The introductory post for this series.
Rachel Kramer Bussel is the Lusty Lady.
When did you start blogging?
I’ve been blogging in some form probably since 2000 or so, I had an old tripod site where I’d post updates, then I was on Livejournal, and joined Blogger in, I believe, 2003. I deleted my blog archives in 2005 and restarted it, so those are now cached somewhere by Google (and not worth looking up), but the Blogger incarnation is definitely my favorite (so far) because it’s the one that’s most interactive.
What do you like about blogging?
I like that I can say anything I want. I don’t have to censor myself or feel like I can only share one part of me. I like that I can post photos of my baby cousin, diatribes about sexual politics, event announcements, erotica snippets, whatever. It’s really freeing and is a great contrast to some of the other writing I do where it’s very precise and has a word count and a specific topic. I think the blog paints a much broader, and fairer, portrait of what my life is actually all about than, say, if someone just read my former sex column. I loved writing it, but by necessity, it was only about sex, and sex is really only a small part of my life. I like that I keep discovering new blogs to add to my blogroll and new widgets like Flickr and LibraryThing to add. I love tweaking the blog and just seeing who’s reading and what people respond to. It’s ultimately just a really cathartic way for me to get thoughts out of my head and onto the internets.
Is blogging a major or minor way of connecting to other people for you?
It’s a major way of connecting, in terms of keeping up with friends I don’t see very often and making friends from other parts of the country and world. I know a lot of my friends check in with me via my blog and I like that, but I don’t think it replaces actual private communication. But whenever anything really exciting happens, I always want to race to the computer and blog it. I’ve made some really wonderful friends via blogging and professionally, editors and reporters have found me because I’ve blogged about a given topic, and it’s always a great way for me to get feedback about my writing or find interviewees. It’s kindof a one-stop shopping deal for me to get and give information.
Where’s your blog? Do you use a free hosted service? (Blogger,Wordpress, Livejournal, AOL, Google Pages, etc.) or do you have your own domain and web server?
Blogger, although if I were to start a new one, I’d go with WordPress.
I used to have a Livejournal and like Blogger okay, but would prefer to have proper categories.
What do you do to promote your blog or your writing (using tags in your post, blog roll, del.icio.us, Digg, Pingoat)?
I don’t even know what Pingoat is, or how to use del.icio.us or Digg! I’m not so up on the technology but I do have an extensive blogroll, have starting using tags, and will link to relevant bloggers in my posts. I do Sugasm when I have a relevant post and just try to keep up with what other bloggers are writing. I think that aside from specific tools to promote your blog, just writing about what interests you and doing what comes naturally is the best way to lead people to your blog.
