10 Questions with Winter of Life or Something Like (B)it

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
My blog is an extension of my brain. It’s the stuff I babble when I’m brain fried and cream of my thoughts rises to the top and spills out. What that means is that whatever just happens to come to mind is what I write about. So, it’s about my life, my fantasies, my writing, my internet pals, and a whole bunch of random stuff. I let it out, and afterward I feel better and sometimes I make people chuckle because I’m a dork.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
Confessions of a Secret Fluff

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
I’m not sure how qualified I am to answer this since until recently I hadn’t even read blogs. However, when I set out to do something I go at it full bore, so I steadily have been increasing my knowledge about blogs since January. I can honestly say that I’m not a female who blogs about how cute my kid and DH are, and how much I love them. I’m not a writer who has informative posts about the art of slapping grammar and vocabulary together. I guess really the only thing that sets me apart from other bloggers is that these are MY thoughts. Not yours, not Mr. Fab’s, not the redneck whoever. Just ME. And since I’m not you, and not them, that makes me unique.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
Ah, the story of how I broke my blog cherry. I told this in my very first blog post. I’d been visiting this hot Romanian male model’s blog and eventually I started commenting on it too. One day, I posted, tongue in cheek of course, that if he ever wanted a sugar mama in SoCal to look me up. LOL That made me wonder, what if a woman writer did that and ended up with a hot model on her doorstep? At any rate, Andrei Andrei of Timisoara, Romania is the reason I now blog all the time.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
My answer to this goes with the tips for blogging. I think that people who use their blog as a postcard for their family and friends need to make their blogs private. When I’m searching through all the blogs looking for things to amuse me, it takes FOREVER. One day, after trolling through nothing but kiddie pics and I love you posts, I realized why. It was because many blogs are not geared for the general public, but instead for the blog owner’s private enclave of friends and family.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
I like being able to add songs or playlists from Imeem. I’ve recently been looking at a new one called Ivoon, where the widget looks like an Iphone, but truthfully, being able to use the 3rd party plug in for Imeem is it for me. I already have about 1000 MP3s on our Imeem account, so it’s just a matter of changing things up every so often.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
I’ve met a lot of cool people blogging. So many of them are funnier and more amusing than me. If I had to choose, I think I would pick author Katie McAlister because she is very amusing, and she can make talking about vampires, dragons, and hot guys really interesting. She’s the one person I can think of who would best be able to stay true to the kinds of things I babble about (writing, vampires, dragons, weird stuff in general.)

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
I don’t know that it has made me a better person. I know that it encourages me to talk to people I would probably never speak to in person. No one ever believes me when I say this, but I’m awkward and a little shy in person. Especially in big groups. I shut down in those situations. I was a little shy when I first started blogging too. Now, I go around and leave posts on all kinds of strangers’ blogs. I’m less of a lurker now because I know that if I comment on someone’s blog, they will come round to my blog and comment in return. I guess blogging has made me more open to having people know who I am.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
Read what you write before you post it. I mean, really read it. Does it make sense? Are the readers going to understand what you’re talking about? If you’re talking about someone they probably don’t know, like your next door neighbor or your boss, give them a little info so that they have a frame of reference for your post. And really, week after week of the pics of your kids and the reasons you love your spouse, gets old. If you have a blog like that, make it private and give out the link to those people who really care to see and read it. It’s tough to find good blogs to read when 9 out of 10 should be private blogs for friends and family rather than the whole net.

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
Bagwine Ruminations. There’s a lot of stuff out there that makes me laugh, but Matt touches a cord with me somehow. Maybe it’s when he calls his son his Matt-clone, or lusts over Spam, or has his Sunday Church Disservice. I don’t know. He just makes you feel like you’re hanging out with him. He’s a very welcoming kind of guy. Oh, and I don’t know of any other guys out there who would post a picture of themselves wearing teal lingerie for Half Naked Thursday. That has got to be about the most unique thing I’ve seen so far.

Categories: Personal, Ten Questions