art with these limited tools?” Well, start browsing the gallery of over a million creations, and you’ll be embarrassed that you ever doubted Mr. Picasso Head. And once you’re proud enough of your masterpiece to hit print or share, you can even sign your work in a Picasso font.

Now that you’re ready to display your art in your home, you can print it out, upload your digital creations to a digital photo frame, or better yet, wirelessly stream your art from your computer to your HDTV. C'mon, we’re Best Buy… we had to go there.