Not Devastated : Woman Loses Bid to Replace Ann Landers

What advice would Carole Wells have for someone who was happy with her life but who tried for something more--say, a job as Ann Landers’ replacement--and didn’t get it?

“Keep risking and trying,” said Wells, who found herself in that very situation Thursday. “Don’t let disappointment end your risk-taking.”

Wells, a Los Alamitos marital and sex therapist, was one of seven finalists for the Chicago Sun-Times’ advice columnist’s job, which the newspaper announced Thursday had been given to two people--neither of them Wells.

Not Devastated

But Wells insisted she wasn’t devastated by the news.

“Part of me was disappointed,” she said. “But another part of me was absolutely glad I could stay here in California. The thought of going to Chicago did not appeal to me.”

The newspaper chose Diane Crowley, 47, a lawyer from Longmeadow, Mass., whose mother was the first Ann Landers more than three decades ago, and Jeffrey Zaslow, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who said he had originally applied to write a story about the search.

“They are two different people with different perspectives,” said Matthew Storin, editor of the Sun-Times. “But they share a strong desire to help people, and each had demonstrated to us enormous commitment to the idea of doing this column for the Sun-Times.”

While Crowley said she will dispense “conventional advice,” Zaslow told the Associated Press he hoped to stray from the beaten path.

“I’ve got dozens of ideas, and I hope some of them will make you shake your head and say, ‘This guy’s off the wall,’ ” he said.

Columnist Defected

The newspaper’s national search for a columnist began earlier this year when Eppie Lederer, who still uses the name “Ann Landers,” defected to the Chicago Tribune, where her twin sister, Abigail Van Buren, has long presided over the “Dear Abby” advice column.

Wells was one of 11,000 applicants for the job. (Another 1,000 were eliminated because their entries were late.) That number was whittled down by Sun-Times editors to 108, all of whom were sent four hypothetical questions to answer. The field then was narrowed to 22.

A panel of psychiatrists, psychologists, a radio talk show host and a theologian then ranked the semifinalists. The top seven, Wells included, were summoned for interviews.

Wells said Thursday she had not met Crowley but had been introduced to Zaslow. Her impression of him? “No comment,” she said with a laugh.

Wells was told of the Sun-Times’ decision Wednesday night and felt both “disappointed and relieved.

“I really love California,” she said. “The day-to-day grind was not the attraction of the job.”

She was drawn by “the potential for lots of money and being influential on a grand scale. . . . But I love what I do. My feeling is I’ve got one of the best jobs in the world.”

But she added: “I’m still open for offers from any syndication that wants an advice columnist. Preferably a West Coast syndication.”

Times wire services contributed to this story.