Ten Questions with Polli of Polliwog’s Pond.

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
My blog is me. It’s not about a character I dreamed up, or my ‘Internet persona’ or about a specific goal or purpose. I have no writing or artwork or music or anything to sell or get recognition for. It’s just me, learning, growing, surviving life. Me being me.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
I haven’t written a whole lot in the four months I’ve had my blog, but I think my launch post — A Blog Is Born — would best define me because it has the most personal ’stuff’ about me that I have written to date, and it explains why I started the blog.

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
The only thing that sets us apart from each other are our wonderful, unique differences. I guess the obvious things that set me apart might be the six kids, or the crush on Al Gore, or maybe my overuse of the word ’stuff.’ (smile)

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
I discovered blogging via online journaling at LiveJournal. A BookCrossing friend encouraged me to join LJ and I did in September of 2005. I had no clue what to write about. My friend said, “Do some memes so we can learn more about you!” I didn’t even know what a meme was. My first post on LJ was about my love of iTunes and these zany iMixes I had made. I went on to journal — mostly private for friends only — on LJ for a year before quitting. I enjoyed LJ, but there were aspects of the community that dragged me down and that I didn’t want to be a part of anymore. I started learning about “real” blogs shortly after that and went on to help a friend from LJ start up his humor blog. That same friend encouraged me to start my own blog, which I did on April 1, 2007.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
I’m not a fan of the overly ’snarky’ blogs that delight in putting others down or making fun of them. Laughing at ourselves or poking light-hearted fun is one thing, but the bloggers who consistently post negative, mean-spirited pieces really bring me down.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
Oh boy. I love plugins and widgets and services. You might say I have an unhealthy obsession. I like trying them out, and often they don’t work, or I can’t figure out how to make them work so they get deactivated. Right now on my blog, I have 43 widgets and plugins installed, but the majority of those are behind-the-scenes plugins that do important things. Only a handful are the widgets you see on the blog itself as I like to try and keep my ’sidebar stuff’ to a minimum. I guess the one I couldn’t live without would be Akismet because of all the spam I get. It’s really weird spam too that I’d be horrified if it ever showed up on the blog.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
Eleanor Roosevelt. Hands down. I’m a huge fan of her, and her work and writing. After I read the enormous two-volume biography about E.R. written by Blanche Wiesen Cook, I felt so inspired. There were many personal aspects of her life that I identified with, and I felt as if she became the person I wish I could be. I think she’d get me.

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
It has helped me grow personally, learn more about myself and others and to experience a feeling of not being alone. Blogging really opens up the world to you, and you are exposed to so many new ideas and thoughts. You cannot help but become a better person.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
I think the answer to this would vary depending on the type of blog you have and your end-goals for it. For a personal blog like mine that never aspires to sell anything or be big someday, I’d say: Be yourself, keep at it, be responsible and take time to reach out to others.

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
I have a subscription list of about 150 blogs in my Google Reader, and a handful of real favorites but the one blog I’d like to name for this question would be a beautiful, inspirational blog called Evenstar Art written by a woman I consider a soul-sister, Graciel. Graciel is a true renaissance woman. She writes with remarkable ease. She inspires. She makes art, she shows me things I can’t seem to see on my own. Go to her blog when you are having a bad day or struggling with something, and I guarantee if you take time to really read her words and not skim them, that you will gain some level of peace or a new perspective on life.

To find out more about Polli and Polliwog’s Pond, be sure to read Polliwog’s Pond - A Blog We Luv. 

Categories: Personal, Ten Questions