Eastcoastlife

The Eastcoastlife is an excellent blog from Singapore which is read by members of Parliament! While all her posts are interesting, she caught my attention due to her recent posts about her almost dying due to Dengue Fever. Her posts about this devastating disease and her subsequent recovery are the sort that make you realize how precious life is.

Kumiko: How old is your blog and why did you start it?

Eastcoastlife: My blog is 18 months old. On September 2005, my then 13-yr-old son suggested I start a blog after he had one. I did it for fun. I wasn't serious and didn't post regularly.


Kumiko: Where do you see your blog in five years?

Eastcoastlife: 5 years! haha....I doubt I would last that long. Unless I achieve fame and become a celebrity blogger, ahhhh.... then that's a different thing.


Kumiko: You recently went through a terrible medical condition where you almost died. Congratulations on passing through it! How has this changed your outlook on life?

Eastcoastlife: Can you believe it? I was almost killed by the sting of a tiny mosquito! That's not the way to die - for me. I would prefer to be silenced for knowing too much government secrets! hahaha...

After my trip back from Hell, I have to learn to let go. I used to have high expectations of myself and others. I cared very much what people think of me too. I would make sure I excel in whatever I do, I was aiming for the sky. Mistakes were not tolerated.

Now, I don't really care what others think of me. I am only in this world for a short time and I am not going to live a life dictated by others nor follow the herd.

I lived by the rules for more than 30 years. Now I'm breaking the rules and I'm enjoying it. hahaha..... Gosh, it doesn't require a lot of effort to enjoy life.


Kumiko: What's another blog that you read and why do you recommend it?

Eastcoastlife: Aaah, you have to read this blog by Tisha, http://tishabest.blogspot.com. I think she is awesome! She's a cheerful and optimistic lady. I like her style and outlook on life.


Kumiko: What type of person would be interested in reading your blog?

Eastcoastlife: Anyone. Those whom I know are reading my blog now are the teachers and students of my son's school and their parents. Many men and women, young and old are reading my blog. Even some members of Parliament in Singapore are reading my blog!

One reader from my son's school once commented,"You can't write and your posts are not interesting. I boycott your blog."

HA HA HA, she can go eat cow-dung for all I care!


Haha! I agree! Thank your for telling us about your blog, Eastcoastlife.

Propstm.net

Time to get a bit technical here at Blog Interview as I interview Matt from propstm.net who blogs about the Ultra Mobile PC. An admitted UMPC geek, Matt took the time away from his UMPC to answer my questions:

Kumiko: How old is your blog and why did you start it?

Matt: I started propstm.net in June of 2005. It was pretty much general topics at first, programming, college, whatever I felt like posting. It wasn't really until March of 2006, when Microsoft introduced its UMPC to the market that I really began to blog more frequently. I pretty much got hooked on the device once I saw it and have followed the progression of the UMPC ever since.

Kumiko: Where do you see your blog in five years?

Matt: Where do I see propstm.net in 5 years? Hmm, this is tough. I'd like to be writing it still. I wouldn't be surprised if I had a few more successful blogs on various topics so that propstm.net could be a bit more personal then. I think we'll just have to wait and see to find out :-)

Kumiko: You've been involved in web design since 1997! I didn't know there was a web back then! In your opinion, what has been the most significant change in the web since that time?

Matt: Well my interest in learning how to design web pages began back in grade school. I remember getting a "Learn HTML in 24 Hours" book from the library for a research paper. It has all pretty much snowballed since then. The biggest change I've noticed is a major movement towards standards based design. Standards based design is pretty much the use of markup which has been determined to be of a valid web standard. Also with that there is now a much greater emphasis on Accessibility. In fact, there was very recently passed a new Dutch law making Accessibility mandatory! I think that is very cool.

Kumiko: What's another blog that you read and why do you recommend it?

Matt: Oh, I read so many... let's see..
http://www.netbusinessblog.com/ - Matt Coddington is writing some phenomenal stuff. The topics that he covers in NBB are great because they are both informational and extremely practical. I'd say that's a must read for anyone looking for tips on online marketing or if they just want a good read.

http://www.origamiportal.com/modules/news/index.php?storytopic=1 - Chippy has got to be hands down one of the best when it comes to covering UMPC related news. I've followed his blogs since the UMPC was first announced just under a year ago, and he is a great source for UMPC-related news. I could come up with a list that just goes on, and on. I'd better stop there.

Kumiko: What type of person would be interested in reading your blog?

Matt: Honestly, propstm.net is a bit technical. I'm a UMPC geek. I'll admit it. Basically I'd say anyone interested in gadgets or tablet based computing would be interested. Also as of late I've been trying to expand my content into web development. I've got such an interest in it, however I'd always kept it more of a hobby than something to blog about. Also, I'm starting a new blog next week that would be a good read for anyone looking to grow a blog. I'll be starting from the ground up with that one, the topic of the first week will be "Starting A Blog".

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions Matt. Best of luck with your new blog!

My Thoughts

Marcus is from North Carolina and works as a hospital security guard by night. His blog, My Thoughts, is all about his life and the sports that he loves.

Kumiko: How old is your blog and why did you start it?

Marcus: My blog willifordblog.com is almost 6 months old. I started it on a free wordpress.com blog when I was unemployed and looking for a job. I couldn't think of a cool domain name so I just used my last name as domain name. I just thought I would do this to put oughts out there never expecting that it would become something people would read. I am very excited to where it has come. I have a google page rank of 4, I make money through payperpost.com and have met so many friends through this blog.


Kumiko: Where do you see your blog in five years?

Marcus: I would love for to be a known blogger along the likes of people like Robert Scoble. I would love for my blog to be one that is talked about by many people and I would love to be able to become a full time blogger and have that as my only job. I want to be somewhere that people go to every day to see whats going on in the world of NC sports, and other topics.


Kumiko: You've been working as a hospital security guard at night. Have you had any interesting or strange encounters recently?

Marcus: I have many interesting encounters at the hospital since I work from midnight until 7 am. We have some regulars that come into the Emergency Department even when nothing is wrong. Recently we've had this one individual who comes in cursing and complaining. I had to go and talk to him to calm him down for about 20 minutes last week. I know I'll see this guy at least 2 more times this week. Due to patient privacy laws I am not able to talk about my job very much on my blog.


Kumiko: What's another blog that you read and why do you recommend it?

Marcus: There are quite a few that I try my best to read every day. My favorite one is Simple Kind of life. Her name is Colleen and she's been a huge help to me in getting my blog where it is now. I email her daily wiquestions pertaining to blogging and she always helps me out. She's got a great blog with a large readership and always has something interesting to write about.


Kumiko: What type of person would be interested in reading your blog?

Marcus: I don't have a specific type of reader. I think I cover so many subjects that I believe anyone could enjoy reading my blog. I would love to have more of a sports fan readership because I am a huge sports fan and enjoy writing about football and basketball.


Thanks for the interview Marcus! Best of luck with My Thoughts!

The BenSpark

Just like the pizza I ate last night, Drew's TheBenSpark has the lot!! And more! I haven't seen a blog so jam-packed of things to check out in quite some time. From his Photo-A-Day (which has been running for two years!) to his Weekly Videos and writings about Transformers, there is something for everyone! And it all makes for one very interesting interview:


Kumiko: How old is your blog and why did you start it?

Drew: The blog was started on December 22, 2003 (If you go to the archives it shows December 1999 but that is just a page with some games, some other pages earlier than December 2003 have lists of transformers and other stuff.) So the blog is 3 years 2 months old.

I started this blog as a way to keep in touch with friends and family while my wife Allison and I were on the road or going to concerts or just basically doing anything that came along. I had been a web designer and then moved to an entirely different field of work. I wanted something that would let me be creative and keep my hands on those web based technologies. I started by updating a little bit at a time with little stories and things like that. I also travel for work so I was all over the country and it was a nice way to put up the things I did in various places so I could have a record of those things I did and those places I visited. My wife has maybe posted 6 times so she pretty much calls it my blog but I did originally start it as something for the two of us to contribute to. The name comes from an amalgam of both of our last names. I started the blog before we were married. We also used it to keep our friends and family informed about wedding plans.


Kumiko: Where do you see your blog in five years?

Drew: In five years I see my blog having a video and an audio podcast portion to it. I am still working on the particulars of both of those endeavors. If I keep up with Photo-A-Day then as of 5 years I will just be passing 2500 photos. I have a goal of at least 100 people subscribed to read my blog every day. So I will be working towards that goal. I get really excited when I see feedburner go into double digits. I guess eventually I will have to move to my own domain but for now Blogger is working for me. It has been a great way to let out my creative side.


Kumiko: On your blog, you post a photo a day which at the time of this interview is up to a mammoth #677! Where do you find inspiration for the photos and which one has been your personal favorite?

Drew: The Photo-A-Day project started on my 31st birthday. So as of my 33rd I will have been doing this for 2 years. The inspiration came from folk singer Christopher Williams. My wife and I were fans of Christopher's and he did a Photo-A-Day project in 2002. His site is http://www.christopherw.com/.

The project was never about being artistic for me. I like to take pictures and I have always loved cameras so I got a great little camera that worked as both a digital video camera and digital still camera. I saw it in an airline magazine on my way to Vancouver. I looked it up on Ebay and bought it. That camera has taken over 16 hours of video plus almost 8,000 pictures in the past two years. It is on it's last legs. Anyway back to the project. I wanted to commit myself to something for a year, it was a vehicle for content on the blog and it was a great way to have a visual representation of the things I did each day.

My favorite picture is one from a Trip to Great Diamond Island.

I liked how the light came through the slats of the chair. That was a beautiful morning.

There are so many that I like but that is my favorite right now.

I took my first 500 pictures and made 5 collages through Kodak so I have 5 collages with 100 photos each that we will hang in our house. It was a great way to see all the pictures at once. I plan to do that with each subsequent 100 photos.

I've also set up my photo a day so it can be hosted on other blogs. I now have 12 people who have added the widget to their blogs. I write a post about each one of the people who host the Photo-A-Day and have been getting many people visiting my site because of that. I'd love to get more people to add the widget to their blogs, The code for it is on my sidebar. If any of your readers would like to host the Photo-A-Day widget then they can leave me a comment on any one of my Photo-A-Day posts.

I host my photos through Buzznet and sometimes Flickr when Buzznet is being a bit unruly. So my photos are really all over the place on any given day.

The Photo-A-Day project has put me in touch with so many people who also do a Photo-A-Day (I have a list of links on my site), it has been a fantastic experience. Some of these people helped me out when I was on my honeymoon and I had a guest week of Photo-A-Day. I still took a photo-a-day while on the honeymoon but was unable to upload them so I recruited people to help me out so my readers would have something to do while I was gone. And coming full circle Christopher Williams contributed the first Guest Photo-A-Day photo.


Kumiko: What's another blog that you read and why do you recommend it?

Drew: I read a few blogs regularly, I of course read Autumn's space, (http://autumnblue74.blogspot.com/ ), She was the one who turned me on to reading your blog. I also read on a daily basis my friend Maureen's blog, or Mo as we call her, her blog is called We're In A Fight, ( http://wereinafight.blogspot.com/) she is one of the funniest people I know and her blog is hilarious. Another blog I like is called Stephen the Dog (http://stephenthedog.blogspot.com/ ). My friend writes it from the perspective of his Golden Doodle Stephen. My friend is also the biggest commenter on my blog and his comments are usually the funniest things on the blog. I also frequent Pop Candy and Mr. Nashville ( http://misternashville.typepad.com/) Eddie Christy writes that one and he is the biggest commenter on my myspace blog. (I copy my photo-a-day post each day to my myspace blog ( http://blog.myspace.com/benspark) so my myspace friends can see the Photo-A-Day too.


Kumiko: What type of person would be interested in reading your blog?

Drew: The type of person who would be interested in reading my blog enjoys movies, transformers, music, web comics, cartoons, TV shows, was a child of the 80's and still remembers that as a great time to grow up. I travel a lot and so I have many airport rants. If you want to read about a mild mannered guy almost having an aneurysm each time he flies then you would be interested in reading my blog. I like to talk about new technology and singers that I enjoy and I am a huge TV fan so sometimes I post about the TV shows that we saw recently. I also scour the internet for interesting and funny things to watch. I recently got an iPod and I am all about podcasts right now, so I've been posting about each of the podcasts that I watch. If you want to enjoy a good little read and see some good photos each day then I would encourage that person to visit my blog.


Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions Drew! I'll be visiting your site, TheBenSpark, again!

Mom of Two

"So stand in the rain. Stand your ground. Stand up when it’s all crashing down. You stand through the pain. You won’t drown, And one day what’s lost can be found. You stand in the rain" - Superchicks

That is the inspirational quote that greets you when you visit Erika's blog, Mom of Two. While she generally writes about motherhood, her recent post on the religious view of why "Sex is good" certainly adds some spice to the mix. But perhaps motherhood and sex are related somehow....


Kumiko: How old is your blog and why did you start it?

Erika: I started my original diary, PeytonsPlace back in January of 2003. I wanted a way to share events in my life with my family, who live in another state and also, all the cool kids were doing it. I started my new blog in August of 2006 because the way I had begun writing lended more to blog style, and again, because all the cool kids had switched over.


Kumiko: Where do you see your blog in five years?

Erika: I would imagine pretty much right where it is now. I hope I gain some new readers, and I love finding new blogs to read.


Kumiko: You have said on your blog that you are undergoing a "transformation of sorts" by expanding your "musical, theatrical, political an spiritual views". How have you changed since this transformation began?

Erika: This past year has definitely been a growth of sorts. I have begun eating better, fruits, veggies, and hardly any red meat. I fade in and out of exercise programs, but I do try and keep up with them. I'm actually trying to read up on politics, bills, laws and such, which before I really had no interest in. The biggest change though has to be spiritually. I've gone back to my roots, I guess you could say, but now they actually mean something. I've found a church home here in South Florida, and I really enjoy attending. I've learned more there in 6 months, than 12 years in a private Christian school. I'm reading and studying more on my own. As my pastor likes to say, we're not looking for religion, but a relationship.


Kumiko: What's another blog that you read and why do you recommend it?

Erika: Not to be too cliche, but Dooce (aka Heather Armstrong) is who I turn to first thing every morning. I love the monthly newsletters to her daughter. I also have several internet buddies that I consider real friends, SuZ, who is expecting her first child, Nicole (site private) and Chell, who both have children and are kindred souls, and Gump, who is one of my best friends. There are a ton of others, but I figured I have gone on long enough.


Kumiko: What type of person would be interested in reading your blog?

Erika: I would say mainly mothers, but I don't always write about my boys. In fact, I would say they only make an appearence 50% of the time. I write about my life, feeling blue, funny things that happen and how I'm progressing on my journey. I tend to write everyday, and my entries are relatively short, so anyone who needs a couple of minutes to kill while uploading photos or something, there you go.


Visit Erika's blog at Mom of Two.

I.M. Cupnjava's Writing Cafe

It's time to turn up the heat at Blog Interview as I interview Cupnjava about I.M. Cupnjava's Writing Cafe. Cupnjava blogs about the intricacies of being a writer - an erotic writer!! Make sure your children have left the room before you read this interview!

Kumiko: How old is your blog and why did you start it?

Cupnjava: My writing café blog is only five months old. I started it as a way to keep in touch with my readers, reach out to new readers, as well as network with other writers, editors and publishers. It's a place where I post writing tips, ask questions about writing and, in general, share whatever strikes my muse on any given day. This month I've talked about everything from overcoming writer's block to my pitfalls with trying to teach myself how to make sushi.


Kumiko: Where do you see your blog in five years?

Cupnjava: I would like to see it hosted on my own domain and I hope to be in a place, professionally, that enables me to provide more tips than questions. Writing is the type of craft that demands perpetual learning and growing. A good writer always strives to better than they were yesterday. I'd like to eventually reach a point where I can offer help and support to those who are starting on this difficult path.


Kumiko: Your blog contains a number of erotic stories. I blushed reading some of them! Where to do you find inspiration for the stories?

Cupnjava: Aww, I hope those were good blushes! Finding inspiration or "birthing plotbunnies" is something I often address on my blog. Plotbunnies are everywhere around us waiting to nibble when we walk by. The problem is that we often ignore or fail to feed them.

I've found inspiration driving down the street, taking a walk through the woods behind my house, talking with friends, standing in line at the grocery store and a whole slew of other places. Overwhelmingly, my plotbunnies bite me in the shower. I think it's because the hot water relaxes me and helps me feel the nibbles. Also, there are few distractions while bathing.

My plotbunnies usually start as a flash of a scene in my mind. One story started with hearing this line in my head, "That's right, [character name], show them your true nature." At that point, I have to start asking the plotbunny questions and bribe it with carrots. Who is talking? To whom are they speaking? What is the other person's "true nature" and why are they trying to hide it? I'm currently 36,000 words into that story and I'm still trying to answer some questions.

Full Circle started with, "I know what you are, Byron." That begs a whole host of questions such as: Why did the speaker say "what" and not "who?" Does Byron know what he is? If not, why not? And so on.

Every so often I'll want to work with a specific sub-genre. These plotbunnies are the most difficult to work with in my opinion. For example, I would like to do a yaoi story with catboys. Now it's a matter of trying to figure out what my catboys are doing and why they're doing it.

In regards to the sex scenes themselves, those are the easiest and most difficult part of writing erotica. If you have properly developed and fleshed out your characters, each sex scene will be naturally different and achieve some kind of goal. Properly developed characters are as unique as people in the real world are and everyone reacts differently in different intimate situations. The hard part about writing sex scenes is balancing the mechanics of it (enables the reader to see what's going on); the emotions of the scenes (enables the reader to feel what's going on and sympathize with the characters); and, picking the right words and pacing to make it sizzle on the page.


Kumiko: What's another blog that you read and why do you recommend it?

Cupnjava: I follow several bogs, but I find Miss Snark's and Evil Editor's blogs to be very useful and informative.


Kumiko: What type of person would be interested in reading your blog?

Cupnjava: I think anyone who appreciates the beauty of m/m sexuality and intimacy will enjoy my blog—readers and writers alike. (Even if the writer isn't an erotica writer.) Erotica writers are just like other authors. We deal with plot and characterizations problems, struggle with figuring out our genre and wrangle with the difference between an emdash and an ellipsis. Our stories are rich stories with a cast of characters and a detailed plot, but we have the added element (complication? benefit?) of fully written sex and sensuality threaded through the whole thing. We have the same joys and pitfalls as other authors and sometimes it's nice to know you're not alone when you fight with writers block and wonder if "chitchat" is one word, two words, or hyphenated.

Before we part, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to interview me about my blog. I've enjoyed the chance to talk about my passion! I wish you the best in all of your endeavors. I find it poignant that I'm responding to your questions in Valentines Day. Happy Valentines Day, Kumiko! :)


Whew! I think I need a cold shower after that! Read more (if you dare!) at I.M. Cupnjava's Writing Cafe!