All About Me (and my blog)

1. How long have you been blogging? Since April of 2003.

2. What made you start? I was in college and recently single (again) and also drinking a lot. A lot, as in I would probably be hospitalized with alcohol poisoning if I ever tried to drink that much again. I had more drunken stories per week than most people had in a lifetime.

For this blog, I got dumped by my boyfriend of a year via text. The one that I quit my job and left my friends and moved cities for. I was home for exactly 3 weeks before I was unceremoniously dumped. I'm still pissed off he used that method, but I think now that it says a lot more about him than it does about me.

3. Who inspired you? My ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend that I hated kept a blog that was pretty personal, detailing her injured feelings from his afflictions. She had a link to it on her AIM account and I snooped with abandon. It was glorious. One day I thought, hey it's free and I can do this too.

4. About how many hours a week would you estimate you spend on your blog? Not much. Probably not more than 2 - 3 hours per week.

5. What kind of experience or background do you have with writing? Let's see. I founded my middle school newspaper. Skipped a year of English in high school. I was the editor of my high school newspaper. Went to college for journalism, but eventually changed majors to English due to some requirement— I think I didn't want to take any more foreign language classes that I needed for journalism. I also wrote for the independent paper that was prestigious and nationally ranked. For my English major, I took every class from writing humor, to translating books to film scripts, to technical writing. I ended up in the technical writing field today. Blogging is my creative outlet since I have none at work.

6. Talk about how you come up with blog topics. Where do you get your ideas? My blog posts are typically conflicts that I'm trying to work out, or stories that I think are worth telling.

7. What or who inspires you and your blog? There are a handful of blogs that I could just eat up for the writing. I love Life Goes On, I Think. I'm a new convert of Hope Dies Last. I used to really like This Fish, but she doesn't seem to have her heart in writing anymore. I loved a little Wordpress blog called Copasetic Fish, but she went private. Do you have any recommendations for me to read?

8. Where and/or how do you do your brainstorming for your blog? I usually have them planned out in my head for a few days before I commit them to word. I'm most often struck with a post while I'm driving, so I'm not in a position to write it down.

9. Do you have any blogging rules or guidelines you follow? Comments are an open forum on my blog, so any negative or hurtful ones will stay, with exception of any pejorative remarks against any race or gender or sexual preference. But I have never encountered any of those.

I also commit to write for myself and not around any comments I may receive, although I know I'm not doing that right now by avoiding certain topics.

10. Is there anything you will not blog about? This is one of the only things I have in my life that is all about me, so I don't really express interest in politics or even current events.

11. Do you have any sort of a publishing schedule in terms of day of week or topic? I aim for three posts a week. I'm pleased with myself when I can hit five. I rarely write on the weekends.

12. How many drafts of potential blog posts do you have right now? Not many. Maybe 3.

13. In what medium do you draft your posts? Ha! Notepad. That's right. Word gets on my nerves. I like the simplicity of Notepad and I'll even insert any blog formatting or links using HTML code instead of using a WYSIWYG editor.

14. How often do you completely scratch or delete drafts or blog post ideas? I'm so calculating in my thinking that it rarely happens. I know I've deleted one post on here, but that's about it.

15. If you had to leave your blog in your will to another blogger, who would you choose? I would bequeath my blog to Two Drink Girl, my oldest blogging friend. She already has my user name and password, so that is one less step. However, since I never met her in real life, I probably would need someone to tell her I died.

16. Are there other blogs that you feel are similar to yours in content, style, or voice? The topic may be overdone, but I enjoy reading all relationship blogs or posts about love and boys. Do you have any recommendations?

17. Has anything surprised you since you started blogging? The amount of support I receive from strangers. It's not something I receive a lot in my life, so I'm always surprised when someone I don't know cares enough about me to root for me. Also the number of people who have admitted they've gone through similar circumstances. It was the inspiration for our blog book You're Not The Only One.

18. What are your goals or plans for your blog going forward? To just keep trucking along without falling into a vortex like I tend to do when I get unhappy.

19. Do you make any money from your blog? I have a setup with some company where I receive $5 per post that I write on their chosen topic. I use it about once a year when I'm feeling broke and I always note it's a paid post. I really should utilize that more.

20. What blogging system do you use? Blogger! It was the first one I came across in 2003 before Google bought it, and I refuse to change my web address and move. If I had to start a new blog, I would go with Wordpress though.

21. How did you come up your blog name? It came pretty easily when I was dumped and without hope.

22. How many blogs do you have? What was your peak? I currently have 2. The most I ever had was 3. It got too confusing to manage that many.

23. Are you having as much fun as when you started? More! I love the connections and friends I've made!

24. Where do you find other bloggers like you? I'll go to the blogs I read and raid their blogrolls. I also try to read those that link to me or comment.

(BTW, I love this Blogger feature that lists blogs according to updates. My blog reading is much more efficient and I get to read so many more people!)

25. What’s your one wish when it comes to blogging? I used to always want to meet and date a boy blogger. But now that I've tried it, I'm pretty turned off by the inferring posts. They were about me without stating my name, but then again they were negative so I'm glad I wasn't listed anyway. AND WHO BLOGS ON MYSPACE ANYWAY?

My wish would be to continue meeting new people through my blog and making new friends.