Feb. 16: Blogging meme

This blogging meme is making the rounds on the ‘net, so I decided to play along. If you’re a blogger, you can too.

1. How long have you been blogging?
   I started my web site in 1999, so… going on 11 years. I started using Blogger in 2007, and that made it easy to post more frequently.
2. Why did you start your blog? Were you inspired by someone or something?
   I was pregnant and looking for an easy way to share information with family and friends. I think I wasn’t so much inspired as pushed by my students; I taught web publishing classes and was frequently asked what kind of web site *I* had. I needed something to show the nosy freaks.
3. How many hours a week do you spend on your blog?
   Oh, way too many.
4. What kind of experience or background do you have with writing? 
   I’ve kept a journal since high school, so I guess a lot of my writing experience has come from that. I took creative writing classes, wrote for the school newspaper, that sort of thing. I think the most widely circulated publication I ever wrote for was the Collegiate Quarterly. I also think everyone else at my college was asked to write for it too. I am not special.
5. How do you come up with blog topics? Where do you get your ideas?
   I typically write about whatever pops into my mind. Sometimes I read a news item that sparks a thought, and other times it’s just the regular things in life that get me writing.
6. Do you have any blogging rules?
   One of my pet peeves is when bloggers post without citing their sources. I try to remember to cite my sources and link to them whenever possible. I can’t think of any other rules I follow. Well, besides the attempts at perfect spelling and punctuation, but that’s just something I require of myself.
7. Is there anything you will not blog about?
   Much to my husband’s dismay, not much is off limits. I don’t get into specifics about work—bad idea. And I won’t try to resolve issues with friends or family by writing about them, knowing they’ll read it. In other words, I try not to use it as a passive-aggressive tool. Y’know, now that I think about it, there’s a lot of stuff I won’t blog about. Maybe it’s none of your beeswax though. So there.
8. How do you deal with blogger’s block?
   This doesn’t happen very often, probably because news items rile or humor me often enough that I can almost always find something to post. If I’m really, truly desperate I look for a meme to complete, which is not to say that if I publish a meme I have nothing else to say. Some memes are just kinda fun.
9. Do you have a publishing schedule?
   It all depends on how post-y I’m feeling. Sometimes I post four times a day, but usually once a day is enough. I’ll publish any time of day or night, but tend to write in the mornings most often. 
10. How many posts are in your “drafts” folder right now?
    None. Well, I suppose if I dug around in my document folders I’d find some unfinished posts, but they’re old and I’ve probably forgotten what my point was by now.
11. What blogging program do you use (WordPress, LiveJournal, Blogger, etc.)?
    Blogger, heavily customized. I created a cascading style sheet that makes my text area wider than the standard Blogger text column. Being wider allows for larger photos and video windows that don’t get chopped off. I also created all the headings for the sidebar, my signature, etc.
12. Do you use the blog publisher window to write your posts, or a text editor, or something else?
    I use Windows Live Writer and I love it. The Blogger posting window bugs me.
13. Are there other blogs you feel are similar to yours in content, style, or voice?
    Yes, many. Remember? I am not special.
14. Do you make money from your blog?
    No. I’ve considered making affiliate links or adding Google AdSense to my blog, but haven’t. I doubt I’d earn much, and those ads are annoying as hell.
15. How did you come up your blog name?
    Well, there’s not really a theme to my blog; it’s just stuff I feel like saying. Some would call me brilliant for coming up with such a perfect name. I call them delightful (and very, very easy to please).
16. How many blogs do you have? If you have more than one, why?
    Just the one. I can barely keep this one going sometimes, so I’m not about to try juggling another.
17. What are some of the other blogs you read and recommend to fellow bloggers?
    I love The Bloggess, the snarky girls at Go Fug Yourself, and my friends Sunshine and Sherilee and Jen E. I follow a lot more blogs, but those have probably been in my feed reader longest, they’re updated regularly, and they’re the ones that make me happiest when I see new posts.
18. Are you having as much fun now as when you first started blogging?
    Even more. Blogging is a very fun and creative outlet for me.